Morning Joe - Morning Joe 9/6/24

Episode Date: September 6, 2024

Team Harris-Walz raises more than $300M in August

Trump also reached back a ways to criticize how the Democrats ran their primaries. New Hampshire was so badly treated by the Democrat Party and by Joe Biden and her. I can't imagine New Hampshire voting for him. Yeah, I can't imagine anybody in New Hampshire voting for Biden. You know why? Because he's not on the ballot anymore. I can't. These people get it. These folks know. President Biden will not be on the debate stage in four days. Vice President Kamala Harris, of course, is now Donald Trump's opponent in the race. We're going to go through

the strategies for that showdown. Also ahead, we'll have expert legal analysis on Hunter Biden's surprise guilty plea in his federal tax case. We'll have the latest on that. We'll also bring you the very latest developments out of Georgia as the father of the suspect is now facing charges and the weapon used in the attack appears to have been a gift to his son, the shooter. Good morning and welcome to Morning Joe. It is Friday, September 6th. Along with Joe, Willie and me, 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, is with us. Pulitzer Prize winning columnist and associate editor of The Washington Post, Eugene Robinson, is here. And MSNBC contributor and author of the book, How the Right Lost Its Mind, Charlie Sykes, is here. So we'll start this hour with some

pretty big numbers. NFL, right, a lot of stuff to talk about this morning but Willie Mika said no we must start with the NFL so I wanted to just go ahead and yeah just dive right in what a start Casey by a toe what an incredible start to the season Ravens Chiefs rematch of last year's AFC championship game yes Taylor Swift in the stands. And as you said, Joe, it came down literally, not even a toe, to half a toe. A touchdown it looked like on the last play of the game. So Baltimore's down seven with five seconds in the game. Lamar Jackson does an incredible pirouette, scrambles in the pocket,

throws one to the back of the end zone to his tight end early looks like a touchdown so now they're down one and they're already lined up for the two-point conversion they're going to go for the win a dramatic victory on the first game of the season but the refs say the tip of that toe is just out of bounds on the replay it looks like they're right oh look, look how close that is. Ball game over. Chiefs win 27-20. What a beginning to the season.

What an incredible start to the season. We're going to be talking a lot more about the NFL with Pablo Torre and Mike Lupka and a cast of thousands. We get very excited about it, excited about the new season. But why don't we start with politics? Oh, good. Okay, the Harris-Waltz campaign, the DNC and joint fundraising groups raised $361 million last month. That's according to the campaign.

The August haul was the best grassroots fundraising month in presidential history. The latest number nearly triples the amount raised by former President Trump in the same period. Harris has seen record-breaking fundraising numbers ever since taking over for President Biden as the Democratic nominee. Those numbers certainly will help as there's very little time in terms of trying to put it into action, but they can work on down-ballot races and shore up the Democrats. Well, I mean, they've already given

Jonathan Lemire $25 million. Kamala Harris gave $25 million to down-ballot races. I'm sure something that scared a lot of Democrats, but she is bringing in so much money right now. They certainly are going to be able to focus on their own ground game. And from everybody I talk to on the ground in the swing states, it is the ground game right now where Harris holds a big

advantage. So in close races, they feel confident. Yeah. And the Harris team inherited structural advantages from Joe Biden's campaign, which already had built up a significant field operation, that ground game. And she has and her team have only added to it. They have a significant advantage there over Trump. Now a massive fundraising advantage, too, $360 million. That's more than three times what Trump raised in August, which has allowed Harris to give money away to down-ballot races. We had a Republican on the congressman on the record yesterday saying that if the trajectory holds, he fears that GOP is going to lose the House.

And he blames also the leadership of the House Republicans, Speaker Johnson included, and the lack of any policy progress made this year for that as well. And we should also note here that having this much money, having this much cash on hand really frees up the vice president in these last few months. She's not going to need to do a lot of fundraising. She's not going to need to make those trips to the economic, to the sort of the rich donors and to try to ask for more money. You know, they can do it grassroots. They can do it online. And Joe Mika, she can spend her time campaigning in those seven vital battleground states where polls show a very tight race. Which is exactly what Kamala Harris is doing. Meanwhile, Donald

