Morning Joe - Morning Joe 7/21/23

Episode Date: July 21, 2023

Biden would benefit from third-party ticket in 2024, polling shows

The Republican hearings that have unfolded over the last few days and throughout this entire Congress are a malignant clown show that are not designed to address issues that impact the health, the safety and the economic well-being of the American people, but instead peddle outlandish and out of control conspiracy theories. You know, it's so it's so true. Those House Leader Akeem Jeffries not holding back. Willie, I thought the reference to my favorite punk ska band insane. What was it? What was it? Malignant clown show. Malignant clown show. Best 1990s punk ska band out there. OK. A close cousin, Joe, to the insane clown posse, of course, out of Detroit. That's it. Yes. Yeah. But so that ain't malignant clown show.

Well, he makes a good point. Actually, this comes as a top Republican in the Senate releases an FBI memo that fails to prove any, any of the accusations against President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter. There are people in the community that said, oh, how, how nice the Republicans now have their their own still dossier. Yeah. Plus, Kevin McCarthy responds to reporting that he made a promise to Donald Trump as an olive branch because the House speaker has not publicly endorsed Trump's 2024 campaign. And speaking of the former president, we'll play for you his ominous comments that seem to be calling for a January 6th style response to his legal issues. You see, here's here's a problem, Willie.

There's a lot of problems there. Well, no, there are a lot of problems, but he needs to read the room. This does not help him with Jack Smith. I don't know. Maybe this helped him with a contract dispute in New Jersey when he'd throw words around like that. Threatening stuff. Doesn't help with Jack Smith, does it? No, I had the same thought when I heard that last night, which is you're about likely about to be

indicted for part of the indictment for inciting a riot. It will be wild. Everything else getting people to go to the Capitol. And now you're sort of implying that your supporters might do that again if the Justice Department does, in fact, indict you. Not the best legal strategy, though. I don't even know which lawyers he has around him anymore, if they can mention that to him. But it doesn't appear to be breaking through any legal advice he may be getting. He's just going to keep being him. Yeah, it's a malignant clown. Hard thing to be a lawyer with us. We have former White House director of communications, President Obama, Jennifer Palmieri,

Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist and associate editor of The Washington Post, and MSNBC political analyst Eugene Robinson, and White House editor for Politico, Sam Stein, filling in for the very, very lazy Jonathan Lamia. Seriously, how many days is that guy gonna take all right what's your words yeah Tom's lazy all right this might be the second second day in five years he's taken off I don't know look we have Sam and what we call that double-lignet clown show. Oh, no, stop. No, stop. That's terrible. I'm joking.

I'm joking. Listen, so we have everybody whining about how Joe Biden's going to do so terribly. And we have everybody whining about a third-party Canada. We have everybody whining about everything because this is what the Democrats do. It's the Obama administration. But when their campaign talked about bedwetting, excessive bedwetting going on there.

And the polls, we showed a poll yesterday showing that Donald Trump losing, losing by five points to Joe Biden, 49 to 44 percent. Another one came out, which media said it calls a brutal, brutal poll, showing Joe Biden crushing Donald Trump, even with a third party candidate. Well, that's the interesting part here. Despite having some concerns about both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, new polling shows most Americans are not open to voting for a third party ticket in 2024. In the latest Monmouth University survey, just 30 percent of registered voters say they would definitely or probably

consider voting third party if Biden and Trump are the leading names on the 2024 ballot. As for how a nameless third party ticket could impact a 2024 rematch between the current and former president, the poll shows it may actually help Biden without a third party option. The survey shows Biden beating Trump by seven points, 47 percent to 40 percent with a third party ticket on the ballot. The Biden's victory over Trump grows to nine points, 37 percent to 28 percent. So, Willie, looking at this, I mean, first of all, this is the second day we have polls out that show Joe Biden easily beating Donald Trump.

