Morning Joe - Morning Joe 11/11/22

Episode Date: November 11, 2022

Vote counting continues in Nevada

It really is truly in our hands. We set the course for the nation's future. We just have to remember who in God's name we are. And I hope nothing else happens. Remember this. There's not a damn thing. I really mean it from the bottom of my heart. Not a damn thing we can't do if we do it together. We are the United States of America and you made it better. Underestimated again, President Joe Biden continues to be optimistic following a strong performance by Democrats in the midterm elections. This morning, we have updates in the three races that could determine control of Congress. We'll explain why it's taking where it seems to be taking so long to get those results. Plus, the meltdown at Mar-a-Lago. Former President Trump spent much of yesterday ranting online about the big lie and the man many now see as the future of the Republican Party. Meanwhile, President Biden is on Air Force One right now, hours from the start of a highly anticipated trip overseas, focused on the climate, China and Russia's war, which we have an update for you. In Ukraine, there are more positive signs. Ukrainian soldiers

are taking back key regions and pushing back Russian troops. They are simply incredible. Good morning and welcome to Morning Joe. It is Friday, November 11th. Along with Willie and me, we have U.S. special correspondent for BBC News, Katty Kay. Did way too early. She's certifiable. She got up real early this morning. Former Republican member of Congress, David Jolly. He represented Florida's 13th district. It'll be great to have his insight this morning. And former chief of staff to the DCCC, Adrienne Elrod. She was senior aide to Hillary Clinton and the Biden presidential campaigns. And Joe is off this morning,

but it's not over yet, Willie. No, they're still counting in Arizona, still counting in Nevada. The vote count in Arizona, where those key races for Senate and governor, remained too early to call this morning. As of last night, there still were about 350,000 ballots yet to be counted in the state's largest county, Maricopa. Officials there say the count is being slowed by a record number of mail-in ballots, about 290,000 that were dropped off on Election Day. The first batch of votes from those ballots expected to be released today. Meanwhile, in neighboring Pima County, officials say there are roughly 54,000 ballots still to be counted. Right now, Democratic incumbent Senator Mark Kelly holds on to a small lead over Republican challenger Blake Masters in the race for secretary of state.

Republican Mark Fincham, a prominent 2020 election denier, trails Democrat Adrian Fontes by just over five points. And in the governor's race, Democrat Katie Hobbs has a slight edge over Republican Carrie Lake. A lot to do still in Nevada. About 50,000 votes remain to be counted in that state's largest county. Those include mail-in ballots and ballots placed in drop boxes at polling sites on Election Day in Clark County. Officials there say they're working as fast as they can to count them all across the state. An estimated additional 40,000 ballots remain to be counted. Mail-in ballots will still be accepted in Nevada until tomorrow, as long as they were postmarked by Election Day. This is why it's taking a bit.

Republican Adam Laxalt holds a slight lead in the Senate race against Democratic incumbent Catherine Cortez Masto. But she has steadily been closing that gap after carrying the first round of mail-in ballots in Clark County, which includes Las Vegas, by two to one. Meanwhile, in the race for secretary of state, Republican Jim Marchant, a Trump-endorsed election denier, currently trails Democrat Cisco Aguilar by 5,000 votes in a race that is still too early to call. Marchant has promised to get rid of all electronic voting machines, voting by mail, and early voting. Steve Kornacki is going to be joining us at the big board in just a little bit. He's recharging, recharging his battery. Willie, you have to plug them in every once in a while. And this will change over time. But we've got a couple of days ahead of us still.

Yeah, David, it's interesting when you look at this. We're not calling any races yet, but it does appear that Mark Kelly is doing well in Arizona. We can characterize it that way. And that Senator Mastro does make up ground. The more votes come in, she's making up ground as we go. So there is the very real possibility. Again, we're not calling anything. The Democrats could hold on to those two seats and then have their 50. And then Georgia just becomes gravy if they win that. Well, and it's also a story for history because we may be in an environment where not a single Democratic senator loses reelection. And that is incredible. I mean, consider this. If the fortunes of Kelly are going the right way, Cortez Masto the same. And if Georgia Democrats can make the runoff about Donald Trump, it's a very good environment for Raphael Warnock to return to the Senate as well. Adrienne Elrod, jump in.