Trump spoke yesterday to the Economic Club of New York. He was asked for specifics on how his administration would make child care more affordable. Specific legislation. Listen. If you win in November, can you commit to prioritizing legislation to make childcare affordable? And if so, what specific piece of legislation will you advance? Well, I would do that. And we're sitting down, you know, I was somebody, we had Senator Marco Rubio and my daughter Ivanka was so impactful on that issue. It's a very important issue. But I think when you talk about the kind of numbers that I'm talking about, that because the child care is child care, it's couldn't, you know, there's something you have to have it in this country, you have to have it. But when you talk about those numbers compared to the kind of numbers that I'm talking about by taxing foreign nations at levels that

they're not used to, but they'll get used to it very quickly. And it's not going to stop them from doing business with us, but they'll have a very substantial tax when they send product into our country. Those numbers are so much bigger than any numbers that we're talking about, including child care, that it's going to take care. We're going to have I look forward to having no deficits within a fairly short period of time, coupled with the reductions that I told you about on waste and fraud and all of the other things that are going on in our country, because I have to stay with child care. I want to stay with child care. But those numbers are small relative to the kind of economic numbers that I'm talking about, including growth, but growth also headed up by

what the plan is that I just that I just told you about. We're going to be taking in trillions of dollars. And as much as child care is talked about as being expensive, it's relatively speaking, not very expensive compared to the kind of numbers we'll be taking in. We're going to make this into an incredible country that can afford to take care of its people, and then we'll worry about the rest of the world. Let's help other people. But we're going to take care of our country first. This is about America first. It's about make America great again. We have to do it, because right now we're a failing nation. So we'll take care of it. Thank you Very good question. Thank you and thus ends the sixth grade book report

Presentations little Donnie obviously did not read his Mika that took me back to I must admit I freshman year at college I was supposed to read a book and went in and Dr. Bryant asked me what the book was about. And it was something about the Habsburgs or I don't know, but it didn't end well. And then he goes, what did you think of it? I go, not a good book, not a good, I would not recommend it. And he said, could you hold it up? I go, not a good book. Not a good book. I would not recommend it. Wait a minute. And he said, could you hold it up?

I held it up. And he said, that's a Penguin book. Aren't Penguin history books considered to be? It's easy to devolve into joking. But Willie, what the hell is he saying? No, no, but I'm saying he sounded. Is he OK? Willie, he sounded just like he was doing a book report in middle school and had not read the book. He has no idea what he's

talking about. He's rambling incoherently. And that is who people by the way, I've just got to say, too, because it's a pet peeve. The man who promised to pay down the debt and balance the budget in 2016 raised it more than any president in the history of this republic. Now he's going, oh, because of my high tariffs, because of my high taxes on working class Americans, my high taxes on middle class Americans, we're going to balance the budget quickly and we're going to make so much money

I don't have to even talk about childcare. Yeah, that's the one where you go, you know what? I actually didn't read the book. May I present on Monday? Can I have the weekend, even if you knock me down a grade? Well, this is going to be embarrassing. And by the way, remember, one of the core arguments about Kamala Harris that you hear in certain cable news channels and websites is that she's always in the middle of a word salad.

Do you ever watch Donald Trump? You may want to give up on that argument. Do you ever watch his rallies? Did you watch him yesterday? Had absolutely no clue what he was talking about and then brought it in for that landing. By the way, tariffs, which now apparently is the foundation of how he's going to pay for everything, including child care, are attacks on consumers in this country. Conservative economists tell you that, too. They hate the idea. He's talking about growing an economy. We have to finally have growth.

Well, two days ago, Goldman Sachs said if Donald Trump becomes president, the economy will not grow. If Kamala Harris does, it will grow. That's Goldman Sachs. That's not me. That's not us. Those those noted socialists over at Goldman Sachs say the economy would be stronger under Kamala Harris. So, yeah, I mean, he doesn't obviously have any idea what he's talking about when it comes to policy. And you wonder at what point even yesterday we saw online conservatives, Joe, and some Republicans saying rolling their eyes and saying, what is he talking about here?

If you push even a little bit on policy, you find out he's an inch deep. Yeah, he just doesn't know. And Gene Robinson, again, as Willie said, Trumpers will talk about word salad as it pertains to Kamala Harris. Let me tell you, there is no comparison. Donald Trump, not only that answer, but in most rallies, he's about three feet deep in lettuce and ranch dressing. He is in the middle of a word salad that he can't get out of. And and to a more important point, he has never understood. Well, let's just go through it. He's never understood American history. He's never understood the Constitution. He's never understood our founding documents. He's never understood policy Constitution. He's never understood our founding documents. He's never understood policy and he's never apologized for not understanding policy.

That's one of the reasons why when people say, oh, I support Donald Trump. Why? Well, you know, I don't like him as a man at all. He's a terrible human being, but I like his policies, his policies. Really? I mean, there, there were very few policies. It was gesture. It was 99% gesture, 1% policy. Absolutely. So, Joe, War and Peace by Count Leo Tolstoy is about war and about peace.

