Morning Joe - Morning Joe 2/6/24

Episode Date: February 6, 2024

Bipartisan Senate border bill on thin ice

The House Republicans have no answer here. They have no alternative bipartisan product. What they seem to want is just chaos. They want to keep the border unsolved as a problem so that it benefits them in the upcoming election. That's really cynical, but it's also pretty transparent. And I don't know that they're smart enough to get away with it. The lead Democratic negotiator in the bipartisan border deal calling out House Republicans who are refusing to take action on an issue they claim is a top priority. And ask the question, Willie, whether they're really smart enough to get away with it, which I actually, you know, started thinking over the past couple of days. You've got all of these Republicans

who are following this guy from Louisiana who just sort of stumbled into the speakership and doesn't seem to be that effective. This guy is now putting around the Republicans political neck an open border for the next eight months and all that that that that brings the collapse of Ukraine to former Soviet KGB agents invasion and the the refusal to fund Israel in its time of need. And so you have all of these Republicans in the House, a lot of them who want to do the right thing, but they're blindly following this young, inexperienced speaker who is blindly following a guy with 91 counts against him. That's the important point right there, that, yes, it's Speaker Johnson voicing this, but he is a vessel for what Donald Trump wants and just carrying out orders. And it was even by today's political standards, guys, yesterday was kind of a stunning day where you had people who'd been on board, people who had worked on this legislation, this bipartisan legislation, talking about Senate Republicans here, not crazy MAGA Trump senators talking about mainline conservative traditional Republicans who all of a sudden are against this bill. They're against the toughest immigration security bill

that's come along in a generation by most Republican accounts, by independent surveys, by groups who look at this stuff. They're getting what they asked for. And now that it's on their desk, they're turning it away. It really is stunning. Yeah. Well, and they're doing it in an election year. There is a cost. They're going to answer that. There will be a cost. It'll be an interesting debate. They will answer for this. So to Willie's point, manure leader Mitch McConnell was publicly supporting the bill yesterday. He had been. Hours later, he would change message in a private meeting of Senate Republicans. We're going to go through that major development. And there are more partisan politics playing out on Capitol Hill with the GOP led House moving forward with efforts to impeach the Homeland Security. So they want to impeach the Homeland

border, the Homeland Security director because of an open border. And at the same time, they're refusing to close the border. Yeah, it's good stuff. Think about that, fellas. Yeah. Taxpayer dollars at work also ahead. We're going to go live to Buckingham Palace for the latest on the cancer diagnosis for King Charles. This came as a surprise to the world. And a lot of people are waiting for more information on exactly what that diagnosis is. He had gone in for a simple procedure to deal with an enlarged prostate. And now a few weeks later, they're saying cancer later, they're saying cancer, but they're not being specific as they were before, which is leading many to worry.

Yeah. Along with Joe, Willie and me, we have the host of way too early White House peer chief at Politico, Jonathan Lemire, Pulitzer Prize winning columnist at The Washington Post. Eugene Robinson is with us. Congressional investigations reporter for The Washington Post, Jackie Alimany, is here. And senior columnist for The Daily Beast, Matt Lewis. Great group to start us off with as we discuss Senate Republicans now appearing poised to block the bipartisan border bill. What happened during a special closed door meeting yesterday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell gave the green light to oppose tomorrow's procedural vote to open the bill up for debate. According to a source familiar with the meeting afterwards, Republicans in the meeting told reporters the conference needs more time to read through the 370 page package, a package, Joe, that has something for everybody in it. Well, and, you know, if that left-wing hippie from that drug-addled state, Oklahoma, had not brought it up.

You mean? Oh, wait, James Lankford brought it up. Yeah, very conservative. Congressman, now Senator Lankford, one of the most conservative guys in the United States Senate, which, of course, Jackie Alomany makes their arguments about this being some left wing bill, all the more stupid and ridiculous. But But please, Jackie, tell us what in the world is going on? Why won't Republicans take victory when it is handed to them on a silver platter? Yeah, Joe and Mika, this was a wild day on Capitol Hill in the upper chamber yesterday.

