Morning Joe - Morning Joe 3/8/24

Episode Date: March 8, 2024

Joe: State of the Union was a tour de force by Joe Biden

When you get to be my age, certain things become clearer than ever. I know the American story. Again and again, I've seen the contest between competing forces in the battle for the soul of our nation. Between those who want to pull America back to the past and those who want to move America into the future. My lifetime has taught me to embrace freedom and democracy. A future based on core values that have defined America — honesty, decency, dignity, equality — to respect everyone, to give everyone a fair shot, to give hate no safe harbor.

Now other people my age see it differently. The American story of resentment, revenge, and retribution, that's not me. In my career, I've been told I was too young. By the way, they didn't let me on the Senate elevators for votes sometimes. Not a joke. And I've been told I'm too old. Whether young or old, I've always been known, I've always known what endures. I've known our North Star. The very idea of America is that we're all created equal. It deserves to be treated equally throughout our lives. We've never fully lived up to that idea,

but we've never walked away from it either. And I won't walk away from it now. I'm optimistic. I really am. I'm optimistic, Nancy. My fellow Americans, the issue facing our nation isn't how old we are, it's how old our ideas. Hate, anger, revenge, retribution are the oldest of ideas. But you can't lead America with ancient ideas that only take us back. You need America, the land of possibilities. You need a vision for the future and what can and should be done. Tonight, you've heard mine.

I see a future where defending democracy, you don't diminish it. I see a future where we restore the right to choose and protect our freedoms, not take them away. I see a future where the middle class finally has a fair shot and the wealthy have to pay their fair share in taxes. I see a future where we save the planet from the climate crisis and our country from gun violence. Above all, I see a future for all Americans. I see a country for all Americans.

And I will always be president for all Americans. Because I believe in America. I believe in you, the American people. You're the reason we've never been more optimistic about our future than I am now. So let's build the future together. Let's remember who we are. We are the United States of America. And there is nothing, nothing beyond our capacity when we act together.

God bless you all and may God protect our troops. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. President Biden closing the State of the Union address last night, speaking for just over an hour, the president made his case for a second term, leaning into some of the themes that will play prominently as we head into November, like abortion rights and immigration. Biden also hammered away at Donald Trump and his Republican critics over a number of policies, calling them out, offering a sharp contrast between his administration's accomplishments and those of his predecessor. Welcome to Morning Joe. Along with Joe, Willie and me,

we have the host of Way Too Early, White House Bureau Chief of Politico, Jonathan Lemire, former White House Director of Communications to President Obama, Jennifer Palmieri, president of the National Action Network and host of MSNBC's Politics Nation, Reverend Al Sharpton, president emeritus of the Council of Foreign Relations, Richard Haass, and Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist and associate editor of The Washington Post, Eugene Robinson is with us.

Also with us this morning, author and NBC News presidential historian, Michael Beschloss. And Joe, I will tell you, I'm at the Forbes Know Your Value 3050 Summit here in Abu Dhabi on this International Women's Day. Last night, President Biden spoke a lot about women's issues impacted by the overturning of Roe versus Wade. And we're going to get to all of that in just a moment. But I'm telling you, Joe Biden proved, I think he still has a pulse. That's number one. And Speaker Mike Johnson might have rolled his eyes more than both my daughters in their entire lives. What's your take? Well, I mean, had a pulse. He had Frazier's left hook i mean i have never seen and and part of this is delivery part of it is speech writing part of it is setting up the argument for the fall

i've i've sat through a lot of these uh and i have never seen one side put in so many uncomfortable positions as the Republicans were last night because they were on the wrong side of history. They were on the wrong side of the polls. They were on the wrong side of politics. They were on the wrong side of decency. This was this was a tour de force by Joe Biden. And yet Peggy Noonan last week calling him cranky old Joe after his angry press conference, who last night, Michael Beschloss likened him to Harry Truman. And there was a real give him hell, Harry, a part of this. But what what really completed it was it was give him hell. Harry meets Ronald

Reagan's a city shining brightly on the hill for all the world to see when he says, you know, he's been around a long time. He's been called too young. He's been called too old. But listen to this, but I know what endures. I can see our North Star, that we are all created equal, and we have never reached, we have never reached that goal. But that doesn't mean we don't give up trying. And I thought it was a brilliant turn on Donald Trump when he said, you know, it's not about how old you are. It's about how old your ideas are. And time and time again, I just I go back there. There were just so many beautiful lines here again, delivered beautifully. He said, my lifetime has taught me to embrace freedom and democracy, to give hate no safe harbor. Now, some other people my age, they see a different story, an American story of resentment, revenge and retribution.