And peace is better than war. But war is more exciting. And, you know, it was absolutely absurd. I mean, you listen to that and he clearly has no idea what he's talking about. And this idea about tariffs that he has, which is wrong, 100 percent of or as Donald Trump would say, 110% of economists will tell you that he's totally wrong about tariffs. It is not a tax on foreign companies. It is a tax on American consumers. It's a regressive tax.

It's a horrible tax that affects low-income and working-class Americans more than it does more affluent Americans. And this was at the Economic Club of New York. I mean, how did how did those people who were listening to him not just like gag or laugh or how do they keep a straight face listening to that ridiculous nonsense? I have no idea. Yeah. Yeah. I was I was wondering the same thing when that woman when he kept looking back at the woman who had asked the question. And I just wanted to zoom in on her face and see what she was actually thinking. If I was the mother of young children, I wouldn't be reassured by those child care policies. I mean, maybe J.D. Vance's policy, frankly, of having aunts and uncles and grandparents as if grandparents didn't have other things to do and aunts and uncles didn't have other things to do as well.

Looking after your children, that that seems to be the closest there is to a child care policy. But Charlie Sykes, I mean, one of the reasons I think, you know, you keep hearing from business people who say, well, I don't like Donald Trump. I don't like his character. But, you know, there are the policy issues. Well, clearly on the child care front, there aren't very many policy issues. I'm sure many of them don't like the idea of tariffs. They know that this is a tax on the American consumer. Does it really just come down to the idea that Donald Trump has proposed to cut corporate tax rates to 15 percent? And people in the business community and on Wall Street are prepared to hold their noses at everything else because of that 15 percent corporate tax rate. Well, I think it's that. I think it's also Donald Trump's

position on regulation. Look, I mean, Donald Trump has essentially told the business class, you know, if I become president, I'm going to do whatever you want me to do. I will give you whatever subsidies you want. I will eliminate regulations that you find to be pesky. I will not raise the taxes. You know, I mean, basically, this is very, very transactional from their point of view. I mean, this is the this is kind of the Faustian bargain. And the question, of course, is whether or not at some point they're sitting in that room and, you know, I'm watching them applaud that that that bizarre word salad, whether they it occurs to them that, you know, this man is not good for the nation. This man is not actually good for economic stability. What we most want

is a stable economy that we can predict. We do not want an international trade war. But for many of them, it's simply, yeah, this guy's going to do what I want. And by the way, Elon Musk is out there basically saying, yeah, you know, Donald Trump is going to put me in charge of all kinds of things involving, you know, government, government regulation, everything. What could possibly go wrong there? So, you know, if you think the incoherence of the word salad is troubling, wait until you see the kind of people that Donald Trump brings into into a second administration. I mean, that's going to be quite something. We'll have much more on the race coming up in just a bit, including that debate now just four

days away. But we want to turn to some new developments surrounding Wednesday's deadly shooting at a high school in Georgia. Authorities have now arrested the father of the 14-year-old suspect. Colin Gray was taken into custody yesterday. He faces charges of second-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter, and cruelty to children. Police did not offer many details other than to say Gray's charges are, quote, directly connected with the actions of his son and allowing him to possess a

weapon. Two law enforcement sources tell NBC News Gray bought his son an AR-15 rifle as a Christmas gift last year. They don't know exactly when it was given to him, but around the holidays, sources say it was after police interviewed the teen last year about those online threats. The teen had denied making those threats and no arrest was made. Gray's son is accused of shooting and killing four people at Appalachee High School on Wednesday. He faces four counts of felony murder and is set to appear in court later this morning. Two senior law enforcement officials say they have discovered evidence of the suspect's interest in mass shootings, particularly in the 2018 attack on the high school in Parkland, Florida. So, Mika,

we sat here yesterday and wondered how a 14-year-old could get his hands on the guns. The father had said previously when the FBI visited the family about these online threats, he has hunting weapons in his home, but they are locked up and that his son does not have access to them. My gosh, Joe and Mika, after the threats were made, allegedly. He bought his son, 13 or 14 years old at Christmastime, an AR-15 style rifle for Christmas last year. It is beyond shocking. And Katty K, we're starting to see this, obviously. And in this case, it seems to be what I said we're starting to see is the arresting of parents.

And and it's about time you have a 14 year old child who is obviously has great mental challenges. The cops are calling him evil. His his aunts or other relatives say this is a boy who basically was let down by his parents from the very beginning. and somehow the father buys his boy an AR-style weapon after he tells police he's going to keep guns out of his possession because of the threats they have already been warned of. I mean, it's very clear. I mean, it's very clear he should go to jail.