As one person blindly told one of my colleagues, how could something be dead when it was never alive? And that is the sentiment that is permeating all sides of the various ideologically aligned Republicans in the Senate right now, who in one way or the other are trying to push off and kill this bill. Ever since Trump declared dead on Truth Social, you have seen support for this tank. Of course, you know, this is all hap—this isn't all happening in a vacuum here. This is an election year, and the closer we get to November, the more and more we devolve into silly season on Capitol Hill. And Mitch McConnell told senators behind closed doors last night, essentially, that the mood had changed, that over the course of four months that negotiations on

this bipartisan package had started, this was in November towards the end of last year, that the environment had changed, that we had gotten essentially and more explicitly too close to November and that there was no longer conditions to push this through, especially as you've heard Speaker Johnson, Elise Stefanik and members of House GOP leadership declare that they are not even going to put this on the floor for a vote. There is a feeling that if it's not going to make it for a vote, you know, why would McConnell put some of his senators in a bad position and force them to take what's a hard vote? Now it's really incumbent on Democrats to message this properly and really

communicate all of the contradictions we're seeing at play here. Republicans, you know, banging the drum on border security in the legal immigration while refusing to push through a bill that the staunchly conservative Border Patrol Union endorsed and that would codify into law some of the strongest border security laws in modern history. I mean, Willie, the border security agents want it. It would it would mean more people down there to protect the border, to guard the border, to make arrests, to handle these claims. It would, as Joe Biden has said, he's going to shut the border down if this bill goes through and there's a problem.

He's going to shut the border down. And, you know, Jackie talked about silly season. It is silly season. Well, you know, over this entire year, this term for the U.S. House, it's been stupid season. This house has gotten less done than any other house this term. And I think in a generation, I'm guessing probably in our lifetimes. They've gotten next to nothing done. So what shocks me is these 15, 16, 17 Republicans that are sitting in Biden's seats. The fact that they're just sitting back and they say, OK, we'll leave the border open.

We'll let the Kremlin take over Ukraine. We'll abandon Israel in its time of need. Yeah, we'll do that. I mean, Willie, this actually, you know, we talk about gravity and how a lot of people are feeling gravity's pull now. It's like there was a time that they weren't feeling the gravity. Now they're paying a lot of money for people they defamed. Well, there is a price for political negligence and everybody's focused on Joe Biden right now. Let them focus on Joe Biden. This is going to be the story we're going to be telling in the fall of a Republican House that was lost and possibly a Republican Senate because they refused to close the border. They refused to find our allies. They refused to do anything. The do nothing Republicans did nothing this year. And it continues. And frankly, in this piece of legislation that we

just saw and that the members of the House and the Senate just saw for the first time on Sunday, it goes much further than they could have even hoped for, certainly in prior years. But even right now, I think some Republicans, we've been surprised by what they got out of this. As you mentioned, the Border Patrol Union, very hawkish on the border. No fans necessarily of Joe Biden came out and endorsed this bill. It makes our job easier. It'll help stop the crisis at the border, makes our officers lives easier. The Wall Street Journal editorial page this morning, Joe, is effectively saying not in so many words. How stupid are you guys? It's not going to get better than this, said the Senate bill has reforms Trump never came close

to getting. Take the bill, says the Wall Street Journal editorial page, but it looks like it's not going to happen. And you mentioned James Lankford, very conservative senator of Oklahoma, who's been running this bipartisan negotiation. He spent the day yesterday fighting against his own colleagues making the case for this bill. I would also remind folks during the Trump administration,

we also had days of more than 4,000 people that were illegally crossing the border during the Trump administration, we also had days of more than 4,000 people that were illegally crossing the border under the Trump administration in 2019, and they were struggling because there's gaps and loopholes in the law. So we actually have this bill came out yesterday, Sunday. The first procedural vote is Wednesday, and that procedural vote is literally just open it up to be able to go through it and to be able to say, are we going to debate it this week? That's what Senator Lee is actually talking about. It's interesting that he said he's already opposed to it. I have seen enough. This bill is even worse than we expected. It won't come close to any of the border catastrophe the president has created. As the

lead Democrat negotiator proclaimed, under this legislation, the border never closes. If this bill reaches the House, it will be dead on arrival. Your thoughts? Yeah, unfortunately, he would step out and be able to say that right away before, obviously, he had had a chance to be able to read it as well and to be able to go through it. The key aspect of this, again, is are we as Republicans going to have press conferences and complain the border's bad and then intentionally leave it open? So, Joe, Senator Lankford calmly rebutting all the arguments that his own colleagues are making against this, in many cases, misrepresenting the text of the bill to make