That's not me. And in the words of Naomi Biden biden doubt him then watch him he's been defeating the odds his entire life this has been a recurring theme michael for us where joe biden's underestimated before iowa he he's underestimated before and after new hampshire he's he's been told he's too old since 2000 he just keeps surprising people he just keeps winning he just keeps outperforming I have no doubt that every Republican in that chamber was shocked by what they saw last night because he did it to them again as Newt Gingrich said at some point we'll figure this out he said this this after the 22 election. We always under Democrats always underestimated Ike. They always underestimated Reagan. Now it's us. We always

underestimate Biden. Yeah, well, I think that's right. And who does that remind you and me of? And that is Harry Truman in 1948. You know, the beginning of that year down to the summer, even Democrats were saying, Truman is a loser. We better find someone else to run for us. Is there any way we can get rid of this candidate who was in his mid-60s, which was considered very old at that time? And so Truman had a new voice when he came to the convention that summer, got up and said, I and my running mate, Alvin Barkley, are going to win this election and make those Republicans like it. And not only in that speech, but all through that fall, it was suddenly not the sort of meek and polite Truman of the first several years. it was given hell, Harry. And he was saying, you know,

Democrats have given, you know, help the farmers and we've given people support with rent. And we've also fought for NATO. That was the year that Harry Truman signed the NATO treaty that in 2024 could not be more important than it has ever been. Yeah, no doubt about it. And Willie Geist, he talked about NATO. He talked about Sweden. He talked about all the important parts of all the important parts of his agenda moving forward. And time and again, it seems that he put the speaker of the House behind him in an uncomfortable position. It's kind of hard. It's kind of hard not to cheer for freedom. Kind of hard not to cheer when somebody says we're going to stand up to Russian aggression. Kind of hard. IVF, you name it. Time and time again, Republicans were put in this terrible

position of having to sit down on issues that the overwhelming majority of Americans supported. And when they when they shouted at Biden, he gave better than he got. I mean, he went after him time and again at one point going, hey, come on, wait a second. Read the bill. I know you know how to read, right? Yeah, he could not have asked for a better foil in that room last night. I mean, the things he was looking for applause on and got them on one side and not the other were things like Putin is bad. We should be helping Ukraine. Democracy is good. What happened on January 6th was bad, that we need to fix immigration. And there's a bill sitting in the Senate that will fix the immigration problem or at least help to fix it.

They wouldn't clap for that, even as the cutaway to James Lankford, of course, the Republican who co-authored that bill in the Senate, nodding along to President Biden and mouthing the words, that's right, as the president of the United States talked about what the bill would do. I think bigger picture, though, Joe, as we know and we talk about in this show, Democrats, supporters even of Joe Biden have had the live question going into this campaign. Is he up to it? Is Joe Biden up to it? And he answered that resoundingly last night with his performance. And I think the text I was getting at the beginning of the speech were few like he's going to be OK, ending with, wow, I think he far exceeded expectations for people

who were a little worried, frankly, about what was going to happen in that room. But you're right. He had the perfect opponent for him in that boxing match. You had people screaming like children while wearing MAGA hats. You had one guy screaming from the back while wearing Donald Trump's mug shot and never surrender T-shirt under his suit jacket in the well there. So Joe Biden and his team are very happy with what happened last night. And he did contrast his administration's actions with the words and actions of Donald Trump. Never called him Donald Trump. Always said my predecessor. But in that way, it did have the feel of a campaign speech. My predecessor, a former Republican president, tells Putin, quote, do whatever the hell you want. That's a quote. A former president actually said that

bowing down to a Russian leader. I think it's outrageous. It's dangerous and it's unacceptable. My predecessor and some of you here seek to bury the truth about January 6th. I will not do that. This is the moment to speak the truth and to bury the lies. Here's the simple truth. You can't love your country only when you win. My predecessor came to office determined to see Roe v. Wade overturned. He's the reason it was overturned.

And he brags about it. Look at the chaos that has resulted. My predecessor failed the most basic presidential duty that he owes to American people, the duty to care. I think that's unforgivable. Past administrations, including my predecessor, including some Democrats as well in the past, failed to buy American. Not anymore. But my predecessor and many in this chamber want to take this prescription drug away by repealing Affordable Care Act. I'm not going to let that happen. The last administration enacted a $2 trillion tax cut, overwhelmingly benefited the top 1%,

the very wealthy and the biggest corporation, and exploded the federal deficit. In November, my team began serious negotiations with a bipartisan group of senators. The result was a bipartisan bill with the toughest set of border security reforms we've ever seen. Oh, you don't think so?

Well, my predecessor called members of Congress in the Senate to demand they block the bill. He feels a political win, he viewed it as a political win for me and a political loser for him. Predecessor is watching. Instead of paying politics and pressuring members of Congress to block the bill, join me in telling the Congress to pass it. But unlike my predecessor, I know who we are as Americans. My predecessor told the NRA he's proud he did nothing on guns when he was president.

I've made sure that the most advanced American technologies can't be used in China, not allowing to trade them there. Frankly, for all his tough talk on China, it never occurred to my predecessor to do any of that. Joe, you did get the sense that Speaker Johnson wished they could push into just a two shot at certain times of the president and vice president. So he didn't have to react. But obviously, he's shaking his head there for Donald Trump, who's watching at home to tell the boss that he's got his back. But I mean, this is a serious, not a rhetorical question. When the president talks about the bipartisan immigration reform bill led by James Langford, and they start booing it and shaking their head. What are they booing and shaking their head about? What is Speaker Johnson shaking his head about? He knows exactly what happened, which is he called for immigration

reform, got it from the Senate and now won't take it up. He's in a box, like you said, in a box. And why is he shaking his head when Joe Biden talks about January 6th being such a dark day when he talks about the big lie, which Speaker Johnson was, again, one of the key proponents of on the House floor. Liz Cheney wrote all about it. And how do you not exactly stand up when the president of the United States says you want to buy American? You shake your hand at that. Buying America. Ooh, ooh, la la. What a campaign this is going to be.

