Morning Joe - Morning Joe 6/6/24

Episode Date: June 6, 2024

Marking 80 years since D-Day

225 came here. After two days of fighting, only 90 could still bear arms. Behind me is a memorial that symbolizes the ranger daggers that were thrust into the top of these cliffs. And before me are the men who put them there. These are the boys of Pointe du Hoc. These are the men who took the cliffs. These are the champions who helped free a continent. These are the heroes who helped end a war. That was former President Ronald Reagan delivering his iconic D-Day speech back in 1984 about the brave young men who climbed the cliffs at Pointe du Hoc using ropes, hooks and ladders to reach a suspected German gun emplacement 100 feet up. And that is where we begin this morning in Normandy, France, for the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings, the invasion that propelled the end to World War II. Right now, President

Biden is meeting with global leaders and the veterans who sacrificed their lives. And good morning and welcome to Morning Joe. It is Thursday, June 6th. Along with Willie and me, we have the host of Way Too Early, White House Bureau Chief at Politico, Jonathan Lemire, MSNBC contributor Mike Barnicle, President Emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations and former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO, retired four-star Navy Admiral James Tavridis. He's Chief International Analyst for NBC News. He's chief international analyst for NBC News. Also with us, author and NBC News presidential historian Michael Beschloss. And Willie, if it's possible, this D-Day 80 years later, always so poignant, but also so current

to our own challenges today in Ukraine, in Israel, and even in America's own elections. It is. And we'll hear some of those themes from President Biden in a speech he'll make there at Normandy a short time from now. We, of course, will carry that live. And you're so moved by seeing the faces of now 80 years, if you think about these young men and they were mostly men, you know, 17, 18 years old on D-Day and now in their late 90s, it's incredibly moving to see them return to this sacred place. And we have a great group assembled to talk about the meaning of this day, as you say, 80 years ago, but also today. We'll do that in just a moment. But let's begin in Paris, where we find NBC News senior White House correspondent Kelly O'Donnell traveling with the president.

So, Kelly, what themes do we expect to hear from President Biden in just a bit here? Well, certainly we will hear about how the history you were just talking about folds over into a relevant new way for the times that we live in now and that history teaches lessons about what was at stake then and what could arguably be at stake now, especially here in Europe, where there is a war in Ukraine. Obviously, there is a war in Gaza and Israel. And the president will talk about how the young men who have come back here as senior citizens, many of them in wheelchairs, but back, 200 American servicemen who were here at D-Day are back for this celebration, and they represent the thousands who fought during that operation and many who sacrificed their lives. And the white crosses that cover the grasses of Normandy represent

young men who were 17, 18, 20 years old. No old men are buried at that cemetery. And the sacrifice they made is relevant in today's world for countries that believe democracy is worth fighting for, worth preserving, and that, in fact, it must be preserved because there are forces in the world that test it. So expect those kinds of themes from the president. We have watched this morning as he's been meeting with some of the veterans who have come back, personal conversations, taking photos with them, sharing stories. In one instance, we saw them singing happy birthday to one of the veterans who is celebrating

what must be quite a notable birthday when you consider how time has passed. And 80 years is, of course, so significant because it connects to those past moments of Ronald Reagan, of Bill Clinton, of George W. Bush, other American presidents who have come here with other world leaders, sort of fortifying the alliances that created a new world order to protect democracies from the kind of conflict where borders were seized and changed at force. And the world order that was created because of the sacrifice of those veterans, those young men who were fighting for a cause greater than themselves, really saving the world at that time, that that created a new way for nations to organize themselves and that that is very relevant today when the president has done so much to try to, from his point of view, work on building the alliances that support Ukraine. It's a harder sell in some ways with

Israel, given the nature of the way Gaza has gone, but that these alliances matter and the values underpinning them very much matter and feel relevant today. So that's what we expect from the president as he participates in these ceremonies, where you see the faces of those who were here 80 years ago and the leaders who represent these nations today. NBC's Kelly O'Donnell in Paris for us this morning, summing it up very well for us. Kelly, thanks so much. We appreciate it. Admiral Stavridis, as a military man yourself, I'm curious, just on a gut level, what you're feeling this morning as you look at the faces of these men who did nothing short of saving the world beginning on D-Day.