an argument against it. He's calmly correcting it. And I think he's been surprised. And we can talk to Jackie and others about this, about how his Republican colleagues who helped him get this together are now turning on him and going the other way in the service of Donald Trump. Well, and of course, you have the Speaker of the House who claims that the Bible guides him. We've got claims that the Jesus, I guess, must have told him, I don't know, I didn't read this part of the Sermon on the Mount, but to gain power by lying, to gain power by pushing the big lie. As Liz Cheney said, he was the chief proponent of the big lie. He didn't believe it, but said, I need to do this ghost to get close to Donald Trump. And so he's now going around lying on. I've seen enough. This bill is too liberal. Is that going to be enough? What is his voice? And so he's done that. And then Langford

goes, well, gee, would have been nice if he actually read the bill. It's 370 pages. If you would have actually read the bill before saying that. But again, I guess in his Bible, God, I've heard about the Jefferson Bible. But the Johnson Bible, holy shnikes, that must be some Bible that tells you to lie, to tell you to lie about elections, tells you to lie to get into power, tells you to lie and you admit that you're a liar to get into power to get close to Donald Trump. And now you're lying about a bill you haven't even read. Well, guess who has read

the bill? Not that guy. Not that guy. Because Mar-a-Lago tells him to jump and he goes, ha ha. So that guy hasn't read the bill. The Wall Street Journal editorial page, as Willie said, they've read the bill, Mikey. They don't care if Mikey likes it or not. They've read the bill. And this is what they have to say, Gene Robinson. It's unbelievable. A border security bill worth passing. The Senate bill has reforms Trump never came close to getting. By any honest reckoning, this is what says the Wall Street Journal editorial page, by any honest reckoning. But that's something Mike Johnson wouldn't know anything about.

By any honest, honest is the word, Mikey. Look that up in your Bible that you've made up. By any honest reckoning. This is the most restrictive migrant legislation in decades. Previous immigration talks have involved trading security measures for legalizing more immigration. There is little of that in this bill. This is almost entirely a border security bill, and its provisions include longtime GOP priorities that the party restrictionists could never have passed only a few months ago. Are you listening, Mikey? Just because Donald tells you to jump doesn't mean that you have to put America's security at risk. Because as the journal says there are parts in this bill that quote party restrictionists

could have never passed a few months ago if republicans reject this bill the wall street journal editorial page goes on to say they will hand democrats an argument that the GOP wants border chaos that they can exploit as a campaign issue. The chaos will continue for at least another year. The chaos will continue. Mike Johnson to America, go to hell. Mike Johnson to America, drop dead. Mike Johnson to Israel, drop dead. Mike Johnson to Ukraine, drop dead. Another year, another year of fentanyl streaming across the border, another year of illegal immigrants streaming across the border, all because Donald Trump told Mike Johnson, the same Donald Trump

who said he wanted a depression, he wanted Americans' retirements destroyed, he wanted their economy destroyed so he could get reelected. Donald Trump is now telling Mike Johnson, I want the border open for another year. What does that mean? This is not MSNBC primetime. This is not the New York Times editorial page. This is the voice of the conservative movement. And this is what the Wall Street Journal editorial page is saying. The chaos will continue for at least another year. Because of you, Mike Johnson, because of you, Donald Trump, the fentanyl will flood across the border for another year because of you. Because James Langford has put together the most restrictive border security bill ever. Ever. The chaos will continue for at least another year. Republicans may think they can write a better law if Mr. Trump wins in November,

but don't count on it. And Gene Robinson, as the Wall Street Journal editorial page says, the bastion of conservatism, as it says in its subhead, the Senate bill has reforms. Trump never came close to passing. Mr. Build that wall. Mr. Put children in cages. Mr. I'm the toughest president ever on illegal immigration. Never, ever did Donald Trump come close to getting legislation this restrictive

and so restrictive that border security agents are begging Republicans, please pass this. Make our lives better. Make our lives safer. Make our jobs safer. Please pass this. And Gene, mm hmm. They just won't. And guess what? What a shock. Mike Johnson, the biggest promoter, the big lie in the House, Mike Johnson lying through his teeth about a bill he never even read. Yeah, he hasn't read the bill, but he's but it's dead on arrival. And just a couple of thoughts. I mean, it is incredible that that Republicans are literally refusing to take yes for an answer, refusing to approve. This is not only the best offer they've ever had from Democrats on the border. It's likely the best offer they're ever going to have, certainly for the foreseeable future.