Yeah, the timetable of this and the fact that we know the police visited the home, spoke to the father, spoke to the boy. And then the father gave the son access to this AR-15 and access presumably to other weapons in the house as well, even though he said he didn't have unsupervised access to them. It gives a very clear tick tock. I mean, maybe this is the direction America is going to go to try to cut down on the number of children that we the society seems to be happy with having killed in schools because, wow, there's a certain amount of fatalism about trying to do anything else at the moment. And you hear it again and again from members of Congress and members of the Republican Party and members of the lobby groups

that want to keep firearms in the hands of people that, well, we can't do anything. I mean, for a country that is so committed to trying to break barriers and introduce new technologies and do the impossible, when it comes to this particular issue, there is a well, we wish we could. But that's life. That's the latest line. It's just a fact of life. And so maybe this is the only way the courts are going to manage to get around an extraordinary political apathy when it comes to gun shootings.

Well, it is it is a fear. It is fear from Republicans. And if anybody believes that gun safety laws or gun control has always just been practiced or fought by the right, you know, in the 60s, it was fought by the left. These things shift back and forth. The Republicans need to shift back towards a sane, irrational gun policy position. And if they did, Charlie Sykes, they wouldn't lose a lot of Republican voters. An overwhelming majority of Republicans support universal background checks. An overwhelming number of Republicans support red flag laws, an overwhelming number of Republicans support raising the age to 21 for people that are going in buying AR-15 style weapons, an overwhelming majority of Americans, I'm sure, would support enhanced background checks, more complete background checks for people,

let's say, under the age of 30 that are going out to buy AR-15s. We look and there is a line, a line that goes straight through so many of these shootings, one after another, one after another. A disturbed young man, usually a disturbed young white man, buys an AR-15 and he goes and he shoots up schools, our movie theaters, our Baptist churches in Texas. You can go down the list. Sometimes it is older disturbed people who slaughter those attending a country festival, music festival in Vegas. But again, enough is enough because I go to you because I know you grew up around hunters in Wisconsin. I grew up around hunters in Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, northwest Florida. They they they want this sort of gun safety law and they're conservative Republicans. This is this is American carnage.

You know, Donald Trump is running on, you know, make America safe again. Well, if you're an American parent, you know, this is your great fear. This is the great American nightmare. And Joe, the point you are making is incredibly important because I think that there is a real disconnect between what Republican politicians think they have to do because they're afraid of the NRA and what actual gun owners feel about all of this, because you are absolutely right that, you know, gun safety is not a left wing idea. It is not a partisan issue. People want, especially hunters, understand the you know, how central it is to treat guns in a safe and responsible manner. And, you know, what this is going to take at some point is for Republicans to stand up, turn around to the gun lobby

and say, you know what, I'm in favor of Second Amendment rights, but we're not going this way. We are, in fact, going to go through some of the policies that you just mentioned. We're not going to turn a blind eye to this. We're not going to regard this shooting of children at school as a fact of life, as J.D. Vance said yesterday. But I have to say that one of the the the incidents that really kind of broke me on all of this was the massacre of the children at Sandy Hook.

And after that, if that was not enough to sober up the country, if that was not enough to turn things around, what will it take? And I think that this is this is sort of this hanging nightmare. How long are we going to put up with this? What's going to happen in this particular case? Giving this deeply disturbed child an AR-15, a Christmas present? You know, I'm sorry. You know, I had this image in my mind of that Republican congressman was posing, you know, in front of the Christmas tree with his whole family and they're all holding weapons of, you know, you know, guns and automatic semi-automatic weapons and everything, weapons of war. You know, there's this sort of fetishizing of the guns. At some point, that has to stop.

We need to have a stigma, the celebration of this. At the same time, remember when the congressmen were wearing the the AR-15 pins on the floor of Congress? I mean, what sick shit is that when children are being murdered in their classrooms? It is sick. And it is Jonathan LaMere. It's normalizing and celebrating something that is sick. Well, it's a total lie. It is a total lie to say that Republicans can't do the reasonable, rational things that the majority of Americans want them to do without being punished. This is not about voters punishing them.

The overwhelming majority of voters support all the things that I talk to. Even a military-style ban, you know, the majority of Americans support that. I think you could probably find something in between what we have now and that as far as a much tougher process to be able to make sure that the right people get their hands

on those guns, if there are a right people to get their hands on military style weapons. I don't think really if you talk to police officers and you talk to most vets, they'll tell you, no, they don't want the same type of weapons of war that were similar to the ones that they use in Afghanistan and Iraq on the streets of America or in schools. Now, to make two points that I just put out there, one, that Republicans can actually vote for rational gun safety laws that will protect our children when they go to school, and two, that these guns are weapons of war. I was just looking up Brian Mast, who is the congressman in South Florida, a very Republican district, a very conservative district.