Thumping him. And on this third-party ballot, we're all thinking it's going to hurt Joe Biden, it's going to hurt Joe Biden, people that are with Donald Trump. It doesn't look that way here, and it doesn't look this way in some other polls. It looks like people are saying,

I don't like Donald Trump at all. Give me another option i'll never vote for joe biden i'll never vote for a democrat but give me a third party option and we actually see there there's some actual softness in donald trump's numbers and joe biden looking better than ever yeah that cuts against the conventional wisdom everything we've been hearing, which is if someone like Joe Manchin were to jump in the race, it would only hurt Joe Biden and help to get Donald Trump reelected to be president. So, Jen Palmieri, I'm curious how you read into those numbers, because every other poll we've seen says people don't like the matchup. They don't like their choices. They don't want Donald Trump against Joe Biden and they don't want to see this movie again. And yet when you actually put the question directly to them, 30 percent of them want to see a third party. But it actually helps Joe Biden. And again, in that head to head, I think it was seven points again. The one we saw yesterday was five points. You have Joe Biden up

seven points in this Monmouth poll over Donald Trump. So for all the panicking, as Joe says, that's been going on in the Democratic Party, those numbers, at least in these last several polls, look pretty good for Joe Biden. So I was just looking at my phone because I already have two text messages from Democrats who I don't like to use the term bedwetting because I find it crude,

but who are freaking out about this poll because that is what Democrats do, Joe. You're right. We do freak out, but it's also why there's still a republic standing because we overworry about elections and what's going to happen in them. This is interesting. I'm not sure that I trust it. It's the first time I've seen a poll where there is a third party option that did benefit Biden as opposed to Trump, although or at least just didn't hurt Biden. But there is you know, but there is a lot of concern that if you have that, that Trump's numbers and every other poll that I've seen has showed this are very strong. And if you have and if there are people have a third party option that that is likely to take away from Biden because Biden is winning some disgruntled Republicans and independents over.

Now, continuing in the role of the party pooper here for Democrats, I'll say talking about the poll from yesterday, which had Biden winning forty nine forty five over Trump. That's a national poll. That's great. When you look at battleground states, and I'll use Wisconsin as an example, you know, you got to get to 270. These states are non-static. They're changing. And so Wisconsin, for example, has a higher level of white non-college educated voters in 2024 than it had in 2020. That cohort of voters, you know, has favored Trump as opposed to Biden. So these poll numbers are all great, but, you know, you still have to bat, you know, you still got to get to 270. And there's concerns about when you look underneath the hood, what those numbers are going to be like in each of

these battleground states. And then in terms of the third party, you know, great. Only 30 percent are open to voting for a, you know, either just third party option. But Jill Stein only needed to get in the very small digits of support in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania to win the election for Donald Trump. So I think the third party still remains a very, very significant threat to Joe Biden. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The the PTSD is strong with this one. There is no there is no it's just traumatic stress exactly it is it is traumatic stress sam why didn't she just say on the two best days of polling for joe biden why didn't she just say we don't deserve good things where republicans say we may not deserve it, but we're going to take it. But when you see these polls, you're looking at it going, well, this is a trend line in a positive direction.

You know, happy days are here again. When I look at Wisconsin, why do I see? I see a judge's race that conservatives called the most important race in that state in a decade. And Democrats won by 11 points. Yes, things are not static. Things are breaking. Maybe it's because I'm not a Democrat. I'm still an independent, so I'm not overly negative yet. Things are breaking in Democrats' way. They won by a landslide in Wisconsin, a Supreme Court judicial race that Republicans called the most important race of their time. Democrats won in Kansas. They won in Kentucky on abortion. They have so many things

that are breaking their way, not just the indictments, but the overturning of Roe. So many things good going in their direction. And Donald Trump is looking crazier and crazier every day. That's why I always I don't talk about national polls. Usually talk about the suburbs of Atlanta. They'll never go for Trump again. The suburbs of Philly, they'll never go for Trump again. The suburbs of Detroit, they'll never go for Trump again. The suburbs of Milwaukee, they'll never go for Trump again, especially post Roe. And I hope the power of positive thinking did not trigger Jen or any other Democrats out there. But look, it's OK to be happy.

It's OK to smile. It's OK to be positive, Sam. No, it's not. Oh, OK. Hell no. Tell us why, Sam. First of all, let me just agree with Jen. Bedwetting is a crude, disgusting term.

