Morning Joe - Morning Joe 9/18/23

Episode Date: September 18, 2023

Trump mixes up Biden and Obama in gaffe-filled speech

Good morning and welcome to Morning Joe. It is Monday, September 18th, a live look at the Capitol as a government shutdown is looming over Capitol Hill this morning. As House Republicans have a new short term solution, we'll explain the major issues with their stop gap measure. Meanwhile, it's not if, but when House Republicans will subpoena Hunter Biden. That's according to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. His new comments

on the impeachment inquiry are just ahead. Plus, Donald Trump is actually taking responsibility for something related to the 2020 election. Well, actually, everything. Yeah.

I mean, he actually admitted it's all my fault. It's critically problematic, but that's what he does. We'll show you what he said. When he remembers what he's saying. And he remembers what year he said. Oh, boy.

Also, I had- Did you see that speech? I did see that. He thinks he's running against Barack Obama. And that World War II is looming. He said Joe Biden could lead us into World War II. That's going to be a heck of a bumper sticker

for the 2024 campaign. That is something else, yeah. But he has Obama on his mind still. Who's too old? Three times. Three times. He can't even remember Joe Biden's name. And he's saying that Joe Biden is too old

to run for president. He can't even remember Joe Biden's name. I don't know. Does he know the era we're in? Also, we had the latest on the United Auto Workers strike against Detroit's Big Three and how the White House is getting involved in these negotiations. With us, we have the host of Way Too Early, White House Bureau Chief of Politico, Jonathan Lemire, U.S. Special Correspondent for BBC News,

Katty Kaye, and President Emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations, Richard Haass. Now, these are the people we want to have. These are the people we want to have. If we're about to head into World War II. Thank God. If we're about to head into World War II. They know everything about it. I mean, Richard Haass will help us know what we need to do to avoid heading into World War II. They know everything about it. I mean, Richard Haass will help us know what we need to do to avoid heading into World War II.

Katty Kaye, of course, very concerned by the friends and loved ones in Britain. If the battle in Britain is looming, she wants to be the first to know. And Jonathan Amir, you cover this beat. Maybe you can tell us why Donald Trump thinks that he's running against Barack Obama and we're about to

enter World War Two. Spoiler alert on World War Two. I like our chances. I like our chances. I do, too. I get. Yeah, it does seem that the former president was rather confused in the speech that he delivered in Washington, Jamaica, as he mixed up his political opponents with one another and then warned that President Biden would lead the country into a conflict that ended nearly 80 short years ago. We should take a listen. Yeah, this is like a vintage. As you know, Crooker Joe Biden and the radical left thugs who have weaponized law enforcement

to arrest their leading political opponent, leading by a lot, including Obama. I'll tell you what, you take a look at Obama and take a look at some of the things that he's done. This is the same thing. The country is very divided. And we did with Obama. We won an election that everyone said couldn't be won. We have a man who is totally corrupt and the worst president in the history of our country, who is cognitively impaired, in no condition to lead, and is now in charge of dealing with Russia and possible nuclear war. Just think of it. We would be in World War Two. Very quickly. He says two so dramatically. He's got the music. It's almost like it's the summer of 1939 all over again.

And, you know, his father's going to a Nazi rally or something or a Klan rally. I don't know which rally he did or didn't go to. But, yeah, Jonathan O'Meara, you think they may want to take out the cognitively impaired part of his speeches from now on? Yeah, that's an attack line that the Republicans and Trump love to use. But, man, that does seem like he was looking in the mirror just there. I mean, and I think that we see these polls that suggest that voters are more concerned about President Biden's age than Donald Trump's age. Trump is only three years younger. And anyone watching Trump day in, day out shows he's changed, too. He's definitely, you know, slowed down a step. He mixes. He's never not that he's ever been the most perhaps clearest of

thinkers, not that he ever perhaps was always someone who wouldn't trip over his own words, but that has only accelerated here. And the speech on Friday, Joe, he gave back-to-back speeches in Washington. That was fairly late in the day. Maybe he was swept up in the dramatic music that seemed to be almost playing him off the stage there. Maybe that's what that was. The aides trying to say, hey, wrap up, Mr. Former President. You're just getting yourself in trouble here. He did say, though, he'd be happy to take another cognitive test. He thinks that's the key to election. So we can leave you with man, woman, person, camera, TV, Kaylee or whatever that was. He may not pass that. You just did it again. I want to see.