I mean, this is this was a big week for Democrats in so many ways. I think the understatement of the year will be it could have been so much worse. Yeah, that's exactly right. Mika, if you'd asked me Tuesday morning if I thought that we would actually gain a seat in the Senate, I would have laughed and said there's no way. But look, I mean, David Jolly is exactly right. What's happening right now in Nevada, of course, is still too early to call. But we are seeing Senator Cortez Masto getting about two to one of those absentee ballots. So, you know, the projection on our side is as more and more of those ballots come in,

she's going to continue to gain her lead. And, you know, we believe that she'll slightly win this seat. And, of course, Mark Kelly is, Senator Mark Kelly is far ahead right now in that Arizona race. Even if more of the ballots come in where they're evenly split, he's likely going to have an edge in that seat. So it all comes down to the Georgia runoff. And I think you're going to see enthusiasm on both sides. But, you know, make a look at Donald Trump gets in next Tuesday. That is going to, I think, especially given the horrible night that he had on Tuesday, I think that's going to further dampen enthusiasm on the Republican side. And it's going to only help Democrats. So this is certainly was certainly a great night. We're continuing to count the votes. But from the state legislatures to minimizing our losses in the House and, of course, potentially gaining a seat in the Senate, flipping Pennsylvania, we feel pretty good about what happened. Katty, we've been looking for good reason at the top of these tickets, senators and governors.

But we also just mentioned those secretary of state races, which are critically important. That's where a lot of the concern was among people around elections. Someone like Mark Fincham in the state of Arizona who's trailing right now, the Republican who is just out and out, said that Joe Biden lost the 2020 election. Donald Trump won. He's on the side of the cyber ninjas and has suggested he wouldn't in 2024 recognize a win by Joe Biden necessarily. So if those hold up, if Democrats hold on to those secretary of state races, almost equally important to anything else we're seeing. Yeah, I mean, actually, I spoke to Mark Pitt over the summer and he told me that he didn't think a Democrat could ever win in Arizona. And I spoke to him again on election night and he was already casting doubt about the process, as Carrie Lake is down in there in Arizona. I mean, it was clearly a very good night for democracy in the

fact that people conceded, hey, you know, they did the normal thing that democracies demand of people. But we should keep an eye on Arizona to check that that pattern continues. The Republicans had targeted this group of about a dozen secretary of state races around the country with a laser focus. A ton of money went into those races. Eventually, the Democrats caught up to how important these secretary of state races were. And later in the summer, started pouring money in of their own to counter that, realizing that if people like Mark Fincham took over or Jim Martian took over in Nevada, then that could have a real impact on how 2024 election is just conducted and counted. And so the Democrats mounted an effort to try and counter that.

And they seem to have been successful. Well, former President Donald Trump is once again casting doubt over the legitimacy of Tuesday's election results, with no evidence to back up his claims. Remember, he said before the election, if we win, it'll be on me. I did it. And if we lose, it won't be my fault. Well, in a post on his social media site yesterday, Trump wrote that Clark County, Nevada, has a corrupt voting system and claimed that the vote counting in Arizona is taking so long because, quote, they want more time to cheat. Later on, Trump leaned into those baseless conspiracy theories even more, writing that very strange things were happening in Arizona and Nevada.

Those claims were later shot down by Clark County officials who, in a statement, wrote in part, quote, We have heard his outrageous claims, but he is obviously still misinformed about the law and our election processes that ensure the integrity of elections in Clark County. And Willie, we knew all along, we were saying all along that these would take some time to vote. There's a process there. It's a little different than other states, but there's nothing wrong with it. Yeah, it's just the way it is. I mean, we'd all like to know on election night who wins. Pennsylvania did a good job of getting their vote in. So there was no room for doubt there. But Clark County, they've been transparent at the very least and said this is going to take a while, maybe into next week. So they've done a good job to have sort of systematically shooting down the conspiracy theories to go along with his unhinged rant yesterday about elections.

