Morning Joe - Morning Joe 6/14/24

Episode Date: June 14, 2024

Trump calls Milwaukee a 'horrible city,' weeks before it hosts the RNC

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Shlemiel, Shlemizo, Haas & Baff Incorporated. We're gonna do it. Give us any chance, we'll take it. So, do you come to Milwaukee often? Well, I'm a regular visitor here. But Milwaukee has certainly had its share of visitors. Nothing's gonna turn us back now.

Straight ahead and on the track now. We're gonna make our dreams come true. Doing it our way. It's over! It's over! The Milwaukee Bucks have passed the end of the road! The shortstop's out. Milwaukee has won it. It's over. The B bucks have done it the long wait has ended after a half century the milwaukee bucks are nba champions once again

actually it's pronounced miliwake which is Algonquin for the good land. Think God would want us to go to Milwaukee. For me and you. And there you go. I love that tune. Wow. Donald Trump is trying to clean up an attack he made yesterday on the city hosting next month's Republican National. What are you feeling?

I love Milwaukee. I know you do. I mean, while speaking to House Republicans, Trump called Milwaukee, quote, a horrible city. The comment was first reported by Punchbowl News Jake Sherman and later confirmed by an NBC news source who was inside the room. Instead of being the site of the RNC, Milwaukee is also the largest,

in addition to being the site of the RNC, Milwaukee is also the largest city in the key battleground state of Wisconsin. You know, Willie, what was so funny was, so you had, you actually had Republicans saying, oh, he never said this about Milwaukee, right? He never said this about Milwaukee, right? He never said this about Milwaukee, but he later admitted he said it about Milwaukee, right? Hey, can I just say something?

To Milwaukee. I love Milwaukee. So good. But so they start, Willie, by saying, we're not saying this about Milwaukee. Yeah. Right? Right? We love it.

And then they come out and find out that Trump has admitted that he said all these horrible things about Milwaukee. And they go, oh, well, he was just talking about, you know, crime. Then another guy said they're talking about, I guess, the Brewers bullpen. Willie, help me out here. I don't understand. Why would you do that? Like, they keep. I don't understand either. It's do that? Like they keep. I don't

understand either. It's so good. They keep making it up. Just Milwaukee. Milwaukee's wonderful. Just drink it down, my friend. Just drink it down. I mean, that's Willie opening the show with a pair of tall boys of the beast is just one of the great moves in the history of Morning Joe. I just feel a little left out. I've got a lean cup of coffee sitting over here. It's delicious. Let me tell you. It is delicious.

Drink it up, friends. Drink up Milwaukee. It's good. But, you know, it's like Alice Cooper said. This is a special place, right? I really don't understand. Well, let's bring in a guy that knows something. Yeah, you know, about Milwaukee, about old Milwaukee.

That's Wisconsin's own Charlie Sykes. Charlie, they can try to spin it. First, they lied because, of course, their Trump Republican said, oh, he never said that. Right. I know. And his spokesperson's, oh, that's BS. Trump never said that. And then, of course, we find out later, Mickey, I hate beer. You don't have to pretend anymore. And then later,

they admitted that he said it. And we're spinning the rest of the day. But the fact is, let's just say what it is. I mean, Donald Trump trashed the most important city in the upcoming 2024 election. You know why? Because he's Donald

Trump. Yeah. And then, by the way, Joe and Miki, you're making me thirsty this morning, even by Milwaukee standards. It's a little it's a little bit early. I mean, this thing is a farce inside of a fiasco. It was really interesting watching local Republicans struggling to get their stories straight after Donald Trump dumps on Milwaukee. But again, thank you for the montage at the beginning, because, look, I am a Milwaukeean. I've been here for a very, very long time. And look, we have our struggles. There are messes. There are challenges. But this is a great city on a great lake in a beautiful region. The Bucks, the Brewers, Harley Davidson. We have a

fantastic lakefront art museum, you know, symphony, ballet. You know, wait till people see the range of restaurants that we have here. You know, and then Donald Trump comes in and dumps on all of this. Now, by the way, the idea of having this convention in Milwaukee, I mean, this was really the brainchild of Reince Priebus, who has apparently learned nothing over the last eight years. I regret not giving him a copy of Rick Wilson's book, Everything Trump Touches Dies. But but here we are with Donald Trump trashing, trashing Milwaukee. And of course, you can imagine how that's playing here. And so you're seeing Republicans in, you know, denying it or coming up with various spins.

But I guess the unfortunate thing is you know that given the Trumpian media, this is going to be a talking point that goes from Trump didn't say it or Trump meant this to, you know what, Trump was absolutely right. Milwaukee is trash. But I think you made a key point here. Milwaukee can't take it too personally. I think Milwaukee is going to look gorgeous over the summer. We have these fantastic lakefront festivals. But Trump says this about every major city. I mean, have you noticed this? He's trashed New York. He's trashed Washington, D.C., trashed Baltimore.

