Morning Joe - Morning Joe 2/27/23

Episode Date: February 27, 2023

First lady signals president will run for re-election

But your train exploded and who do we blame? Who do we blame? We blame Buttigieg. Pete Buttigieg. This was his responsibility. Unfortunately, he was too busy being a nerd and being gay. Dealt with the very much more important issue of should trains have big poison? And I have to tell you i call him

pete butt i call him pete butt there's no way around it that's just the best one believe me i've tried it every which way and it really doesn't get better than pete butt but this would have never happened under my administration. People are saying I made the trains less safe. Not true, okay? Not true. I did a lot for trains. I made them bigger, faster, less safe, perhaps. Yeah, perhaps you did.

Perhaps. Saturday Night Live's take on Donald Trump's recent trip to East Palestine, Ohio. Meanwhile, President Joe Biden says he doesn't have plans to visit the town devastated by the train disaster and will have his comments on why. Plus, the first lady seems to have given away the president's plans for 2024. We'll play for you what she said. Also ahead, a weekend of deadly Russian strikes in Ukraine brings more attention to the debate over supplying Ukrainian forces with fighter jets. And we'll go through a new report from the Department of Energy on the origins of COVID. Good morning and welcome to Morning Joe. It is Monday, February 27th. With us, we have

the host of Way Too Early, White House Peer Chief at Politico, Jonathan Lemire, the host of MSNBC's Politics Nation, president of the National Action Network, Reverend Al Sharpton, and former White House press secretary now and MSNBC host Jen Psaki. Her new show, Inside with Jen Psaki, debuts on Sunday, March 19th. I can't wait. I can't wait for that. And I'm celebrating it along with Jen today. You'll notice, Jonathan Lemire, we are in our Celtic green. Both of us in our Celtic green. We are ready to celebrate this.

And speaking of Boston sports, Jonathan Lemire, the pitch clock, it's a good thing. Games at once were three hours and 30 minutes, two hours and 30 minutes. Yeah, first of all, I should have gotten a memo on this Celtic green being the biggest Celtics fan here at the panel, and they had a great win Saturday night in Philadelphia with a buzzer beater. But I'm with you, Joe. This is a game changer, literally, in Major League Baseball, and it's early days.

We've only had a couple days of spring training in these first games. But the pitch clock is here, and it's a good thing. These games were clocking in at 2 hours and 30 minutes, 2 hours and 45 minutes. Rarely any broke the 3-hour mark. And that is such a refreshing change from what we've seen in recent years, where these games would extend 3, 3 1⁄2, 4 hours long. Shorter games are good. It's good for attention span of the fans.

Good for kids who can see more of it. And, Joe, over the weekend, we did have our first bit of controversy, though, with the clock involving our Red Sox. You've heard of a walk off. This was a clock off. This was a clock off where they did walk off. I mean, look at this. Talk about anticlimactic. It took him more than eight seconds to get into the batter's box.

Strike three with bases loaded, game tied. Game over. You're out. Sit down, baby. Sit down. Sit down. You know, the thing is, though, you know, there's some people whining out there. Like, the rules are the rules are the rules.

But you thought the end of the Super Bowl was anticlimactic. I guess. Wow. Wow. Wow. I mean, speaking of anticlimactic. Well, how about this? We're a Segway river now. Dr. Jill Biden. She killed Hamlet in the first act yeah he's he's running joe's running like that she's he said she said ready to run she's ready to he's ready to run i mean yeah not a lot of questions left on that one yeah the irony of her saying that is it was not too long ago president biden was saying he was going to consult with his family. He was going to see what everyone thought he had to get ready.

And now she's saying he is ready, which clearly signals that she's fine with it. So we're all left with no suspense here. We're just waiting for the formality of his to make the announcement. I don't think many people that have worked closely with him and those of us that have access to him have doubted that he was up for the run. It was just a matter of the final decision. And the first lady has announced in many ways what the decision is. It's sort of like when I want to know what we're doing on Morning Joe, I call Mika. Yep.

Yeah. Exactly. Well, you're right. She tells you. That is very, very, very astute observation, Reverend Dow. What are we doing? Really quickly. What are we doing?

Stop. Don't do that. So it's a little close. There's a line here. Right here. Okay. Don't cross it. So can we hear the first lady really quickly and then we'll get to our top story. But while we're on it, here is Dr. Jill Biden on her husband and whether or not he might run.