After Parkland, he did what Republicans in Connecticut did after Sandy Hook. And he voted for reasonable reasonable rational gun safety legislation brian mast even voted to ban assault style weapons military style weapons and this is what he says um here he says uh the most important regrettable time of my life was the 12 years i spent in the army i became a bomb technician i nearly gave my life for that, lost both my legs and a finger when a roadside bomb detonated beneath me. And then he went on to say about others on the battlefield. Now as a Republican congressman for Florida, I don't fear becoming a political casualty. If we act by changing law surrounding

firearms and mental illness, we can save lives too. The congressman goes on to say most nights in Afghanistan, I wielded an M4 carbine and a 40 caliber pistol. Total barrel length of my M4 was approximately 14 inches. He goes on it. I usually carry 10 magazines stacked with 20 rounds. He goes on and on. He goes, my rifle was very similar to the AR style semi-automatic weapon used to kill students, teachers and coaches. I knew at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. And he goes on and just he talks about how these these are military style weapons and they have no place in america and that's kids that that jonathan in 2018 was a conservative republican congressman who said that before an election who said that before a primary and has been re-elected to his primary three times been re-elected to Congress, three more times since then, in one of the more

conservative districts around. So, yes, Republicans, they need to stop saying they're worried about their voters. It's not their voters and it's not the Constitution. They're just worried about the NRA and other gun groups that give them a lot of money. Yeah, there's an example there of a Republican taking a courageous stance and not paying the consequences for voters. We saw a few do the same in Texas after the Evaldi shooting. But this is rare. There is no widespread movement here to ban these weapons of war, these AR-15-style rifles, even when it was one of those weapons that shot Donald Trump just six weeks or so back. Even then, no outcry from Republicans about changing it.

In fact, we hear from J.D. Vance yesterday saying that it's just a fact of life, a sad fact of life that these school shootings keep happening. Eugene Robinson, The Washington Post yesterday got their hands on some text messages that were sent from a mother to her daughters who were in that school. I can say, thankfully, those daughters got out, those girls got out safely. But it is heartbreaking. It's her words to her saying, you please stay safe. I love you.

They prayed together. They did over text the Our Father together. It is impossible to read without tearing up. And yet the governor of that state, Brian Kemp, is saying, well, now is not the time to talk about solutions. Now is not the time to talk about policy. Now is not the time to talk about policy. Even though this tragedy happened in his backyard, it was almost far worse. You write that now actually is exactly the time to deal with it. It absolutely is.

That is the cowardly cop out that Republicans take when when when something like this happens and it happens so regularly. It is, you know, in what universe is that acceptable? But when when there's a school shooting, they immediately say, as Brian Kemp did, said Wednesday night, well, today is not the day for politics or policy. But this is precisely the time, the day, the minute to talk about politics and politics, because it's all about that. I mean, you can't I don't think we're going to be able to to legislate away bad parenting. And so if what we know about the situation is true, this this father was a terrible father who failed his son, his son, who is a child, by the way, is 14 years old. He was failed. But we're not going to get rid of that.

But we can mitigate, we can lessen the possibility that that sort of situation ends in this kind of tragedy. Georgia does not have a safe storage law. So those officers who interviewed the family last year were not able to require that those guns be properly stored under lock and key. Georgia does not have a red flag law. So those officers, again, could not go to a court and say, you know, can we have a court order to temporarily confiscate these weapons because this is a potentially dangerous situation? There are those are, I think, baby steps that could be taken that would make us safer, that

would make our children safer. And and yet we won't refuse even to talk about them. Well, and Brian Kemp saying now's not the time to talk about safe storage laws. No, now's especially the time to talk about safe storage laws. There's no reason why there shouldn't be safe storage laws. That that is that protects gun owners in their own home, that protects their children. And again, I know Charlie probably had the same experience that I had. Nobody that I knew growing up left their guns around or they were all locked up. You walk into the house, they had shotguns, whatever guns they had, they were always locked up.

And this this whole idea that now's not the time to talk about safe storage and now's not the time to talk about red flag laws is ridiculous because, you know, you usually you'll hear people go, oh, well, we there's no gun legislation that would have helped this or that or the other. Yeah, there is. There always is. Well, Jonathan Lemire mentioned vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance's take on this matter. Take a listen. States with very strict gun laws and you've got some states that don't have strict gun laws at all, and the states with strict gun laws, they have a lot of school shootings.