Let's play the clip again, because, again, I'm just I'm trying to figure out what happened, especially the Obama stuff. He starts to stutter and everything. Play play this one more time. Then I want to ask if she and her family, as you know, Crooker Joe Biden and the radical left thugs who have weaponized law enforcement to arrest their leading political opponent, leading by a lot, including Obama. I'll tell you what, you take a look at Obama and take a look at some of the things that he's done. This is the same thing. The country is very divided. And we did with Obama. We won an election that everyone said couldn't be won. We have a man who is totally corrupt and the worst president in the history of our country, who is cognitively impaired, in no condition to lead,

and is now in charge of dealing with Russia and possible nuclear war. Just think of it. We would be in World War II very quickly. It's just how he says World War II. He says it with such self-assurance. You know, you know caddy this could happen to all of us and in fact it happens to me about 12 times a day after like three in the afternoon so i'm the last person to judge um and by the way we're thinking and praying for your families you guys

prepare to batten down the hatches for the next battle of britain but But I think the bigger issue here is when anybody under 75 looks at these videos and I'm dead serious here. Neither of these men are in cognitive decline. They're just not. They're tired. They're old. They campaign. And at the end of the day, they start to lose words. We all as we get older, not you all. You all are very young. But as we get older, not you all, you all are all very young, but as you get older, sometimes you just, you wear down and you lose words at the end of the day. And especially if like six legal cases against you and you feel like your head is going to explode every day trying to figure out how to get out of them, especially when you committed the crimes. But that's an aside. I don't know if Meek was being entirely sincere there,

but that is also something, if any of us had one federal charge against us, that would be an unbearably heavy load to bear. This guy's got 91 counts, four indictments, and it's got to be weighed down on him. But the question here, Katty, is that I heard over the weekend after this tape was out, it wasn't like, oh my God, Donald Trump's lost his mind. Oh my God, Joe Biden's lost my mind. The question comes back to, do we not have anybody under the age of 75 that can run for president of the United States in America?

And when? Yeah, I mean, in a country of 330 odd million people, you'd think that there would be people out there, right? And all of the polls have shown us that none of the country is excited about the prospect of a Trump-Biden rematch. And yet, for a multitude of reasons that many people are disappointed with, that seems to be exactly where we're heading again. I mean, on this thing, it'll be really interesting to see whether, you know,

videotape like that one where i first time i i heard it i have to confess i thought the network i was listening to on had overplayed the music as a kind of spoof but it does add to that slightly surreal quality of it and perhaps that's why he was sort of whispering in this weird way about world war ii but i think the question is gonna be when people hear that kind of videotape where it's hard to follow what Donald Trump is saying and he does seem to be kind of mumbling. Will it have any impact on all of those polls that show that more people think Joe Biden is too old to run for re-election than Donald Trump is too old to run for re-election? And Trump has somehow got away up until now with projecting vigor or strength or something.

Actually, when you read transcripts of Trump's speeches for a long time now, it's very difficult to follow them. He does meander a lot. But polls don't seem to reflect that. And it's going to be interesting to see as people hear more of that kind of videotape. The World War II. Am I running against Obama? The kind of meandering. Does it make a difference on the polls? Well, and, you know, Richard, the thing is, I've always thought it.

So I think it's just hilarious that you have people that actually support Donald Trump, have listened to what he has said, the nonsense, the garbled, the word salad and whatever you want to call it. Just the absolute insanity. If you follow the transcript and then they look at Joe Biden and say, oh, he's cognitively impaired. When you follow any Joe Biden press conference, as far as actual facts, as far as actual policy, policy prescriptions, compare them to just about any other Donald Trump press conference. There's just not a comparison. Yes, yes, we can. I can I can play five minutes of tape that shows Donald Trump looking cognitively declined. I could do the same for Joe Biden. At the end of the day, though, if you cut down underneath that and just talk about who is cogent on policy, Donald Trump loses by a landslide every time, doesn't he?