Donald Trump also went on one against Florida's Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, in a rambling statement yesterday. Trump wrote in part News Corp, which is Fox, The Wall Street Journal and the no longer great New York Post is all in for Governor Ron DeSantis. New York Post no longer great because they call them something like Humpty Dumpty. That's correct. And he was on the cover as Humpty Dumpty. He calls DeSantis an average Republican governor with great public relations. Trump attributed some of DeSantis' success to the weather in Florida, writing he has the advantage of sunshine where people from badly run states up north would go no matter who the governor was, just like I did. The former president

went on to claim his endorsement of DeSantis helped win the Florida governor's race in 2018. Trump also accused DeSantis of, quote, playing games by not answering questions about 2024. He wrote the fake news, asked him if he's going to run if President Trump runs. And he says, I'm only focused on the governor's race. I'm not looking into the future. Trump wrote, well, in terms of loyalty and class, that really is not the right answer. Despite the growing calls from within the Republican Party to break with Donald Trump, the former president is moving ahead with what he calls a special announcement next week. Trump's team sent an invite to the press yesterday teasing the event at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach,

Florida, where he is widely expected to announce another presidential run. David Jolly, that statement, we spared the viewers most of it, is family intervention stuff. Dad is not doing well. Let's all rush in to sit with him. But my gosh, does Ron DeSantis, has he set up shop in Donald Trump's head? Yes, he has. Now, look, there's actually one truth in Donald Trump's statement, and that is that Ron DeSantis owes his political career to the former president. Without question, there is nobody in America that more deftly and successfully used Donald Trump. And I say used, right? He he was the ambassador of Trumpism when he

was in the House. He then uses Trump to get to the governor's mansion. And then he steps aside from Trump and he gets adjacent to Trump. He doesn't defend him, but he also doesn't criticize him. And the one component that this story is currently missing is Ron DeSantis has never taken the bait. I mean, I think a lot of people are waiting to hear what is the posture of Ron DeSantis in this moment? Does he just say nice things about the president and move on? Because right now, look, he's got the hot hand. He doesn't need to engage in the scrum. Ron DeSantis is famously has a very glass jaw, fragile ego. You get him on the ropes and you start to see a Ron DeSantis that is not the

manufactured package you see today. How will Ron DeSantis respond? Well, also, you do see a shift happening in the voices, the trumpeters, if I may say, whether they're in the media or if they are Republican leaders, they seem to be slowly moving away some of them. You could predict this chapter over the last six years, that as soon as it became convenient for Republicans to discard Trump, they would. And I think it's very important, though, we recognize they are not moving on from Trump out of conviction. They had opportunities to do that when he was separating families at the border, when he was attacking our democratic institutions,

when he was doing all those things. They could have left Trump then, but they didn't. This is the ultimate political behavior of Republican leaders right now. Well, joining us now, contributing writer to The Atlantic, Peter Wehner. He has a piece that will show us the other side of this. More MAGA than ever. You write, Pete, in part, quote, a bad midterm election is unlikely to break Trump's grip on the party. Why? Because it's hard to overstate how radicalized and anarchic

the base of the Republican Party remains. Donald Trump may have endorsed candidates, but it was primary voters who chose them. The lesson primary voters usually learn after several disappointing elections, which is to make changes so their party wins. More races isn't likely to gain much purchase within MAGA world. Those who inhabit MAGA world are deeply alienated from institutions, including political ones, and therefore a good deal less loyal to the Republican Party than they are to Donald Trump. I'm not sure right-wing pundits declaring that the Republican Party needs to move on from Trump will sway those voters any more than it did in 2015 and 2016, when virtually the entire GOP establishment opposed Trump. To complicate matters further, the Republican Party today has more, not fewer, MAGA figures in it than in the past.

And, Katty Kay, you spent some time really interviewing Trump voters and working on understanding them. Does Pete's message here ring true to you in terms of it may have been a blow to Trump, but it is far from over? Yeah, I think that really does ring true. I almost felt after spending a month traveling around the country, speaking to a lot of Trump supporters that, you know, Trump could come out and say the 2020 election was free and fair, for example, and his supporters would already have the message that it was stolen and that wasn't going to change. I think Trumpism is in the system.

