Morning Joe - Morning Joe 11/2/22

Episode Date: November 2, 2022

Suspect in Paul Pelosi attack allegedly told police he was on 'suicide mission' with more targets

Their extremism isn't limited to social programs in the economy. They're coming after your right to vote and who get to count to vote. No, for real. You got 300 or 50 so election deniers on the ballot on the Republican ticket. No, this is really deadly earnest, man. Democracy is on the ballot this year, along with your right to choose and the right to privacy. President Biden lays out the threats from, quote, MAGA Republicans in one of what will be several speeches in the final six days until the midterm elections. We'll look

at what the White House and Democrats have planned for the final days of the campaign. Plus, Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney is crossing party lines, making good on her promise to help defeat election-denying members of the GOP. Also ahead, the man accused of trying to kill Nancy Pelosi's husband makes his first appearance in court as more disturbing information is coming out about that attack. We're also following alarming developments in the war with Ukraine. There is new reporting this morning on high-level talks inside the Russian military about using a tactical nuclear weapon. And good morning and welcome to Morning Joe.

It is Wednesday, November 2nd. Joe is back along with Joe, Willie and me. We have the host of MSNBC's Politics Nation and president of the National Action Network, Reverend Al Sharpton, U.S. special correspondent for BBC News. Katty Kay is with us and author and NBC News presidential historian Michael Beschloss joins us this morning. I'd rather you not say Joe is back. Whenever in high school I'd leave class, I'd just slip into the back. Yeah, like Mike Barnacle's

Irish goodbye. Exactly. The blazer on the chair. Nobody would notice. A couple things really quickly. Willie, the Phillies, come on, man. Wow. Where did they come from? 7-0 last night. They hit five home runs, completely wiped out the Astros.

They're up 2-1 to the series. Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of boys down there in Houston. Yeah. And there was an amazing moment where it was clear that they were picking up something in the pitcher, Lance McCullers' pitch, the way he was delivering it, the way he was tipping it. Bryce Harper, who hit the first home run, whispered to the guy, bone coming up in the next inning, and he hits a home run on the first pitch. They were seeing something last night.

But, man, this is a team that finished a distant third in their division, got into the playoffs on a wild card, and are just on an amazing run. They're up 2-1 now in the series after a 7-0 win last night. And, of course, Warber having another good night. Way to go, Red Sox. Good job. That's great because he only wanted to stay with the Red Sox. Philly's just looking unbelievable. So.

So, Rob, going from as let's just keep watching these highlights and keep them in a loop. Rev and I are going to talk politics and crime for a second while we're talking about Philadelphia, I thought about you yesterday afternoon and I saw the pupil that, again, we we talked about how crime is going to impact the Pennsylvania races one way or the other. Even if Fetterman wins, hey, crime is the issue. We're afraid to go to work. We're afraid to come home. And afterwards, we were like, oh, it's racist to talk about crime. Right. This Pew poll comes out yesterday that shows among Democrats, 85, I believe it's 85 percent of black voters pick crime as a top issue. Eighty one percent of black Democrats say crime is a top issue. And look at that white voters.

It says 56 percent of white voters. But in the Democratic Party, only 33 percent of white Democrats. And this explains so much of what you've been trying to tell us and teach us for two years, that white woke latte liberals sit in Park Slope and say, oh, don't talk about crime. That's racist. Well, you say everybody in the congregation is telling you crime's a top issue. Everywhere I've gone this year, and you know I preach at different congregations every Sunday because of my ministries, National and National Action Network. That's all people talk to me about. Reverend, we get it about police reform.

We get it about voter rights. But what about crime? Why aren't you talking about that? So I didn't get this out of some great study. I got this from rape while I'm talking to real people. And, you know, Reverend Michael Walron, an outstanding minister in Harlem, said this woke analysis of we don't want police comes from privileged people. Because people that are not privileged need people on the ground to deal with carjackings, deal with home invasions, deal with they can't walk to the subway. They get on the subway landings and stand back because they're afraid of being pushed in front of trains. This is a daily reality. There are women and men getting ready for work right now that are afraid to go to the subway station right now, afraid to walk.

That's not exaggerating. That's explaining. And if we don't address that, we're not really dealing with the masses we claim to speak for. Right. Who they who they claim to speak for. And they don't even know. And Willie, how often do we hear people saying, oh, you can't talk about crime. That's just a GOP talking point. That's racism. When, in fact, you can go back to the Black Lives Matter marches with some of these woke white politicians. We're talking about defunding the police.