He does. But what's interesting about Trump is every once in a while, I think there's some method to his madness, that he's actually quite clever in crossing lines about legal culpability or policy issues, how he was fencing with Kristen Welker yesterday on abortion, or he throws out the nonsense about how we'd end the war in Ukraine and just get these guys in a room just like what he ended the North Korean nuclear program. But he's in his own way. He reduces his own vulnerability and he kind of spins just just constantly. And I'd say for his base, it clearly works for them. There's a it's not conditional to support so he can get away with this kind of stuff, Joe. And I just think his supporters,

they're kind of impervious to this sort of thing. Yeah, they really are. It's just the fire hose of falsehoods, as they say, Mika. And they're they're they're very good at it. I mean, you know, George Orwell used to always talk about how fascists were so much better at propaganda. And there is no doubt that Donald Trump has torn a page out of the fascist playbook when it comes to propaganda. You just you just load up and load up and fill the sun with so many lies that people become impervious to it. In this case, the fact that he thinks that he's running against Barack Obama and we're about to start World War Two. His supporters may be impervious to it. But this next interview we're about to show you, I'm just not sure prosecutors are going

to be impervious to the things that former President Donald Trump says, including taking responsibility for trying to overturn the 2020 election. In a wide ranging exclusive interview with Meet the Press moderator Kristen Welker, Trump said it was his call to believe the 2020 presidential election was rigged. You called some of your outside lawyers. You said they had crazy theories. Why were you listening to them? Were you listening to them because they were telling you what you wanted to hear? You know who I listened to myself?

I saw what happened. I watched that election and I thought the election was over at 10 o'clock in the evening. Were you calling the shots, though, Mr. President, ultimately? As to whether or not I believed it was rigged? Sure. It was my decision. Let's bring in right now, former U.S. attorney and senior FBI official,

Chuck Rosenberg. You know, Chuck, it's like, it's one domino falls after another for Donald Trump's propagandists. You know, they used to say, oh, if Donald Trump committed insurrection, then why has anybody been charged with sedition? Well, obviously they then got charged. We've also heard time and again, oh, he was just following his attorney's advice.

You're saying that a client can't follow attorney's advice without getting sent to jail. Well, talk about what this admission, what legal impact this admission about Donald Trump may have on him? Yeah, great questions, Joe. So we've heard a lot about this purported advice of counsel defense. The idea here is that if you have an attorney client relationship with someone and she gives you advice and you rely on that advice in good faith and you get indicted, you can adduce that advice at trial to negate, disprove your intent. There's a whole bunch of problems, though, when you apply it to Mr. Trump. I mean, first, he's taking advice from people who aren't his lawyers. And the fact that you meet somebody in a Walmart parking lot and they tell you that you can trade on inside information

doesn't mean that that person's your lawyer or that you're allowed to rely on that advice. But even if you get over that hurdle, Joe, even if you get over that hurdle, you have to be listening to the advice and hear what Mr. Trump said to Kristen Welker. And I thought it was a great exchange and all credit to her is that he wasn't listening to the advice. He was relying on his own judgment. That's the narcissist in him. He could never admit that anybody told him anything that was valuable to him. He does what he thinks is right. And so also that undercuts the advice of counsel defense. But even if you get past that hurdle, you would have to rely on the advice in good faith. And even if you got past that hurdle, the way you do all those things, Joe and Mika,

is by getting on the stand and testifying to who told you about the things you could do or couldn't do. And getting on the stand for Mr. Trump is a very, very difficult proposition. I just don't see how, if we get to that, that could possibly go well for him. Well, and again, I'm not making too much light of what was said this weekend about where he lost his train of thought. He thought we were going into World War Two. He kept you could tell he was trying to remember who he was running against. But Obama kept coming to mind. This is a guy you guys, Chuck said, you don't want to put this guy on the stand for a variety of reasons. I mean, the pressure obviously is catching up to him. It's crushing, crushing in on him.

And he's at times incoherent. And as a lawyer, you just don't want to take that chance of putting that person on the stand. How exposing are these comments? Because, you know, of course, you can hear Trump talking out of both sides of his mouth as well as his lawyers, and they don't have much to work with, but they can say, well, is it against the law to believe something? Well, no, it's certainly not against the law, Mika, to believe something. But if what you want to do is use an advice of counsel defense at your criminal trial, then you have to have relied on that advice in good faith. So again,

two problems here. One is it doesn't seem to be good faith reliance. And two, at least with respect to Mr. Trump's answers to Kristen Welker, it doesn't seem to be reliance at all. In other words, I trust my own instincts. I do what I think is right. I'm always the smartest guy in the room. If that's the case, I don't need lawyers. I made the decisions here. And if that's true, Mika, it really isn't an advice of counsel defense because there's no reliance on counsel. I think it's not dispositive on the issue, but it certainly undercuts any notion that he has a valid defense here. So, Chuck, late Friday, Jack Smith in the federal election interference case asked for a partial gag order on Trump, a narrow gag order, to restrict what he can say, to try to prevent him from doing any sort of witness or

jury intimidating. Give us your read as to what Jack Smith asked for and the Trump team has until the end of the week to respond and where you see the judge landing. Yeah, so this is a difficult path for a judge to navigate, Jonathan. What the judge wants and what the prosecutors want are essentially the same thing, a fair trial, a jury pool that is not undermined by Mr. Trump's comments. Mr. Trump wants something very different. He would love to have a jury pool that is colored by his remarks, by his comments, by his criticisms. So the judge has to follow this narrow path. It's one thing to craft a gag order. It's even relatively easy to impose a gag order.