And even if Donald Trump were suddenly to decide that he's not going to run in 2024, that those supporters will be looking for another candidate who echoes some of what Trump offers them. And it's not just policy. It's a tone. It's a style. It's a combativeness. It's owning the libs. Those are the things they really like about him. But, you know, Peter, I think, you know, you wrote that this election was all about Donald Trump in terms of that's why the Democrats did so well. Are you thinking that if Trump were not to run in 2024, then Democrats could carry on the kind of winning streak they had last night? Or is there another Trump-like candidate that MAGA crowd could tap into? Well, I think if Trump didn't win in 2024, that would hurt the Democratic prospects or hurt Republican prospects and help Democrats. But you're quite right, Katie, that the Republican Party is a MAGA-fied party. It's a Trump-fied

party. And that even if Trump were not to run for whatever variety of reasons that may go into that decision, the Republican Party itself is radicalized. And it's almost impossible to overstate how much that is the case. You know, DeSantis is on paper a good candidate. And there's no question that there's been some erosion in Trump's support. But he started at a very, very high mark. And these MAGA voters are not like traditional Republican or Democratic voters. There's almost no loyalty to the institution, political institution, whether it's the Democratic or Republican Party. They got into the politics because of Donald Trump, and they would follow him to the ends of the earth.

And the last thing I'll say is DeSantis, as I think David Jolly had referred to, he may not be as impressive in reality as he is on paper. I mean, very few people have seen DeSantis for for any length of time. And when Trump unleashes his blowtorch, we'll see how he holds up. Yeah, Pete, we've been saying for the last couple of days that as one Republican after another in The New York Post and The Wall Street Journal say it's time to move on, that a lot of that may just be wish casting. They just hope he'll go away. But of course, it's not that easy. I guess the only difference is and you get at this in your pieces, he is costing them power, which at the end of the day is the point of the exercise for them losing elections in 2020 and 2021.

And now in 2022, with some terrible candidates that he blessed and kind of forced upon the party. Does that part of it, does that compel them? They can't tell MAGA voters what to do. But does that part of it compel Republicans to turn another way? It could. There's no question that the results from the midterm is if it's going to hurt, hurt Trump. I do think that if the Senate goes Republican rather than Democratic, that changes the tone of that. So Georgia may have a lot, lot to say, because if Republicans have the House and the Senate, even if they're by narrow margins, that's just a different cast. But look, Trump is weaker than he was, but he's still the dominant figure in the Republican Party. And the fact that a lot of Murdoch's empire is turning on Trump doesn't help him, but I don't know how much it hurts him.

The entire political class in 2015 and 2016 was against Trump, and he actually used that to his advantage. And the other thing that I just want to underscore is just how cynical this is by Republicans. And this is a guy named Trump who tried to overthrow an election. He's lawless. He is corrupt. He's cruel. this is by Republicans. And this is a guy named Trump who tried to overthrow an election. He's lawless. He is corrupt. He's cruel. This act has been playing out for a half dozen years, and they either went silent in the face of it or they supported him. And the only reason that a lot of them are turning on him now is because they think that he's no longer a path to power. And I'm glad if they turn on him, but it's awfully late in the game. And it isn't because of any moral center that caused them to do that. Any sense that this man was a malicious and malignant threat to our country.

It's because this guy helped us get power and it may be that now he's going to block us to power and it may be that now he's going to block us to power. And that says a lot about the core, I would say the hollow core of the Republican Party. Yeah, we'll see how long this sentiment holds up. The Atlantic's Pete Wehner. Pete, thanks so much. David, right on this topic, Mitt Romney's got a piece on the op-ed page of the Wall Street Journal. Republicans reach a fork in the road this morning. He says we can govern in the people's interest or make a lot of pointless noise. I hope we choose wisely. He doesn't mention Trump's name here. He's talking about the incoming class. Sure. If they do hold on to the House, you know, promising impeachment hearings and all that. He's saying, let's go get things

done rather than all this sort of Trumpian noise. Yeah, unfortunately, I think most Republicans wrongly will ignore Mitt Romney. I mean, you can expect the House to be a playground for the next two years of all the craziness and the incoming speaker will be the playground monitor. But where Republicans find themselves right now, it's a paradox. You can't win with Donald Trump, but you can't win without him, because if the party fractures and the MAGA voters go away, you can't win. So this this idea of rebranding the party is a multiple cycle rebrand. It doesn't just happen by 24. Really quick before we end this block, is Kevin McCarthy going to be the speaker of the House? No, I think I don't think he will

get to 218 votes. It does not require a challenger, a challenger for him to lose his bid. Just what happens? My bet would be on Steve Scalise. The reason Scalise has endorsed McCarthy and being the nice guy is so that he can be the savior when everything blows up. Okay. Still ahead on Morning Joe, the latest from Georgia's Senate race, which is headed for a runoff. We'll look at how Raphael Warnock became the last Democrat standing in the state's top midterm races. Plus, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy wants to serve as House Speaker, but as we just heard, it appears some members of his party are making things a tad difficult for him. Also ahead, President Biden warned that this year's midterms would be a battle for democracy.