It should be banished from the airwaves. Let's never mention it again. And secondly, Jen did make, you know, I think a very valid, if not, you know, maybe cup half empty case for being optimistic for Democrats heading into 2024. It is a race in certain states. It's not a national race, right? Like you have to look at Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. And this, I guess, would be a question I would sort of direct to Eugene here,

which is, you know, if you look at that third party ticket, right, and you're scared about it, it's, you know, there's not, you have to look at two third party tickets, right? Like there's the mansion one that's no labels. It would draw centrists and maybe Republicans who will be open to Biden. It could draw them away from Biden.

But the other one is a Cornel West type, right, who could take, you know, a couple percentage points, maybe a few key thousand votes in critical states away from Biden. And what Jen is, you know, reliving a sort of like Jill Stein scenario, right? And I don't want to trigger it again, but that is what happened. You are plugged in, Gene. You know the people in the White House. Which one do they actually fear the most, right? Like, do they fear the Manchin-type run, or do they fear the Cornel West, small percentage points, liberal enthusiasm being just drained from them?

Well, the answer, of course, because they're Democrats, is both. But before I get to that, though, let me I'm shocked that we haven't yet mentioned we're 12 minutes into the show. We haven't mentioned the one real big story in Washington today, which is the NFL owners approved the sale of the Washington football team, the commanders from Dan Snyder to John Harris. The long national nightmare is over. And, you know, everything is bright and sunny again. So our own malignant clown show is over. So let's all, you know, so how can anybody have negative thoughts on a day like that?

It's just, it's amazing. Good question. has just been good for Biden. And I'm perfectly willing to say, you know, great. And spend a day not worrying. My resolution for today is not to worry and to celebrate the end of a terrible era here in Washington football. There you go, Gene. That's the spirit. Yeah, it's been almost a quarter of a century under the Snyder family with the Redskins slash commanders, and now officially is over, Gene. Congrats to you. So we were talking about this interview that Donald Trump did earlier this week. It was in Iowa, a radio show in Iowa. The former president was asked about the possibility of jail time stemming from special counsel Jack Smith's investigation. Here is Trump's answer.

Is it something that concerns you of, you know, of the people making sure that they don't go out of their right mind if something like that happens? Because I know what I'm thinking of could happen if that, for example, they do say, Jack Smith says, OK, I'm going to put Donald Trump in jail. I think it's a very dangerous thing to even talk about because we do have a tremendously passionate group of voters. And I mean, maybe, you know, maybe 100, 150. I've never seen anything like it. Much more passion than they had in 2020 and much more passion than they had in 2016. I think it would be very dangerous. Joe, much more passion than they had in 2020,

implying it could be even worse than you saw around the 2020 election. Obviously, just appallingly dangerous stuff to say, given the recent history in this country. And also, as you pointed out earlier, very stupid as he perhaps comes under indictment here for the events around the 2020 election. Yeah, I don't know if Donald Trump understands what he's doing. Well, he's talking like a mobster. Yeah, it'd be a shame if it'd be very dangerous for Jack Smith. Wouldn't want another riot. And they're more dangerous now than they were in 2020 or 2016. Could be worse. Gene, he's just so stupid.

He really is. He just doesn't understand. He's going up against the feds. He doesn't understand that he can't bully and bluster and threaten his way out of criminal charges that are coming because he broke the law, because he stole nuclear secrets, because he stole secret plans to attack Iran, because he stole secret military secrets, because he has people all around him, all around him on January the 6th that are testifying against him. No Democrats, no moderate Republicans, all Trumpers, all the Trump.

Everybody that he ever hired has gone before the grand jury. Everybody that was around him January the 6th went before the grand jury, all Trumpers. And he's going to be charged for some of the most serious crimes in America. And his response, his response, instead of talking to his lawyer saying, hey, get me a deal. I don't know what it's going to look like,

but get me a deal. Because they've got me dead to right. My own people are the people testifying against me. Get me done. Instead of that, he goes on an Iowa radio show and like a mobster threatens Jack Smith. Has he not looked at pictures of Jack Smith? This guy looks like the judge on Andor.