Pride, pride in the United States of America that we produce young men and women who do all of this on the 50th anniversary of D-Day, 25 years ago, I was a young destroyer captain and I was honored to be ordered to anchor my ship off the beach at Omaha the morning before the ceremony you're about to see. My crew got up at dawn, unrequired. Every crew member, 350 men and women, average age 25 years old, stood, watched the sun come up on that beach, paying homage to the young men of Pointe du Hoc. We were anchored not far from there. So that's first and foremost.

And then secondly, to pick up a practical theme of today, which I think you'll hear repeated, recall 15 allies, 15 different allies were participating in that landing. The British, the Canadian, many of the European nations, some of them fighting in exile after their countries had been conquered. So as I looked left and right, I saw ships from a dozen different nations. Alliances matter. They mattered that day. On Hitler's side, there was one nation. It was Germany.

He had to stand against an alliance. I think those are the two salient themes for me on this morning. Pride in young Americans and the power of alliances. Michael Beschloss, Admiral Stavridis just said something that all of us can agree with, probably share the same feeling, that when we watch these pictures from Normandy, we feel pride, pride as Americans, pride in the job that was done, pride in what was accomplished. But there's something else, another word that comes to my mind, having been to Normandy many, many times over many celebrations,

and it's history. Our history as a nation and the fact that we have forgotten so much of our history here in the 21st century. We have forgotten that when those landings occurred on the five different landing spots on those beaches along the Normandy Strip, and the boys who climbed Pointe du Hoc, Colonel Rudder led them. And Colonel Rudder once told me that the feeling that he had was the men, the Germans up in that pillbox, had to be looking out at the armada on the channel and thinking about the men who were about to climb a sheer cliff. And they had to be thinking, the Germans thinking,

they're coming up this cliff after us. Wow. That was a point of danger, lethal danger for them. But the men who were there, they joined the army. They went voluntarily. They came from small towns and big cities across the United States of America. We seem as a nation to have forgotten what it is to be together. We were all together on that day. And I'm wondering what your view is of the history that we shared then and the history that we see now. Just forget. That was Mike Barnicle poetry. I hope I can do as well. You know, let's look at it through the lens of 2024. You know, what is meaningful to us right now? Number one, we live in a world, we live in a free country that is not dominated by dictatorships because of the huge sacrifices that were made by Americans on

that day and the others of the allied armies who were fighting in World War II. If D-Day had not worked, if that invasion, if that incursion had collapsed. Let's say those boats had been driven back into the sea, perhaps because there had been bad weather, which was, as you know, a very great chance that there might have been. That might have broken the morale that ultimately won that war. This was one of the crucial days in American history, number one. Second of all, they were fighting for democracy. You know, just before World War II in 1940, Franklin Roosevelt was running against Wendell Willkie. In October of 1940, Wendell Willkie was just about beating Franklin Roosevelt. And that's because he was making the argument FDR is going to drag this country into an unnecessary war after election

day if he's elected. Someone even said FDR, if reelected, will plow under, if you can believe that a politician said this, every fourth American boy, Republican leader said that. That's how divided this country was. Yet in the world of 1941, almost instantly after Pearl Harbor, the country almost completely united behind the goal of defending freedom at its hour of maximum danger. One more point. The ultimate general of the army, Dwight Eisenhower, wrote out a famous memo that wasn't released until long afterwards to be released if the invasion failed. And Eisenhower wrote out a famous memo that wasn't released until long afterwards to be released if the invasion failed. And Eisenhower took the blame, which is something that I wish every American leader did in that kind of case. He said, if this invasion should fail, the blame will be mine alone. Well, to build on the words that come to mind on this day from Mike and

Michael Beschloss, pride, history, but part of that history is also a lot of pain, the losses that were endured that day. And I wonder, looking at the faces of these survivors, the weight of those losses that they witnessed firsthand. They must feel pride, but also so many other emotions living with the memories of those who died on D-Day. And Richard Haass, I wonder if President Biden will draw that line between the pride of our history and the pain endured for freedom to what we confront today, facing an election that could reshape American leadership around the world. He's sure to do that, Mika. You know, history, as Mark Twain has said, too, of mentioned, you know, doesn't repeat itself, but it rhymes. And I think what President Biden today will be doing is highlighting the rhymes.