Jonathan Lemire, I've got to say again, we just need to keep going back to it. Joe Biden underestimated time and time again. We were having the same conversation after the State of the Union last year. People going, oh, well, maybe, maybe it's not too old. Same now. It'll be the same going into this fall. I mean, Democrats, certainly, if there were any Democrats wavering, any Democrats concerned, last night certainly had to make them feel like they're in really good shape, especially.

I just love how the issues line up. Republicans are on the wrong side of history. They're on the wrong side of the polls. They're on the wrong side of decency on so many of these questions. I'm saying specifically on that front, Donald Trump. I mean, last night, game set match to Joe Biden. Yeah. And the president got off such a roaring start. It was so striking right at the beginning. He invokes FDR and the do nothing Congress against making that comparison. And the top right, he ticked off three issues. Ukraine, January 6th, abortion, the defense of democracy abroad, the defense of democracy at home and the defense of freedom and

rights at home. That right there, those three issues. There's your campaign. No first five minutes speech last night. President Biden, this is what the next eight months are going to be about right here. And Jen Palmieri to nervous Democrats who were, there were a number of them who were like, can he do this last night? Is he up for it? He answered the call. We know white house aides were texting me in the days before they were confident that he would. They told me that last year after the state of the union, when, as Joe said, he also faced questions about his age and vitality, he delivered a strong performance. His poll numbers went up. They think that'll be happening again here today. Americans will be less concerned about Biden's age and far more focused on the contrast that Biden drew with his predecessor.

He invoked that phrase, my predecessor, 13 times. I have I've been working in politics for 30 years. I have never had a night last night where my phone is just exploding with people who yesterday were saying Biden campaign, what campaign? There is no campaign saying, oh, my God, he knocked it out of the park. And you're right about like so smart about I'm just looking at Lemire's nose here about how he opened up with these three issues about what they can't about. Thank you about what the campaign was going to be about in case people only paid attention to this for a few minutes. The other thing that was so striking about that was to say it's a moment to speak the truth. Like usually you come in and you give some

quarter to like, oh, we can all agree on this or that. And he's like, no, we don't agree. We don't agree on Jan 6th. We don't agree on abortion and we don't agree on Ukraine. I'm going to speak the truth now and you are going to have to react to it. But this is what my campaign is going to be about. And last year, you know, this is when if people are going to challenge him in the Democratic primary, this time last year was going to be when they needed to do it. And it was the State of the Union that was so strong last year that made people realize I'm not challenging this guy. I'm not challenging this guy and the record he has or the vigor he has, the experience he has. And then last night, I mean, that was even a bigger tour de force. Like it really felt like President Biden came

to his own, right? Oh, no doubt about it. It was his best speech of his presidency by far strongest speech. And most importantly, for people that were thinking, oh, he's too old, he's too this, he's too that man. Like I said, he gave a lot more than he got and made these Republicans look like fools time and time again. Gene Robinson, when you and I were growing up, we would see Metal Lark Lemon and Curly Neal and they would humiliate the Washington generals day in and day out. I see buffoons wearing MAGA hats and running around and trying to give stickers to the president and and and all these other idiots just screaming and yelling and making fools of themselves. I just sat there thinking, I know this is supposed to shock and stun the left or the media or somebody. All it does is make them look like idiots. All it does is help Joe Biden. They were and they continue to be the Washington generals playing the Harlem Globetrotters.

That's why the Washington generals have lost seven seasons in a row. I keep saying it here, right? There's a reason they lost in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 21, 22, 23. And why I keep saying when people are going, what happened, Drew? They're going to lose in 2024. All you had to do was look out on that crowd last night and see how stupid the extreme elements of that party has become. And they just keep reelecting Biden and Democrats. Yes, they do. How did the Washington generals, by the way, never realize that Metal Lark Lemon had the ball tucked under his jersey behind him every time? They just they just couldn't figure that out night after night.

And that is very much like the Republicans. In fact, you know, Biden did his political judo thing again that he did last year. Last year, he got the Republicans to say they had absolutely no interest in touching Social Security and Medicare. This year, he got them to agree with him that there shouldn't be an extension of the Trump tax cuts. It was just amazing. So why do they get into call and response with Joe Biden? They always lose those. I thought he just completely blew away the Biden is too old issue last night. I think he to the extent that that this issue that has been talked about and hands have been wrung until they're raw over it to the extent that that can be totally dissipated in one night. I think it happened last night because there was no question

that he was vigorous and on top of every issue and able to continue performing the job of president. And it got to the point where Republicans on the X platform were grumbling that somehow he was he was too speaking too fast and he was too vigorous or whatever. It's just ridiculous. So I think that was that was it. And then, as you said, on the issues, he's lined up with the American people and the Republicans are not. He drew those contrasts time and time and time again. I thought it was just a very, very good night for Joe Biden and for the for the Democratic Party looking ahead to November. We have Rev in politics, my office and I know other offices, but we talk about 80 20 issues. People come and go, well, hey, should we really do this? Look, I go, this is an 80-20 issue.