All right. He looks like the guy that takes the good guy from the Star Wars galaxy and throws him into jail for life. He doesn't understand. Oh, my God. Look, I'm scared. You just scared me by putting this picture up. Yeah.

Does he think Jack Smith is going to be intimidated by mob like threats, Gene? Yeah. And that's not going to happen. Jack Smith looks like a pretty intense guy, and he looks like he's not going to take any of this from Donald Trump. I think Trump just doesn't know what else to do. He obviously sees the walls closing in on him. The indictment's coming.

Someone must have told him, let him know what the conviction rate is in federal court, which is well over 90 percent of defendants who were charged either plead guilty or get convicted. I mean, it is, this is a tough situation for him. And rather than, than, than make a deal and rather than try to, you know, somehow keep his freedom, uh, he, he does this. It can only make things worse for him. It can only make things worse for him, but he, he just doesn't know what else to do. He's going to run harder and harder and harder, uh, to and harder to win the presidency again so he can try to pardon himself. That's I think that's his ultimate move.

It's reminiscent of the stand back and stand by that he said to the proud boys. And there's a lot of you know, I think I will agree with Joe on this one point, although Heilman just texted me and told me not to let you mal-mal me about the mom-in-the-pull. But he says that, you know, so he said what he said yesterday, very mob-like, right? But he did another interview earlier in the week where he was asked, like, well, it seems like you kind of like these indictments. And he said, no, it bothers me, right? It was like a little moment of vulnerability that he was showing, like, well, it seems like you kind of like these indictments. And he said, no, it bothers me. Right. It was like a little moment of vulnerability that he was showing that, you know, that this this stuff is is getting to him.

Well, coming up, we're going to actually. By the way, John Hyland also texted me. What did he say? Amir's lazy? No, he just he he's just well, he says that, of course. But yeah, also just talking about the poll, it disturbs him that there's a poll that actually shows that things are going well for Joe Biden. We don't. I think this is a message from Debbie Dingell for you. We have a moment. Oh, boy. No, no, no, no. So it does. Debbie, think that Biden's going to lose Michigan? Because if she does, I mean, I will bet her like a couple of Detroit Tiger baseball tickets against Red Sox tickets that Biden's going to win Michigan if he

goes up against Trump. So I think Biden's going to win Michigan if he goes up. I think Biden is going to win reelection. I think Biden is going to win Michigan. I think he's going to win Wisconsin. I think he's going to win Pennsylvania. But it doesn't mean it's going to be easy or buy five points. But what Debbie wants you to know is, she says, I'm not bedwetting. I'm in union halls. And the, you know, what she's hearing in union halls is really, it's really, it's really concerning. You know, the president of the UAW is, UAW is up for grabs. Trump spoke with them. Biden spoke with them. They're trying to win them over. So I still think in the end, this is going to be OK because Democrats do get it together. But, you know, these individual states are concerning.

And, you know, how you ask these questions about the third party candidate matters a lot. Well, I feel really good about the third party states. Again, I feel good about the third party states because Donald Trump did worse in them in 2020 than he did in 2016. In 2022, you look at all the swing states. They broke a lot more for Democrats than they did for Republicans. The same not bedwetting. What do we call it? The same PTSD.

Yes. The Democratic Party. All we heard, Willie. Red wave. Oh, there's going to be a red wave. Hand-wringing, Alex points out. That's a good one. Oh, there's going to be a red wave. Mika, does it seem like a red wave to you? No, but I understand. I validate how you feel. I validate how everybody feels, okay? But Willie, here's the thing. I will say this. I'm glad the Democrats are panicked when the sun comes out and Dan Snyder leaves Washington, whatever they're called now.