Once again, a world challenged by aggression. Once again, questions whether the United States will rise to the occasion. And the obvious place to think about is is Ukraine, where for several months the United States failed to rise to the occasion. Isolationism is a virus that never disappears from the body politic. And I would expect the president's going to make a powerful argument that the United States still needs to rise to occasions. We we can't pursue the folly of isolationism. We've got to work with others. That's the great comparative advantage of American foreign policy. We have this pool of partners, these allies to work with others. That's the great comparative advantage of American foreign policy. We have this pool of partners, these allies to work with. And I think he's going to be speaking in many ways to the American people. Several people here around the table, we've talked

about the lack of history, the lack of historical awareness. We don't teach this in our schools. You can graduate from most American high schools and many American colleges never having taken courses in World War Two or learning about D-Day. So I think the president is going to do something that presidents have to regularly do, which is turn the Oval Office or in this case, he's overseas, but turn the presidency into a teaching institution, into a classroom. Jonathan Lemire, you think about President Biden. He was a United States senator on the 30th anniversary of D-Day. He's seen the 40th, the 50th, the 60th, the 70th and 80th as a public official. Back when he started in office, this wasn't such a distant memory. 30 years prior D-Day, he feels a connection to it. I know this will be an emotional speech. Jen Psaki was saying to us yesterday, don't expect to hear from the American cemetery at Normandy attacks specifically on Donald Trump.

But as Richard says, getting at those broader themes about the importance of preserving democracy and protecting alliances. So what do you expect to hear? It's just short time from now from the president. Yeah, President Biden born during World War Two. And this is a sense that this will be the last major anniversary in which there will be veterans still in attendance, maybe five years from now. A few still may be, let us hope. An important moment in a solemn moment. We are going to hear from President Biden shortly, but we should know today he's just one of a number of world leaders who are going to speak. His remarks will be relatively brief and focused on D-Day. Tomorrow, though, he delivers a more significant speech, one the White House has been previewing for weeks, where he will address the broader themes connecting what happened 80 years ago to our

current situation, particularly as war, the largest land war since World War II in Europe, continues to rage just a few hundred miles to the east there in Ukraine. And he certainly he's not going to use Donald Trump's name, but he is going to implicitly talk about the threats to democracy abroad and also at home, make the case that America needs to be secure at home and then fulfill its obligations to the rest of the world. And we know President Biden from his first moments in office has stressed the need for alliances, alliances no more vividly on display than what happened 80 years ago on those beaches. That is why the tide, France was liberated, the tide of war turned throughout Europe. And I think President Biden will be using this as a teaching moment. Yes, not a campaign moment, but he'll lay

out the stakes of history back then, but also for the future. So we will carry today's ceremony live, set to begin in just moments. President Biden will speak shortly, and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will join us live from Normandy. But first, we will dig into new reporting on how some Republicans are seeking payback following former President Trump's conviction in New York last week. You're watching Morning Joe. We're back in 90 seconds. 18 past the hour. Some news now. Donald Trump and his allies are ratcheting up their calls for revenge against Democrats in response to Trump's conviction in his New York City criminal trial. Some examples in a Fox News interview on Friday, former White House adviser Stephen Miller called on Republican secretaries of state and attorneys general to,

quote, get in the game and use every facet of power to go toe to toe with Democrats. Also on Friday, Florida Senator Marco Rubio, who is reportedly in the mix to be Trump's running mate, which would make sense given his behavior, wrote on social media, quote, it's time to fight fire with fire. In response to a New York Times piece about recent calls for retribution, former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon echoed Stephen Miller, telling the paper on Tuesday, quote, there are dozens of ambitious backbencher state attorneys, general and district attorneys who need to seize the day and own this moment in history. And then there is Trump himself. In an interview earlier this week, he suggested Hillary Clinton be jailed in response to his guilty verdict. And here's

what he said at his Florida home yesterday in a Fox News interview last night with Sean Hannity, where you see Hannity trying to get him to the right answer. But no. Take a listen. You can't get a nominee. Can you imagine you're running for office and you get you're not allowed to talk when that happens? We are no longer a democracy and we're not going to let that happen. And I know a lot of Republicans want retribution. They want to do that. We're going to see what happens. People are claiming you want retribution.