Donald Trump hates urban America. And again, this is not a news story. It's not a breaking story. He wants to be president of the United States. But but only the real United States, apparently not great cities like Milwaukee. But but what a what a blunder. What a what a way to kick all this off. And and if Mika doesn't want that fear, I am definitely down for it later this afternoon. I will not waste it. We're in a Fed exit here. It's going to go in my plans. You know, Mika, it's so interesting.

A couple years ago, I was having a conversation with Mark Halperin, who, you know, has traveled all over the country. And I said, what's your favorite city in America? You know, he said, that's easy. It's Milwaukee. Yeah, well. He said, he said, that's easy. It's Milwaukee. Yeah. Well, he was like, he said, he said, he said, you just, it's just, you'd absolutely love it. It's called the city of

festivals for a reason. There's always something going on in Milwaukee. Of course, they've got great sports teams, but they've got this great urban downtown. They've got an incredible art museum. You know, Georgia O'Keeffe is a Milwaukee native. And they have the largest collection of Georgia O'Keeffe artwork in Milwaukee there. It is, it's a really vibrant, wonderful city. And so, again, it just shows you how clueless this guy is who lives in his Palm Beach Beach Country Club. Just doesn't feel like going anywhere. And he lives in a skyscraper in Manhattan.

So he doesn't, so outside of Palm Beach and Manhattan, he hates the rest of America. And a fun fact about Milwaukee, it has a large Polish population. Huge Polish population. So lots of Poles there. It does. And what's nice about Milwaukee is you could have chosen

from any number of beers for your tall boy this morning. You went with Milwaukee's best. I respect the choice. You could with Milwaukee's best. I respect the choice. You could have done PBR. You could have done a Miller High Life, a champagne of beers, of course. I mean, the list goes on and on and on. And of course, Giannis lives there, which is sort of the closing argument. I will not to inject fact into this conversation for Donald Trump. But when they pivoted and said, no, he was just talking about crime. The murder rate is down 39 percent in the first quarter. Whoa. This year in the city of Milwaukee, following a national trend of crime dipping this year.

So to Milwaukee, the Biden campaign jumped all over Trump's comment, posting a photo on social media of the president hosting the Milwaukee Bucks at the White House in 2021, along with the caption, I happen to love Milwaukee. The campaign also is now selling T-shirts that read, quote, not a horrible city over a map of Wisconsin and Milwaukee there with a star. Meanwhile, the Democratic mayor of Milwaukee had this to say about Trump's attack on his city. Donald Trump was talking about things that he thinks are horrible. All of us lived through his presidency. So right back at you, buddy. I'd say that. Look, obviously, Donald Trump is wrong about something yet again.

I find it kind of perplexing. I find it kind of strange that he would insult the largest city in Wisconsin to insult the state that's hosting your convention. I think it's kind of kind of bizarre. Actually, it's kind of unhinged. Yeah, it is unhinged. Let's also bring in the host of way too early White House bureau chief Jonathan Lemire, Pulitzer Prize winning columnist and associate editor of The Washington Post, MSNBC political analyst. Also a huge fan of Milwaukee, Eugene Robinson. Yes. As well as Washington bureau chief at USA Today, Susan Page. You know, Jonathan O'Meara, a couple of weeks ago, I said I said, well, you know,

we're not sure if this Trump trial is going to penetrate voters, swing voters and whether they're going to notice. Let me tell you who did notice what happened yesterday. Milwaukee's most important newspaper, Wisconsin's most important newspaper, they wrote it up on the front page that Donald Trump trashed their city, said it was a horrible city. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel led with with that as you might expect i will note no drink service here at 30 rock this morning unfortunately yeah sorry guys yeah we'll have to work on we'll have to work on that um but this is an unorthodox campaign strategy to say the least to attack the biggest city in one of the biggest battleground states in this election i can only imagine what donald trump has in store for say say, Philadelphia or Atlanta or Phoenix or Detroit, like just go after all of them.

And to Charlie's point, this is certainly an us versus them rhetoric that he's used quite a bit, painting cities, which are more liberal, more progressive, more diverse as less American than the real red states in rural parts of this country. So that's nothing new. We should also note in 2016, the RNC, when Trump was nominated, was in Cleveland. He trashed Cleveland, too. And then there wasn't a RNC in 2020. They had it at the White House because of the pandemic. But this is something that is breaking through. You're right. We've seen the polls move just a point or two in the wake of Trump's trial. We see Democrats still struggle to keep that in the news, although it certainly will be forefront of the debate in just two weeks time. But this is what

the Biden campaign has been looking for. Trump out of the courtroom, back on the trail, making news and making news that hurts them. And this was such an own goal, if you will, yesterday in D.C. Well, and this is why, of course, the Trump campaign wanted Donald Trump to stay in the courthouse. They didn't want him on the campaign trail. They don't want him on Capitol Hill because he says really stupid things. He is a human gaffe machine, Gene Robinson. And here he did it with Milwaukee

yesterday. I mean, you know, the thing he doesn't understand about these Midwest cities, especially, you know, when we were in Cleveland a couple of years ago for the convention, how long ago was that? Sixteen. I say very long ago. Decades ago. Yeah. So when we were in Cleveland, the thing I noted about Cleveland was, first of all, a great city, but also the immense pride people took when we'd go around and say, hey, where are you from? You know, we've been in Denver. We've been all over the place. Oh, we're in Denver. Like Cleveland. Been here my whole life.