I'm glad that they're panicking because that means they're going to work harder. I remember the thing that freaked me out around my campaign offices was, you know, nobody ever dared say more than one time, hey, hey, Joe, we got this one in the bag. That's when, you know, that's when file cabinets started going over. I would fool Will Ferrell with a trident at that point. So I understand that. But see, this is what the Republicans don't understand. Right. Because because they've gotten so crazy, They forgot what used to make them great on the campaign trail, which was organizing, getting out,

getting people to vote. Democrats over the past two or three cycles have figured that out. So I get what Debbie Dingell's saying, but my God, if you're a union member and you're going, hey, do I support Joe Biden or not? With unemployment at record lows, with manufacturing exploding across America,

with a dollar at generational highs over the past year against the rest, with America's economy doing better than it's done in ages, with our GDP at 25 trillion while China's stagnant in 17 trillion. You're a union member and wages are growing like real wages against inflation are growing, you got a question on who you're going to support? Yeah, get into the union halls and ask them what kind of glue they're sniffing, because Joe Biden has been the best president for unions that they've had since, I don't know, who? Who? Help me out here. LBJ? Yeah, could be LBJ. I mean, first of all, Joe, you ought to run for something. You're pretty good at this. We should talk about that someday. But the Democrats and Joe Biden do have a good story to tell and they shouldn't be worried about telling it. I think that's true.

And then the other side of it is here's the alternative. They can sort of make that 2020 case again. Do you really want to go back to that? Do you really want to go back to the Trump years? Do you really want to go back to the guy who's currently sitting on trial in a courtroom in Washington or sitting on trial in a courtroom in Florida or wherever he ends up next year, which is taking place when they're making the argument. So there is the side by side binary choice. But to your point, I think that, as Jen points out, 2016 sort of made people a little gun shy about counting their chickens before they hatch. Maybe 2004 also. And in 20 and again in 2022, it was people grassroots. It was activists. It was Democrats working hard, doing the old-fashioned stuff, getting people to come out and vote that, frankly,

changed the course of history in this country. And I think they need to be mindful of that. And they are clearly, as Jen says, that this is going to be a close race, even though it's Donald Trump. And a lot of people think he shouldn't go back to the White House. It's going to be close, and it's going to take a lot of hard work to beat him. Going to be close. All right. So coming up here on Morning Joe, Jackie Alimany of The Washington Post is going to join us with the latest on who testified before the federal grand jury hearing evidence on the January 6th riot

and also attempts to overthrow the election. We'll be right back. Will Russell's one of the president's body men. He's the guy that carried, you know, tic tacs and a comb and sort of was around the president to ensure that administrative tasks like that were fulfilled. And he is depicted in photographs. He was apparently with the president back and forth to the Ellipse and to the Oval Office on January 6th. That was a lead investigator for the January 6th committee describing the latest witness to appear before the federal grand jury hearing evidence about the January 6th insurrection and Donald Trump's attempts to overturn the 2020 election. William Russell testified yesterday. He is a longtime aide to the former president, who was reportedly by Trump's side for most of the day on January 6, 2021.

Although he has previously testified before the grand jury, Russell's level of cooperation is unclear since he still works for the Trump campaign. We did, though, get a possible hint as to why prosecutors are questioning him in a bizarre scene that played out during an unrelated court proceeding. In the same building where Russell was being questioned, his lawyer showed up late for a hearing for a different client. Oh, wow. Got busy lawyer. What was it? Was it like bank fraud? What was it? No, it was a client who was sentenced

for his role on January 6th. Oh, wow. When the judge pressed him on why he was late, the lawyer said that he didn't want to leave Russell alone with the special counsel's prosecutors because his client was, quote, being asked questions which potentially involved executive privilege. That could indicate that the DOJ is questioning Russell to help piece together Trump's words and actions from the day of the

insurrection. The judge then sent a U.S. marshal to summon the DOJ's prosecutors to the courtroom where they had a tense private discussion at the bench. That's fascinating. Let's bring in congressional investigations reporter for The Washington Post, Jackie Alimany. She's an MSNBC contributor. And, Jackie, what more do you know about William Russell and what he might be sharing with the federal grand jury? Yeah, Mika, it was an extraordinary scene that played out yesterday in the D.C. courthouse when Stan Woodward showed up late to the sentencing of Frederico Klein, a January 6th defendant, because of the length of the questioning of his client, Will Russell.