Let's go out and, of course, be shocked and say we're going to take this courageous stand. And we don't care what anybody says. We're going to do it. We know it's unpopular, but it's an 80-20 issue. I like that show. He sure is courageous. A lot of 80 20 issues last night. And Donald Trump's MAGA extremists always pick the 20 instead of the 80 insulin, affordable insulin.

I say this with a father of a type one diabetic who's been type one, had type one diabetes since he was about 10 years old. Talking about the stuff take costs $10 to make. You know, they're charging up to $400. Well, Medicare, I limited it to $35. And we're going to do that for all Americans. I was the first president to force pharmaceutical companies to compete with Medicare, to save all this money for the American people. Like I said before, he talked about buying American.

He talked about tax cuts for the richest billionaires and tax cuts for multinational corporations. And he wants to take that money and give it to middle class Americans, give it to small businesses. Give it to entrepreneurs. I mean, again, everything he was doing, 80-20 issue. And then, my God, that's before you even get to abortion, before you even get to IVF, before you even get the little 10-year-old girls raped, having to be chased out of their state. Women having to sit outside of emergency rooms, bleeding out because doctors are too afraid to treat them with life saving medical care. These are like at least 80, 20 issues. And these Republicans have chosen the wrong side on every issue. He came last night clearly to fight. He did not come in shrinking. He came in. Let's go. I'm ready to rumble. And in his not only words, but in his performance. And then he ended it with his words. He dealt with whether he had the vigor and whether the age factor mattered, he took it head on.

He also did something that you advised. He addressed where they were, what happened January 6th, right in that chamber. He reminded the American people what happened. the Affordable Care Act and Obamacare even made a side joke about what he had said when it happened, reminding people he was the co-pilot that brought Affordable Care Act. So he brought up the exact date of the address last night was the actual anniversary of Bloody Sunday fighting for voting rights. He brought up voting rights. He brought up HBCUs. He covered all of his bases and he handled with real perfection the hecklers where they became almost like his props. Props to him.

They were his props. Thank you, MTG. He's going to be sending you flowers or whatever you want, because she played right into his hands. She always does. At what point will they understand that when they put their hand on the hot stove, it burns? No, it was almost like he would point to your cue. You ready? Because he had he mastered them. And to see him last night. Plays him. Yeah, he plays him. And to see him last night and compare him to his predecessor, as he says, Trump. Yeah.

I mean, the eloquence that he would capture in moments about what he believed and what he trusted in the future. And then you think of Trump's last outing where he just went incoherent like Jackie Gleason on the honeymoon. I mean, it was it was the contrast of who you want to see. Exactly. It was not good. It was not good. But he not he he he was strong. And, you know, he did really well when Republicans are complaining that he talked too fast. And are you ready for this? He was too partisan. This coming from the party of Donald Trump,

that that policy speech was too part. Oh, those crocodile tears. How are you going to get through today? It's really pathetic. You're sad. You're triggered. You're going to lose again. You know, I'm a huge Beatles fan. And when the Beatles first were on Ed Sullivan, Sullivan was smart. Of course, I played first, but they were smart enough to hold the Beatles to the very end of the show.

Save the best for last. And you know what? That's what we're going to do here with Richard Haas. We're going to wait till after the break. He's our Beatles today. Yes, you can see it, really. It's like, is he McCartney? He's a little bit of all of them. We're going to talk to Richard about a lot of the foreign policy issues that are brought up. Also going to be talking more to Willie, getting his take.

And also Mika, who is in Abu Dhabi right now. That is not Abu Dhabi. That is New York City. But the skies look that way. And also, I want to ask Mika how International Women's Day is going over there. It's an extraordinary event she has going. We'll be right back with more of The Beatles or Richard Haass. One of the presidents of a big country stood up, said, well, sir, if we don't pay and we're attacked by Russia, will you protect us?

I said, you didn't pay your delinquent. He said, yes. Let's say that happened. No, I would not protect you. In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want. You got to pay. You got to pay your bills. Ukraine can stop Putin if we stand with Ukraine and provide the weapons that needs to defend itself. There are no American soldiers in the war in Ukraine, and I'm determined to keep it that way. But now, assistance to Ukraine is being blocked by those who want to walk away from our world leadership.

It wasn't long ago when a Republican president named Ronald Reagan thundered, Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall. Now. Now, my predecessor, a former Republican president, tells Putin, quote, do whatever the hell you want. That's a quote. A former president actually said that bowing down to a Russian leader. I think it's outrageous. It's dangerous and it's unacceptable. So there you go, Richard Haass.

If you're looking for contrast, there is former President Trump first making those infamous comments about what we could do, relating a story that most certainly didn't happen, but he told it anyway because it started with Sir. And then you had the President of the United States inside the Congress last night giving the address and quoting Ronald Reagan. I mean, the way he manipulated the Republicans in the room last night, got them to clap for that, but then they started booing and whistling when he criticized Donald Trump. It appears he has the high ground here. Not that difficult a place to be, particularly on this issue, in terms of the way Republicans have talked about this and supported Donald Trump's view of the war in Ukraine. I actually thought last night the president channeled Michael Beschloss' talk before about Harry Truman.