I remember a New York Times article from 2020 and representatives from Park Slope were talking about defunding the police, while representatives, people of color from parts of Brooklyn and the Bronx are saying defund the police. We need more police in our schools. We need more police in our streets. The truth has been there for Democratic leaders to hear for a couple of years. The truth has been there. If they would only talk to the representatives of the people who are on the front lines in this surge in crime, and instead they say, well, don't believe your lying eyes. We have data point that shows it's safer than it was in 1979. Yeah, it's incredibly condescending. And it gets to a point that our buddy Anand Giridharadas writes about in his new

book where he says, don't tell people what's important to them. They'll let you know what's important. Don't tell them, no, no, no. Crime's not important. No, no, no. The border is not important. Here's what's actually important. That's how you lose voters. And as Rev knows, the mayor of this city where we are right now, Eric Adams, was elected because quality of life and crime were the number one issues to voters in this city. He's a former 24 year New York City cop. But he did come in, Rev, saying we're not defunding the police. We need to make the police stronger while making the reforms that need to be made. And he was the nextcop and everyone knew it and voted for him because they figured he could handle it.

And it's not just one way, because we're seeing in red states crime is high. Right. Oklahoma has a higher crime rate than New York. Right. So, I mean, this is not just that the liberals, it's everybody has become tone deaf to their talking points rather than the reality of what people are living with every day. Every day. It's a very big issue. And we're going to have the very latest from all the battleground states with six days to go until Election Day. But our top story this morning,

Willie, the very latest on the attack on Paul Pelosi and what we're learning about the attack. It gets more disturbing the more we learn new details about that brutal attack on 82 year old Paul Pelosi, the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Prosecutors released a detention memo with new information about Friday's break-in and assault at Pelosi's San Francisco home. According to the document, the suspect, David DePapp, told police officers he was on a, quote, suicide mission and had additional targets. Without questioning, DePapp told officers at the scene, quote, I'm sick of the insane level of lies coming out of Washington, D.C. I came here to have a little chat with his wife, talking, of course, about the speaker. The document reveals at one point before police arrived, Paul Pelosi asked whether he could call

anyone for DePapp. According to the memo, DePapp, quote, ominously responded that it was the end of the road for Mr. Pelosi. Prosecutors allege DePapp also had other targets in mind, including a Bay Area professor and some prominent state and federal politicians. None of them were named in this filing. DePapp was arraigned in court yesterday afternoon and pleaded not guilty to several state felony charges. He will remain behind bars until a bail hearing on Friday. We also learned, Joe, yesterday that Mr. Pelosi, after he was hit over the head with a hammer fracturing his skull, lay unconscious in a pool of his own blood for several minutes before medical help could get to him and get him back to where he needed to be to

get to the hospital. Right. And you guys played clips yesterday, Republican candidates, some who are being called the future leaders of the Republican Party, making jokes about an 82-year-old grandfather getting his brains bashed and passing out. You know, he's probably fighting for his life. Yeah. You know, they say he's doing well. You know, you're hearing doing well, recovering family. Chances are good if you're 82 years old and you get your skull fractured and you're brutally assaulted.

You're fighting for your life and it's going to have a horrible impact on him for the rest of his life. And yet you have the rising star of the Republican Party lying about what happened, saying that there was a gay prostitute that he was he was meeting that night. And they kept stirring it up. I don't have to say again, the lead, the leader of Twitter and the richest guy in the world spreading that lie and Republicans, one after another Republican dismissing this. And, you know, Mika, you did a monologue on this a couple of days ago. So powerful. And a lot of people talking to me about it out in California.

And I'm like, what are you doing up that early? But they were they were talking about it. And it seems that as the days go by, your words become even more true because we didn't know everything then. This was just such a savage attack. And the conspiracy theories were so bizarre. Now, Republicans are resorting to why can't't they just do what Nancy Pelosi said after Steve Scalise got shot? Right. Right? Why can't they do that?

What's wrong with them? And this isn't about politics. This is about who raised you. Yeah. Who raised you? Are your parents really proud that you mock 82-year-olds getting their brains bashed? Or you just can't say this is a tragedy.

This is bad for America. We're praying for. Why can't you say that, Republicans? Mitch McConnell said it, but few others have. What's wrong with your soul? I've been in Congress. I can guarantee you it's not worth selling your soul for. In fact, it's not worth selling you like baseball cards for. It's not it's not worth selling your baseball cards for. It's not worth it. But now you have J.D. Vance. Now they've gone to phase two. OK, we've been caught lying. Right. Our conspiracy theories were flat out lies. Now you have J.D. Vance going, yeah, yeah, it's bad. But the real problem here, this is the Democrats' fault because an illegal alien was in America and he committed that crime.

And that's the problem. So, ladies and gentlemen, J.D. Vance wants you to know that we've talked about public safety. We have now learned, according to J.D. Vance last night, that the problem in America with this crime surge, the reason San Francisco and Oregon hang by a thread about to fall into a cesspool of anarchy, get this, little butter said this last is because Canadian workers overstayed their work visa. That's it. Here's the bite. Terrence and Phillips from South Park, they're the cause here. They overstayed their work visa.

And that's why locusts are descending from the heavens, eating our flesh. Here's Little Butters. What happened to Paul Pelosi was disgusting. And I think everybody, whether we're Democrats or Republicans or somewhere in the middle, are very glad that it looks like he's about to make a full recovery. Hopefully he's doing well. Certainly our thoughts and prayers are with Paul Pelosi. But I've condemned the violence against Paul Pelosi from the very beginning. I think it's preposterous. I think it's disgusting. And I think it's all something that all of us should condemn. What I've also said is that I think the effort to turn this into a political issue actually is a real problem here because Paul Pelosi was attacked.