Now he's taking that message overseas. Jonathan Lemire joins us live from Cambodia for more on that. And Russia claims to have removed all of its troops from a key southern city in Ukraine. We'll talk to Admiral James Tavridis about where the war stands right now. You're watching Morning Joe on this Friday morning. We'll be right back. Six past the hour with the midterms in the rear view, President Biden is pivoting to foreign policy. He's on his way to Egypt this morning, the first stop on a three country trip that will conclude with

a face to face meeting with China's president. That will happen on Monday at the G20 summit in Indonesia. It will be their first in-person meeting since Biden took office. Joining us now from Cambodia, where President Biden will be tomorrow, The host of way too early White House beer chief at Politico, Jonathan Lemire. Jonathan, what can we expect the president will hope to accomplish out of this meeting? And certainly he arrives now on foreign soil a lot stronger and more emboldened than he was before the midterms when everyone thought it would be a huge red wave. Yeah, he's got a jam-packed itinerary, Mika. When he lands in Egypt, that's for a major climate change conference.

He's going to deliver a speech there later today. And then he's right back, Air Force One right back in the skies to head here to Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, where they're participating in a pair of the Asian state summits, Pacific Ocean summit, state summits over the next two days before then the main event, the G20 in Bali, Indonesia. We've gotten word President Putin of Russia skipping it, perhaps not wanting to go after suffering yet another humiliation on the battlefield. But Xi Jinping, leader of China, will be there. And there's a lot on the agenda for that meeting. Much anticipated two years in the making this meeting. Economic relations, of course, but also expect President Biden to deliver a message of warning about China aggression to Taiwan. But he's got to tread delicately because he wants Xi Jinping's help on a number of issues, including further isolating

Putin, as well as potentially Kim Jong-un of North Korea, who has ramped up his rocket tests in recent weeks. Katie Kay. Yeah, if they are going to meet for the first time face to face, I mean, there's obviously all of the COVID policy. But my understanding, Jonathan, is that there's been almost no communication, bilateral communication between the Americans and the Chinese for the last two years. What's the number one thing that they need to try and sort out? What is it most urgent? Is it Taiwan? Is two years. What's the number one thing that they need to try and sort out? What is it most urgent? Is it Taiwan? Is it trade? What's the sticking point?

Short answer, Katty, is all of the above. And you're right. There's been a total breakdown of communications after Speaker Pelosi's visit to Taiwan. China stopped talking to the U.S. entirely for a stretch. Those conversations only revived to plan this particular meeting. Xi Jinping and President Biden have spoken a couple of times on the phone, not often. They did have a bit of a relationship when Biden was vice president, and Xi Jinping had a secondary role in his government as well. So they have met before, but the stakes, of course,

much higher now. Trade policy, certainly big. Taiwan, huge as well, including to push China to continue to not help out Russia too much with their war. And it should be underscored here to how Mika brought in this segment. The president comes here emboldened with a much better than expected midterms for his party in one that he put democracy on the ballot. And it would have been difficult, White House aides have been telling me, for him to make that argument at home, have a lot of big lie candidates win, and then come here overseas and look these leaders in the faces and say, look, American democracy is working. It's much easier for him to do that now because so many of the significant election deniers lost and because Donald Trump appears weakened because so many

of these allies overseas have been so worried about a possible Trump return in 2024. Jonathan Lemire reporting for us from Cambodia. Thank you. And Willie, to Jonathan's point, the president was very happy after the midterms. And a lot of members of the media, but also analysts were like, you know, he's focused on democracy. It's too philosophical. He's focused on democracy. It's too philosophical. He's focused on abortion. That's not what's polling. That's what he focused on. And once again, underestimated Joe Biden. That's what turned out was important to people. Yeah, he was being lectured right up on Election Day. It even happened here. There was a concern. We've got to talk about crime. And Joe said,

you need to talk about everything. But I definitely heard a lot of voices saying the president is so focused on democracy. He's so focused on abortion. Yes, he had his finger on the pulse and it turned out to be right. And a lot of the polling didn't. Yeah. Abortion, Pennsylvania, Michigan, number one issue in fact, by wide margin. So he was right about that, at least. New this morning, the Russian Defense Ministry says it has finished pulling its troops out of the West Bank of the Dnieper River, along with the city of Kherson, located in the region of the same name. Joining us now, retired four-star Navy Admiral James Stavridis. He's NBC News and MSNBC chief international analyst and former Supreme