And it is, you know, it's just brainless not to not to take it. But but a couple of thoughts. If politically, if there's anybody in the Democratic Party who remembers how to do politics in the Biden campaign from this point forward, if they kill this bill, Republicans now own the border, right? They own everything that's going on on the border because they are the ones who are refusing to approve a measure that would help, would allow the president to close the border, that would greatly ease the border crisis. So they should be made to own that in this election that's coming up. And my second thought is, you know, there's more than the border in this package. There's the aid to Ukraine. It's $60 billion of aid that Ukraine desperately needs to continue its fight against Vladimir Putin. And so you have to wonder, is the border and Donald Trump the motive for all these Republicans?

Or are some, perhaps Speaker Johnson, who has never voted for Ukraine aid, who's always voted against it. You know, how many of these Republicans are actually sitting, rooting for Vladimir Putin to win this war and see this as a measure to make that more likely? Gene, Gene, that's a shocking thing. A lot of them are. I mean, you had on Fox News a couple of years ago, like Fox News' most popular host saying he hoped Ukraine lost the war. He hoped Russia won. He's there now. You've been hearing this. Republicans and the Republican Party, you look at polls like Vladimir. I've seen polls where Vladimir Putin's approval rating is higher than Joe Biden's. It's really sick. It's really gross. But that's just the way it is.

So you're right. Mike Johnson has voted pro Putin on every single Ukraine aid bill. So you may bring up a good I mean, this you may. I hate to think it, but maybe you're right. Maybe maybe there's more to it than just the border. Well, Ukraine's in there, and this is the opportunity. And Johnson's sort of counteroffer is a measure that has the Israel aid or some of it. It's unclear exactly what's in there. But he's offering, well, the House can pass an aid for Israel, but there's nothing from him about aid for Ukraine. And that's like a huge question that's out there.

These are commitments that we have made. This is an important national security commitment that the United States government has made. And the Republicans intend to have the United States renege on that commitment to the grave peril, not just of Ukraine, but of Europe. And ask the Europeans about this question, and they'll tell you how important this Ukraine aid is. Yeah, Vladimir Putin's very pleased watching this play out on Capitol Hill. And Jonathan Lemire, if you watched yesterday play out, it's just no secret where this opposition is coming from. Donald Trump was on TV saying this is a Democrat bill. Apparently, Senator James Lankford is now a Democratic plant. He said this is a bad bill for James Lankford's career, sounding like a mob boss, a political mob boss.

And then his little foot soldiers in Congress run out and carry out his orders and flip on something that a lot of them already supported. And now we're saying I'm behind closed doors. Well, Donald Trump's against it. We better fall in line. Yes. So Lankford's been reprimanded by the Republican Party of the state of Oklahoma because he's backed this because Donald Trump opposes it. And we have Mitch McConnell yesterday, who has been an ardent supporter of this bill of aiding Ukraine. Just a few hours earlier yesterday, he's on the Senate floor talking about the need to pass this. And

then he does a whip count and goes behind closed doors and says the environment has changed. Well, the environment changed because Donald Trump is grip on the party has tightened that much. And we know that it just came as a surprise. Senior White House aides I was texting with while sitting on this set yesterday morning were confident it was going to pass the Senate. They knew the House would be an uphill climb. They felt good about the Senate. We had Majority Leader Schumer on our air yesterday saying he believed it would also pass. And now Donald Trump said no.

And now Mitch McConnell and yet another moment of not standing up to Donald Trump has gone along with it. So, Matt Lewis, let's think about what happens next. You know, if this bill is indeed doomed this week and it sure seems like it's not even get out of the upper chamber now, forget about Speaker Johnson. And as an aside, President Biden has already said that he won't sign Johnson's Israel only bill. That how can President Biden change the narrative here? Because to this point, polls suggest immigration has been a good issue for Republicans. But we're seeing it right now. The facts are the facts. It's the Republicans killing a really tough border measure.

How can the Democrats capitalize? Right. Well, look, I mean, I think, first of all, Donald Trump has pretty explicitly said he's killing this for political purposes. So they've got the receipts. I mean, Joe Biden has the receipts. He has the facts. And Republicans for years have said not just that they want to secure the border, but that they want to secure the border for security reasons, for national security reasons. Right. Because rapists, as Donald Trump said, are flooding across the border for security reasons, for national security reasons, right? Because rapists, as Donald Trump said, are flooding across the border because terrorists might, because fentanyl. So if you are putting politics, if you'd rather have a policy victory over actually solving