Well, he's he says he's not done. He's not finished what he started. And that's what's important. And I think look at all that that Joe has done, has accomplished. I mean, he brought us out of the chaos. And he did that. He was elected because people wanted steady leadership. And I think they saw that in Joe, and they saw his character.

So is all that's left at this point is just to figure out a time and place for the announcement? Pretty much. OK, OK, we'll leave that right there because nobody said it better. Let's get to our top story this morning. President Biden says he doesn't have plans to visit the site of that train derailment and toxic chemical spill in Ohio. He made those comments to reporters on Friday while defending his administration's handling of the situation in East Palestine. You know, we were there two hours after the train went down, two hours. I've spoken with every single major figure in both Pennsylvania and in Ohio. And so the idea that we're not engaged is just simply not there. And initially there was not a request for me to go out

even before I was heading over to Key. So I'm keeping very close tabs on it. We're doing all we can. Again, as he said, Jen, he was asked two hours or they checked in two hours afterwards. And the administration has been on the ground pretty much ever since. And so when you have like the House Oversight Committee launching an investigation into Pete Buttigieg and his response, this is once again the Republicans just stepping into a mess that they've made for themselves, because, of course, every Democrat and every newspaper and every

fair minded person, they're going to look at the train derailments during the Trump administration where people died and Trump didn't even think about going out there. Exactly. I mean, we're here because of all of the deregulation of the train industry during the Trump administration and because train the train industry and train lobbyists spent almost 500 million dollars over the course of a decade trying to prevent regulation that would make it safer, would make trains safer, right, and make this type of accident we saw last week, prevent this type of accident from happening.

But a couple things I think are true. I mean, one, I saw—so, we saw from there, I think, the president is a little bit defensive, right? I'm sure his team in the White House is like, oh, there's no reason to be defensive. We've done a lot of stuff here, right? And that's because he's clearly frustrated about the critique. There's some good reason for that because of the deregulation. But there is also this thing hanging out there of why he hasn't gone yet. Right. And so while he said he wasn't going to go, I'm a little you know, they evaluate that type of thing in a White House day by day. I suspect there's a reason he hasn't gone.

But I wouldn't rule out him never going, because if it's still a problem at the end of this week, they're going to have to assess that. Yeah. And again, it's so important to underline the fact. Again, let's underline the fact and just say it very slowly. So our friends in in in Trump's orbit can understand it. It was Donald Trump who actually took off some of the safety rules, some of those safety regulations that actually made this sort of train transport more dangerous. They deregulated it. This is on them.

And again, when trains derailed during the Trump administration, when trains derailed and people died during the Trump administration, Donald Trump never went there. He hardly mentioned it. Like it's again, so it's just the height of hypocrisy. And it just

again. You don't say this to try to defend anybody in the Biden administration. I once again find myself pushing the rock up the hill. Trying to help my former Republican brothers and sisters from looking stupid and stepping into a fight that only hurts you in the end, because that's all you do. And this is yet another example of it. It's your deregulation that helped cause this. And it's Donald Trump, the very president that's claiming Joe Biden should have been there. They wouldn't even go to train derailments when people died. So the hypocrisy is just there for everybody to say. I agree. And I

also think whether Biden shows up there or not, given the fact that they've been on the ground since two hours after it happened, is such a distraction from the real questions. Number one, the questions of the company, obviously that. but secondly, the governors that made decisions on how to deal with it and local politicians who we have to look at exactly what happened here, decisions that were made, whether to burn it, what to do. Those decisions had a direct impact on what is happening for people on the ground and whether or not it's impacting their health. I mean, look at that. There are a lot of questions. And whether Joe Biden takes a flight there today, tomorrow, yesterday is really not the most important one. It's going to be how to fix that

and whether or not that has a permanent impact on the health of the people of East Palestine. And again, the only time that it matters is like for Donald Trump visiting, there was a branding exercise. Actually, Joe Biden sending people that can actually get things done. Well, and there were decisions made in the hours after that that we have to look at. Joining us now from East Palestine, Ohio, NBC News correspondent George Solis. What is the latest on the cleanup and what do we know about toxins in the water and air? Good morning, Mika and Joe. Residents here really concerned. They say they're all for the attention that their town has got. And they wonder if the publicity has been good for them or bad for them. But the one thing they do want is accountability.