I love it. I found the same thing with like Milwaukee. People in Milwaukee. It, like people in Milwaukee. And it's not Democrats in Milwaukee. It's not Republicans in Milwaukee. It's Milwaukee. It's everybody in Milwaukee outside of the Republican politicians who love trashing it. They take great pride in their city for a great reason. It's a great town. Yeah, absolutely. And these cities like Cleveland, like Milwaukee, that Donald Trump hates, have had such a rebound over the past couple of decades. And their downtowns are just sparkling and active and so much fun. That art museum that Charlie was talking about, the design by Santiago Calatrava, the famous architect.

It's gorgeous. It's absolutely gorgeous there on the lakefront. It's a great city. But, you know, so that's a that he says crazy, irrational, weird and unhinged things all the time. He doesn't make sense. He doesn't. He's not. There's something seriously wrong inside his head. And this is yet another manifestation. We're going to see it again and again and again, because that's the way he is. And so, yeah, I guess the Biden campaign is just really, really happy that he's out there just sort of spewing it out. Eugene, you know, I agree it seems counterintuitive

for Trump to have done this. Maybe he's playing chess and we're playing checkers. But does it seem remarkable to you that it is more politically damaging for him to have said that Milwaukee is a horrible city than for him to be on trial for 34 felony counts and then convicted? Because this is like a clear political shot in some way that I don't I got to admit, don't fully understand. Yeah, it is counterintuitive. You would think that being on trial and being convicted on 34 felony counts would certainly be more damaging to the campaign than an offhand remark. It just says something about, you know, let's face it, Donald Trump is indeed a unique figure in our politics. And I hope will always be a unique figure,

because I hope there's never anybody like him again. But that's kind of where we are. His loyal base, the people who have drunk his Kool-Aid, will stick with him kind of no matter what. But you go into the city, you know, you talk about the city where you're going to have your convention in a state that you have to win if you want to have any chance of winning the presidency and and attack it in that way. That's just nuts. And you're going to take a hit. Yeah, you're going to take a hit. Look at that beautiful city. The sun's starting to rise over Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 515 there, central time zone. And Charlie, as we look at the beautiful skyline, a city you know and love so much, and we hear Gene talking personally about how moved he is by the art museum there

and just the life there. It is an absolutely great city. I just want to give you final final thoughts on this as it pertains not only to Milwaukee. And I will tell you these Wisconsin voters, which which strangely enough, I would never predicted this four years ago, but it looks like over the past year when Biden's had trouble, Wisconsin's been sort of a firewall because older voters, especially older white voters, are surprisingly moving to Joe Biden. And a lot of it just has to do with the fact it's sort of that Midwestern common sense and Midwestern values where there are a lot of people there that are saying, listen, I might like some of his policies, but he's just not fit to be president of the United

States. Yeah, that's true. And by the way, it's great to see a picture of Milwaukee City Hall, where I worked for many years. You know, of all the crazy things that Donald Trump has said in the last week, this is probably not the craziest with everything that happened yesterday. You know, the drunken uncle going back and, you know, having Republicans kiss his ring. This was probably not the most significant thing, but this is going to stick. It's going to stick around here. You know that it's going to be mentioned every single day, if not every single hour during the RNC convention here in Milwaukee. I will tell you one caveat. One of the things that the Trump Republicans are going to try to do is they're going to try to divide the rest of Wisconsin from Milwaukee and

say, yeah, you know, Milwaukee is this terrible thing and have other people in Wisconsin, you know, go along with that kind of view. I don't think that that's going to work because, and I think you touched on it, cities like Milwaukee have a great deal of pride, but they also have a chip on their shoulder. They have a little bit of a sensitivity to this sort of thing. You know, back in the 1950s, you know, when the Milwaukee Braves defeated the New York Yankees in, I believe it was the 1957 World Series. Remember, there was a lot of sort of sneering about Milwaukee, you know, being a small town, and Milwaukeeans resented that. So Donald Trump has messed with a city that, you know, we may here in Wisconsin be willing to

criticize ourselves and, you know, talk about the problems they have. We don't need Donald Trump coming in and dumping on on a city that we love and that I think is going to really shine next month. MSNBC contributor Charlie Sykes, thank you very much. And we salute Milwaukee. Thank you. Cheers. Still ahead on Morning Joe, the latest ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas as President Biden signals there won't be a deal anytime soon. Plus, the latest from the G7 summit in Italy as world leaders agree

on a long term support plan for Ukraine. You're watching Morning Joe. We are back in 90 seconds. 21 past the hour, it appears the Biden administration does not expect to see a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas anytime soon. White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan says while mediators are working to bridge the gaps between Israel and Hamas, there's no clear timetable for reaching an agreement. Earlier this week, Hamas submitted amendments to the latest proposal, but the White House says some of those changes are unworkable. President Biden expressed concerns a deal won't be done soon while speaking to reporters at the G7 summit yesterday. Later in the day, he criticized Hamas for a lack of progress. President Biden, did you all have a chance to discuss a possible ceasefire? Yes. Are you confident it's going to be done soon, sir? No. I haven't lost hope, but it's going to be tough.