this policy issue, if you'd rather have politics over policy, that is, I think, really morally indefensible. That's where Republicans find themselves. I think Democrats, if this happens, right, if Republicans ultimately doom this bill, and it looks like they will, Democrats have been handed a golden opportunity to then exploit it, right? It's really hard to defend it if you're a Republican. Can they? I think, Jonathan, to me, that is the question. I have no doubt that if Bill Clinton were president, let's say Newt Gingrich had pulled a maneuver like this and Bill Clinton was president, I have no doubt that he could summon the rhetorical ability, barnstorm the country, punish Republicans, make them pay, and even peel off some maybe

conservative rural voters who actually care about securing the border. I'm not as confident that Joe Biden could execute this sort of campaign, but it should be a layup, right? If Republicans doom this bill, then the facts are on Biden's side. It's a matter of execution. So, Jackie, as we mentioned at the top here, you've got Republicans running away from the legislation they've asked for for a generation and turning for a solution to the border instead to the impeachment of the Homeland Security secretary. It made its way out of the rules committee yesterday. Full vote in the House today.

Does it look like the House is going to impeach Secretary Mayorkas? It does, Willie. There were a few undecided votes up in the air, but last night we caught a number of those members, people like Congressman Dan Newhouse, who had yet to make a decision, told us last night that he had listened to the hearings, read some of the transcripts over the weekend and decided that he was going to vote against vote for impeaching Mayorkas. There were a few other undecided people like David Joyce. He also has been reticent in the past. The Buck Party line has yet to put out a statement. But at the end of the day, the numbers don't work out for Democrats unless there are unexpected absences. So we anticipate that this is going

to make it through the House. This is sort of viewed as an easy and no-brainer accountability measure, even by vulnerable Republicans who are sitting in those purple Biden districts who are up for reelection, who are all in support of this and holding Mayorkas accountable. It has become a rallying cry. And at the end of the day, especially on a day like today, it's become a distraction measure away from their opposition against a border bill to make it look like Republicans are at least in the House up to something. But we should be very clear about this. This is completely a political stunt.

There is very little support for this in the Senate. It will likely die in the Senate. And after today, I think it's going to continue to be panned by traditionally GOP validators. You know, people like the Wall Street Journal opinion pages who have already come out against the impeachment of Mayorkas. So it's crazy. So you have, Mika, a choice for the House right now. They can pass what the Wall Street Journal editorial page calls the most. And they're right. I mean, it's not like this is rocket science. It's not like you have to have degrees from the type of schools I went to to reach these conclusions. Roll Tide. Go Gators. But you look at this and it's obvious. This is the toughest, most restrictive border bill, which will shut down the border, stop the flow of fentanyl in, stop the flow of illegal immigrants in. They could do this or they could do this worthless, like political hack move of trying to for trying for whatever reason, impeach Mayorkas because he has an open border.

When, in fact, they have a chance to close it. And you've got the men and women who are responsible for defending the border begging Republicans, please pass this bill. Make our lives easier. Make our jobs safer. And they're not going to do it. So let me just say again, I mean, this isn't really that tough. And if you're sitting, I'm going to wait. But this is how does somebody get away with this in a Biden district? If you're a Republican, they don't. If they're running against somebody who's I've just got to say, I would love, love to be running in a House race against somebody that's in a Biden district that votes to impeach Maya Orcas and votes against a border security bill. Oh, oh, my Lord. Yeah. It would be like

putting a big, fat softball on a tee and getting a bat this big and swinging. You can't miss on this one. And so they're going to be sitting around afterwards when they lose. Well, I guess I shouldn't have listened to Mark Johnson. Or whatever they say. Whatever accent they're going to say. Oh, I guess I should. Whatever accent they have, they're going to say, man, I was stupid. I gave up my political career listening to Mike Johnson and Donald Trump, who by that time will have lost

for the eighth year in a row. I think whatever you raise a great question about Mike Johnson, Donald Trump and maybe even members of Congress feeding a direct line to Putin at this point, because I don't there's no explanation for this. The Washington Post, Jackie Alimany and senior columnist for The Daily Beast, Matt Lewis. Thank you both very much for being on this morning and still ahead on Morning Joe. A live report from outside Buckingham Palace following the stunning news of King Charles's cancer diagnosis. We'll take a look at the reaction from around London. Plus, Donald Trump refused to take part in any Republican primary debates. But now he wants to go toe to toe against President Biden.