And the states without strict gun laws, some of them have school shootings, too. So clearly, strict gun laws is not the thing that is going to solve this problem. What is going to solve this problem, and I really do believe this, is, look, I don't like this. I don't like to admit this. I don't like that this is a fact of life but if you're if you are a psycho and you want to make headlines you realize that our schools are soft targets and we have got a bolster security at our schools so that a person who walks through the

front door we've got a bolster security so that if a psycho wants to walk through the front door and kill a bunch of children, they're not able to. And guys, there were school resource offices in the Georgia high school and Appalachee high school. They confronted the shooter, possibly preventing much worse carnage. So there were some of those precautions taken at this high school that Senator Vance is talking about. And the truth of the matter is he's right that at this moment, this is a fact of life. And in fairness, his full comment was, I don't like that this is a fact of life. He said, we don't have to like the reality we live in, but it is the reality we live in. So you would think that would prompt him then

to say, let's sit down and change this reality. Let's sit down and do something about it. Because clearly having the school resource officers there who acted heroically the other day and probably prevented more kids and teachers from dying. It wasn't enough to save the four people who did die. So that is that comment that he made right there is another very, very stark example of the difference between these two campaigns, Harris Waltz versus Trump Vance. They see it, Trump Vance, as a fact of life. And Kamala Harris immediately said after the shooting, this is a choice we're making and we have to make a different choice. People don't want this to be a fact of life. No, mothers don't. Mothers don't want to fear. Nobody wants to choose this. Fathers don't want to fear sending their children to school, wondering whether they're

going to see them when they come home. Children don't want to go to school, terrified by it. And Charlie Sykes, it doesn't have to be a fact of life. Or as Donald Trump said, I believe it was in Iowa, we have to just get over it and move on. Well, it's a fact of life because Republican legislators, mainly Republican legislators in Washington, D.C. and in state legislatures across America won't support common sense, basic gun safety legislation that the overwhelming majority of Americans support. And that is why this is a fact of life brought to you by the Republican Party. It just is. The guns are in the hands repeatedly of these children, of these these mentally deranged people. Why? Because any any type of of gun safety legislation. And in Georgia, we're we're talking about locking your guns up in your homes, safe storage, red flag laws, things that would have helped here. Republicans say no, no, no. Well, to J.D. Vance's point about schools being soft targets, look, our children are always soft targets.

Children everywhere are soft targets. America is a soft target. So, you know, his his solution that we need to sort of just see it as as a fact of life, you know, obviously is is is in denial. But but but to your point about the legislation, if Brian Kemp tomorrow held a press conference said, you know, I am so shocked and horrified by the murder of these children that in fact, I am going to support safe storage legislation. I am going to support red flag laws. I am going to support these common sense gun, this gun legislation. You know what, Joe? They would pass. They would pass in Georgia and he would not lose any political support

because at some point you have to realize then this is a point you made earlier. And I can't stress this enough. Gun owners are concerned about the Second Amendment, but they do not oppose common sense legislation. They would not. There would not be a huge blowback. And so this is one of those gut checks. If Brian Kemp stood up tomorrow and said, let's fix this, you know what? He would not pay a significant political price for it. So the question is, why not? Why? Charlie Sykes, thank you very much for coming on this morning and And still ahead on Morning Joe, in a surprise move, Hunter Biden pleads guilty to federal tax charges on what was meant to be the first day of his trial. We'll go over that

new development and what it could mean for the president's son. Plus, the judge overseeing Donald Trump's election interference case sets new deadlines, saying the 2024 campaign isn't relevant. We'll have the very latest in the former president's legal troubles. You're watching Morning Joe. We're back in 90 seconds. And it's time now for a look at some of the other stories making headlines this morning. The Chinese government is no longer allowing most foreign adoptions. According to the Associated Press, U.S. families have adopted over 80,000 children from China, the most from any foreign country. Beijing's announcement comes amid falling birth rates

across China. The ban now raises complicated questions for hundreds of families in the U.S. who are in the process of adopting. Because we've talked about it before, but let's underline it right here. There is a massive demographic crisis going on in China. In 1979, they began their one child policy to bring down the population. It has gone too far. And now, again, they're dealing with a demographic time bomb that's starting to go off. Yeah. And now to this big drop in the number of teenagers

who use e-cigarettes, vaping among middle and high school students is at its lowest level in a decade. That's according to data from the CDC and FDA. The drop comes as the government continues to crack down on retailers and suppliers who target teens. And a winning ticket could earn someone around $740 million in tonight's Mega Millions lottery. It's one of the biggest jackpots in the game's history. The prize has been growing since early June with no big winner after dozens of drawings. The lump sum payment after taxes is estimated at around three hundred and sixty six million dollars, which is how much if I'm not mistaken, I think that's how much Barnacle makes. Oh, there you go. There's a salary right there. One week. Yeah. NFL quarterback. All right. I'm going to go to Willie really quickly.