You know, the January 6th committee and now Jack Smith's team of prosecutors has most likely put together a very comprehensive account of that day on January 6th and Trump's actions. But there is no one who is perhaps more close to the president during that time period. And maybe who knows him better than the body man, as we've already seen, you know, for example, with someone like Walt Nauta, Trump's co-conspirator in the Mar-a-Lago documents case, who replaced Will Russell as the body man post-presidency. This is someone who follows the president around all the time, knows all of sort of the most intimate details and could give a really clear and detailed and insightful view into Trump's mindset on that day. Of course, there are already countless other people, witnesses who have testified to the Jack Smith's team. We know that, for example, during the January 6th committee, we heard from people like Nicholas Luna, Julie Radford. These are all aides to Ivanka Trump, to former President Trump, who detailed some of the events leading up to the January 6th rally,

where Trump whipped up the crowd into a fever prior to them attacking the U.S. Capitol, where Trump was on the phone with former Vice President Mike Pence, at the time then Vice President, head of the electoral certification. We had people who had said that Trump—the conversation was extremely heated. We heard from Ivanka Trump, who said that, you know, the president had never taken such a tone with the vice president, that he called him a wimp, the P-word. But again, you know, Will Russell's testimony still could be really important for Smith in terms of wrapping up the final stage of this investigation.

Hey, Jackie, it's Sam Stein here. I want to talk about sort of a side figure in all this. The attorney, Stan Woodward, who seems to represent basically everyone in Trump world in these various charges that they are facing. He was involved in a weird situation yesterday involving William Russell running from one trial to another. I haven't been able to kind of wrap my head around this, but I'm sure you have. How does having one sort of connective tissue defense attorney impact these types of cases, if at all? Yes, Sam. Well, it's certainly a head-scratching situation that is set up, but it's definitely a common one. Past presidents have also used this kind of joint defense situation, and it definitely raises a lot of

sort of obvious questions about information sharing and the ability for witnesses to kind of all strategize and come to some sort of agreement on testimony. But at the end of the day, there's only big issue that Woodward revealed to the federal judge, McFadden, who scolded him for showing up late to the sentencing was that, you know, he said to the judge, I'm late because the prosecutors, Jack Smith's prosecutors, were infringing on my client's claims of executive privilege and that the questioning ran late. But in something like that, we've already seen the court overrule those sorts of claims and ultimately compel these witnesses to be truthful. We've already also seen charges pressed against Trump confidants and allies, people like Walt

Nauta, for making false statements. So there is a lot on the line here, a lot more so than was on the line for some of these people who simply declined to cooperate with the congressional investigation. Although I must note that Will Russell is someone, is not someone that the January 6th committee actually reached out to nor interviewed. No, that's crazy. It was a lot going on. Washington Post's Jackie Elliman, thank you so much Gene Robinson, you just look at

you look at this law you're running from one Trump related case to another Trump related case from January 6th to another and we're all talking about gee will justice ever be done, think about all the people that are in jail now because of January the 6th right, because of Donald Trump

think about what Donald Trump, all the indictments against Donald Trump. Go back and think about all the people who worked for Donald Trump, his national security advisor, like indicted, arrested, indicted, like charged. His campaign manager charged, sent to jail. His assistant campaign manager, Gates, charged, sent to jail. His political director, Steve Bannon, I guess, counsel to the president, you know, charged, right? Right. And charged and found guilty and then pardoned. And there may be another charge out there. The dude in South Florida, the Nixon dude with the funny glasses, I forget his name right now, like arrested.

What's his name again? Stone. Roger Stone, that's right. For some reason, I always forget Roger's name. Roger, like arrested, charged. It's just, it's crazy how many people, if we had a running list connected to Donald Trump, his administration, his campaign, who have already been charged and convicted for crimes. There's never been a presidency close to this.