I don't get it. He's scared of debates, but he's not scared of debates. Is he a coward or not? We'll show you what they're both saying. And Nikki Haley is weighing in as well. Also ahead, New York Governor Kathy Ogle is our guest after calling for the deportation of several migrants who assaulted two NYPD officers. We'll discuss her administration's approach to crime and safety. You're watching Morning Joe. We'll be right back. What a beautiful shot of New York City. there's a wild wind blowing down the corner of my street every night

the six past the hour king charles has been diagnosed with cancer buckingham palace made the announcement yesterday saying the king will pause his public events in an effort to minimize his in-person contacts while he undergoes treatment. He will, however, continue with state business. Doctors discovered the cancer when King Charles underwent a procedure last month for a benign enlarged prostate. The palace says he does not have prostate cancer. Joining us live from Buckingham Palace in London, NBC News foreign correspondent Molly Hunter with the latest. Molly, what more do we know about his diagnosis?

Mika, good to be with you from a very windy Buckingham Palace. So the news broke last night just as British evening newscasts were coming on. They are in a statement. You just referenced part of it. And the really important bit of the statement is that this is separate for what he was hospitalized last week. He got out of the hospital last Monday. We actually saw him walk out of the London clinic. Pretty good spirits waving to crowds. And the statement says during the King's recent hospital procedure for benign prostate enlargement, Mika, you just read that part, a separate issue of concern was noted. Subsequent diagnostic tests have identified a form of cancer.

Now, His Majesty started outpatient treatment yesterday, not saying what kind of cancer, not saying what kind of treatment. But importantly, he clearly feels well, or at least he hopes he will feel well enough during this treatment to continue his state duties. And that will mean constitutional duties, Mika, including taking select meetings in private, according to the palace. His Majesty will continue to be available for state duties, including undertaking official red box paperwork throughout his period of treatment. So all of that is relatively good news. The statement does say he's very positive about his treatment.

And this morning, actually, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was speaking on the radio and suggested that one of the reasons he may be feeling pretty positive is they caught it early. Let's take a listen to that and I'll talk to you on the back end. Obviously, like everyone else, you're shocked and sad. And just all our thoughts are with him and his family. And, you know, thankfully, this has been caught early. And now everyone will be wishing him that he gets the treatment that he needs and makes a full recovery. I think that's what we're all hoping and praying for.

And I'm, of course, in regular contact with him and will continue to communicate with him as normal. Well, which is obviously coming from the other side of the Atlantic as well. President Biden, Mika, tweeted last night. He said navigating a cancer diagnosis, treatment and survivorship takes hope and absolute courage. We will, of course, see the royal family rallying around the 75 year old monarch. We know that Prince Harry is flying over to the UK and we will start to see a lot more of Prince William. Of course, the heir to the throne kind of stepping up, taking on more of his father's duties. Mika. NBC's Molly Hunter live from Buckingham Palace. Thank you very much. We'll be following this story, of course, so many questions and bring you more developments throughout the show. Coming up, inflation has fallen. So why are groceries still so expensive? We're going to

dig into what's driving the food costs still burdening American consumers. Morning Joe will be right back. Voter polls in my home state of South Carolina for the first official Democratic primary and President Joe Biden took 96 percent of the votes. 96.2. 96.2 percent of the votes. That is very close to 100, which is also Joe's new campaign slogan. Oh, God. I just got it. Sure. Welcome back at 43 past the hour. Gene, your new piece for The Washington Post is entitled Biden won the South Carolina primary by 94 points. Trump could never. And you write in part, quote, Democrats in South Carolina, having helped catapult Biden to the nomination and the presidency in 2020,

did their best to repeat the trick. He won a near unanimous 96 percent of the vote in what was, after all, a contested primary. Some national polls have shown anemic enthusiasm for Biden's reelection within his own party. But voters here apparently did not get the memo. Black voters cast roughly three fourths of the early vote, according to the state Democratic Party, though, they make up only about half the state's Democratic electorate. There is no ironclad guarantee that Trump will win the primary in South Carolina at all, though polling has shown him well ahead. Nikki Haley can look at Saturday's turnout

and hope that some Democrats stayed home so they can weaken Trump by voting for her in the GOP contest. When Republicans hold their South Carolina primary on February 24th, Trump might well defeat Haley in her home state. But to equal Biden's victory margin, he would have to win by 94 points. So who exactly is dominating his party's race for the nomination? And, Gene, that, you know, that was a question everybody freaked out after Iowa. And then you realize only 14 percent of Republicans, Republicans in Iowa, only 14 percent, which is probably I don't know, what is that? Probably 5 percent of the vote in Iowa came out and voted for Donald Trump.