The bottom line is that we've made an agreement. I've laid out an approach that has been endorsed by the UN Security Council, by the G7, by the Israelis. And the biggest hang-up so far is Hamas refusing to sign on, even though they have submitted something similar. Whether or not it comes to fruition remains to be seen. We're going to continue to push. I don't have a final answer for you. Meanwhile, tensions are rising along Israel's northern front after the Iran backed militant group Hezbollah fired hundreds of rockets on Wednesday. It was in response to an Israeli airstrike that killed a senior Hezbollah commander. Joining us now from Beirut is NBC News chief international correspondent

Keir Simmons. Keir, what's the latest? Well, just the latest along that northern border with Israel, the southern border here in Lebanon. Just this morning, we count three Israeli settlements targeted by Hezbollah rockets. Just this morning and at the same time on the Lebanon side, two women killed, 20 people injured by an attack by Israel. Not clear what that attack was targeting. But earlier in the week, we did see a Hezbollah commander killed by Israel. That's led to the latest escalation intentions, the concern, the enduring concern after nine months

that what's happening in Gaza could escalate here to a wider war. Now, there doesn't appear to be any indication right now. You don't want to make predictions in this region, of course, but there doesn't appear to be any indication right now that that is about to happen. Certainly, Hezbollah leaders in the past nine months have continually indicated, suggested that they do not want to see that kind of an escalation. And I think ultimately Hezbollah is happy to continue this fire across the border without using its very substantial missiles and other weaponry in a wider escalation at this stage. President Macron over the G7 there, you saw President Biden saying that he is now trying to

put to reignite, reheat a roadmap for getting more stability in this part of the crisis. Of course, President Macron has his own problems back home. And frankly, I think it's unlikely that the tension here is going to kind of dial down until you see a ceasefire in Gaza. And you mentioned there at the top there, Mika, that question over whether there is going to be one. I mean, effectively, these have been ceasefire negotiations that have been underway since late April. We saw President Biden come out and kind of push things forward by making that public, very public statement that Israel had an offer.

We saw during that process, too, of course, those claims that Hamas had been offered something different, where language actually was different than Israel had agreed to or seen. So it's been a really difficult road. Secretary Blinken's still in the region trying to get towards some kind of a deal. But ultimately, there are two things really happening here. One is that both Israel and Hamas are trying not to be blamed for the negotiations not working. But both are sticking to their maximalist goals, ultimately. That, for Israel, of course, is to see Hamas's political and military capability dismantled. And on the other side,

Hamas, of course, determined to still exist and to still be running Gaza after all of this is over, when finally it is. And as you say, Hezbollah will not stop lobbing those projectiles into Israel until they see a ceasefire in Gaza. NBC News chief international correspondent Keir Simmons reporting this morning from Beirut, Lebanon. Keir, thank you as always. The second day of the G7 summit is underway right now in Italy. Moments ago, President Biden met with Italy's prime minister in a joint appearance. According to a senior Biden administration official, the president will meet privately with Pope Francis later today before heading back to the United States. During yesterday's events, President Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a 10-year bilateral security agreement that provides Ukraine with a $50 billion loan. Two and a half years ago, Putin unleashed a brutal

war on Ukraine. It's been a horrifying deal for the Ukrainian people who are so brave and incredible. It also been a test for the world. Would we stand with Ukraine? Would we stand for sovereignty, freedom and against tyranny? The United States, the G7 and countries around the world have consistently answered the question by saying, yes, we will. We will say it again. Yes, again and again and again. We're going to stand with Ukraine. Joining us now, former chief of staff at the CIA and the Department of Defense, Jeremy Bash. Jeremy, good morning. It's good to see you. So I'm curious what you make of this 10-year bilateral security agreement,

kind of cleverly created off interest from frozen Russian assets over the last couple of years. What does this provide Ukraine right now? Well, this is critical both symbolically and tangibly, Willie, because President Biden is saying on the world stage that the United States is going to stand up for Ukraine, going to stand four square against Putin, against tyranny. And it's a clear message that the United States is going to stand with our allies together with NATO. One of the things that President Biden is showcasing during his week in Italy at the G7 is that America is back leading on the world stage. We are strengthening NATO. We expanded NATO. We are standing with Ukraine and we are standing up to Russia in the same way

that President Biden is saying we're standing shoulder to shoulder with allies to stand up against Iran, which is fomenting violence in the Middle East. As you referenced, its surrogate and proxy Hezbollah is attacking America's ally Israel and also standing up against China, whose coercive practices are undermining democracies in the West. So this is President Biden leading on the world stage. It's a stark contrast, Willie, to what President Trump has offered, which is America going alone, America first, and obviously breaking our alliances around the world. Well, you know, Mika, it just it needs to be said. I mean, you you you have