And a lot of people here, this has become a boots on the ground type of operation. You have people within this community, people from outside this community bringing things like food, bottled water. The big headline that we know today, the EPA announcing yesterday that they're going to allow the train operator Norfolk Southern to begin and resume disposal of that hazardous material. Mind you, this was going to other states outside of Ohio, and that was alarming to a lot of officials, two sites in Michigan and one in Texas. Officials there saying they felt blindsided that some of this contaminated soil and water was coming into their state unbeknownst to them. EPA said, we're going to put a stop to that and we're going to find sites in the state. They did. They found two of them.

EPA approved that this material will now be heading to. Now, yesterday, we did ask the head of the EPA for the region here. What about that stuff that was already sent to those two states? What's going to happen to that material? I want you to listen to the exchange that we had as I pressed her on that issue. You mentioned that cleanup operations will resume tomorrow. What about the locations in Michigan and Texas where some of this hazardous material was already shipped? Will that continue in any capacity? Is that material being vetted? So that material was already vetted, and it is at those facilities, but they are not currently accepting anymore.

We're exploring to see whether they have capacity. And we're continuing to make sure that any facility has off-site approval under CERCLA. Yeah, residents still understandably skeptical about how all of this has been handled thus far. Now, we know federal agencies have been going door to door. They've been doing air quality, water quality tests. And to this point, they say everything looks good. Now, we know at the derailment site today, the Ohio EPA says they're going to begin putting in water monitoring wells to make sure that the groundwater is not contaminated. We also know that at the derailment site, all the cars are gone except 11, which are being held there as part of this NTSB investigation. Residents here say, look,

we know that right now things may look good, but we really are worried about the long-term effects that this contamination is going to have on our community. And we really want to see Norfolk Southern be held accountable. Now, to be fair, the company says they're going to stick by this community. They're going to keep their centers open here to offer checks and do more water and air quality testing. But people here really want to see more accountability. Guys, Nika. NBC's George Solis, thank you very much for your reporting this morning. We will turn to politics, but we'll be following that story.

Former Vice President Mike Pence told NBC News on Friday that he expects to decide by the spring whether he will run for president. Also in that interview with Ali Vitale, Pence said Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is wrong when last week he downplayed Russia's strength. There's one person to blame for the unfolding tragedy of Russian aggression in Ukraine. And that's Vladimir Putin. While some in my party have taken a somewhat different view, let me be clear. There can be no room in the leadership of the Republican Party for apologists for Putin. There can only be room for champions of freedom.

Russian tanks are in Georgia. The Russian military has taken over Crimea. And now Russian aggression, one year in the making, has launched a war that has displaced millions and cost 300,000 lives, many more thousands wounded and injured. The right approach to this moment in history with renewed Russian aggression in Eastern Europe is strength, American strength and calling on our allies to continue to meet their obligations for our common defense. So would you say Ron DeSantis' characterization is wrong? I would say anyone that thinks that Vladimir Putin will stop at Ukraine is wrong. That's saying that Ron DeSantis is definitely wrong.

Compare Pence's clear eyed comments about Putin with what we keep hearing from former President Trump. The group Republican Accountability Project put together a montage of Trump's continued reference of his 2018 remarks, in which he sided with Vladimir Putin over U.S. intelligence on allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 election. You know, these idiots back there would say, he's very close to Putin. Remember when they hit me with the question, who do you trust? President Putin denied having anything to do with the election interference in 2016. Every U.S. intelligence agency has concluded that Russia did. Who do you believe? And I said, you know, that could be the toughest question I've ever been asked as a politician. They want to be. And then when I really didn't give him a very good answer in terms of exactness.

I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today. I have President Putin. He just said it's not Russia. I will say this. I don't see any reason why it would be. Oh, hell, Broklist. Siding with Putin. Most serious mistake of his presidency.

The Wall Street Journal calling it a personal and national embarrassment. But it's going to be tough to walk back. In a key sentence in my remarks, I said the word would instead of wouldn't. The sentence should have been, I don't see any reason why I wouldn't or why it wouldn't be Russia. So your intelligence people, Komin, McCabe, Strzok. Turned out I was right. I was right about that, too. These people, what they have done to our country with a fake Russia, Russia, Russia scam. And, you know, just it's just incredible.