Look, Paul Pelosi was attacked by a person who's an illegal alien in our country, should have never been here in the first place. My view very simply simply, is that we need to deport violent illegal aliens. OK, and and when an illegal alien attacks Paul Pelosi, it's tragic and it's terrible, but it's not reflective of Republicans. It's reflective of the fact that we let way too many violent people live freely in our country. How did you know the butt was coming there? You could you could see the wind up from there. Well, Paul Pelosi. Let's not make this political. First of all, let's not make it political. The guy had a MAGA, basically a MAGA statement that was out there. Twist ties.

He said he was coming to kill her for political purposes. He was going to try her. He was going to bust her kneecap. He was going to send messages to election deniers. He said he was going to shoot people in the media that didn't follow the lie about the stolen election. It is one of the most political attacks we can imagine. So so that's that's that's the thing, again, that that that he gets wrong. But you again, you talked about this a couple of days ago. It's only gotten worse for these Republicans that,

again, can't just come out and say this is really bad. We have a problem with violence on our side. We have a problem with with fascism growing sort of fascism on our side that started with Donald Trump. They can't just say it. Instead, they're saying, oh, don't say the word fascism. Don't say that word. Let's talk about something. What would you like to talk about? The Phillies? No, we have violence that's being stirred up by Donald Trump and his acolytes. Well, you know, I'm curious because I know that this probably wouldn't have happened five, 10, 15 years ago when you were in Congress. Even the the person who could stem this violence, who could stop this violent rhetoric, who could stop future violence are Republican leaders, are people like Kevin McCarthy, who

hysterically called Donald Trump when he knew Donald Trump was the one who could stop the violence on January 6th. Who are the people who could stop the violence that is happening now? Donald Trump could. And Republican leaders? No, not really. Oh, my God.

Are you kidding me? I'm telling you. They absolutely could. Now they could. Mitch McConnell standing alone in a silo is not helpful. Well, that's all Republicans in Congress, all Republican leaders being compelled to come together in unity and prayer and say stop and committing to stop spreading conspiracy theories and lies. Yes, it would help. I think the sickness is so deep within the base of the party, that the MAGA base that follows Donald Trump, the extreme MAGA base.

I think the sickness is so deep among them that if somebody criticizes violence the way they should, I think they would be seen, Katie K.S. sellouts. That's that's why on election. I mean, on January the 6th, when they're counting the electoral votes, what did all those Republican members say to Donald Trump? You got to call him off. You got to tell him to stop. You got to tell him to go home. Why did they all why were those Republican leaders screaming on the phone at Donald Trump, begging him to tell them to stop and go away because they knew that this fascism, let me say that word again, if it makes you

uncomfortable, let me say it again. The fascism that started rising in 2015, when Donald Trump started praising violence, when he started telling people of color that were in Congress to go back to where you came from, when when he started praising congressmen who beat up reporters for simply asking a question about health care reform, when he said there were good people on both sides in Charlottesville, when he had people like Steve Bannon talking about the violence that was going to be unleashed on January 6th and Roger Stone and the people that he was talking about when he tried to steal election when when the lawyer said you can't steal the election. So we're going to Donald Trump goes off at 2 a.m.

He writes a tweet and says, you got to come to Washington, D.C. on January the 6th. It's going to be wild. And Donald Trump telling the Proud Boys, stand by, stand by. And Donald Trump, while Mike Pence was running for his life, according to his own Secret Service, we were calling home, telling their families they probably weren't going to get home. They're going to be killed that day by Trump's angry mob. Mike Pence gets a tweet directing the crowd to be even more angry at him. While they're already shouting, hang Mike Pence. Katty K, it wasn't until Donald Trump told them to go home, told these, quote, patriots to go home, that they went home.

I wonder whether the tragedy of this is now that even if Donald Trump came out tomorrow and said, actually, you know what? The 2020 election was totally free and fair. Joe Biden won it. Whether the millions of Americans who have now been persuaded otherwise would suddenly say, OK, fine, we agree with Donald Trump. I almost think it's got beyond any one person, any one Republican leader. And I don't know that Donald Trump, even Donald Trump, has it in his power anymore to direct people like DePap or to make them change their minds. Because the level of misinformation out there and the level of fervor almost seems to have overtaken overtaken him and the Republican leadership. He injected this into the system, but it spread like a virus. And I wonder whether the virus has taken control.

I mean, it'll be interesting to see. We're just having an example of this right in Brazil right now at the moment where you had an election and you've had a leader who hasn't actually yet called his successor to say, OK, I concede you won. And you've got truckers snarling up the roadways in most of the country. He came out yesterday and said something. Will those truckers now step down? I just wonder whether when you unleash these populist movements fueled by social media, what did the defense lawyer say in the case of DePap? That he had a vulnerability to misinformation, seems to be the defense lawyer say in the case of DePap? That he was he had a vulnerability to misinformation seems to be the defense now. That once people have that vulnerability to misinformation, do they actually listen to any one person anymore?