Joe Biden here with a schedule that would be brutal for anybody. Oh, my God. Any president of any age going to Europe, you know, going D-Day and spending five days in France, going over to the G7. In the middle of the personal struggles. In the middle of the personal struggles, the Hunter trial. And yesterday, even critics were saying that he did a strong job, very good job representing the United States, even though, again, we have some cheap cheap fakes that the RNC once again spreading vicious lies about Joe Biden.

But that's just that's that's who they are. We should point those out. That's who they've become. We will point that in a second. But Jonathan Amir, I was struck by that, struck by the strong, strong message as well that Joe Biden delivered yesterday. I mean, the United States and our great allies in Europe have really stood shoulder to shoulder here other than Mike Johnson and Donald Trump holding up badly needed security aid to Ukraine. Now that that roadblock has gotten passed and people who actually love freedom and and love democracy and hate authoritarians who invade other countries. It seems to me we have them outnumbered as far as

people in Europe and America that actually support freedom at all times, unlike a lot of Republicans in the House. But a very strong message. The United States followed the EU and its support. And now they get together the G7 and another 50 billion dollars going Ukraine's way. How important is this for Ukraine? First of all, both presidents, Biden and Zelensky, acknowledge the consequences of the delay in American aid that hurt Ukraine's cause. Now, of course, has reached the front lines. And we have seen Russia's offensive slow, in part because of it, as well as the Biden administration's policy change that allows Ukraine now to use U.S. weapons to target sites in Russia that were threatening Kharkiv.

So that has slowed the assault there as well. So that's the good news story here, no doubt. And you heard the rhetoric. You just underscored the rhetoric from President Biden saying that the U.S. will be with Ukraine for as long as it takes. But, Jeremy, there is an asterisk to that. A lot of this measure right now is done to set up security for Ukraine down the road in case the Biden administration is still not in place. And we see the polls that show a dead heat. We also see that a lot of these European leaders are also politically weakened at this moment, coming out of tough elections, facing poor poll numbers, facing upcoming elections. So it is a moment of uncertainty. And colleagues at the G7 really point to a high level of anxiety among the leaders there. So talk to us about why it's so important that this was put in place to try to prevent Trump from undoing things. But also talk to us about what would happen if Trump does get into office. What changes could he make to U.S. support for Ukraine? Well, President Trump

has been pretty clear, Jonathan. He said he could end the war in 24 hours, which really is code for yanking support from Ukraine. And I would even argue yanking support from NATO. And that would embolden Putin, and Putin would say, I've got a clear shot not only to work my will all the way to Kiev, but in fact, maybe to go into Moldova, maybe to actually go into a NATO ally and to ultimately try to force the United States into living up to our Article 5 obligations to defend NATO allies and partners. So, look, it's a split screen moment here.

You've got President Biden clearly leading on the world stage where he's got his allies standing next to him, talking about the importance of standing up to tyranny in Russia, standing up to China's course of economic practices, standing up to Iran. And then you've got the split screen of Donald Trump saying,ive economic practices, standing up to Iran. And then you've got the split screen of Donald Trump saying, I'll give it all away to Russia. I'll basically do any deal to even give away Taiwan. He suggested he won't defend Taiwan. He certainly has suggested he won't defend Ukraine. And, you know, people say Donald Trump is transactional. I think that's a polite way of saying he will sell our interests and our values to the highest bidder. And President Biden is articulating just the opposite approach.

All right. Former chief of staff at the CIA and Department of Defense, Jeremy Bash. Thank you very much for coming on this morning. We appreciate it. And coming up, the Supreme Court rejects the latest effort to roll back access to the abortion pill. We'll break down yesterday's decision and the door it leaves open for future challenges. Morning Joe will be right back. 38 past the hour in a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court rejected a challenge to the abortion pill, Mifepristone. A group of anti-abortion doctors brought the challenge against the Food and Drug Administration's approval of the drug. But in an opinion backed by all nine justices, the court found the group did not have the standing to bring the lawsuit.

The plaintiffs have sincere legal, moral, ideological, and policy objections to elective abortion and to FDA's relaxed regulation of Mithipristone. But those kinds of objections alone do not establish a justice-seeable case or controversy in federal court. The ruling means Mithipristone can remain available for now. But by using that reasoning to reject the case, the high court has avoided ruling on the merits of the case and left the door open to future challenges. The White House looked to downplay the ruling in the face of other challenges to reproductive rights. Quote, today's decision does not change the fact that the fight for reproductive freedom continues.