Jonathan Lumiere, you were the one that asked the question, how fascinating and how unpatriotic that Donald Trump sides with Vladimir Putin in 2018. He comes back. He backs off of it after being criticized. And now he's back deciding with Vladimir Putin over intel agencies and openly mocking intel agencies. And when he said what might be the toughest question I ever asked, he got a laugh from the crowd. So that tells you exactly where the base is. They think it's funny. They think it's funny that we Americans, that we God loving, patriot loving Americans would trust our own professionals that are trying to keep us safe more than an ex KGB agent. Donald Trump thinks that's funny. The people in the audience thought that was funny. And at the end of the day, Donald Trump is where he was when you asked a question in 2018. He trusts Vladimir Putin, he says, more than he trusts the professionals at America's intelligence agencies, people who risk their lives every day

to stop the next terrorist attack against America. I suppose it's a badge of honor to have asked him the toughest question he ever faced, but the answer should have been easy and it should have been opposite to the one he gave. And it is so striking, Joe, the timing here. We're coming up on five years since that moment in Helsinki when he first chose Putin over the U.S. intelligence agencies. And suddenly he is all over the place, doubling, tripling down on his stance. These remarks that you just played right there, also in a Truth Social post recently, he keeps saying that he was right. And he's doing this at a moment when the world just stopped to

honor the one year mark of a war that Vladimir Putin and Vladimir Putin alone caused. And we've seen the atrocities committed in Putin's name in Russia. But Reverend Al, I want to get your take on what this says about the Republican Party. Yes, we just heard the laughs there in that room that Joe pointed out. But Mike Pence taking a different stance, saying, no, Putin is responsible here and criticizing not just implicitly Trump, but also Governor DeSantis and his and his stance. How do we think this issue is going to help shape the Republican field? And we should note a few of the likely presidential candidates are those who have played a role in Trump's foreign policy.

Nikki Haley's already in. Mike Pompeo likely to join him. I think it could be a defining part of the Republican primary process on who is going to take on the clear threat of what Putin wants to do, depending on his lack of success or success in Ukraine, and on those that would be soft on Putin and more on the Trump side. It could be very defining. And I think that it is it's almost like twisting a twisted pretzel, because on the one hand, they want to attack the Democrats as being too far to the left, too socialist,

sort of like leaning toward socialism, communism. But on the other hand, they want to be soft on it. Some of them on the global level. I don't see how you have it both ways. And clearly, I think if the Democrats are to proceed, in my opinion, and in trying to politically expose the contradiction, they ought to keep raising that. Which side are you on on the Putin question? And Ukraine is the case in point they can go to. And Jen Psaki, this is not complicated. Like, you know, Republicans not too many years ago before Trump would call him a traitor.

We call him a traitor. We call anybody that supported him a traitor. This is just straight out, straightforward. I mean, think about this. This is a guy that says he trusts Vladimir Putin, a man who called the collapse of the Soviet Union the worst tragedy of the 20th century. Yeah. Says he trusts him more than he trusts our own intelligence community who's trying to keep us safe and stop the next terrorist attack against America.

And then think about since we just went past the one year quote, if we again really just want to strip this down and talk about how unpatriotic he is and how dangerous the man is. Here are his quotes about the Ukraine invasion. This is genius. Yeah. Said he was watching the TV. Hes him savvy, calls him a strategic genius, praises the invasion while Ukrainians are getting slaughtered in the street. That this is genius, said Donald Trump of Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine. Oh, that's wonderful, says Donald Trump of Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine. Oh, that's wonderful, says Donald Trump of Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine. Oh, that's savvy, says Donald Trump on Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine. You know, again, Republicans themselves five years ago and actually now should call it what it is on American. Yeah. I mean, Trump has long admired Putin. I think it's fair to say back and long admired how strong he is to quote Trump, his role as an autocrat.