It becomes really hard to enforce a gag order. And so if it's going to work at all, it has to be narrow. There are things that a judge could do, perhaps at the government's request, to make sure that if he's posting on Truth Social or some other social media platform, perhaps his attorneys have to review anything he posts. She could fine him. There are lots of things she could try and do. But at the end of the day, all that the judge wants and all that the prosecutors want is a fair jury pool. And trying to keep Mr. Trump in line to preclude him from undermining that is going to be very, very difficult, really difficult thing for a judge to do. We'll see how it turns out.

All right. Former U.S. Attorney Chuck Rosenberg, thank you very much. We'll be talking to you again very soon. Thank you, Chuck. And Richard Haass, a big week this week in New York City for the United Nations. Zelensky coming to town, the New York Times says, to make a case for more aid and to say thank you. What should we expect not only on the Ukraine-Russia war, but what other news do you expect to come out of this week? A lot of people are coming to town, including President Zelensky, Prime Minister Netanyahu, President of South Korea. Also, Joe, a lot of people aren't coming to town. We don't see Xi Jinping. We obviously don't see Vladimir Putin. We don't see the prime minister of the United Kingdom or the president of France or the prime minister of India.

Look, what always happens this week is not it's not what happens at the U.N. Let me just be clear. It's what happens around the U.N. So I think you'll have an interesting meeting. You talked about with Zelensky in New York. He's going to focus on getting international support for Ukraine when he goes to Washington. That's where he's going to talk about accelerating the quantity and quality of military aid he gets. I think the bilateral between President Biden and Prime Minister Netanyahu here in New York, Bibi Netanyahu, did not get the meeting he wanted in Washington. That will be an interesting thing against the backdrop of the Israeli political crisis. But I'll be honest with you, I don't think this is going to be a critical week in the in the history of the of

the world. It's just the U.N. is not is not the center of an awful lot of what goes on in the world nowadays. Yeah. White House aides are optimistic because so many other leaders are skipping this one. They do think the president can make some inroads with some key allies. His centerpiece speech at the U.N. tomorrow morning. But, Katty K., domestic politics are going to shadow this entire week here. The president in New York doing some fundraising as well. And an audience, as much as he's pitching international leaders on helping Ukraine, he's got to do it back home. And it didn't escape attention that the Republican CR, their continuing resolution spending bill they proposed and got done last night in the House. We'll we'll get into this later. It stands no chance.

The Senate does not have any Ukraine funding, which just underscores what an uphill climb the president has here. Yeah. Polls have showed support for funding Ukraine slipping, obviously, amongst Republicans, but also amongst Democrats during the course of the last year. I mean, it's surprising to me when I travel around the country how often Democrats raise this as an issue, something that they don't want to see happening, particularly when they're anxious about economic times. So the president has a lot of work to do with allies to make sure they will carry on, particularly those European countries. UK Prime Minister not here, as Richard was saying, nor President Macron, because King Charles is visiting France this week. And so they're all skipping it.

And they would be key in that shoring up of European support. But he also has to try and do something to try and make this, you know, more appealing amongst American publics. And he knows that everybody is conscious that Ukraine is now on America's political timetable and that heading into the election next year, if Republicans do well, then support for Ukraine in this country could, if not dry up, evaporate by the end of next year. All right. A lot still to get to here on Morning Joe. The United Auto Workers strike continues with no resolution in sight amid possible layoffs for non-striking workers. We'll take you live to Toledo and the union's president will join us here on Morning

Joe. What he wants to see happen now. Plus, China is preparing for war with the U.S. That assessment is coming from the Air Force. We'll discuss how the United States is responding to the move when we're joined by an Air Force major general. You're watching Morning Joe. We'll be right back. Seven past the hour, the United Auto Workers strike against Detroit's big three auto companies enters its fourth day. Negotiations with Ford, General Motors and Stellantis resumed on Saturday. Nearly 13,000 employees at three plants in Missouri, Michigan and Ohio walked off the job at midnight on Friday when their four year contracts expired. The union is demanding up to 40 percent wage hikes, 40 percent over four years, along with shorter work weeks and better benefits. Union officials say since negotiations resumed, they have, quote, reasonably productive talks with Ford and plan to meet with GM as well.