The stakes could not be higher for women across America. Vice President Harris echoed that take at an event yesterday. And I just want to quickly address the Supreme Court's ruling today on medication abortion. This is not a cause for celebration because the reality of certain things are still not going to change. We are looking at the fact that two-thirds of women of reproductive age in America live in a state with a Trump abortion ban. This ruling is not going to change that.

This ruling is not going to change the fact that Trump's allies have a plan that if all else fails, to eliminate medication abortion through executive action. So we must remain clear eyed about the threats to reproductive freedom in America. Yes. And yes. Yes. Yes. So Susan Page, it's so fascinating. Yesterday, Brett Kavanaugh sounded a good bit like John Roberts when he refused to strike down Obamacare, which John Roberts said, do not ask us to do on this court what you can do in the ballot box next year. Yesterday, Justice Kavanaugh's reasoning seemed to be, don't ask us to do what either Congress or the FDA could do better. And so there is there is all the reason in the world to be worried about who's going to be running the FDA over the next four years. So it remains a potent political issue. Yeah, because, of course, this decision was based not on the merits of medication abortions or

access to medication. It was on the standing of those who sued in this particular case. And so that I think that's what Vice President Harris was trying to allude to. This leaves the door open to other challenges by people who might have more standing, or as the decision itself said, encourage those who oppose medication abortion to go to regulatory agencies, to go to Congress, to go to state legislators to try to get what they didn't get in the court yesterday.

It's a reminder that we're going to continue to see IVF, access to IVF treatments, access to contraception, access to medication abortion continue to be in play in the United States over this year and beyond. Jean, it's fascinating just yesterday, even to see Donald Trump on Capitol Hill in those closed door meetings with members of the House and the Senate,

effectively saying to them, stay away from this. Stay away from this abortion issue that I created by appointing those three Supreme Court justices, getting them on the court. He has run for the hills from all of this, including the Alabama Supreme Court decision on IVF. He knows it's a toxic issue for him in this election. And yet the Biden campaign can say rightly and clearly that it's because of him that we're in this place because of those three justices. Yeah, you heard Vice President Harris call it a Trump abortion ban, say that two thirds of, excuse me, childbearing age women in this country live under a Trump abortion ban. You are going to hear that phrase about 80 million times, I think, between now and the election, because it's true. He created

the majority on the Supreme Court that got rid of Roe v. Wade. And it turns out that Roe v. Wade, what Roe v. Wade said, where it left the country, while it was not a—there was no consensus about it, there's a majority view that that should—that that was right, basically, that there is—that women do have reproductive rights, and they are—they belong to them. They are private rights that cannot be completely stripped away, yet they have been. And so, you know, now you have the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination in the country, coming out foursquare against in vitro fertilization, which, as everyone knows, is nothing short of a miracle for couples that are struggling with infertility and who also, as an aside, can't afford the procedure. But it is a miracle, really.

And now that's in the mix. It's not just abortion. It's all reproductive rights are now up in the air. Thanks to Donald Trump. I can say for our family, I mean, my gosh, it is really personal. There are people in our family who have have now experienced the miracle of childbirth. And they've done it through IVF after after suffering and struggling for years. Yeah. And so it's it's really. I also think the issue is it's you know, I think sometimes when we focus on women's rights and women's right to abortion and a woman's right to choose. You know, Republicans like to make it sound like women are lining up saying,

I'll have a Mifepristone and a day after pill just handed over to me. How about a doctor's oath to preserve life and to use everything in his medical knowledge and education and the tools that he has available to him, approved by the FDA, created by science to save life, to preserve life, to save a woman's life or perhaps keep her from anguish, pain, sterilization, mental health problems. You know, doctors are frustrated, too. They're scared. They're scared that they will be put in jail if they actually deliver life-saving care. This is crazy. Well, for good reason.

And this is what Donald Trump has given America. I remember Donald Trump telling Chris Matthews that he believed the doctor should be punished, women should be punished. He's talked about contraception. That should be left to the states. He, of course, he'll say these things, then he'll reverse. Then he goes back and forth and back and forth on so many issues. You really don't know how to keep up. But I will tell you, all of this is breaking

through. It's very fascinating. The IVF debate, what Gene's just talking about, as far as Americans, I mean, they're really taking notice. And you look, Jonathan Lemire, at the numbers. Gallup put out, of course, a poll recently and said that the number of abortion or will not vote for a candidate who does not support choice higher than ever. I mean, you have the numbers that continue to go up, up now 13 points over the past decade. And there is just no doubt. And by the way, people who consider themselves pro-life down nine percentage points. And then I'd only vote for someone who shares my abortion views now 32 percent compared to 24, 20, 17 percent. Also, something else that I noticed, Jonathan, in this poll that was fascinating, and it was the number of pro-life Americans who are really engaged on this topic is dropping.