You know, it's amazing that you don't get the lottery. You don't understand the lottery. No, I don't think we should do it. Have you ever got lottery tickets? I did this summer. My daughter made me buy some. How did it go? I broke even. That's good. That's better than most. See, you never know.

You never know. You could risk money and break even. No, I don't think it's better than most. Yeah, no, the gambling, the gambling. You never know. You you could risk money and break even. No, I don't think it's. And I'll tell you all the gambling commercials, man. It is extraordinary. All the gambling commercials they are putting in front of young guys and young women is it's so dangerous. But that's that's not what this side rant is going to be about, Willie.

Oh, you know, you look at the number of vaping. Vaping is down over over the last several years among middle schoolers and teenagers. How incredible the federal government didn't want to step in. Donald Trump didn't want to step in because he was told by his people that his voters supported vaping. But lawsuits were taken by families against these companies that were targeting their children. And they paid a huge, massive price for it. And look what happened. I mean, over time, they finally were forced to stop marketing to middle schoolers and to teenagers.

And, you know, the same thing goes with guns. You look at guns and, you know, legislators won't pass gun laws, but there have been class action lawsuits in Connecticut. We're now seeing criminal charges against parents that won't lock up their guns inside their own house and keep them safe and keep people in the community safe when they have a troubled son or daughter in their house. And so we we we actually have to turn to the courts who do provide justice when our politicians won't provide common sense. Yeah, you know, it's interesting to think about smoking, how prevalent it was when we were growing up and you'd go out and everybody's smoking on the street corner

and bars and public places, how that, America just decided that we didn't have to go on like that, that too many people were dying of lung cancer, that it was bad for people, how that's been kind of marginalized to some effect. And then into that void stepped vaping, which is just a sanitized version of smoking. And as you said, marketed directly to kids with bubble gum and cotton candy flavors and all the packaging and everything else, and was epidemic and it continues to be in many places.

But the courts, the government, and frankly, as you said, a lot of parents got together and said, we're not going down this road. We have to stop this. Too many kids are becoming addicted and hurt by it. And we're able to do something which gets to the larger point you're making when our society, when America decides something is bad for us and particularly bad for our kids, like we're seeing in our schools again this week, we can do something about it. We can have the will to change something that's hurting young people in this country. The runner's toe hit out of bounds. It's an incomplete pass. The game is over.

Kansas City has won. Wow. The Kansas City Chiefs beat the Baltimore Ravens. He said a toe was really a toenail last night in the NFL regular season opener. The Ravens' last second touchdown on the last play of regulation was waved off. Initially called a touchdown. Video review shows tight end Isaiah Likely did. Yeah, looks like his toe was just in the white there,

putting him out of bounds, giving the Chiefs a 27-20 win to open their pursuit of a record third consecutive Super Bowl title. Quarterback Patrick Mahomes threw for 291 and a touchdown. This one to rookie receiver Xavier Worthy, who is astonishingly fast. He ran a 4-2 at the Combine, rushing for this score in his NFL debut, turning on the Jets. The Chiefs won the rematch of last season's AFC Championship game, but also beating the Ravens for the fifth time in six meetings. Meanwhile, the NFL hosts its very first game in South America tonight.

The Green Bay Packers take on the Eagles in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The matchup also marks the league's first opening day, opening week game on a Friday since 1970. Just covering all the days now in the NFL. Live coverage will be available exclusively on Peacock. Join us now. Best-selling author, veteran sports columnist Mike Lupica and the host of Pablo Torre finds out on Metal Ark Media,

MSNBC contributor Pablo Torre. Guys on Metal Ark Media, MSNBC contributor Pablo Torre. Guys, good morning. Great to see you both. So, Pablo, we had everything last night. A great game, a rematch of the AFC Championship, maybe the two best teams in the AFC who may meet again this year down the road in the playoffs, decided by a toenail. Taylor Swift was in the crowd. What else could you ask for on opening night? Yeah, this was optimism about, again, the biggest tent in American life coming back, everybody gathering underneath it, only to realize I think the Chiefs are going to get away with it again. The Chiefs are on the brink, and I say the brink after the first game because that's how confident I am in them, of being the first team, Willie, to be a three-peat.