Both of those companies, along with Stellantis, have offered 20 percent pay raises. The union, however, has rejected that. Now the White House is stepping in to help. President Biden dispatched a team to support talks between the union and the automakers. Biden spoke about the issue on Friday, saying he understands the workers frustrations. parties since this began over the last few weeks and over the past decade, auto companies have seen record profits, including the last few years, because of the extraordinary skill and sacrifices of UAW workers. But those record profits have not been shared fairly, in my view, with those workers. Let's be clear. No one wants a strike. Say it again. No one wants a strike. But I respect workers' right to use their options under the collective bargaining system. And I understand the workers' frustration. Over generations, auto workers sacrificed so much to keep the industry alive and strong, especially through the economic crisis and the pandemic. Workers deserve a fair

share of the benefits they helped create for an enterprise. All right. With us now from outside the Salinas plant in Toledo, Ohio, is CBC auto and airline industry reporter Phil LeBeau. Phil, thank you so much for being with us. So the company's offered a 20 percent pay increase and the union said not enough. Are we getting close? I don't think we're close. I think that this goes for a while. And here's the reason why. It's not just the fact that the UAW wants 40% over four and a half years, and then you've got Ford and Solantis at 21%, GM at 20%. That's going to end up being somewhere closer to 25%, 26%. At least

that's the prediction of most people who are close to the talks. There are a lot of other issues here. 32-hour workweek, that's a no-go with the automakers. I mean, from their perspective, let's say you give these guys, or you ultimately agree to 25% over four and a half years, and then you're going to give them a 32-hour workweek, that's essentially, in the eyes of the automakers, another 20% raise. So that's a no-go in their opinion. The restoration of a defined benefit pension is something that they're hesitant to do. That was stripped out when you had the bankruptcies of GM and Chrysler, and you had to work on the finances of the company coming back

in 2009, 2010. They also would like cost of living adjustments. Now, that is an area where I think that the UAW will get movement from the automakers. They used to have colas in the previous contracts all the way up through 2009, got stripped out. And in the last two years, if you talk with the people who are behind me picketing, they'll tell you inflation has killed our paycheck. We need more of an adjustment, a cost of living adjustment, some type of an inflation adjustment in this contract. So still a number of issues there. It's not just about pay. So you're saying, though, as far as pay goes, they want a 40 percent increase in their pay.

They want to cut from 40 hours a week to 32 hours a week. That's another 20 percent pay increase in the automakers' minds. So you're basically saying the automakers are looking at this as a 60% increase in these workers' pay. Do they just think they can't afford that? They can't go all the way to where the UAWaw wants them to be in their minds that's that's too far there is a limit we heard from ford ceo jim farley last week he said there is a limit now he didn't say what the limit was but there is a point where they believe they can't go any further

the interesting thing to keep in mind here is that not only do the automakers have to think about okay what do we need to do to lock in a contract? But remember, they already all in with wages and benefits. The average UAW worker makes between $64 and $66 an hour. Compare that with foreign automakers in this country. Their line workers make about $55 an hour. Then compare that with Tesla line workers who make an estimated $45 an hour. Then compare that with Tesla line workers who make an estimated $45 an hour. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out if you are the CEO of GM. You're paying these guys 66 bucks an hour. Your chief competitor in terms of electric vehicles, Tesla, is at 45. I mean,

that's a gap that's going to widen after this contract. CNBC auto and airline industry reporter Phil LeBeau, thank you so much for being on. We will talk to you again soon. And coming up, ESPN's Pablo Torre joins us to recap the second Sunday of the NFL regular season. A crazy week. And I think Richard's going to want to talk about the Giants. What a comeback there. Also, we're going to be talking about something that happened in a Colorado theater where we're supposed to be watching. I'll stay with sports here. Plus, the major storylines in Major League Baseball's Hunt for October. Morning Joe, we'll be right back. Second loss fumble for Stroud. Keeping is Richardson.

And Anthony Richardson into the end zone for his second touchdown of the day. Tannehill to throw. Looking long. Looking for Burks. He's got him at the 20-yard line. Second down and 10. Allen up. Caught.

Touchdown. Perfect. Second and 15. Going to launch it. Launch it. Wilson. And it's intercepted. He's got to cover everything.

Here's Samuel. To the edge. Steps through a tackle. Now cuts it back. Devo Samuel to traffic for the touchdown. Smith to throw. Pressure from Hutchinson. Runs away.