Essentially, that's what Trump thinks is the model. The model of cracking down on information sharing with the public, on sharing truthful information, is how Trump ran for president. Now, what is difficult for him, let's hope, is that since he ran for president successfully, a lot has happened. A lot of what you just outlined, Joe, right? Not only did he intervene in the election, but he is guilty, in all likelihood or from our eyes, of war crimes. He is a person who is a pariah on the national, on the international stage. And so Trump echoing what he said five years ago, when Jonathan Lemire asked him that question is kind of just even more mind boggling because of all of the

things that has happened and who Putin has exposed himself to actually be, which many of us knew, but now the world has seen it. And Trump is still like, that's my guy. Again, even after the invasion that Donald Trump called genius, that he called wonderful, that he called savvy. Even after that, even after the war crimes, Donald Trump is saying atrocities that all the atrocities, everything he's saying that he trusts Vladimir Putin more than he trusts Americans who are fighting every day, who are on the tip of the spear every day around the world, trying to keep us safe here at home. That's not un-American. If that's not, I don't know what is. Still ahead on Morning Joe as the Russian invasion of Ukraine enters a second year. We're going to take a look at where the fighting stands right now.

Plus, the United States issues a new warning to China about helping Moscow. What President Biden's top national security adviser is saying about that. Also this morning, RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel predicts Donald Trump will pledge to support the 2024 GOP nominee. We'll show you how the former president's campaign is responding to that. And the case for a primary challenge to Joe Biden. Mark Leibovich joins us with his latest piece. And as we go to break, we are gearing up for the Forbes 3050 Summit in Abu Dhabi with Know Your Value. It is kicking off next week, if you can believe it. We're going to mark International Women's Day with an all-star panel of guest speakers, including Hillary Clinton, Gloria Steinem, Jessica Alba, Ayesha Curry, Catherine O'Hara, Misty Copeland, Billie Jean King,

and the First Lady of Ukraine, Olena Zelenskaya. It's all part of Know Your Value's mission to gather generations of women from the Forbes 30 Under 30 and the 50 Over 50 lists to forge new bonds, collaborate, and innovate as leaders. Go to knowyourvalue.com for more information. You're watching Morning Joe. We'll be right back. All that noise and all that sound All those places I have found I've got to go flying up the speed In 2024, the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, where will you be? It depends on who the nominee is.

I'll be here if it's somebody not named Trump. You won't show up if it's not. Yeah, I'm not interested in participating in that. No. Even in Wisconsin. Even Wisconsin. Oh, yeah. Former Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan says he won't attend the 2024 GOP convention if Donald Trump is the party's nominee, no matter what.

It looks like just look so easy. I mean, it doesn't seem easy. He was able to just say, you know, what he doesn't think is good for the party. He just said it came out of his mouth. Let's just be very clear here. Why don't we just continue talking about what we're Jen Psaki? Let's just be very clear here. Why don't we just continue talking about what we're Jen Psaki? Let's just say it. If you if you get behind Donald Trump and I know a lot of Republicans, establishment Republicans who hate Donald Trump. But they say if he's the party, not me, I'm going to get behind him.

Well, that's you. You would be saying that about Mussolini. I don't know if the guy said I'm the new Hitler like like Donald Trump has already said that that he trusts an ex KGB agent who is a war criminal who sees the United States as his sworn enemy more than he trusts men and women in the intelligence community who risk their lives every day to keep us safe. He's already called the worst invasion in Europe since World War Two genius. This is genius. Paul Ryan simply doing the right thing. That's wonderful. He calls this invasion where hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians are slaughtered. He says it's genius, wonderful, savvy, and says he trusts Vladimir Putin, the man who's committing all these war crimes, more than he trusts our intel community. So yes, what Paul Ryan said should be saluted.

But I just wonder all of these respectable Republicans that are like, I don't like him, but I'll get behind him if he's added. What does that even mean? What does that mean when you know you've got a guy who is more sympathetic towards Vladimir Putin than a rank and file FBI agent who's risking her life every day, every night. And Joe, even if that doesn't move you, which it should, if you are a sane person who loves the country and loves the country we live in and is patriotic, but it hasn't moved them for the last few years, let's remember, he lost, his agenda lost in November, his election denying agenda lost. So the notion of just blindly following him or blindly

saying you're going to support him doesn't even necessarily make sense politically. It's fear of the base. It's very much fear of the base that we're seeing here. It reminds me a lot, actually, of the NRA and how the NRA still has this huge power over a range of elected officials in Washington, despite the fact that gun reform legislation is supported by 70, 80, 90 percent of the public. It is it is this fear of the base. But yes, Paul Ryan, good for him. He has no more you know what's to give. And maybe he will be a person who helps lead some to say the same thing.