Why is it dropping? They've got what they wanted. It's kind of like after the Cold War was over. The Cold Warriors were a bit out of vogue. Guy like Bill Clinton could get elected a year after the Soviet Union fell. Winston Churchill could be voted out of office in 1945 after he won the Second World War. They won the big battle. Well, this is a generational battle that pro-life forces have been fighting, and they won. And so they're just not as engaged on this as women who actually know this is personal. This is personal to their freedom. This is personal to their families. This is personal to their families. This

is personal to whether they're able to have a baby or not. This is personal to whether their 10-year-old girl who gets raped is going to be forced by the state to have a child or be sterilized because of tragedy that befalls them. I mean, this is having such an impact, and you're seeing it in these numbers. Yeah. And it's possible that all of the election analysis, all the punditry about 2024 is missing the sleeping giant of this election, which is the same one of the last couple abortion rights that yes, that we're so consumed with conversations about President Biden's age or even Donald Trump's criminal convictions or yes, Milwaukee. But really, this here will be the definitive issue again, like it was in 2022,

like it has been in a number of special elections all since the Dobbs decision. And the Democrats, well, have basically been undefeated on this issue ever since. And abortion rights, certainly the Biden campaign believes, along with the economy, will be the two biggest components here. And we are seeing there are so many Americans, Joe and Mika, who are going to vote on this issue and this issue alone, particularly, but not limited to suburban women, who very well may be the deciding demographic of this election. We shouldn't be overlooking how important this all is, particularly as Democrats. Eugene's right. Expect to hear the phrase Trump abortion ban a lot from Vice President Harris and others going forward.

And they also are going to warn them about threats to IVF, contraception and more. Well, since the Trump abortion ban pro choice, pro choice votes in state after state after state have broken for pro-choice forces. In states like Kansas, Kentucky, Ohio, it's not really even close. It's way above the majority in all of those states. The people are speaking on this issue. The reddest of red states. And these nightmare stories that keep pouring out of women suffering because of these bans. I mean, really, what did you expect? Because of Donald Trump. And by the way, Donald

Trump still so proud of it. I know. Still brags about terminating. Proud of torturing people. Still ahead, we'll continue this conversation with Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio after Senate Republicans blocked a Democratic bill to protect IVF nationwide. And House Minority Whip Catherine Clark will be our guest. Plus, in recent weeks, anti-Semitic protests and violence have escalated in New York. We'll explain the ban the state's governor is now considering amid the rise in anti-Semitic hate. Morning Joe will be right back. Raise your hands if you're a Zionist. Raise your hands if you're a Zionist.

Raise your hands if you're a Zionist. Raise your hands if you're a Zionist. This is your chance to get out. This is your chance to get out. Okay, no Zionists, we're good. When I see individuals on a subway being terrorized by individuals in masks, it's a cause for great concern. So subway is the primary focus right now. But also people who are committing wearing masks were able to commit crimes because they're now undetected.

It's a challenge for our law enforcement. That is New York Governor Kathy Hochul speaking yesterday, considering a partial ban on mask wearing inside New York City subways in response to a series of recent anti-Semitic incidents like the one you just saw by people concealing their identities with masks. Joining us now, the CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, Jonathan Greenblatt. Jonathan, good morning. We can talk about the mask issue in just a moment, but we really do need to pause and consider

that in the year 2024, on a subway car at Union Station, Union Square Station, 14th Street in New York City, a group of people are saying, raise your hand if you're a Zionist, translation a Jew, this is your chance to get out. How did we get to this place where those people are so emboldened to think that they can say those things, number one, and number two, get away with it? Yeah, Willie, I mean, this is a frightening sign of our times. I mean, I look at that video and I think, what if I was on that

train? What if one of my kids was on that train? What if one of the 90% of American Jews who identify as Zionists or have a deep relationship with Israel was on that train? What would have happened to them when these people, again, their faces sheathed in handkerchiefs and scarves and whatnot? What would have happened? I mean, we are now at a point just this past week alone, Willie, on Monday night, we had that incident and the disgusting protest in front of the Nova exhibit, an exhibit memorializing hundreds of teenagers and innocents raped and murdered at a peace festival. And you had people standing outside of it claiming that it didn't happen, a kind of Holocaust denialism for our time. And then on Tuesday, you had the Jewish directors of the Brooklyn Museum and the executive director. Their homes were targeted. Their homes had red triangles painted on them. As the actor

Wendell Pierce described it, that red inverted triangle, it's like a burning cross being put on the front lawn of a black family. That's what Wendell Pierce said. And he's right, because that red triangle is used by Hamas to identify and target their victims. It's a bullseye, if you will. And then just yesterday, on Thursday, dozens of synagogues in the New York area got bomb threats. I mean, this is a moment in time like we've never seen before, Willie. We really need action now. And as we've said many times, and you yourself have said, there is legitimate protest of the way the war in Gaza has been prosecuted by Israel's civilian death and suffering. This is not that. This is not that. The crime committed by the director of the Brooklyn Museum,

whose pictures we're showing, was being Jewish. And as you say, those triangles are marked for death. That's what that means when Hamas puts that target on someone. So what can be done to change the trajectory of where this is going, where people feel I can go out and do that and nothing's going to happen to me? I think there were a few things. So I think Hockel is right in what she said at the press conference. We've got to figure out this masking issue. And there is a framework, there's a model where you can allow for people to exercise freedom of expression or to wear a mask. They're concerned about, you know, communicable diseases, if you will, like covid. And yet not to hide and conceal your identity so you can menace, threaten and commit acts of violence.