Great throw. Lock it down and for the end zone. It's over. The Seahawks win it. Third and long. Mayfield off his back foot. Works. Mike Evans.

Got Mike Evans. Touchdown, Tampa. Mahomes on third down and six. Mahomes stops, floats it up. It is caught wide open. Sky Moore. Send a couple jabs his way. Some trickery.

He's got him. Smith, Ritter going deep for Hollins. He's got it. On first down, Lamar Jackson, plenty of time. Taking a deep shot for Flowers, and Flowers has it. Howell slinging it to the end zone. Was it caught? Yes, McLaurin.

Touchdown. Jones throws, end zone shot. It's caught by Hodgins for the touchdown. Man, Baker Mayfield, 2-0. The Bengals, 0-2. Crazy. And the Atlanta Falcons. I mean, if I start stammering around and start talking about World War I,

just being around the corner, it's probably because my Atlanta Falcons are 2-0 for the first time, well, since before World War I. Those were some of the biggest plays by winning teams across the NFL yesterday, including the game-tying touchdown that brought the New York Giants back from 21 points. 21 points in the third quarter. A field goal completed the Giants' 31-28 victory over the Arizona Cardinals.

So let's bring in now ESPN's Pablo Torre. He's the host of the new podcast from Metal Art Media that all the kids are talking about. They love it. They love it. And older people love it, too, like me. It actually, I don't know how he does it. But it's not for older people. It's so great.

It actually reverses male pattern baldness. I don't know how it happens, but that's so great. It actually reverses male pattern baldness. I don't know how it happens, but that's why I keep listening. Scientifically true. Pablo Torre finds out is the name of it. Pablo, Pablo, this is what we found out. We found out a couple of things. Yes. And I'm not just saying this because, you know, we're in New York, right? I'm saying this because y'all are in New York. I'm saying this because we did find out that the Jets obviously were just what you said the Jets were last week, even though they still had flashes of brilliance on defense. And the Giants, man, they're not as bad as we thought. That was a heck of a comeback.

That's a hell of a valedictory address. Not as bad as we thought. That was a heck of a comeback. That's a hell of a valedictory address. Not as bad as we thought. Richard, I'm sitting next to Richard. Richard has been pathetically fist pumping these highlights because he escaped, because his Giants escaped against the Cardinals. Just for context for people who may not be aware, the Cardinals are supposed to be trying to lose every game they play. The Cardinals have Caleb Williams at a USC in their eye.

They have two drop draft picks next year. And the Giants escape. They escape after a first half that can only be described as existential dread. And they come and they pull it out due to what we're watching now. And here we have Giant fans feeling like the bar is so low that they can feel a little bit better. And so, yes, there is success, but also, my lord, like between the jets and the giants

i don't think anybody should be feeling all that good and i'm again staring right at richard to my right yeah you really throw throw some cold water on it baby hey i'm gonna name two quarterbacks and and you talk about him baker mayfield and joe burrow what's going on yeah joe burrow banged up again the cincinnati bengals the the week week one experience was Joe Burrow never beats the Browns. Like, you know, this is a problem for him. But the Ravens, this is a team that should be a Super Bowl contender. The Bengals, we've gotten to the point where we knew them as hapless, and now we know them as a team that disappoints us.

Kind of like a kid who brings in a B-minus. We know they should be an A student. But Baker Mayfield, Joe, Baker Mayfield was the delinquent. Baker Mayfield has long been the number one overall pick that we were disappointed in because he couldn't do anything right. And here he is in Tampa Bay. And I'm watching these clips and not just the games, but the stuff afterwards, the locker room.

And he has Tom Brady's old team feeling like maybe they got something special. And Baker Mayfield has always over-indexed on, let's say, political charisma. He's always been, in my opinion, next to Peyton Manning, the greatest commercial actor in professional sports. Great commercial actor. Amazing at commercials. But now he's living in advertisement for what it means to actually maybe get a third chance. And that, to me, is pretty phenomenal.

So you talk about Joe Burrow. Joe Burrow's going to come back. Joe Burrow's great. We all know that. Though, I've got to say, it's shocking that the Bengals are 0-2 right now. But Baker Mayfield, I agree with you. It's not just that he put together a couple of games. It's almost like he's starting to believe in himself again.