We will see. Well, and when you even talk about the NRA legislation, sometimes 60, 70 percent of NRA members support legislation that the NRA and the Republican Party kills. It's just again, it's insanity. It's not even worrying about the base because 60 percent of Republicans don't want Donald Trump to run. It's just fearing your own shadow. You have to wonder what's going on. Now to this. Newspapers across the country dropped the Dilbert comment strip over the weekend just days after Scott Adams, the creator of the satirical cartoon, made controversial comments that publications are denouncing as racist and discriminatory. The cartoonist

described people who are black as members of a hate group from which white people should get away. Those comments came in response to a Rasmussen Report survey in which 53 percent of black respondents agreed with the statement, it's okay to be white, while 26% disagreed. Various media publishers nationwide denounced Adams' comments as racist, hateful, and discriminatory, while Andrews McNeil Universal, which distributes Dilbert, announced it would sever all ties with the cartoonist. The Anti-Defamation League has noted that phrase, it's okay to be white, emerged on the infamous message board 4chan in 2017 as a trolling campaign and has a long history in the white supremacist movement. Adams defended his

remarks on Twitter saying he was only, quote, advising people to avoid hate and suggested that the cancellation of his cartoon signals that free speech in America is under assault. out against cancel culture repeatedly. And you and I have actually as well, many occasions and spoke spoken out against the wokeness of this cancel culture. But I mean, this is even some people who are really intensely fighting cancel culture are saying this ain't cancel culture. This is just racism being called out. People don't want to be associated with a guy that says, stay away. I'm going to stay away from black people. No, this this is not a question of being taken out of context. This is not a question of saying something that you want to take back. This guy absolutely unequivocally advocated stay away from black people. And let's remember, Adams said it while he knew he was a cartoonist in these major publications.

So he would, if not penalized, have been normalizing that it's all right for these publications to do business and put forward the work and cartoons of a guy that says stay away from black people. I think they did what they should have done. I think it would have been offensive and really signaling some kind of subtle agreement to continue to do business with him. He has the right to say it. They have the right to say these do not reach our standards. And for Elon Musk and others to come to his defense makes us really question where are their standards and when do they consider something bigger than in races?

Do you just have to go out and use the N word outright? And even then they may find some way to justify it. Certainly the right decision by these business groups. And for Adam, it's not the first time that he has said things that were racist or certainly inflammatory. And Joe Mika, we should also note, he is, and just remember, Dilbert was a phenomenon some years ago, but he has really slipped in recent years during the pandemic, particularly embracing full-on conspiracies, dangerous COVID conspiracy theories about government tracking, about vaccines being fatal, embracing QAnon-esque approaches towards Donald Trump and the government. So this is a little bit of a long downward slide and this full-on racism with these remarks. Well, and again, anybody that would defend him, they're defending this line right here.

My best advice that I would give to white people is to get the hell away from black people. That's what he said in a video that he put up. He said, and again, for those who are defending him right now, what you're defending is this line. The best advice I would give to white people is to get the hell away from black people. Rev, that's just, again, it's just straight out racism. And I'm going to be really curious to see how many people at other networks tonight decide that they're going to try to cast this as another example of cancel culture when, you know, it's just flat out racism. This is not, you know, so much with woke culture and cancel culture has to do with evolving standards. Right. Like, oh, OK, well, we're not the same as we were 10 years ago. We've become more sensitive in this topic and that topic.

And cancel culture, you often hear people getting caught in between these these two eras. This would have been racist in 1955 if somebody had gone on the Steve Allen show and said, my best advice would be to stay away from black people, that person in 1955 would have gotten in trouble. Absolutely. I don't even think Steve Allen would have let them finish the line. But I think that clearly we're dealing with somebody that blatantly says we're not even he's not even hedging it. Well, that white should stay away from some blacks if they do ABC or have certain view. No white stay away from blacks. You can't get clearer, more bigoted and more racist than that. businesses in the media world that has a standard would even debate whether or not they're going to do business with this guy who publicly says this. This is not a guy now that was taped at some

cocktail party saying something off color. He put it up. He put the statement out there. He had no problem with it. He advertised it. So if you're going to take a position, then you should stand by your position and suffer the consequences. Yeah. Coming up, Democrats have full control of the Michigan legislature for the first time in 40 years. And in the wake of the mass shooting at Michigan State University, they are calling for new gun safety measures. State Senator Mallory McMorrow will join us to discuss the proposals in her state. Plus, a look at this morning's must-read opinion pages, including the new piece from the Wall Street Journal editorial board entitled, A Bad Start for the GOP in 2023. Yeah, that's an understatement, isn't it?