To me, it was a little bit of Hubert Humphrey. There was a happy warrior quality to the whole thing. He relished the give and take. And I thought on this, the contrast between Reagan's tear down this wall and do whatever the hell you want in two sentences, that really showed the demise and the decline of what was an internationalist Republican Party and has now become an irresponsible isolationist party. So I thought that the contrast of those two lines, how the party of Reagan, the grand old party, what it's what it's what it's come. I thought

he finessed the Middle East issues as well as he could, essentially supportive of Israel. At the same time, once again, messaging the Israelis, use force carefully, let the aid in. We've got to have a political dimension here, move towards a two-state solution. But again, sympathetic to Israel's need and right to respond to the horrific attacks of October 7th. So I thought on that, that on the foreign policy side, you know, he was the commander in chief last night. And again, the contrast with the with the isolationism on the other side could not have been more stark. I mean, the contrast was so great, the contrast between him and, as he said, his predecessors, Jonathan O'Meara. You're telling me that obviously a lot of Americans really,

really inspired by what he said, said last night they had their biggest fundraising haul. So the Biden. Yeah, the Biden campaign let us know that their 9 o'clock hour, the president started his speech last night, was their biggest fundraising hour of the entire campaign, only to then amend that later, saying actually the 10 p.m. hour was more. It's amazing. So they had their best two hours of the entire campaign last night, and they already walked into yesterday with a massive fundraising advantage

over Donald Trump, who has struggled to raise money also because he's had to devote so much of the money he has raised to his legal bill. So this is something where even prior to last night, and the Democrats feel great about that speech, they felt like they had a significant financial advantage. They're going to be able to bury Trump in ads. Well, and again, it ain't nothing that last night, the nine o'clock hour and then the 10 o'clock hour set fundraising records for a campaign that has already set fundraising records for the most money ever raised. Democrats, but I'm sure Republicans, moderate Republicans, swing voters, independents had to really, really like what they heard when Donald Trump once again had the contrast time and again, somebody that was against freedom abroad, somebody that was against freedom at home. And that's when Joe Biden really brought it home. He talked about freedom abroad, but then he talked about freedom at home and women's freedom and said back to the Supreme Court.

Oh, yeah. You say women, they have the right to express themselves politically. We'll stand back because they're just about to do that. That was an incredible moment, especially with the members of the Supreme Court right there. Last night, President Biden took that issue, as Joe said, reproductive rights head on. He called for a guaranteed right to IVF nationwide and slammed the Supreme Court for overturning Roe v. Wade right to their faces. Take a look. History is watching another assault on freedom. Joining us tonight is Latoya Beasley,

a social worker from Birmingham, Alabama. Fourteen months ago, she and her husband welcomed a baby girl thanks to the miracle of IVF. She scheduled treatments to have that second child. But the Alabama Supreme Court shut down IVF treatments across the state, unleashed by a Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade. She was told her dream would have to wait. What her family had got through should never have happened.

Unless Congress acts, it could happen again. So tonight, let's stand up for families like hers. To my friends across Seattle, don't keep this waiting any longer. Guarantee the right to ADF. Guarantee it nationwide. My predecessor came to office determined to see Roe v. Wade overturned. He's the reason it was overturned, and he brags about it. Look at the chaos that has resulted. Many of you in this chamber and my predecessor

are promising to pass a national ban on reproductive freedom. My God, what freedom else would you take away? Look, it's a decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. The Supreme Court majority wrote the following, and with all due respect, justices, women are not without electoral power. Excuse me, electoral or political power. You're about to realize just how much you get worried about. Those bragging about overturning Roe v. Wade have no clue about the power of women. But they found out when reproductive freedom was on the ballot. We won in 2022 and 2020 and we'll win again in 2024.

What an incredible moment addressing the Supreme Court justices right there. Hold that thought for a second and think about everything you just heard for just a moment from President Biden last night and compare it now to this. For 54 years, they were trying to get Roe v. Wade terminated. And I did it. And I'm proud to have done it. President Trump is going to make a determination what he thinks is great for the country and what's fair for the country. But the fact that I was able to terminate Roe v. Wade after 50 years of trying, they worked for 50 years. I've never seen anything like it. They worked. And I was even I was able to terminate Roe v. Wade after 50 years of trying. They worked for 50 years. I've never seen anything like it. They worked.

And I was even, I was so honored to have done it. Well, I did something that nobody thought was possible. I got rid of Roe v. Wade. And by doing that, by doing that, it put pro-lifers in a very strong negotiating position. Nobody did a job like I did, including Roe v. Wade, bringing it back to the states. What I did by killing Roe v. Wade, which everyone said was impossible. Wow. Jim Palmieri, President Trump is very proud of that accomplishment of basically creating a women's health care emergency in the United States.