People around him are starting to believe in him. It's fascinating. Let's talk about a couple other games. I'm just a Falcons fan. I know they're 2-0. They may end up 2-14. I understand. But they came through. They came back. They won. And also the Lions. A fascinating team. What a

great game the Lions and the Seahawks put on for everybody. Yeah. Did you get your Bajon Robinson jersey stitched onto your back already, Joe? I mean, the Falcons, that kid out of Texas. OK, like you're talking about all the time in sports, the death of the running back. That's the story across the league. They drafted this kid early. And yes, on a rookie contract, he provides tremendous value just economically. But when you watch him, he's special he catches he runs he is somebody

that again you mentioned it before i believe you got to go back to what is it is it the civil war to find a falcons playoff berth you said before i believe right trench warfare existed yeah steve barkowski right after the civil war exactly that's right absolutely so feel good about that the lions i think uh yeah an encouraging story in their own right. So Pablo, it's only two weeks, but it seems like some of the best teams in the league are NFC, right? Eagles, Cowboys, 49ers all look really good. In the AFC, we mentioned the Ravens, they're 2-0. The Chiefs, they'll be fine. And they actually seem to have a very good defense,

even though the weapons around the homes aren't quite as good. Let's talk about the Miami Dolphins, who beat up my Patriots last night. I was waiting for this. In a game that the Pats sort of felt like they had to have. Tua was good. The Pats didn't make enough plays. Tua is undefeated against Bill Belichick, John. And I hate to just rub it in here.

I'm rubbing it in. Rub it up. Everyone's face gets rubbed into the mud here at this table, apparently. Bill Belichick, did you see that thing with the flag? So he tries to challenge a spot placement of the ball, and he takes his challenge flag in his hand, and he throws it down looking not like a 71-year-old greatest coach of all time, but like my three-year-old who doesn't want to go to bed.

Just dunks it onto the floor, slams it down, and this is the frustration of what it means to not have Tom Brady anymore. The Dolphins are so good. Mike McDaniel is a schematic wizard. But the story here is that the AFC East used to be the most predictable division in all of sports for two decades. And now you have the Dolphins atop it. You have the Bills looking better. The Jets, well, the Jets you can feel better about. But the Patriots, man, are at the bottom of the division right now, the AFC East. That is surrealistic for anybody who's

followed sports since 1990. Pablo, let's circle back to my team, to the Giants. Has Daniel Jones now, the way he played yesterday, basically $160 million contract, doesn't he basically show that he deserves it? And he's now getting close to being an elite quarterback. I mean, Daniel Jones, they had to pay him. This is one of those answers that's going to sound like a compliment for four seconds, and then we'll turn into an insult. You have to pay him. This is one of those answers that's going to sound like a compliment for four seconds and then will turn into an insult. You have to pay him because he is actually deserving of that money. But anytime a star quarterback or a would-be star quarterback comes up and their contract is on the table, you got to pay him because that's what these guys make. So to keep Daniel Jones, you got to pay him $160 million. Do you actually feel great about giving him $160

million? In the second half of last night's game the answer is yes in the first half and much of the season the answer is probably going to be no man you're a downer all right sorry well it's tough out here let's do let's do this let's go from from one one area uh that that causes great pain to Richard, to another, and everybody at the table. Baseball, we're wrapping it up. And right now it's the Red Sox and the Yankees fighting for last place in the AL East. What else are you seeing out there? Yeah, I'm seeing a bunch of teams that can finally relax at a point in the calendar

where they didn't used to, right? I made fun of the Orioles the last time I was on the show with you guys. So many furious Orioles fans, Joe, not just your son, have reached out saying, look at this. How do you like them apples? 93 wins. Noted. But the Red Sox being at the very bottom of that thing, the Yankees just sneaking ahead of them. Look, it's a pathetic

race, not for the wild card, but for human dignity. Like, that's what we're fighting for here. So congrats to, of course, the Braves. Congrats to Indiana, all the Dodgers. Yes, the Rays. Like like you guys are in this. It's all but settled. But my Lord, man, it's hard down at the bottom. Yeah, you just talked about our John.

Jonathan just talked about the NFC being the strongest. Are we looking at a World Series where the Braves or the Dodgers are the most likely winners in the National League. It's feeling that way, Joe. And again, it's one of those situations where money doesn't buy everything. But when you're the Dodgers, it helps to have it as well as have the behavior of a team that's a spendthrift. Like this is a team that used to be essentially inspired by the Rays from afar. Then they got the Rays management. The Rays are the team that has always been cheap, moneyball-ish.