And the field was split and everybody's freaking out like, you know, Trump is this person that can't be beaten. He's winning with like 50 percent, 55 percent of the vote. Yeah. If like you said, by 94 percent, I've always said if Obama were running in the Democratic primary, he'd get 98 percent of the vote. Really? I mean, look, I just think that if you get 96% of the vote and you beat your nearest competitor by 94 points, you ought to get some notice for that. And in fact, you know, look, I was down in South Carolina. It was a low turnout primary. Most people thought there wasn't much suspense. Nonetheless, he got 96 percent of the vote.

And if you looked into the numbers, you saw that all the stuff about, you know, African-Americans are going to abandon Biden for this reason or for that reason. African-Americans were were overrepresented in terms of the people who came out to vote. And they were very enthusiastic about Joe Biden. And they essentially were telling him, we got this, Mr. President. So it was by any measure, as far as I could see, a very good day for Joe Biden. And I think that needs to be acknowledged. It was not a good day for Dean Phillips or Marianne Williamson, who finished with about 2 percent each. And the question of whether Democrats, at least in that state, really want to look at an alternative to President Biden as a Democratic candidate has been answered. Yes, it has.

And again, Willie, the thing, again, the number that we're just not looking at right now, and I know people are looking at polls and Democrats. There might be a lot of Democrats. I'm not going to vote for Biden. I don't know who I'm going to vote for. Laying back. Those voters come home. We say it every four years. I'm going to say it again, especially if Donald Trump is the Republican. Those Democratic voters come home. And the question is, do all those Republican voters come home? Do the one third of Republicans say they will never vote for Donald Trump? Do they come home to Donald Trump? The answer we saw in 2020 is no, not all of them, because a lot of them don't

believe that Donald Trump's Republican Party is their home. They believe Ronald Reagan, George Bush and Mitt Romney and John McCain's Republican Party is their home. As our friend Jim Messina says, the best way to predict how people will vote is to watch how they vote. So now we've seen some voting and we saw it happen instead of all these polls and going back and forth to which one to believe and which not to believe. We saw how they voted in South Carolina, as you and Gene said, a massive number, not huge turnout, but a massive number for President Biden. We were talking yesterday about the NBC poll, which had some discouraging news top to bottom for President Biden. Comes on the heels of some other polls where he was actually doing better head to head with Donald Trump. It's hard to

know where it all settles out. But at this moment, with what, eight, 12, 10 months ahead of the election, how are they feeling at the White House right eight, 12, 10 months ahead of the election, how are they feeling at the White House right now? Yeah, we can safely say the election is this year. Yeah, exactly. Some quick math failed me there. Yes. I mean, first of all, the biggest thing about polls is that it is February and the election is many, many months from now. You're right. The White House just liked some of the polls they were seeing recently. The one over the weekend, less so, you might imagine. And there are some real warning signs there, including among independents. But largely, the White House feels pretty good about where they are. The economy is going to be a major

issue, as we're going to talk about in a moment. They're still not really getting credit for the improvements there. But they have their own polling that shows that President Biden is doing pretty well with independents, those swing voters who often decide these elections, that Trump won in 16 and very much did not win in 20. There's no sign those voters are going back to Trump for 2024. So the Democrats feel good about them. So they recognize it is a base issue. And right now, they candidly admit they have issues with their base, with voters of color, with progressives, the war in the Middle East playing a big part in that. But they also feel like they've got time to win them back. They can point to their accomplishments. And more than that, Mika, there are two outside forces here. One, they believe this, like the

last couple of elections, will be in part decided by abortion rights. And they feel like choice will drive voters back to Donald Trump and they also feel to Joe Biden. And they feel like because Donald Trump is going to be the name on the other side of the ticket, there'll be people out who may not love Joe Biden, but they're going to make the choice to vote for him again because they can't stomach the idea of going back to Trump. I mean, can you imagine? I mean, I can imagine being a Republican

because I was a Republican a good chunk of my adult life. But can you imagine being a Republican right now and knowing what you're headed for? That's what shocks me about what they're doing in the House. I'm going to have to say it again. Donald Trump lost in 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, and 23. Went out of his way to lose the United States Senate for Republicans. All Republicans know this. They all hate him for it.

And yet they're following off the cliff again. Nobody trying to stand as a check. Mitch McConnell now not trying to stand as a check between Donald Trump and a political catastrophe for Republicans. They're keeping the border open. The Wall Street Journal says they've chosen to keep the border open for another year by saying no to a border security bill that the Wall Street Journal editorial page is saying Trump, even the toughest border restrictionists could have never dreamed of getting three months ago what they're getting now.