No, there's never anything like this because there's never been the kind of rampant criminality and insanity that we saw in the Trump presidency. And so a whole lot of lawyers are, you know, shopping for new yachts, I guess, because assuming they're getting paid. And one question is, who's paying this lawyer who's running back and forth from case to case? In any event, yes, this is a level of criminality, proven criminality and increasingly punished criminality that we've never seen before in our history, and I hope we never see again. But it's got to be a message to anybody who gets a phone call, a subpoena from Jack Smith. Go in. Tell the truth. These claims of executive privilege have basically all been denied. That argument isn't working. Go in, tell the truth. You'll be a whole lot better off

than if you try to stonewall in some way, because if you do that, you're likely to end up in jail. I mean, that's kind of where a lot of people are headed. And look at, you know, in jail. I mean, that's kind of where a lot of people are headed. And look at, you know, Walt Nauta, who came in and essentially lied to Smith's prosecutors and said he didn't know anything about documents. And it turned out he was moving boxes of them. And now, you know, he's a criminal defendant on federal charges. So I don't know if people are getting this message that the thing to do is that you better tell the truth and cooperate. But if they're not, they're going to pay the consequences. Yeah, I'm so glad you brought that up. I mean, so many people lie for the FBI related to Donald Trump. It always ends badly for

him. And you're also right about executive privilege. The Roberts court is not buying it. If it's related to January the 6th, the Roberts court has already said no executive privilege for things that may have been said in commission of a crime. So you're so right there. And one other thing, Gene, you're so right on. I mean, it's been horrible for America, but you talk about glory days for the Washington, D.C. criminal bar since Donald Trump came to town. I mean, he has been a full employment act for all of them. Still at a morning jail, Vice President Kamala Harris is going to be traveling to Florida today to deliver a response to the State Board of Education's

approval of new standards on how black history will be taught, including some really perverse stuff talking about how slavery helped slaves. Reverend Al Sharpton is going to be here and weigh in on that. Plus, President Biden takes a parent endorsement from a far right congresswoman and takes it on the road to Philly. We're going to show you how Marjorie Taylor Greene is helping boost Bidenomics. Also, Ed, my conversation with Oppenheimer stars Killian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr. is a highly anticipated blockbuster that some have called the most important and best film of this century hits theaters today. You're watching Morning Joe. We'll be right back. Beautiful live picture of the United States Capitol at 645 on a Friday morning. Vice President Kamala Harris will visit Florida today to address the state's new standards for teaching black history in schools. Earlier this week, the state's board of education approved new guidelines that includes teaching students that some black people benefited from slavery because it taught them useful skills. The White House says the vice president now will

deliver remarks in Jacksonville to highlight the administration's efforts to, quote, protect fundamental freedoms. The visit comes just a day after Harris's speech in Indianapolis, where she blasted states that are banning books. And speaking of our children, extremists pass book bans to prevent them from learning our true history. Book bans in this year of our Lord, 2023. And while they do this, check it out. They push forward revisionist history. Just yesterday in the state of Florida, they decided middle school students will be taught that enslaved people benefited from slavery. They insult us in an attempt to gaslight us and we will not stand for it.

Join us now, the host of MSNBC's Politics Nation, president of the National Action Network, Reverend Al Sharpton. Rev, good morning. I had to dig in and read this because the headline I thought couldn't be true. But here it is, a 216 page document from the Florida State Board of Education. One section that reads slaves develop skills, which in some instances could be applied for their personal benefits. I never thought I'd see both sides ism of slavery taught in public schools. Well, it is not only insulting, it is humiliating.

And it really is dangerous because it will instruct young people if it is allowed to go forward. Not only a distorted version of American history, but it robs us from seeing where we are. When you see the vice president going to Florida today to really give national spotlight to this, it shows also how far the country's gone, that you have a first time in the history of the country, a woman and a black woman, a woman of color as vice president that came from a history of slavery. So to distort how brutal slavery is, it's like saying an abused woman, a man say I abused her because I was trying to get her bad lineage out of her, her family curses out of her. I mean, it is absolutely absurd, insulting. And it is not only a distortion

of American history, but it robs from us the progress that we have made. Therefore, the progress we must continue. And I couldn't think of anything more egregious to do to young people. So I'm glad that the vice president is going to Florida to underline this. Well, and talking about both sides, Ralph, you actually have also the requirement for teachers to engage in both sides ism. To talk about, like, for instance, the infamous 1920 massacre in Florida that actually was described by many as one of the most single bloody days in American history for this type of massacre against black people. The guidelines say that teachers must also teach acts of violence in massacres like this against black people. What acts of violence black people may have committed in that massacre. Again, a massacre against black people in Florida