People are claiming you want what has happened to you done to Democrats. Would you do that ever? Look, what's happened to me has never happened in this country before. And it has to stop because... Wait a minute. I want to hear that again. It has to stop. Well, it does have to stop because we're not going to have a country... And if you're elected, what does that mean?

Define that. Look, what I've gone through, nobody's ever gone through. I'm a very legitimate person. I built a great business. Focus on those that want people to believe that you want retribution, that you will use the system of justice to go after your political enemies. Number one, they're wrong. It has to stop because otherwise we're not going to have a country. Look, when this election is over, based on what they've done, I would have every right to go after them. And it's easy because it's Joe Biden and you see all the criminality.

Will you pledge to restore equal justice, equal application of our laws and this practice of weaponization? Is that a promise you're going to make? You have to do it. But it's awful. Look, I know you want me to say something. No, I don't want you to say I'm asking. I don't want to look naive. What they've done to the Republican Party, they want to arrest on no crime. I will do everything in my power not to let. But there's tremendous criminality here. What they're doing to me, if it's going to continue, we're really not going to have much of a country left. OK, Willie, help me out here. First of all, no criminality. This was not Biden's Justice

Department in the criminal trial in New York City. It was a jury of Donald Trump's peers, 12 people and alternates, just to fact check him right there. But also Hannity, Mr. Softball, setting him up saying, come on, come on, you wouldn't actually have retribute. You're not, you don't mean that. And of course, he's like, yes, I do. Just like with the documents. When Hannity was like, come on, you you didn't actually take the documents. Donald Trump is not messing around. He promises retribution. And as he even told Hannity when Hannity gave him a chance to semi cover it, he will serve it up. So with that, I mean, I'm not sure what more people need to know, given a lot of things that Donald Trump has promised have come to pass. Yeah, I'm not smiling about the substance of

what the president said. I'm smiling with exactly what you put your your finger on, which is this entire genre of interview now where Sean Hannity embeds the answer into his question and tries to lead Donald. I wish my oral exams in high school and college were like that, where the teacher would just kind of nod along and give you the answer. But that's the way they do it. Yeah, I mean, he said Donald Trump in the remarks we played right before that interview

clip, he said a lot of people are saying that they're going to want retribution. So he likes to separate himself. But obviously, he means himself and obviously sending cues to others about what should happen. Again, he was charged. He was tried. He was convicted by a jury of his peers in New York. The fact that he took classified documents back to his beach club is not some imagined conspiracy against him. It's a thing he did. We'll see what happens in that trial as it moves forward. So he wants retribution against people, the Justice Department, the FBI, who are actually bringing him to justice on things that he did or is alleged to have done. Let's bring

to the conversation. Yeah, really. Just one thing before we get to our guests. It's so interesting to me that he says this has never happened before, and that's why something needs to be done in every case. Well, I will say in the most clear cases, because obviously we have to wait for the law to play out. But in the case of the documents, you see the pictures. He says he took them. He says they're his. OK, he admits to the crime in the case of the hush money criminal trial where 34 felony counts against Donald Trump came up guilty. There was evidence presented in court that backed it up. So, yes, yes, Mr. President, former President Trump. This hasn't happened before. There hasn't been a former president who had sex with a porn star while his wife was pregnant. And then years later, before a campaign was to get into full swing, paid off through hush money, through a fixture, breaking campaign finance laws and having fraudulent business records.

I mean, that has not happened before. And he has been found guilty of that. He's right. It hasn't happened before. But it's unfortunately what happened to him because of his own actions. Right. And change the subject from what he did or is alleged to have done to some imagined conspiracy that suggests the government is out to get him.