Allied commander of NATO. Admiral, it's great to have you with us again this morning. This does look, again, like a headline, Russia in retreat, when you look at what's happening in Kherson, Ukraine just pushing them back, moving into some of these territories. What are you seeing on the battlefield right now? Well, it's a really good day in Kyiv. And let's also pick up the point you just made, which is Vladimir Putin

essentially afraid to go to the G20. He can't look President Xi, his best friend forever in the eye. Remember, these two looked each other in the eye right before the Olympics. Putin was flying high. I suspect he told Xi, look, this thing will be over in five days. I'll be in Kiev. Here we are eight and a half months later, and the Ukrainians are about to take back the last remaining big city that the Russians were able to capture. So this is, again, a very good day in Kiev. Having said all that, Willie, you know, don't count Vladimir Putin out yet. He's going to continue carpet bombing. He's going to continue relying on Iran for more high tech equipment. He might play a cyber car. He might do, God forbid, something with a weapon of mass destruction. He

could order a full mobilization. He could energize the Black Sea fleet and use it more effectively. And above all, he'll be watching Europe. And can they hold together with high energy prices in a cold winter? I think they can. I don't like his hand of cards, but he's still got cards to play. Overall, good day in Kiev. Yeah, Admiral, to your point, Kiev is sort of not celebrating the way others might be about this news out of Kherson. They're moving with cautions that worry that this could be some kind of a strategy from Vladimir Putin.

But to your point, when you have a man in Vladimir Putin who thought in five days he'd be in Kiev and they'd be having a parade and installing a puppet regime there, boy, this is completely blown up in his face. So what happens from here in your estimation? How long can Putin keep this up? Well, to your point about blowing up in his face, you know, his generals told him, don't worry, President Putin, our troops will be greeted with bottles of vodka. They were greeted with bottles of flammable liquids called Molotov cocktails. And that was before the Stingers and the Javelins and the ATACs showed up. So this really is a debacle unfolding for Russia. How it ends up, I think, is things will steady down because of winter, because both sides are

going to be not quite frozen in place, but maneuver is deeply difficult. You'll see a lot of air attacks out of Russia. We'll get through the winter. The Europeans will hold together. I think then, Willie, assuming we continue to stand with Ukraine, and I think we will, the big we, the U.S., the West, then I think you've got the conditions for some kind of negotiation coming out of the winter. That's a long way away. A lot of twists and turns. That's, I think, the best we can hope for at this moment. All right. So David Ignatius has a new column in The Washington Post entitled Russia is in retreat in every major international forum. And he writes in part this as Russia's military troubles mount in Ukraine,

it's also becoming more isolated internationally as organizations affiliated with the United Nations purge Moscow's representatives from leadership positions. This rollback of Russian power and prestige at the United Nations has accelerated in recent months. It's another example of the way the Ukraine war is realigning the international system into a small bloc supporting the Kremlin and a larger group backing the United States and its broad coalition of allies. The Russian military has made some stunning mistakes on the battlefield in Kiev, Kharkiv and now Kherson. But Russia's diplomats may have feared even worse. Russia is in retreat in every major international forum.

Putin imagined this war would bring him greater global influence. It has instead been an epic disaster. So, Admiral, Putin may have cards to play, but the walls also internationally seem to be closing in. I think that's smart analysis, as always, by our colleague and friend David Ignatius. You know, that distant boom you hear is Vladimir Putin's head exploding. This has gone so badly. And by the way, I'll simply add to the list David gave us Sweden and Finland joining NATO, strengthening the alliance, bulking up that northern flank.

And the list really goes on and on. It's approaching the point where we need to make sure we work to keep the lines of communication open with Russia. It's very tempting to kind of do high fives on this and sort of box in a tiny little corner. We need to keep talking to the Russians. We need to find ways ultimately to negotiate an ending to this war. In some ways, Mika, we ought to be growing to be concerned about Russian weakness as opposed to Russian strength because of that nuclear arsenal. So, yes, everything David says is right. Let's keep those lines. Former NATO Supreme Allied Commander losing the audio there a little bit there.