Has this got has this got beyond Donald Trump, even Donald Trump's power to control? Make no mistake of it. Cult leaders, fascists, televangelists who are in it for the money and not for God. They prey on the vulnerable. They prey on the most vulnerable. They are the people they want to do their bidding, whether it's to send their Social Security checks to their televangelist PTL ministry or whether they want to take to the streets and commit acts of violence. And we talk about what's happened over the past five, six years. Michael Beschloss, let's remind everybody again exactly what's happened. Take a look at this. We're not allowed to punch back anymore. I love the old days. You know what they

used to do to guys like that when they were in a place like this? They'd be carried out on a stretcher, folks. Like to punch him in the face, I'll tell you. If you see somebody getting ready to throw a tomato, knock the crap out of them, would you? Seriously. Okay, just knock the hell. I promise you, I will pay for the legal fees. The White House grappling with the ongoing backlash over all the words President Trump didn't say in the wake of those violent clashes in Virginia, not specifically calling out white supremacist groups behind it all. You look at both sides. I think there's blame on both sides.

And I have no doubt about it. And you don't have any doubt about it either. You had some very bad people in that group, but you also had people that were very fine people on both sides. He had referred to protesters as thugs and wrote, when the looting starts, the shooting starts. But the president claimed no awareness of that expression's link to 1960s racial unrest, then used by a Miami police chief who wielded tough tactics in black communities. I am your president of law and order and an ally of all peaceful protesters. This is an extraordinary escalation on the streets in front of the White House right now.

Within the last 15 minutes, mounted police have been coming down the street. You're going to see them in the frame now using flashbangs in front of them and mounted police to clear what has been an entirely peaceful protest. Not 98 percent, not 99 percent, but 100 percent people protest here today. People throwing. There was no throwing of water bottles. There was no throwing of objects. But a short time ago, mounted police officers have been clearing the street. Tony, if you could pan to the right, I want to show the military police. I want to show the military police on the side of the street.

Over the last half hour, we've had military police. We've had Secret Service officers. We've had military police. We've had Secret Service officers. We've had park police. And now we've had National Guardsmen lining the fence. They've been stepping up closer and closer and closer over the last few minutes. And there continues to be just this constant roar of sirens and helicopters that you can hear on the White House grounds that the president was obviously able to hear as he headed over to that park. But, of course, one thing the president wasn't able to hear were any of those protesters, because the police and the National Guard had aggressively pushed them out of that park just moments before the president made his walk over there.

We're going to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue. I love Pennsylvania Avenue. And we're going to the Capitol and we're going to try and give. The Democrats are hopeless. They're never voting for anything. Not even one vote. But we're going to try and give our Republicans, the weak ones, because the strong ones don't need any of our help. We're going to try and give them the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country. So that sign at the end there, Michael, it said Pelosi is Satan on January 6th. Of course, they were walking through the halls of the Capitol looking for Nancy.

They were saying that out loud, a sentiment echoed by this guy who broke into the house and said, where is Nancy? Where is Nancy? As he stood over Paul Pelosi in his pajamas holding a hammer. Yeah. And, you know, there's a through line here and the through line is a large number of American leaders. Republicans have lied about the 2020 election, said it was stolen from Donald Trump. They have lied about January 6th, saying that that was just tourists visiting Capitol Hill. So in this atmosphere, it's almost inevitable that on social media, you would see the lies about this tragedy that happened to Paul Pelosi in San Francisco a couple of days ago, all on top of the fact that, you know, let's ask the question, you know, Joe is quite rightly mentioning fascism. Here we are this week, exactly 100 years

after Mussolini and the fascists came to power in Italy. How do fascists come to power? One way that's almost always there is they foment violence and they try to exploit it. That's what Mussolini did. That's what Hitler did in Germany in 1933. There was the Reichstag fire. There were other outbreaks of violence. So Hitler and Mussolini said, you need to bring me into the government because you, the government, cannot control this violence and we have to make things safe. And the people were in the government said, you know, bring Mussolini and Hitler in because maybe they will behave better. Donald Trump has been doing that for seven years. We're seeing that happening once again. And there has been political violence on both sides for years.