Let's bring in CEO of the Messina Group, Jim Messina. He served as White House deputy chief of staff to President Obama and ran Obama's 2012 reelection campaign successfully. Of course, Jim, great to see you this morning. So you often are are the guy who comes in and sort of tries to calm the nerves a bit of Democrats when they get panicky, not in some Pollyannish way, but looking at data, looking at numbers. So let's talk first about the fundraising that scared a lot of Democrats after Donald Trump was convicted last week on 34 felony counts, raised a boatload of money. Put that into some perspective, though, as compared to how the Biden campaign is doing. Yeah, well, if you look at the overall numbers, Biden continues to have a very healthy fundraising lead, has way more money in the bank. I know this

sounds a little wonky and geeky, but the truth is Joe Biden's money is all small donors, whereas Donald Trump's money is from big donors who are giving to his super PACs. That ad buying later in the campaign is more expensive. They can't get the lowest unit rate. And then most importantly, and you and Mika and I have talked about this in the past, the one thing you can't make more of in a presidential election is time. We're 152 days out and the Biden campaign has over 150 field offices staffed with paid staffers in the battleground states. Donald Trump has zero. And so every day these people are talking to voters, both their own base and these swing voters. And you just can't replicate that with

money. We always knew that Trump was going to catch up after he got the nomination. He clearly had an outstanding day after his criminal conviction. It's a little cynical that, you know, they raised a bunch of money after he was found guilty of 34 felony counts. But it is what it is. But overall, the Biden campaign is doing what they need to do, which is build a massive army in these battleground states to get their vote out. Yeah. And Jim, the Biden campaign, really looking forward to that first debate as a moment to sort of change the trajectory of the race. We're seeing polls shift a little bit towards the president in the wake of that conviction. But let's get you to weigh in on what was the topic to George in Washington yesterday, this Wall Street Journal story about the president's age. We can set aside the merits of the journalism. There were flaws in the

story that we covered here at length yesterday. But just it is a narrative. Polls do suggest that some Americans think the president is too old for office. We know Donald Trump, though, just a couple of years younger. But if you were still in the White House, what would your communication strategy be to simply to manage this issue? Fair or not, it's out there. How would you suggest the White House and the campaign handle it by doing exactly what they're doing, getting them out there as much as they can about and about getting an early debate, because you're exactly right. It is an issue. People have questions about it. We all remember at the State of the Union, he did a master performance and

looked on top of his game and the polls rose. Then this debate moment is really, really big for them. I can't believe Donald Trump is letting them have it because, you know, people expect Joe Biden to not be as good as Donald Trump. Trump has set all the expectations to the top of the moon. He's this great orator. He's this great guy, Joe Sleepy Joe, etc. And Joe Biden goes in there and has a good debate. And it's going to significantly make people think about their perceptions of this race. And I think it'll be a very big moment. And I think Biden was very smart to ask for a debate as early as he could get it. All right. CEO of the Messina Group, Jim Messina.

Thank you very much for coming on this morning. Let's go back live to Normandy on the 80th anniversary of D-Day. We're going to continue our coverage of today's commemoration ceremony, including the remarks from U.S. President Joe Biden. Just moments from now. We'll be right back. Their road will be long and hard. For the enemy is strong. He may hurl back our forces. Success may not come with rushing speed.

But we shall return again and again. And we know that by thy grace and by the righteousness of our cause, our sons will triumph. We are covering the commemoration events in Normandy, France, and that was President FDR's prayer that he broadcast to the nation right before. You know, at the time, war was raging in Europe and Hitler had seized control of most of it and freedom and democracy was under assault. So what we're marking 80 years later is the lives lost, given up for freedom that day, especially with the onslaught of Hitler's control. And President Roosevelt in that prayer was asking the nation to pray for the courageous young men as they, quote, set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our republic, our religion and our civilization and to set free a suffering humanity. And, Willie, that's exactly what they did.