I mean, there's a balance here that's got to be struck. I think that's number one. I think number two, you know, these people were waving flags, Willie, like of Hezbollah and Hamas and the PFLP. These are foreign terror organizations, by the way, Willie, that have killed Americans. Hezbollah has killed hundreds and hundreds of Americans over the decade. I think we've got to try to understand how is this happening? And material support for foreign terror organizations is a problem, no matter who the group might be. But then finally, you know, Willie, people of good conscience on all sides have got to speak out. You know, yes, me as a Jewish person, I speak out against anti-Semitism,

but also all other forms of hate. And I think we need faith leaders. We need civic activists. We need actors like Wendell Pierce, more of that to happen, to step up and say this is absolutely unacceptable, no matter how appalling the violence in Gaza. This isn't a way to demonstrate your frustration about the Middle East. You know, I'm just tired of the lies. I'm tired of the lies that suggest that that all of what we see, all of what we saw there, all of what we see in protests is just a good faith disagreement on on Jewish and Palestinian relations in Israel. It's not you. You can look at what the leaders of the student groups, so-called student groups that protested and laid siege to college campuses throughout the spring.

You can look at them celebrating openly with statements, the worst slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust. You can see what happened here where it's just sick. There's no other word for it. Just sick that we had the protests and the Holocaust denialism outside that extraordinary exhibit for the Nova Music Festival, a music festival that was to celebrate peace. To celebrate peace that was savagely attacked on the morning of October 7th. And so many young, young people slaughtered by Hamas and and these people outside actually denying it and praising those attacks. Yeah. You know, Joe, I got to say, like, look at this footage. People denying other

individuals the right to enter that building. That's a violation of their civil rights. People being on the subway, being attacked because of their ethnicity or their faith, how they pray or where they're from. That's an attack on their civil rights. This isn't just a local issue. It's a federal crime. And so we need consequences applied. Again, I have no problem with free speech. And it's a kind of gaslighting to suggest that I don't care about civilian lives in Gaza. I do. I don't want another civilian to be killed. It should stop tomorrow. That will happen when Hamas just releases the hostages. But today, here and now, we really want federal authorities to look

at this because I think this is a bigger problem. And by the way, Joe, I remember this. It will spread. It may start in Manhattan or Brooklyn, but it will spread if we don't have some kind of deterrence all over the country. I completely agree. You are 100 percent correct on that. By the way, we want to mention a special honor that was given to Joe last week. The Auschwitz Jewish Center Foundation, which uses the lessons of the Holocaust to fight anti-Semitism and all forms of hatred, held its annual gala in New York honoring those who have aided in this crucial humanitarian work. The evening saw Holocaust survivors sharing their stories with young military cadets from all branches of the

service selected for the foundation's one-of-a-kind intensive course in ethical responsibility in the military. Joe received the group's Excellence in Media Award for being a critical and clear voice in the fight against hate. Last year, he broadcast for Morning Joe from Auschwitz on Holocaust Liberation Day in an exclusive interview with second gentleman Doug Emhoff, who emerged, really has emerged as one of the president's most prominent voices combating anti-Semitism. Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, Jonathan, I'm a Baptist, but this battle is for every American. This battle is for everyone who loves freedom. This battle is for everyone who wants to speak out against racism, bigotry, anti-Semitism.

It's just so important that we join together in this fight against hate. Absolutely. I mean, I am never more proud than when I stand with Reverend Al against racism. I am never more proud than when I stand with the Asian American Foundation against AAPI hate. And I am never more proud when the Rev and Norman Chen, the CEO of the Asian American Foundation and others, stand with me in the fight against anti-Semitism. And frankly, Mika and Joe, you have focused on this on this program, the two of you and Willie, for years. And I so appreciate the moral clarity of your voice, because ultimately that's what so often seems to be missing, a kind of moral clarity that simply says, yes, you can have your views on politics. Yes, you can have your views on tough issues. But holding any group of people collectively

responsible is contemptible. And this, again, as you're just saying, Joe, it's not just anti-Semitic, it's anti-American. It is anti-democratic. And these people who think they can overtake public spaces and silence people just because, again, how they pray or where they're from. These are the enemies of liberty. These are the enemies of inclusivity. These are the enemies of diversity. It's just wrong. And it's got to stop. Enemies of truth. It's just got to stop. No. Yeah. Yeah. CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, Jonathan Greenblatt. Thank you very much for coming on this morning. We appreciate it.