Literally life and death health situations for women talk about being the party of life. They're the party of letting women die slowly or watch their babies die slowly. And that's who they are now. And President Biden took the bull by the horns last night and he addressed it head on. He addressed the Supreme Court head on. Unusual. But these are unusual times, aren't they? Yeah. And you just know how I mean, it's so it's so prominent. Women's minds, men's minds in America. It was the very first excerpt they put out was the excerpt about him, you know, addressing the Supreme Court when they put that out in the afternoon. They wanted us to know that was going to be a focus from the guests that the first lady had in her box, you know, someone who had been affected by IVF, you know, other people that had had to go out of state to get abortion health care. And, you know, it was just it is, you know,

as the vice president says so well, they're trying to tell you they're they're telling you that you can't decide when to end a pregnancy or when to start a family. You know, when Jonathan talked about how they made campaign rates a lot of money in the 9 p.m. hour, that is certainly what we heard at the top of the 9 p.m. hour. And I also have to wonder how much money was raised in the Republican response, because, you know, in terms of how women are going to feel about how that went over, I feel like that was that's going to be something that's going to be motivating to a lot of women as well. Well, motivating to a lot of women, all of it combined, Gene Robinson, again, in the very areas that matter the most, the Atlanta suburbs, the Philly suburbs, the Detroit suburbs, the Milwaukee suburbs, the places where swing voters live, where women play a large, large part there. I, you know, I am a big believer in anecdotal evidence. I've talked about this before. My last birthday, I had my family around,

all Republicans, all pro-life, all evangelicals. And we were sitting there in about 30 minutes and we're just talking about different things. And I think it went from baseball to suddenly somebody said, hey, did you hear that story about that woman in Texas that was bleeding out because the doctors went? And then somebody else said, oh, my God. And that woman and they and I just said, that's that's where if you're in my job, either as a politician or, you know, a host on the show here, you just you try to melt into, you know, the woodwork and you just try to listen. These people, these Republicans, these pro-lifers, these Southern Baptists, these evangelicals had one horror story after another horror story about what terminating Roe v. Wade was doing to human beings, doing to women, doing to professional women, doing to housewives, doing to 10 year old girls. They just sat there going on. And at that point, I said, man, when they start telling stories about

how devastating an issue is to all these other people, that's when you know it really sinks in. So for Donald Trump to be run around bragging, I terminated Roe v. Wade, I terminated Roe v. Wade. I'm responsible for that woman bleeding out. I'm responsible for that 10 year old girl being raped, having to be chased from the states. I'm responsible for that. It's just devastating for him. It's devastating for Republicans. We've seen it already since Dobbs became the law of the land. Yeah, we've seen it in every election since then. Really, we saw it in the 2022 elections. We've seen it in all any special elections that there have been between then and now.

And I am pretty confident that we will see it again in 2024. This is a this is a huge issue. This is a dog that caught-caught-the-bus issue for Republicans. And I think you could confidently predict that by, you know, by September, October, Donald Trump will be maintaining that he never heard of Roe v. Wade, that, you know, he didn't have anything to do with it. It was really these justices and whatever, because he's going to have the Republican response, you had Joe Biden talking about fundamental rights that everyone deserves to have, that women deserve to have as human beings, as Americans.

And you had Senator Katie Britt, for some bizarre reason, they decided to stage her in apparently her kitchen, which says a lot about how the Republican Party sees women. And and and then the sort of overdone affect that she had one one instant, she was near tears. The next instant she was smiling. The next instant she was, you know, serious. And then she was it was all over the map. Again, I'm not sure that a lot of people stayed up to watch that. But if they did, whoa, that was that was that was at the Bobby Jindal level, I think, in terms of responses. Jim Palmieri, you had said that you followed the online activity, not just of people, not just Democrats, but also conservatives and very conservative people. And you said that there was a sort of a meme that they were trying to follow here. Yeah, there was. Oh, oh, yeah. Yeah. So Charlie Kirk, you know, conservative commentator, he was disappointed in the speech. And then I looked at what his responses were like and a lot of his and his and his followers were very unhappy with it.

And there's there's this thing on TikTok in particular called the trad wife, which is a traditional wife, which is a woman that very much embraces, you know, stay at home, mom. Great. You know, but, you know, presents in a certain way. And I feel like that is sort of the cadence and emotion that she was going for was to present as like one of these tick tock moms. And, you know, Claire McCaskill broadcasts on Morning Joe almost every morning from her kitchen. And it's great. You would have no idea that this woman was a United States senator. You know, a man, a Republican man might brought might have done a speech, you know, a response like that from his kitchen. But we would have heard something about being a United States senator and something about governing and something that resembled the truth. And that was just wild. I mean, I have never. And I was sort of reassured to see that even on the right, people were rejecting whatever it was that they were trying to convey about women's place.

Yes. Someone who was perceived as a rising star among Republicans that Donald Trump even potentially on her shortlist for vice presidential nomination. I heard from Republicans last night, too, who were just like that wasn't the right tone, particularly overdramatic, you know, and seemed to be sort of missing a real thesis there, other than to say that the American dream has turned into an American nightmare, that theme of negativity that Republicans have seized upon in recent weeks from Trump and beyond. It doesn't, the negativity thing doesn't work.