But the whataboutism has been ridiculous, shameful since this all began. People are talking about what happened outside Michael of Kavanaugh's home, Judge Kavanaugh, Justice Kavanaugh. By the way, I made no friends watching this show by saying people shouldn't protest outside of his house, condemning remarks that Chuck Schumer had made earlier, made no friends. Actually, we didn't make any friends by talking about the way the Democrats acted during his confirmation hearings at the end of those confirmation hearings. So we're we've all along said what we've said about Kavanaugh. I've been very clear about that. There's a huge difference, though, between a guy who wants to commit suicide and goes to the cops and says, I want to commit suicide. I got a gun in a suitcase and I'm thinking about killing a justice and somebody that breaks in

and bashes the brain. I mean, there's a guy who actually tell the cops he's thinking about it. And then there's the violent act. So that's one. And the second thing, I think even more glaring is the reaction to Scalise. When Steve Scalise was shot, we showed clips yesterday of Nancy Pelosi mournfully talking about how sad she was and Democrats all circling around him and praying for him and wanting the best for him. We have Republican candidates out mocking Paul Pelosi, an 82 year old grandfather, getting his brain spashed in and an injury that could be life threat. Well, his life threatening, manipulating history, saying that that reaction didn't happen for Steve Scalise. Yeah, exactly. So they're lying. But again. We've had extremists on both sides throughout American history. The difference here is that for six years you have had a leader that has been using violent rhetoric, who's been promoting violence in his own rallies, been promoting violence against the other side, promoted

violence on January the 6th, praised violence on January the 6th, spread conspiracy theories among his political movement that people believe. They still don't believe the truth about January the 6th because they won't even watch the video. You can hear that last night in the Ohio debate. They haven't even watched this video. And it's all because the guy at the top has created a fascist sort of violent violence that permeates the entire movement, the entire MAGA movement. They either commit acts of violence, they speak violently or they they they apologize for violence. There's a huge there is no what about ism here, is there, Michael? No, there's not. And I think that's something that you've seen in Donald Trump from the very beginning.

You showed that rally where he said, I'd like to punch him in the face. Is that something that Dwight Eisenhower would have said at a rally? Is that something that John Kennedy would have said? I can't think of any president of the United States or any major party presidential candidate in all of American history who would have said such a thing because they all understood that a big part of being president is assuring public safety and keeping people calm. Donald Trump shows the signs of an authoritarian who says, I profit from violence. I exploit it. And, you know, one thing that really shows this is go back to 1968. Donald Trump was 22 years old. He was living in Queens. Queens went heavy for Richard Nixon and George Wallace. Nationally, those two candidates, as all of you know, this

morning got 57 percent of the vote. And what did they say? You know, we're tough on crime. The Democrats are soft. Nixon put on commercials saying we see cities enveloped in smoke and flame. You know, people are killing. And he was right to some extent. But, you know, look at that all the way through Willie Horton in 1988. The George H.W. Bush campaign did not put on those commercials, but people on their behalf did, and they worked extremely well. So you've got someone who would like to see violence,

but more than that, know that it works. NBC News presidential historian Michael Beschloss, thank you very much for coming on this morning. And still ahead on Morning Joe, new polling shows some closely watched races in Arizona and Wisconsin are tightening. We're digging into those new numbers. Plus, a moment of bipartisanship on

the campaign trail. We'll be joined by Democratic Congresswoman Alyssa Slotkin on the heels of her event with GOP Congresswoman Liz Cheney. Also ahead, Ohio Senate candidates Tim Ryan and J.D. Vance shared the stage at a town hall event last night as we showed you what they had to say to voters. And new reporting this morning on how President Biden is trying to strike a balancing act in his closing message ahead of the midterms. You're watching Morning Joe. We'll be right back. We are not one caucus or the other in this House today, but we speak for each other in saying that we send our thoughts and prayers to our colleague, Steve Scalise. Thank you, my colleagues, for the opportunity to share some thoughts with you on this sad day.

Steve and others, you are deeply in our prayers. We count the minutes until you return. Please convey that to him mr speaker thank you it is not impossible to protect our kids at school they act like it is nancy pelosi well she's got protection when she's in dc apparently her house doesn't have a lot of protection but 35 past the hour live look at the capitol still dark in washington but time to wake up and go to work let's bring in the host of way too early white house peer chief at politico jonathan

lamere and willie uh this debate between jd vince and tim ryan last night it was a town hall um but there were some debate like moments uh it was quite something. Yeah. Tim Ryan went on Fox News into a Fox News town hall. He clearly is trying to win over some Republican voters who may be skeptical of J.D. Vance, talked about a ton of stuff, sat down with Brett Baier and Martha McCallum. And Martha asked asked Congressman Ryan about a moment he had on our show last month where he said we have to kill and confront the extremist part of the Republican Party, not all Republicans, but we've got to kill and confront the extremist part of it and then work with what he called the normal mainstream Republicans. Here was his response in that exchange. When you say that the MAGA movement should be killed and confronted, who is in that category? The guys who stormed the Capitol on January 6th. They are the lead.

They're the leaders. This is what I'm saying. They stormed the Capitol on January 6th. They beat up 140 police officers, killed one. OK, they killed one. They killed one. We all watched the video. We all watched the video.