because a black man tried to vote. This would be akin to saying, if you're in Warsaw, you must teach not only how the Nazis massacred the Jews, but if the Jews did anything in the Warsaw Ghetto uprising to try to defend themselves against the Nazi massacre, you must teach those acts of violence against Nazi stormtroopers as well. It's just it is so grotesque and obscene. I mean, it's it's it's just unthinkable that this is happening in 2023. But this is Ron DeSantis is Florida and could be Ron DeSantis' America. It is absolutely Ron DeSantis' Florida. And when we look at that, he is the most the second most popular candidate,

or as according to the polls, you know, he's a distant from Trump. So your choice is Trump or DeSantis, who was brought about this in this country at this time. Those of us that want to rise above that have to really push back, like the vice president's visit, and stand together. I mean, you and I came from different political perspectives, but stand together. That's why Martin Luther King III and I have invited you to be our guests in Washington for the March on Washington commemorating on August 26th to show that there are people that will stand together and tell the truth about what happened in the country so we can heal.

You can't bring the country together unless we're honest about what happened. Yes, tell both sides, but tell both sides in a real way. Don't try to equate things that are not equal and not fair. You know, Joe, one of the things that I was saying to someone last night when when I got to call the vice president was going. It's very personal to many of us. In 2007, a New York paper, the New York Daily News, did a whole tracing of my background, found out that my family was owned by a family in Edgefield, South Carolina, Alexander Sharpton. That's who my great-grandfather was owned by. And I went down and visited Edgefield. I even saw the plantation my great-grandfather worked at.

It never occurred to me till that day, every time I write my name or hear my name, I am saying the name of the owners of my great-grandfather. That's not our name. We don't know our name. That's the property name of us. That's how personal it is. So to think that my grandson or whomever in my family in Florida could learn this benefited us, that we didn't even know our names, we didn't know our history, and was made to work with no wages and act like there was some benefit to that, it's a personal slap in the face of all Americans. And we all ought to resist it and stand together like you and I have, Joe. Rev, you know this history. I have a similar family history in South Carolina. But, you know, you talk about the history of slavery. It's incredible that Florida would go revisionist on that and say that we benefited from it somehow.

But there are entire episodes of African-American history that are actually American history that simply still are not taught. There's what was called the Red Summer of 1919, for example, troops coming home from World War I. There was a lot of turmoil in the country. There were anti-black riots in cities across the country that year, especially in the summer, in what was called the Red Summer. That episode is hardly ever taught anywhere in our schools, yet it was a really big deal. How can we not only fight the revisionism, but how can we get just the basics of the African-American story, which is the American story, told? I think that we must continue to fight to make sure that those stories are told. We see the Department of Education federally should be pushing these out, pushing these local school boards and state school boards to tell the entire story of what happened with blacks, of what happened with others. I don't think we tell the true story of what happened to a lot of poor whites. And I think that it is something not to cover up.

It's something to expose because it makes us stronger and it makes us better. And to really try and eliminate the truth does not make it untrue. It makes us unwise as a country and as a people. And I think we have to look at it that way. Reverend Al Sharpton, thank you very much. So well said. And we'll be covering this much more in the weeks to come. Thank you, Reverend. And talk for a minute, if you will. You're talking about the march in August. Just remind everybody about the 60 Age Institute, along with me,

and National Action Network, has called for this march to stand together against hate crimes, stand together against voter rights erosion in many states, against gun violence. Jonathan Greenblatt of Anti-Defamation League, NAACP, Urban League, Asian American groups, Latino groups, and all of our LGBTQ groups are coming together. It's a march to say 60 years ago, Dr. King and many came together, talked about a dream. We're going to the same place, Lincoln Memorial. Who promised Abe Lincoln that we bring the country together? That's why we're not going to the Washington Monument or the Jefferson Memorial. But Lincoln was the one that made America's promise. That's why King went there 60 years ago. That's why we're going there on the anniversary. That's why we want

people like you there with us, because we must show in this time of hate crimes rising against all sectors that we're going to stand together. We will not go backwards. Well, I honor the invitation on Rev and be honored to be there.