James Stavridis, thank you very much for being on this morning. And still ahead on Morning Joe, live reporting from Arizona and Nevada, where a number of key races are still too early to call this morning. And still ahead on Morning Joe, live reporting from Arizona and Nevada, where a number of key races are still too early to call this morning. Plus, Steve Kornacki will be at the big board. Also ahead, Democratic Senator Maggie Hassan will join us after winning reelection in New Hampshire by a wide margin. Morning Joe will be right back. Doing is slow rolling our victory. They want to take the air out of this movement and they can't do it because it's a movement and we, the people are fed up and we're not going to slow down. We're not going to let them take the fire out of our belly. And so they slow roll the results. You know, Ron DeSantis goes

out, gives his big speech, and then they want to make it look like the Trump Republicans don't have a chance. We do. We're going to win. I'm 100 percent sure that I think that Blake may even win. Like, am I the only one who sees this? Like, she is so Trumpy that Trump is mad at DeSantis, calls him DeSanctimonious. So now she's just like, like, I don't even know what that really meant. It's an incoherent argument. Incoherent. She just put his name in there.

But just had to go after him a little bit. Yeah. Hmm. High school. Arizona's Republican gubernatorial candidate, Carrie Lake, in an interview yesterday seeming to connect Ron DeSantis with unfounded claims of election fraud. What's going on? Am I right? Or is there something else going on here, David?

Welcome to Republicans in Disarray. This goes to the premise of the earlier conversation. This this notion that they're going to quickly get past Donald Trump or this rapid coordination of Ron DeSantis is not happening. And here's why. In the last 72 hours, Carrie Lake has thrown her loyalty to Donald Trump. Matt Gaetz has said Donald Trump's the next president. Elise Stefanik, who actually holds a leadership position in the House, has said, I'm endorsing Donald Trump. Start to ask Rick Scott and other senators who will be in the 24 reelect cycle. Are you supporting Donald Trump or not? And the problem is, look, some of them will do it out of fealty and loyalty and craziness.

That's the Carrie Lake play. But the others like Rick Scott will do it because they have to. Don't you think some will see, wow, this is our this is our getaway car. Like, I don't have to do this anymore. The stench and stain of Trumpism lives with these Republicans. It's not as easy as just saying I took a shower and it's gone. Adrian Elrod, the other part of this is the voters. A lot of folks are wrong about what mattered to them. Democracy did matter.

Joe Biden was right. Yeah, that's exactly right. I mean, a couple of things make a number one. President Biden's agenda is incredibly popular. We saw that play out Tuesday night. To your point, abortion, people actually care about protecting their right to access to abortion, not just women, but a lot of men out there, too. That was important to them. And anyone who said that democracy doesn't matter to voters, that, you know, protecting the pillars of democracy doesn't matter. It turns out it actually does. So I think President Biden going out there making that big speech about, you know, the integrity of our systems.

I mean, almost every election denier running for major office so far has lost. We'll see what happens in the Arizona governor's race. But that is certainly a far more tighter race, regardless of the outcome, than we ever imagined. And, you know, you see Carrie Lake going out there and sort of using her same spiel where she says, oh, they're trying to take away this, you know, they're trying to take away my win by slowly counting the votes. Voters don't buy that. And we also saw independent voters make a break heavily for Democrats this cycle. Of course, if Republicans want to win the presidency in 2024, whether it's Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, whomever it is, they have to give back those

independent voters. And independent voters are not buying any sort of election denialism. It's not something they support. So a lot of takeaways from from Tuesday night, which I know will be unpacking for a while. But what we do know for a fact is that the American people want the pillars of democracy to be protected. Yeah. Katty, just to go back for a while. But what we do know for a fact is that the American people want the pillars of democracy to be protected. Yeah. Katty, just to go back for a minute to Carrie Lake's comment, the DeSantis piece of it, which is just gratuitously threw his name into that, didn't quite make sense with the argument. But to get to the more important point about her denialism and her casting doubt on the results and the outcome of this election,

you interviewed her, I know, over the summer and I think tried or maybe ultimately did get to the most important piece of this, which is, does she actually believe this stuff? She's a smart woman. She's campaigned well. She's earned a lot of votes out there. Does she actually believe that the 2020 election was stolen? Does she actually believe this time around that? Well, there are some questions. Why is the vote taking so long? She knows why it's taking long. It's been made very clear mail in votes and everything else. Does she believe this stuff? Yeah, I wrote about this, actually, just this question in the BBC this morning. I mean,