We'll be right back. Where are you going now, my love? Morning Joe. It's an understatement. We'll be right back. Where are you going now, my love? Where will you be tomorrow? Will you bring me happiness? Will you bring me sorrow? Beautiful shot of the Capitol on this Monday morning at 46 past the hour. The Wall Street Journal editorial board has a recent piece entitled A Bad Start for the GOP in 2023. And in it, the board writes in part, quote, being the opposition party can have its political advantages. But if Republicans are hoping for victory next year, they might want to look around. Montana Senator John Tester said that he'll run for re-election

in 2024, meaning no open race there to boost the GOP's chances of taking the state and the Senate majority. The point is that the country is closely divided, with political control decided by inches. If Republicans want to win independence, they have slightly more than a year to settle on a better message than they've been offering and to recruit quality candidates. Yet the warning of last November's washout does not seem to have reached all precincts. The Republican parties in both Arizona and Michigan, two swing states that could be decisive in 2024, are a mess of division and disarray. None of this bodes well for the party nominating a presidential winner in 2024 or winning either house in Congress. Yeah, you know, again, I'm tired. I know you're going to do it again, aren't you?

I'm going to try to push the rock to the top of the mountain. I don't think no matter how many times you say it, it's going to lose, lose, lose, lose, lose, lose, lose, and lose. Right. So say that because they know they lost in 2017. They know they lost in 2018. They know they lost in 2019. I just did it for you they lost in 2017. They know they lost in 2018. They know they lost in 2019. They know they lost in 2020. They know they lost in 2021. They know they lost in 2022. They know they lost in 2023. But they don't see it. And yet, Jen Psaki, two of the most important states, Michigan and Arizona, what do they do? They appoint people to run their parties that are what I was calling in the world.

A lot of these Republican candidates in 2022 when I said Democrats could win because they're insurrectionists, weirdos and freaks. And that's who they've appointed. They're actually finding people who are bigger insurrectionists, bigger weirdos, bigger freaks to run their parties. And they have MTG set her initials. I have that. They have this woman with three initials from North Georgia who's talking about civil war. Like secession. Do they?

I know they think, oh, this is going to be great on the podcast today. They're going to love me. They're going to whip people up. They're going to love me on freak, like freak TV. This destroys them every day. I've been warning my former party every day for years. This is hurting you. They keep losing.

They're going to lose in 2024. Where are the grownups in that party? They're not winning elections within the primaries and they're not winning elections to run the parties in their states. I mean, Michigan is such a they are having fundraising challenges. The Michigan Republican Party. They have lost donors. They have put somebody in charge of the Republican Party in the state there who is even far more extreme, as you just said, than the people who lost in the November election in many states. So it's like pursuing something that is a losing strategy, and they know it's a losing strategy to satisfy an element of

Twitter and an element of the right wing. That's the only thing I can make sense of it. And, you know, if you're the Democratic parties in Michigan and Arizona, states that, by the way, will always be swing states in all likelihood, because there is a divide—you know, there are many Republicans, there are many independents, Democrats, there are states that will always be that way—they are thinking, wow, we're going to fundraise. We're going to nominate normal candidates who represent the interests of our state. And on the other side, we don't have a competitor running the party that we've had in the past.

So it's good for the Democratic parties in these states. I don't understand. I can't explain the strategy for why they are putting some of these people in charge. It's crazy. Let's bring it. It's crazy. Let's bring around the majority whip of the Michigan State Senate, Mallory McMurray. Mallory, why don't we just let everybody in on the little secret that the Michigan GOP has selected as their leader after getting crushed in Michigan on all levels, a woman who lost her own campaign in 2022 by 14 points. 14 points, right? That's right. And she hasn't even conceded yet.