And now you combine the money with the moneyball. And it seems like I'd be very afraid of the Dodgers if I'm anybody else in Major League Baseball right now. All right. We'll be listening to the new podcast, Pablo Torre. Finds out, Pablo Torre, thank you so much for being on this Monday morning. We appreciate it. And still ahead on Morning Joe, an alarming warning from a senior military official. China preparing for war with the United States. We'll talk to a major general with the Air Force

about that. Plus, we'll show you President Biden's sarcastic response to the House Republicans who have launched an impeachment inquiry into him. Morning Joe. We'll be right back. Welcome back to Morning Joe. It is 52 past the hour. The White House's national security advisor has met with China's foreign minister. Jake Sullivan sequentially met with China's top diplomat in Europe over the weekend. Officials say the meeting was part of a larger effort to improve U. been modernizing its military to, quote, design a force with the intention of having the ability to deter and, if necessary, defeat U.S. intervention in the Western Pacific. Let's bring it right now.

Major General Julian Cheater, he's the assistant deputy under the Secretary of the Air Force and International Affairs. Thank you so much, General, for being with us. All right. So lay it out for us. What's China preparing for? Well, first of all, good morning, Joe and Mika. Thank you for having me on the show, especially on the Air Force birthday. You know, whatever China is preparing, we will be 76, 76 years young. The United States will be ready. And, you know, one thing to keep in mind is that we have strong alliances with our allies and partners who are able to deter aggression. And certainly conflict is not inevitable in this region. But it is concerning about this aggressive behavior. And we want to follow international rules based system. So talk about the aggressive behavior that concerns you the most.

Yeah, you know, from our perspective, any type of intrusion towards Taiwan is certainly concerning the modernization efforts. So for those reasons, you know, we are certainly creating more interoperability throughout the region. We have lots of exchange programs. So, for example, we have F-35 pilots right now embedded with Australia teaching there, but across the region. And if you look at fifth-generation fighters being flown out of Japan, South Korea, Australia, and others, those provide a foundation for strong deterrence. So the key to remember is that we're much stronger together and we can deter aggressive behavior in that region. Well, the goal, obviously, General, is to deter. Meanwhile, though, China's spending, what, six, seven percent a year increasing on defense. They have the advantage of

geography. Taiwan's only spending about two, two and a half percent. We've got global responsibilities that limit what we can do there. Are you at all worried that while our goal is deterrence and, if necessary, defense, that we're simply not where we need to be? There's still a gap between where we are and where we need to be. So from my perspective, I think the center of gravity here is that we have so many strong allies and partners. So alone, it's difficult to do it, especially in a force like that. But when you look at what each country brings to the fight, and they certainly have a vested interest in deterring aggression, I think we're in a good

shape there. But certainly, investing and modernizing and looking to the future makes sense for all of us. So the president has been certainly making that pitch, the idea of looking to the other nations, including those in Asia, and suggesting, hey, we're the way to do it. Come with America and its allies, rather than just relying on Beijing. That was his message to the G20 in India. We're going to hear from that again this week at the United Nations. There's also been some brand new reporting in the New York Times over the weekend outlining just how escalated both countries' efforts are to spy on the other. Just what's your level of concern between this and the lack of communication on the military level between Washington and Beijing that something could flare?

You know, there's always the chance of miscommunication. But as we see with meeting at the higher levels over this past weekend between National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and his counterpart, that is a positive step to making sure that there is no miscommunication. We have seen some unprofessional behavior as far as intercepts throughout the region there. So that is concerning. Certainly, China doesn't want to have, I think, an incident. But increasing those communication flows is helpful. General, one of the things that America's adversaries look at is the political dysfunction in this country. And you've got a prime example of it going on in the military sphere at the moment with Senator Tuberville,

the Republican trying to hold up, hold blocking military promotions at the most senior levels of the Pentagon. How concerned are you about those blockages and whether they're causing an effect on your ability to do your job and the health and safety of the people who serve under you? So certainly this is outside my lane, more in the political realm, but our service secretaries have been unified in their responses and Secretary Austin as well to explain that it does undermine overall readiness. You know. Just this last weekend, I was talking with an attache at an event, and he remarked that it is a little bit confusing, as you look to the future, when they try to set up long-range meetings with their senior members

of their militaries, who is it that they're going to meet with? And so it does create some uncertainty. I'm sure we'll work through it. But I think our political leaders have articulated that that is it is a threat. All right. Assistant Deputy Undersecretary of the Air Force and International Affairs Major General Julian Cheater. Thank you so much. Thank you, General. Thank you for your service and happy birthday. Happy birthday to the Air Force.