Yeah, they did. And Michael Beschloss, just listening to that crackling audio from Franklin Delano Roosevelt explaining to the country what was happening as they sat in their living rooms across the country, many of their sons overseas fighting. I was talking to Mike Barnacle about this yesterday, which is today, you look at it, a high school game, you go to a baseball game or a cross game or a soccer game, and you think those kids on that field, whether they're 17 or 18 years old, they would have been leaving. They would have been getting on ships, crossing the Atlantic and going over and doing so when you hear the accounts enthusiastically. They wanted to be in the fight. They wanted to go defeat Hitler. They wanted to

preserve freedom. It wasn't even a war that was on our shores yet that we had been attacked at Pearl Harbor. It wasn't the Nazis hadn't had designs on coming to the United States. It just you look at the faces of these men now and you think about the fact they really were just kids on that day 80 years ago. They were just kids, a lot of them. And because they made that sacrifice and others did, we can sit here today and say,

we live in an American democracy without those sacrifices and also those in other wars and other struggles to American history, we wouldn't have this luxury. And that shows why we Americans have to fight for democracy every single moment. You know, Admiral, in watching these pictures and listening to Michael Beschloss and Willie just now, the idea that in the prior segment, we went to talk about American politics and listen to an interview with Donald Trump from Sean Hannity. It makes our politics look so small in reference, in contrast to what we're looking at here. And I'm wondering if you think there is one single MAGA hat,

make America great again, worn by anyone walking through those, you know, chalk white crosses and stars of David at the American cemetery in Normandy. And it makes me wonder, you know, America was great that day. America is still great today. What have we lost in between? Well, all is not lost. And I was thinking as we watch these pictures and we talk about these brave young men, there are other brave young men and women who stood and delivered after 9-11. You can look at those pictures of high school football teams and tennis teams and cross-country teams, and you will see the faces of men and women who stood, raised their right hand, volunteered, went forward,

7,500 of them killed in what were called the forever wars. I think that spirit is still out there. I want to pick up on a point that Michael Beschloss correctly pointed to, which is President Eisenhower, then General Eisenhower, and his resolute determination to take responsibility, to be accountable. And there was every chance this invasion, Operation Overlord, D-Day, Neptune would have failed. And he literally wrote out the speech. And you can go to the Eisenhower Library and look at that scrap of paper where he says, any blame or fault will be mine alone. And underneath mine alone, he ran a bold,

dark line. That kind of accountability is what we need, I think, at every level. And so, again, when I look at the young people of today who are all volunteers who joined the military, I think you can drop a plumb line to these young men on the beaches of Normandy. Let's hope that continues into the future. So, Richard, you wrote about the bill of obligations, civic need for for civic good and civic service and commitment and sacrifice. The military is one thing. But right now in America writ large, that the populace of just average citizens that has been so strained by our politics of the last decade or so, do you think it could would rise to the moment if there were another occasion like this,

an occasion like D-Day that took everyone to contribute? Well, as the Admiral said, we saw some positive elements of it after 9-11. A lot of people, rich and poor, volunteered for public service. But I think, Jonathan, we've got to resurrect public service in this country. I'm not talking about a draft. We don't need that. But we've got to bridge the gap between the American people and the American government. We've got to stop disparaging government. We've got to get people out there to work together. This country has become really separate. One of the great things about the World War II experience, the greatest generation, has brought Americans together who never would normally meet.

And they forged this common experience. It's one of the reasons I'm excited about various programs we're seeing at the state level around the country to get Americans to do things, whether it's for climate issues or teaching or whatever. But I think we've got to resurrect the spirit of public service in this country. It's a little bit of the Kennedy inaugural speech, the ask not line. That's not what your country can do for you, what you can do for your country. And all this wrote, it reminds me of, is laws only take us so far.