I went into my interview with her. I spent a day with her at a campaign event hosted in a retirement community a couple of hours outside of Phoenix. And it's like watching a kind of masterclass in retail politics. She is really good. All of those years on camera as a TV anchor have served her incredibly well. She went in with kind of gushing compliments about everybody in the room and she had them kind of eating out of her hands. And yet her message is very hardcore, kind of far on the right of the Republican Party. But I went into that interview exactly wanting to answer that question.

Does she believe it? Somebody who has spent so many years, 22 years as a TV anchor in the news business, is she just spinning this for political gain? I came out none the wiser, to be honest. My hunch is she doesn't because I can't believe that somebody who has dealt in facts for that long as a business would realize, would believe something for which there are no facts. But you would never get her to concede any chink in her denialism argument. I raised every argument there is against her, all the suits that have been thrown out, all the Republican reviews that have found that there was

no fraud, the local counties that have found that there is no fraud, nothing. She just says there is evidence, there is evidence, said evidence has yet to be produced. She insists that it's there somewhere. We don't know where it is She insists that it's there somewhere. We don't know where it is. She says it's there somewhere. But I don't know whether she believes it or not. And I'm not sure that's the point because now millions of her supporters do. And we're seeing that play out in this campaign.

Peggy Noonan writes for the Wall Street Journal a piece that is entitled Maybe Republicans Will Finally Learn. She writes in part, if in 2024 Republicans aren't serious about policy, about what they claim to stand for, they will pick Donald Trump as their nominee and warm themselves in the glow of the fire

as he goes down in flames. There's a gift for Republicans in what happened this week. Every victory carries within it the seeds of defeat. Every defeat, the seeds of victory. If Republicans had just won, they never would have learned a thing. They can learn now. The old saying is there's no education in the second kick of a mule. This is the third kick. And after 2018 and 2020, maybe they will learn now. David Jelle, I'm just wondering, in terms of the support for democracy that we saw, I think a lot, a lot, prices, busy within their own lives, who didn't like January 6th, were they not reminded when Paul Pelosi was attacked just before the midterms? Absolutely. I think what we saw in this midterm is your traditionally low to medium propensity voters, those who are not highly active, actually demonstrated they're highly informed and they can distill multiple issues from protecting democracy to inflation to Dobbs. And I also think what we saw in 22 is a perfect through line, a thread from the coalition in 18

that came out to say we want to stop the direction of Republicans to 20 that said we want to stop Donald Trump to 22. Republicans are in trouble. Peggy's exactly right. I would also suggest this is an opportunity for Democrats to solidify that coalition. Look outside of your party at those who have joined with you for these last four years. All right. Still ahead on Morning Joe, a look at the headlines making news across the country this morning. Plus, Steve Kornacki will join us from the big board for the very latest on the races that remain uncalled.

Also ahead, Massachusetts Governor-elect Maura Healey is our guest this morning after her historic win this week. Morning Joe is coming right back. road. Started out all alone and the sun went down. 54 past the hour. Time now for a look at the morning papers. the Star Tribune reports hospital workers in Minnesota are facing an increasing number of attacks. New data reveals there were about 280 attacks that injured Minnesota hospital staff in 2020. That is more than triple the number of assault-related injuries in 2019. The Portland Press-Herald covers the increase in abortions in Maine. New figures show the abortion rate in the state has increased by nearly 20 percent following the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Only a small portion of that increase can be attributed to women traveling to Maine from other states to receive the procedure. In Florida, the news press leads with the latest on what was Hurricane Nicole. More than 300,000 homes and businesses across the state were left without power after the storm made landfall yesterday as a Category 1 hurricane. The remnants of Nicole expected to bring heavy downpours, strong winds and dangerous flooding as it moves northeast this morning. In Louisiana, the Times reports Dolly Parton's Imagination Library is opening a new book club in the northwest part of the state.

That area is one of the poorest parts of Louisiana, where children often do not have easy access to books. Parton's book club delivers more than one million free books to children in five countries every month. She is a saint. She is. She's wonderful.