And I work. Let him finish, please. And I work. I'm happy to have this conversation. I'm not afraid to have this conversation. These are the conversations we need to have in this country. I welcome you guys. Let's just be respectful. But I'm not afraid to stand here and defend my position. On January 6th, 140, I sit on the subcommittee that funds the Capitol Police. These are my friends. 140 of them got hurt. And some of them still can't go back to work because they were beat up with lead pipes. They were sprayed with pepper spray. They were beaten with flagpoles. Okay. They were trying to

overthrow the government. They were trying to stop the peaceful transition of the government. What else were they doing there? Are they going to kill Mike Pence? Right. Want to kill Nancy Pelosi. Now somebody's beating up Nancy Pelosi's husband with a hammer. J.D. Vance raised money for the insurrectionists. He made several social media posts to raise money for them. Now, again, I don't care what your politics are, but Americans should say no. We have to say no to that. And he did get applause at the end of that answer. We sat and patiently sort of explained the booing you heard there was over the death of officer sickness who died the next day as a result of the next day whose mom said yeah he was killed by what happened there right but but it's it's a fact he's run such a good campaign you just have to say tim

ryan he's walking this tightrope of being a democrat in a state that has gone red in the last couple of presidential elections and trying to win over some Republicans who, again, are not in love with J.D. Vance in Ohio. J.D. Vance is a weird guy. I mean, for Ohio, the Republicans look at him as being a weird guy. I've talked to Republican donors. I've said it here before. Republicans say he's the worst candidate they've ever seen at that level. He's the laziest candidate. He's disinterested. He gets in fights with his own donors. Georgia. Yeah. Yeah. But they like him. But they like him, Georgia. J.D. Vance, unlike Herschel, J.D. Vance never won a Heisman Trophy in the national championship. Let me just tell you, in Ohio or in Georgia, that would go a long way. That, as Robert Frost would say,

has made all the difference. But J.D. Vance is a weird guy. Like, he's a venture capitalist. He wrote his book. He loved being around elitists. He loved going on shows like this. He loved going to cocktail parties and having everyone, Oh, J.D., you understand the hoi polloi. You understand the team.

Yes, I do. And Little Butters would be in his little venture capitalist vest and sit there and they go, I like San Francisco. I like venture capitalism. Is this J.D. Sting? Smartest people in the world. J.D. Vance. Yeah.

Doesn't that sound just like him? Yes. So there is this weird disconnect between that guy that Peter Thiel has placed in the heartland, a guy who got rich by mocking his own people and making them look like zombies. Let me tell you something, baby. I wouldn't have gone back to my high school reunion

if I had written a book saying, oh, all my friends in high school reunion, I looked in the windows and they had eyes like zombies. Like he got rich and famous by kicking his own people. So, yeah, I don't know that that's a winning winning formula. But I will say that we don't tell Ryan for a long time. He's really grown in this camp. He was good, but he was not that good. He's found his center. He's run about as good of a campaign as I think I have seen on this level. Democrats across the nation say that Ryan's run as good of a campaign as one could run in Ohio, a state that has dramatically trended red,

a state that most Democrats didn't think was even in play this time around, a state that this moment National Democrats still not funding. Congressman Ryan has been on this show a couple of times now saying, I still have not. Despite my pleas to the National Party, I'm still not getting the help that I need here in the stretch run. So the fact that the polls are as close as they are, and yes, it has helped the J.D. Vance, as just documented, is an odd fit for Ohio, a carpetbagger, one who has, you know, had to shift his positions on party stances a number of times. This is one Democrats, they hope Ryan get across the finish line. Polls have him just down. But regardless of the effort, he has run a remarkable campaign in a very difficult state. And let's talk about Georgia. Hershel just keeps getting more and more strange. By the way,

just on a personal level, not talking politics, just stay off your Twitter machine. I actually when I see Herschel out there, I actually see that as a tragedy for Herschel and his family. He doesn't belong there. He's been pushed out there by power, but by Donald Trump, he's not ready for prime time. And he keeps saying things that are just absolutely humiliating. Yesterday, you know, talking about Barack Obama needed to go back to wherever he came from. And and just just more bad news coming out every day for people who've been affected by Herschel throughout his life. I do find it, I just, I can't, I can't believe that the people of Georgia would vote for

a guy that has had as many problems as he's been having. It's not fit for the job, not qualified for the job. And, and, and it doesn't, he doesn't have the capacity to effectively be a United States senator. And don't forget the second woman that accused him of paying for an abortion came forward and did an interview. I mean, she came and put herself out there, which had to be something she did not want to do. And, you know, so when Mika raised Georgia, when you were talking about J.D. Yeah, you're right. J.D. Vance never won a Heisman. But no one ever accused my friend in Georgia of ever writing less known reading a book. So, I mean, you know, it kind of balances the issue.

There's so much talk about John Fetterman and whether or not he's fit to serve after having a stroke. And can he talk? Has anyone interviewed Herschel Walker and listened to him on the issues? And you're talking about where where J.D. Vance had gotten rich and he did mocking his own people. Do you know how people and I've been to Georgia twice, how people in the black community feel that this is the example you put up to our children. It really is condescending. And only a Donald Trump who sees everybody as pawns that he moves around. Right. Because I remember when he was partnering with Don King, I was there and putting boxes in the ring. And it didn't matter whether they would go to bed. Let's just match this because I got to fill the Atlantic City Convention Center. He had the contract. That's how he threw Herschel into this about what a man who is erudite, qualified

and educated. Just throw a black in there. My guy used to be on the football team. I own Herschel. And it's insulting to blacks and whites in Georgia. And if you read there is there is there is just a historical pattern here. Hannah Arendt, when she's talking about the rise of totalitarianism and documenting the rise of fascism, Willie, what does she say the strong men do? They replace competency with loyalty. So they'll get rid of the senators. They'll get rid of the members of Congress. They'll get rid of the bureaucrats who are competent and can make the country better. And they'll replace them with stooges. That's exactly what's happening.