Talk about Eisenhower, you talk about these young men and women. Ultimately, what really matters is character. What really matters is character. What really matters is the willingness of individual Americans to serve, to do the right thing. And that's not something you can legislate. You can't dictate it. You've got to build a society where this is taught and where these these behaviors are modeled. You know, I could not agree more. And let me just pick out a phrase, which is thank you for your service. And we who are veterans hear that constantly. It is very welcome. And I'm glad that we do that. We need to take that concept and broaden it. There are so many ways to serve this country, not just the military. It's Peace Corps, Volunteer for America, Teach for America,

school teachers in packed classrooms making $37,000 a year. You think she's serving the country? Boy, I do. Diplomats, CIA officers, police, firefighters, emergency medical technicians. So to Richard's point, what we need is a sense of obligation to our society that is rewarded and incentivized. I'll tell you, every time I see a policeman or a fireman or a teacher or a returning Peace Corps volunteer, I walk up and say, thank you for your service. We need to broaden that concept. You know, Mike Barnicle, it's hard not to think about how demented our politics are today when we look at these heroes and we ponder this moment of unimaginable magnitude. But this conversation has just reminded me something that I think is worth saying about some of our Republican leaders right now,

and I say it with respect, that our democracy is a privilege. It is fragile and it is a privilege. And Republican leaders following Donald Trump's autocratic tendencies are validating and reinforcing his violent and anti-democratic ways on such a grand scale that they almost remind me of sort of the entitled children of America's democracy. Entitled because they don't care of what it took to build it, unappreciative of the sacrifice that it took to get here, and emboldened for their own advancement of power. So I hope they watch today and open their hearts to the concept of democracy rather than their own anti-democratic road to power. Well, that would be wonderful if it would occur, Mika, but I kind of doubt it will occur given the tenor and the tone of American politics today.

The Admiral and Richard just mentioned a key word, leadership. We need leadership in this country. We presently have pretty good leadership, a veteran of politics, Joseph R. Biden, a man who knows what he's doing and what's happened to him. Well, he gets, you know, every day he's 81. He's too old to be president, you know, get him out of there. And we have the other guy running against him who absolutely just said we heard him say it. Talking about his court case. I went through something no one ever has gone through. Look at the pictures we're showing right now. Look at the pictures we're showing right now. And this human being says, I went through something that no one has ever gone through.

We need leadership in this country. We don't need, what we don't need is people running for public office on either party, but specifically you mentioned the Republican Party and the Republican leader, Mr. Trump, who has made it a point to attack the fact that 12 ordinary citizens, 12 ordinary American citizens, strangers to each other, with various jobs of various religions, of various ethnic backgrounds, gathered in a room, the heart of democracy, and came up with a verdict in his trial. And now it's a point of attack for him and for nearly every other Republican sycophant who follows him. And that attack is an attack, a direct attack on our democracy. It is the modern day version of of of a sneak attack on America. It's the modern day version of attacking the fundamental progress we've made in this country and the roots of our country, which is democracy. If you're just waking up, you're looking at live pictures from Normandy, France, where it's

just before one o'clock in the afternoon, we're awaiting a ceremony. We'll get a C-130 flyover in just a bit. You're seeing some of the heroes of D-Day now on the stage. We'll hear from French President Emmanuel Macron, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, and then the President of the United States will speak there. He'll lay a wreath at that American cemetery before heading to Omaha Beach for an international ceremony. Admiral Stavridis, as we think back to what was happening right now, 80 years ago, on those beaches across Normandy and the armada that Mike Barnacle referenced a little bit earlier that kind of came over the horizon, shocking the Germans up in those nests that you can still stand in, that you can still visit if you've ever been to Normandy. You know what I'm

talking about. You still see the pockmarks of the artillery that dot the landscape there. Can you speak to the operation, Operation Overlord, the planning of it and just how overwhelming it was, what a risk it was and how unlikely it was, frankly, when you look back that they could have pulled it off the way they did. It was remarkable in every regard militarily. And if you want a sense of what it was like on the beach, take a look at Saving Private Ryan. Watch the first 30 minutes of that film, which take you inside one of those landing craft. You're showing one right now. What it was like when that front door dropped and the bullets started whizzing by your head or suddenly you just weren't there anymore. It's a dramatic, highly accurate portrait of close combat.