It doesn't work when, I mean, America's economy is easily number one in the world. I mean, first time since the 1960s, unemployment's been below 4% for two years running. A record number of jobs, a record number of jobs created over the last three years. America's up and running again. Its economy is the envy of the world. Now, listen, if you just stay in your mother's basement and replay MAGA clips, you may not know that, but if you start reading newspapers and listening to people who run other countries across the world, they will tell you America's economy is the envy of the world. Economically, we are crushing China. Economically, we are crushing Russia.

And to say the American dream has turned into an American nightmare. Yeah, a nightmare for the communist Chinese. But we don't usually root for them, do we? No, no, we don't. We're glad we're number one. Say it together with me. USA, we're number one. We're number one. And I think it was Dizzy Dean who said it ain't bragging if you can do it. And right now the United States is doing it. So all this, I don't understand this. I think I think everybody on the MAGA side needs to just kind of relax, maybe do some mindfulness. Download the Calm app.

And in the background, while you're doing your mindfulness and your breathing exercises, okay, you've got to hold it down here, right? While you're doing that, play Lee Greenwood in the background. Proud to be an American. Makes me tear up every time I hear it. You know what I found out? Let's hear it. Mika tears up every time she hears the song, too. I think Republicans need to start listening to that again and start believing it because it's a great song. Great song. It's like saying Tom Brady's a good quarterback.

Great. Great. And you know what else is great? I like it. Loving America. It's a great thing. There's so much to love. We've got so much to be proud of in America.

These Republicans that think they got to hate America and say it's an American nightmare. They're stuck in carnage. They're stuck in carnage. Come on. Free yourself, baby. I don't get it. USA, number one. Do you believe in miracles?

Yeah, I believe in miracles. USA. USA. Eugene Robinson, I know you love America. So thank you for being with us. I'll even forgive you for being a Michigan fan. Well, thanks a lot, Joe. And I'm sure Alabama will get us next year.

No, no, no. All right. Well, thank you so much for being with us, Gene. We're going to show you another moment. The president called out House Republicans because they blocked the toughest border restriction bill in U.S. history, plus a national co-chair

for President Biden's reelection campaign, a shrinking violet, Mitch Landrieu. Mitch, he's going to join us at the table. Morning, Joe. Coming right back.

We're red, white and blue. Thanks to our bipartisan infrastructure law, 46,000 new projects have been announced all across your communities. And by the way, I noticed some of you strongly voted against it or they're cheering on that money coming in. I like it. I'm with you. I'm with you. If any of you don't want that money in your district, just let me know. President Biden joking around with some of the Republican lawmakers who voted against the bipartisan infrastructure bill and then enthusiastically welcomed that money into their districts. Joining us now, national co-chair for President Biden's reelection campaign, Mitch Landrieu. He formerly was the Infrastructure Act coordinator for the Biden White House.

Mitch, it's good to have you with us this morning. So thank you. Your reaction, not just to the substance of the State of the Union address last night, but a little bit about what we've been talking about last night, which was some of the doubts, as you know, talking even to Democrats and supporters of President Biden of whether he's up for this and how he answered that last night. And as we just saw in that last clip, how he kind of poked around with the Republicans in the room

as well. Well, first of all, if you have eyes and ears, you saw a president that was tough, that was smart, that was ready for the fight, that took it to people and talked about the American people. You know, for two weeks before that, every pundit in America was putting Joe Biden in the grave as though somehow 81 is the most important number in America. And the president basically said last night, look, it's not my numerical age. It's the power of my ideas. It's the youth of my ideas. And he brought it. What we like to say in New Orleans is he brought the heat and he did an unbelievable job last night. So what I would like to ask everybody in America is can we finally put to rest whether Joe Biden is up to the task of governing this country? Listen, as a mayor, I can tell you there's no congressman, there's no governor, there's no CEO in America can stand up

and do what Joe Biden did last night. That's hard. It requires an incredible amount of concentration. And I think that he also demonstrated to people that we have an existential threat and we have a choice to make in this country. And the choice is really clear. You can choose Donald Trump, who every time his lips are moving, he's lying and he's delusional. And he's hoping that America has amnesia about how dark and backward looking he is and how narrow his view is when he's going to take away people's rights. Or you can vote for a president that delivers as promised, that is a future looking person, that is optimistic, that is expanding people's rights in America and that is going to fight for everyday Americans as opposed to the richest folks in this country. He could not have made it clearer.

He could not have done it better. And I thought last night he hit it out of the park. Mitch, one of the things that I think that should not be overlooked is he addressed some of the areas that people were saying that he had become weaker in, in terms of youth. He emphasized about what he had tried to do with student loans. Correct. And then found a way to do it anyway after the Supreme Court had knocked it down. And he addressed voting rights, mentioned John Lewis, mentioned the anniversary of the march across Edmund Pettus Bridge. So the whole idea you co-chairing the campaign of blacks not being as enthusiastic in young people,

I think he addressed both in a substantive way, saying this is what I've done with blacks. This is what I've done for youth. And I think it was it was subtle, but very powerful. Was that something you think will help you in those areas in the campaign? But I agree with you. You and I were both dear friends of John Lewis. He was a mentor of ours. He took a weapon on the cusp of the Edmund Pettus Bridge. You've been helping leading those efforts. Joe Biden has said many, many, many times he would not be president without the African-American community. And he has demonstrated time and time again by his appointment of Kamala Harris, the first African-American woman Supreme Court justice, funding for HBCUs, the elimination of student debt, and then again, fighting hard and telling