And yet they're saying no. In the time of crisis, when the crisis is at the border is the worst that it's been. Republicans are at the gates and they're keeping them pulled open to keep the fentanyl flooding in, to keep the illegal immigrants flooding in. We saw what happened in New York City with just a flood of migrants coming into the United States, cities not being able to handle it, people along the border not being able to handle it. And we have a solution. We have a solution. And Mike Johnson goes, no, thank you. No, thank you.

That's what he says. No, thank you. All right. Just the other issue is the economy. Despite a robust jobs report and soaring stock market, President Biden continues to face headwinds when it comes to convincing voters the U.S. economy is strong. While the price of gasoline has dropped, other items like groceries are still expensive. And this is this really is if there's one issue that stays there. I always remember, you know, my dad and our family.

My dad, of course, filled up all the gas, you know, filled up gas tanks and he went grocery shopping. Yeah. And George would give us a report when he came back. Can you believe the milk cost? Can you believe how much? And we would hear it, you know. Yeah, but that's a good gauge. Every Saturday when he would come.

You know, it's a great gauge. Everybody has to buy groceries. It's a great gauge. In fact, according to Pew Research, 72 percent of Americans say they are very concerned about the cost of food and consumer goods. Our next guest is taking a look at what's driving those prices so high. Joining us now, White House economics reporter for The Washington Post, Jeff Stein. So, Jeff, what is it? Yeah, grocery prices are still climbing from when Joe's dad bought them. It's incredible.

We've seen inflation come down from 9 to 3 percent, huge progress. But a bunch of idiosyncratic factors, including floods in California and the hurricane in Florida and other international shocks, including the war in Ukraine, have meant that even though some consumer prices for things like used cars and gasoline have fallen, grocery prices remain really sticky. They rose by 12 percent two years ago, which was the highest number in over four decades. They rose by another 5 percent last year. And this is the number one way that people say that inflation is still hurting them, far more than housing, far more than gas. As Joe was saying, this is the critical economic issue,

and there's no really easy option for the Biden administration. They have approved the biggest expansion of food stamps in generations, and that has been huge for keeping the bottom 40 million or so people from really facing a much bigger spike in food insecurity. But if you're right above that threshold in sort of the lower middle, middle class, you're not really seeing that benefit. And you're also being crushed by these huge increases. We've seen some price normalization, lettuce, eggs, tomatoes, apples, all those things have come in the right direction. And the White House is really eager to continue to see that

progress as some of these, as I said, idiosyncratic supply chain factors play out. But the volatility of it is really shocking to people. And, you know, I do my grocery shopping and you see just things that seem inexplicable. And that makes people feel, you know, according to the Democratic pollsters I talked to, like there's something that's wrong with the economy, something fundamentally broken or out of control that makes them feel this sense of instability, even if their wages are up substantially. So, Jeff, if inflation is ticking down and it is broadly in this country, which is a trend in the right direction for people who go out and buy things, everybody in this country, what is it specifically? You mentioned the supply chain.

What is it specifically about food prices that remain so stubborn? I was at the stop and shop yesterday and it remains staggering when you get that final number up there on the screen. You can't be real, but it is. And is there hope that they can tick down here in the next few months? There's a lot of hope for the Biden administration that the agriculture department is still projecting basically flat food inflation for this year. So that's a lot of hope for the Biden administration that the Agriculture Department is still projecting basically flat food inflation for this year. So that's a really good sign, if you're a Democrat, that things will not continue to get worse. But really, we're in this era of climate-related agricultural industrial shocks that have really made this situation very, very volatile. And, you know, we had an avian flu outbreak.

Eighty million birds were affected in Florida because of the hurricanes. You had the worst citrus output since the Great Depression last year. And while those individual things will normalize this year, we don't know what, you know, the current natural disasters in California or other global natural disasters could cause. We've also seen a bunch of nations institute export restrictions in the wake of the war in Ukraine. When global commodity prices rose, a lot of nations said, we're going to keep our stuff here, which made sense for them,

but sort of reduced global supply. And since these are such global markets, we continue to see, you know, sunflower oil and other kind of important products that come from Southeast Asia in particular. A lot of those nations are holding on to their product. And that continues to suggest that we'll see this weird volatility through the year. All right. White House economics reporter for The Washington Post, Jeff Stein. Thank you so much for your reporting and insight this morning.