The second point to pick up here is the use of the word armada. It really was a maritime operation. And here's a number, 150,000 plus soldiers landed on the beach. There were 250,000 naval personnel. You know, the admiral is going to say this, who were the ride to the beach. And by the way, the longest military campaign of the Second World War was not the island hopping through the Pacific. It was not North Africa. It was not the European march to Berlin. The longest campaign was the Battle of the Atlantic. Went on for six years. Seventy five thousand sailors were killed. We wrested control of the Atlantic from the Germans. That's what enabled all of those U.S. troops to get to England to make D-Day. So this really was Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, at that time the Army Air Corps. this was all hands on deck in the military. But it all came down

to that point of combat when the front door of that LCS dropped and young men walked through the surf as bullets whizzed by them, as explosions occurred, moments of extraordinary heroism enabled by the whole U.S. government took over all of industry. We didn't make a car in America for the duration through those years. We turned everything we had to this effort. These young men were at the very point of a very large spear that ultimately ended the tyranny of Hitler in the imperial Japanese empire. As the stage is set there in Normandy, we are awaiting comments by French President Emmanuel Macron, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, and then the U.S. President of the United States, Joe Biden, live in Normandy on the 80th anniversary of D-Day. Morning Joe live coverage continues after a short break. The End The weather was none too good, but the little ships plugged on manfully to the beaches,

bringing enormous support in manpower and weapons, and bringing also the mechanical needs of our Army and Air Force, the means to build our first airfields in France since 1940. Wider and wider grew the scene. The beachhead grew in depth and width. From the beaches, spearheads struck out and pressed inland. Through the villages towards Caen, Ysigny and Carinthal, and Montbourg and Saint-Mère-Église in the north towards Cherbourg. Fighting over open country and in the streets,

destroying the German conquerors of France, capturing their supply dumps and taking prisoners. Airborne units fought an engagement here close to the gliders in which they had landed. And here out of action come German soldiers in surrender, the first rich fruits of victory for the United Nations. Images from a Sky News D-Day newsreel on this 80th anniversary of that historic day. We're looking at live pictures of Normandy, France, just before one o'clock in the afternoon, where a short time from now, French President Emmanuel Macron will speak. And then, of course, President Biden will speak as well with some of the heroes of that day on stage now in place and waiting for

the ceremony to begin. We, of course, will take it live as soon as it begins. Michael Beschloss, I was thinking as I watched that old newsreel footage of Robert Capa, the, of course, legendary photographer who took those images on the beach at D-Day. The story goes hundreds of them were destroyed in the development process and only 11 of them survived. The magnificent 11. And Steven Spielberg is said to have been inspired to make his incredible film, Saving Private Ryan, based on just those 11 still images he saw. I'm curious, though, from your perspective as a presidential historian about FDR and Churchill and that relationship. We were talking yesterday about

Churchill writing those famous love letters for years to FDR, trying to compel him to join the fight in Europe and FDR kind of holding him at bay for a long time. And then, of course, the attack on Pearl Harbor brought the United States into the war. What can you tell us this morning on this 80th anniversary about that special relationship? Well, one thing, and you know this, Willie, Churchill once said, and he was thinking of his relationship with Roosevelt, he said, in any romance or in any alliance, there's one person who kisses and there's someone else who offers his or her cheek. And he felt that Roosevelt was offering the cheek because in 1940 and 1941, as you know, Roosevelt had this enormous, you know, growing arsenal of democracy, as he called it, and had the person power that would help Churchill to hold off the Nazis. And Churchill was privately almost begging him to help in a political situation.

Nineteen forty one. Most Americans did not want to help. They thought that this would drag us into a war that we did not want. And the essence of leadership. This is what Churchill was asking for. But the point is that FDR gave it. Roosevelt said to Americans, I want to build 50,000 planes. I want to rearm. Don't be frightened that this means that I'm going to drag you into a war. I am doing this to keep us out of war, because if Hitler and Mussolini look at America and we don't have a proper national defense, war and dictatorship will come to our shores all the sooner. We're going to take a short break as the events in Normandy are slightly delayed. The sights and sounds and words of remembrance that we're expecting include a C-130 flyover, the French national anthem, the U.S. national anthem.

And of course, we'll hear from President Emmanuel Macron and President Biden as well. So stay with us as world leaders and veterans mark the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings live from Normandy. We'll be right back.