That's like an Atlanta Falcon spread, all right? And losers. And she's still claiming she won that race. She's still claiming that Trump won the race like insurrectionists, weirdos and freaks cost them Michigan in 2022 in Arizona. And they're back at it again. It is crazy. And I was just listening to local reporters on the radio who said that a week, a week after the convention, the Michigan GOP still hasn't even updated their website. They're in debt. They don't have enough money to do the basics. And Christina Karamo, not only an election denier, this is somebody who

has said that Beyonce is Satan, that the LGBTQ community goes against God's design. And her ex-husband accused her of attempting to drive their kids off the road. I mean, this it's just it's terrifying. But Michigan Democrats, I mean, we've learned from 2016, we don't take anything for granted. So we're looking at this moment, not that we can rest, but that we've got to get back to work. We've got to keep fundraising, keep organizing and prove that normalcy is going to win again. And let's talk about the work that's being done. I know there's a package that Democrats have been working on new gun legislation, which took renewed urgency after the shooting at Michigan State. What exactly are you proposing? So this was absolutely devastating. The Michigan Capitol is four miles away from

Michigan State. So when this shooting happened, this impacted absolutely every single person who works at the Capitol. There are kids at Michigan State who survived the Oxford High School shooting just 14 months ago, only to be in a school shooting again. The legislation that we've introduced, we've been working on for 10 years now. It includes red flag laws, universal background checks and safe storage. And there was a poll that the Glenn Gariff group did of Republican primary voters who own a firearm. And of that group, 93 percent of voters support universal background checks. These are- Say that again, Farmey. Senator, if you will, say this again,

because we've been talking about this for years. Yes. That people go, oh, well, you hate guns, Joe, even though I own guns. Oh, you just hate the NRA. Though, no, I don't hate Second Amendment rights. I've been a supporter of Second Amendment rights. But when we talk about universal background check, the majority of NRA owners support universal background checks.

So give me give our audience that stat again, because it is so important. It is so important. gun owners. Glenn Gariff Group polled Republican primary voters who are gun owners, and 93 percent of them want universal background checks. This isn't even, you can't get 93 percent of people to agree on anything. And this is the issue that we've got to move on. So this is made possible, of course, because Democrats have control of the entirety of the state government there in Michigan. And you recently announced that you're going to be focusing on that, maintaining that control and passing on a run for the U.S. Senate, that now soon to be empty seat there in Michigan. Walk us through a little bit as to your decision, as to why you came to that conclusion, and also how you see that now

2024 race playing out. Absolutely. So our Senator Debbie Stabenow announced that she's not going to be running for reelection and supporters reached out and asked me to consider it. But we never focus nearly enough on state legislatures. This is something that I have been talking about for the past year. We lost a thousand state legislature seats starting in 2009. We lost control of two thirds of state legislatures. And in Michigan, we finally have control for the first time in 40 years. We are going to pass responsible gun safety reform. We're going to end water shutoffs. We are going to expand opportunity for people, invest in education.

This is what I've worked so hard for. And when I look at where I could make the biggest impact, it's staying in the state legislature, expanding in our majority. And frankly, in this moment when nothing's going to get done in Washington, Michigan should be the beacon of hope for the rest of the country that there's another way forward. There is an anti-Florida, there is an anti-hate, and we're doing that in Michigan. State Senator McMurray, would you, based on what you just said, wouldn't you say that Michigan, given where it plays in the national political spectrum, now under control with the Democratic Party, that really it can show the Democrats the formula toward dealing with gun control and power outages and criminal justice, and that many that live in Michigan, as you know, I have a chapter in National Action Network there, would say, if we can't do it now, when can we do it? Does that also add a lot of pressure, especially on the state legislature that now is democratically controlled, that we've got to deliver in these areas? Otherwise, how do we go back to our base

and say, keep us in power? Of course, we have a lot to prove. And on day one in both the state House and the state Senate, we introduced six bills that are a good indicator of our priorities. We expanded the earned income tax credit, repealed the retirement tax for seniors on a fixed income. We also announced that we will repeal right to work, restore prevailing wage, repeal our 1931 abortion ban, and expand our state's Civil Rights Act to include LGBTQ Michiganders. That's a good indicator of what Democrats are going to do. It's pocketbook issues. It's making your costs more affordable. And it's setting up a state where every single person in Michigan is welcome and will be protected, not discriminated against because of who you are. Majority Whip of the Michigan State Senate, Mallory McMurrow,

thank you very much for coming on the show this morning. We appreciate it.