Congress to get off of the dime and pass the John Lewis Voting Act, demonstrating what his commitment is. Now, listen, every vote has to be earned. Joe Biden said something last night, the thing that I really liked the most about it. He said, I'm never going to take a knee. We are never going to quit and we are never going to surrender. And the question for America is, who is Joe Biden fighting for and who is Donald Trump fighting for? Joe Biden wakes up every day thinking about other people. He thinks about expanding rights. He thinks about fighting against big pharma, against the NRA. He thinks about fighting against big corporations to make sure that they pay their fair share so that we can actually have parental leave, medical leave. We can actually have child care and working folks can have a leg up. Donald Trump fights for himself,

his friends and the wealthy one percent in this country. And so it's a very clear choice. And by the way, Donald Trump's just a bad guy. And I just want to remind everybody, since everybody has a little bit of amnesia, that when Donald Trump was in office, we woke up every day going, what the hell is he going to do today? Or what did he do last night in the middle of the night when nobody was looking? And 17 cabinet members, by the way, which includes Nikki Haley, have now told us, and this is people like General Mattis, who was a Secretary of Defense, Mark Esper, who was a Secretary of Defense, Nikki Haley, who was his U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, John Kelly, all of these who are veterans and a national defense people

have begged us not to put this guy within 100 yards of the White House because he is not fit for the presidency. And so the issue of fitness last night for Joe Biden got put to rest. The issue of fitness for Donald Trump will be with us forever because he should not get anywhere close to the Oval Office again. Mitchell. So, OK, Super Tuesday calls me. I know your mom calls me when you're in trouble. You're not in trouble, but it's serious business. OK, so Super Tuesday over State Union. Fantastic. over lots of money. What's next for the campaign? Well, if people want to join the campaign, they can go to Joe Biden dot com, because we did have the biggest fundraising hour last night.

And the reason why is because Joe Biden showed up and demonstrated to the American people something that Richard's been talking about. You have to be strong abroad and you can be strong at home. And the way that you do that is you get together with your allies and you continue to be the indispensable nation abroad and protect Ukraine, because if they fall and NATO falls, then we got a real problem. I always just laughed a little bit when Donald Trump said, if you don't pay your bills, their consequences, that guy hasn't paid a bill in 50 years. You know, that's hysterical that he said that. And then being strong at home, the way you're strong at home is you invest in American people. You invest in American things. So Joe said this already. But please let me repeat.

Under Biden's administration, 15 million jobs. Under Donald Trump's administration, he lost two point five million jobs. We have the lowest unemployment rate by the way. By the way, Trump, the first president since Herbert Hoover. Yeah. To have a net loss of jobs. That's it. Herbert Hoover. That's who he is. He's worse than Herbert Hoover. All right. You got you have a stock market that has hit the heights four or five times under Joe Biden's administration and not nearly that many. You have in the infrastructure bill right now where we investing in rebuilding roads and bridges and airports and ports, waterways, giving everybody high speed internet reference. So a little girl don't need to be sitting at the back of her mama's car outside of McDonald's doing her homework so that she can be the person that becomes a doctor and teaches us what we have to do for the maternal mortality rate. Providing clean air and safe water. All of those things.

Forty six thousand projects are going on in America, which means he's putting people back to work at high paying jobs, high paying union jobs, if you will. And as I've said, this is the greatest comeback story that we've seen in a long time. And I think the president took that to the American people last night. Again, he confronted the Supreme Court very directly on Roe versus Wade and women's rights, which I think is going to be a critically important issue. Two reasons. One, it's about expanding people's freedoms, not taking them away, which is what they did when they reversed Roe versus Wade. And then talking about how this leads to the kind of extremism that the president has been warning about. Look, you're from the South. I'm from the South. We grew up with a lot of conservative people. But the MAGA wing of the Republican Party is a whole nother thing. So

you've got a bunch of folks in this country that grew up like you and I grew up, that consider themselves to be Republicans and conservatives, that don't think that police officers like in Ohio should be able to go into a woman's home and look in her toilet to see if she had a miscarriage. The pain that that causes women in this country is incredible. And then now in Texas, you have the issue that they highlighted last night and then now in Alabama. So you have this incredible thing where there's some people in the Republican Party that think the government should tell you that you have to have a child, when to have a child, have to have a how to have a child. And even if your life is a danger or if it was because of rape and incest, you're out of luck. Yeah. Even if you're in bed, they tell them and then they tell them they can't have a child.

Right now. So what I'm trying to figure out is why do they think it's any of their damn business anyway? Yeah. That women actually are smart enough to make this decision with the doctors and with the pastor and with their partners and figure this stuff out. And I think the president said the thing that made the most sense last night when the Supreme Court said women really have the power to vote and they're going to be able to exercise their vote. He said, you're about to find out. And he brought that. He brought the heat last night. He brought it directly. And he brought the heat and he's doing great. All right. National co-chair for President Biden's reelection campaign, Mitch Landrieu. Thank you so much. Go to Joe Biden dot com. Sign up. All righty. We greatly appreciate it. We're.