Who are idiots. Yeah, exactly. And so you look at Dr. Oz, not qualified. He's a TV doctor that sold magic beans from New Jersey and actually from New Jersey. He votes in Turkey. And you look at J.D. Vance. We talked about J.D. Vance. You look at Herschel Walker. You look at Blake Masters out in Arizona. You have people that are unqualified in every respect to be a United States senator, but, again, replace competence with just sheer political hackery, and they fit the bill for Donald Trump. Well, their qualification, as you say, is loyalty to Donald Trump, and those are hand-picked candidates.

Herschel, obviously, Dr. Oz, J.D. Vance, Donald Trump has blessed as well. And what you hear in that answer that we played earlier from J.D. Vance, where he's asked about Paul Pelosi being attacked, why is there a but? Why can't you just say this is horrible? There's a but. I hear fear. You hear fear of Donald Trump. You hear fear of Donald Trump's voters.

If I just give an unqualified condemnation of what happened, which should be easy for anyone with any character, am I going to get in trouble? Am I going to lose a few votes? And that's just a microcosm of what you see in the party, fear of Donald Trump and his voters. And the example has been set in stone, as you pointed out yesterday, Kevin McCarthy, you know, screaming hysterically at Donald Trump to please stop the rioters. But then a month later, going to apologize for his behavior. It's sick. Yeah. McCarthy gave Trump his comeback into the Republican Party. His visit to Mar-a-Lago started his rehabilitation. We've been saying on the show, when waiting,

when Trump had been silent about this attack, that ended yesterday. He gave a radio interview and trolled in the conspiracy theories that there was more than meets the eye to this encounter at Pelosi's house, even though, of course, police have said otherwise. He said even that there was, wasn't there something about the glass was broken from the inside. Yeah, the other nine yards of this conspiracy. And they said, but I don't know.

Let's check it out. He knows what he's doing. He's feeding into this madness that's going on. Coming up, a major battle for the southern region of Ukraine is looming as Ukrainian officials say Moscow is trying to clear out civilians to provide room for newly mobilized Russian forces. We'll get a live report from Kiev, plus military analysis from retired Navy Admiral James Stavridis. And as we go to break, some thoughts from former President Barack Obama on the campaign trail last week about Herschel Walker. Some of you may not remember, but Herschel Walker was a heck of a football player. But here's the question.

Does that make him the best person to represent you in the U.S. Senate? Does that make him equipped to weigh in on the critical decisions about our economy and our foreign policy and our future? Let's do a thought experiment. Let's say you're at the airport and you see Mr. Walker and you say, hey, there's Herschel Walker, Heisman winner. Let's have him fly the plane. You probably wouldn't say that. You'd want to know, does he know how to fly an airplane? By the way, the opposite is true too. Like, you may have liked me as president, but you

would not want me starting a tailback for the Dawgs. I mean, can you imagine my slow, old, skinny behind getting hit by some 300 pound defensive tackle who runs a four six forty you'd have to scrape me off the field how are we doing today okay well things aren't good uh in ukraine that's we're gonna go are we gonna go because i was thinking about going to philadelphia because we have we'll get to ukraine but 30 seconds the phillies what they have some magic right now the harper home run in the first inning spectacular it felt like the stadium was going to collapse upon itself we i heard willie say earlier there's real evidence after the game that McCullers, the Astros pitcher, was tipping his pitches.

And I would just like to note the irony. The Houston Astros are playing a team that might know what the other pitch is coming. And I think if we discover that the Phillies actually it was more than just standard pitch tipping but rather they had a system to steal the signs. Major League Baseball? Eh, that's fine. You can have this one. Let's

call it even. But they got the momentum, and the next two are at home. And I've got to say, too, about Bryce Harper. You know, I don't know why, but I'm one of the millions of people that I don't know. I've never really cared for him in Washington for whatever reason. He's just next level. You almost – I hate to say this. This is hard to say.

But one of the most clutch hitters I've seen has been Ortiz. Before that, Reggie Jackson for the Yankees. In these big moments, Bryce Harper, man, you've got to put him there. I've still got to say, what he did in the National League Championship Series, one of the great moments in baseball. The eighth inning home run in the rain to give them the lead there. And let's just remember about Harper. He's someone who came in as the most touted prospect baseball has seen in decades, and he's lived up to the hype.

I know there's some Nats fans who don't love him, but he's won two MVPs. He has put up Hall of Fame-level numbers. He's only 30 now and he is having right now an october for the ages and he rises to the moment i was listening in the car i was driving around last night and dan shulman the espn radio guy said who's done a lot of games in his career said that is the loudest he's ever been in a stadium ever is when bryce harper hit that home run it's just it's really electric. This is, this is also, this is one for the ages. Mika always gets freaked out because, you know,

I know all the world series. Philadelphia doesn't have, you know, they, they went to the world series in 1915 and lost to the red Sox 1950 and lost to the Yankees they didn't get back to 1980 when they finally won and then they won in 2008 right there is no history for this baseball crazy town so man this is like put them there with with boston before we won in 04 and and with with with chicago and now unfortunately cleveland we all have to we all have to pull Cleveland over the finish line. It's been since 1948. But that town, man, they are hungry for a winner. And this is one for the ages if they can pull it off. It's a long way from over.

A long way from over. The Astros are still really, really good. But let's say Philly also has the best NFL team in the league. Both teams playing this Thursday night at a World Series game and an Eagles game on the same night. Oh, boy. Both Philadelphia versus Houston. And the Sixers are fun to watch, so it's a good moment for Philly sports. And the Phillies have suffered so much, and Alex Corson really quickly just said in my

ear, if it weren't for the DH, Harper wouldn't have played all year. The change in the rules, because he's been hurt all year. And now, you know what I really want to talk about? Yeah, you know, I can tell you missed being with your friends here on the show. America's team. Can we work now? Oh, right. Okay.

Russia has stepped up its efforts this week to push out Ukrainian citizens from the city and region of Kherson, moving them across the Dnipro River eastward into areas more solidly held by Russian forces. While Russia claims the move is to protect civilians, Ukrainian officials say it's part of a campaign to terrorize and deport them. Russia has been relocating civilians from the area for weeks ahead of a potential battle for control. Kherson is one of the four territories illegally annexed by Russia in September. Its capital city provides an access point to Crimea and the Black Sea,

along with a path to Ukraine's southern coastline for invading Russian forces. Admiral, get us up to date, if you will. Where are we? First and foremost, Russia continues to flail badly. Secondly, you were talking about the Astros stealing signals. We are stealing a lot of signals. We're winning in the information and intelligence war in ways that are really hurting them. Thirdly, watch the city of Kherson that we just showed. That's going to be an absolutely critical key place. Geographically, as mentioned, it guards the entrances to Crimea, which is the main ball for Putin.

Psychologically, it's huge. It's the last major town still held by the Russians. The Russians have the wherewithal to hold it at this point, get the momentum. No, I do not think so. I think Kherson will fall in the next couple of weeks and then enter old man winter. This thing will really slow down on the ground. Last thought, Joe. Yeah. Watch the sea. Watch the Black Sea. Watch the fact that the Russians have pulled back on this grain deal. That's going to hurt huge swath of the developing world. Right. If the grain can't get out right now, today, as we are talking, brave sea captains, merchant ship captains are still

sailing that grain without guarantees from Russia for safety. Quickly watch the sea quickly on that. Even as you've been talking, we just got breaking news. Russia says it will rejoin the deal, allowing grain shipments from Ukraine's ports, which may unease some of the ease, some of the uncertainty around that food supply is hugely good news. And I'll tell you exactly why Putin has chosen that path. It's not because of his better angels. It's because he knows if he tried to stop those grain shipments, there'd be U.S. Navy destroyers up there in about five minutes. NATO ships. We would escort that grain, just like we escorted oil tankers back in the 1980s. So, so, Caddy, it's very interesting if they can't hold on, if the Russians can't hold on and you have the Ukrainians on the doorstep of Crimea. At that point, we start moving from a military situation to a diplomatic situation where Vladimir Putin has

made clear that Crimea is the red line for him. And that's when you start talking about tactical nuclear weapons. We could be coming even before winter to a flashpoint, the likes of which we really haven't seen since the Cuban missile crisis. Yes. I mean, there are a few things going on that might be putting pressure on Vladimir Putin right now. I mean, one is that they're keeping an eye on the U.S. midterm elections to see whether the U.S. maintains its resolve, particularly with the some of the splits we've seen, actually not just within the Republican Party, but to some extent within the Democratic Party as well, around both carrying on funding weapons for the Ukrainians, but also trying to push the White House to get

into some kind of diplomatic negotiation. So the Russians are watching that very closely. The Ukrainians are watching that very closely, with the very real prospect that December might be one of the last big moments for a U.S. aid package to the Ukrainians. But this talk of a possible tactical nuclear strike, there's confusion here in Washington about whether, you know, how serious is this? How much is this the Kremlin just wanting to raise fear in the West? I mean, are they just using this, the talk of this, the meetings around this? Are they just using that as a way to terrify the West? And should we keep that, you know, into some kind of perspective, which is what the White House and the Pentagon seem to be saying, listen, we haven't seen any movement

on nuclear strikes. We're not seeing anything that makes us think that they've changed their nuclear force posture. So let's tamp down the rhetoric on that, because actually the West getting afraid of that is exactly what Vladimir Putin would like.