Don't say that. Back to back to back to back. Yes. Come on. Dude, I'm sitting next to John Lemire. Willie, this is what's happening here. Oh, my Lord. Lemire's sitting next to me, a Patriots fan, and he's like,

why do people not hate the Chiefs like they hated my team? He's saying, turn on them already. And I will defend this total insecurity by pointing out that this is a team that is by itself. OK, they weren't that good last year. They won the Super Bowl because they made a run in the postseason. The defense was underrated. They're better this year and they have a cosmic toenail deciding game one. So you tell me how good you feel betting against that team.

Well, I tell you, I don't feel great betting against them because Mike Lupica, they had a horrible first half of the season last year. They were absolutely mediocre in part. It was because all the defenses knew that it was going to be Mahomes going to Travis Kelsey. You look last night, and I will say, even though he's got himself lathered up already in mid-season form Pablo does I will say this is this is such a dangerous offense you know last year it was a

defense that kept them in until Mahomes can do his magic in the playoffs but last night you had rice repeatedly uh uh downfield Kelsey uh worthy extraordinary and of course Tay-Tay up in the box. I mean this is a team with so many more weapons at the beginning of this year than last year. Has to scare some defenses. I'm not ready to say they're going to three-peat.

I will say though, man the difference between the start of this year and last year for the Chiefs on the offensive side of the ball, pretty extraordinary. When you look at Patrick Mahomes, Joe, at his best, he's the best player I've ever seen. I know Brady's the GOAT, seven Super Bowls into his 40s, all that stuff. But when this young man is at his best,

because of the element of running to go with throwing. He's the best I've ever seen. And I was thinking last night, when's the NFL going to catch a break? As you said, Taylor's in the stands and you've got the reigning MVP in Lamar. And then you have an ending. The only ending I can remember like that in sports is a few years ago when Kevin Durant lost his season with the Nets because his toe was on the line one time against the Bucs. It's crazy to bet against the Chiefs. They have become the single most glamorous team we have in American sports. And Mahomes is the biggest star right now. Well, you know, the thing is, Mahomes, again, you put Mahomes into the playoffs. Mahomes played against a fantastic 49ers team last year in the playoffs. But, you know, Jonathan, going into it, for those who had seen what happened when Montana went into the playoffs every time, and some people would say a kid from Michigan who ended up in New England, you know, I thought going in that Mahomes had it. But I will tell you again, the first half of their season last year, pretty terrible. Not last night.

They have started out this team. They've started out on all cylinders. And so we will see what we'll see what happens moving forward. But, you know, last year, the problem was if you're a defensive coordinator, you're like, OK, this is what's going to happen. Chiefs are going to come out. They're going to try to run the ball. And then Mahomes is going to try to throw to Kelsey.

And that was the first half of the season. That was it. And so they piled up on Kelsey. Everybody's like, oh, Kelsey's too old. What happened to Kelsey? Then they got Rice. Rice, who's now managed to keep himself out of trouble for maybe the past 14, 15 days.

You know, then they drafted Worthy. Yeah, yeah, that's about right. Then they drafted Worthy. Oh, my God, not just catching the ball, but on the reverses and up the middle. That guy is unbelievable. It's just – and then, of course, Taylor in the stands. But they have so many weapons that suddenly you're not just focused on Mahomes. You're not just focused on Kelsey.

You know, they've got the ability to spread out the best defenses in football. Yeah. To underscore the point, they shouldn't have won last year. They did anyway, largely because of the defense. Largely because of the defense. And now they're better. Mahomes was funny after the game, asked about that final play. He's like, that's why I tell my guys, wear white cleats.

If the Ravens tight end was wearing white cleats, you probably couldn't have told whether or not he had hit the line or not. There wouldn't have been that. So that could have changed the game. But Pablo, let's move on to some other storylines. There you go. See, wear white cleats.

That's six points. That's veteran savvy. And the Ravens were going for two. We were robbed of this. Harbaugh was about to go for two, the ultimate drama in the NFL, try to win the game at the end in regulation. And instead, look, one more point on Mahomes before we move on to the rest of the league, which is worthy of consideration.

There's the beginnings of a Jordan dynamic here, John. And I say that because there are all these great other competitors. Lamar Jackson, as we said, MVP, all of these other guys in his generation who are being reduced to the dustbin of history potentially the carl malone right the other guys who just never won because this dude by a toe joe burrow lost by a toe toe get a cold shower man it was just a toe you cannot you cannot yuck my yum he has been in a conference title game since he appeared on this planet. You can't yuck it. And so, look, I'm just saying. I'm just saying.

Revisit the tape at the end of the year and tell me how much lather I really got up. So, Pavel, let's give you a number here, an over-under. Four and a half. That number of plays that Aaron Rodgers plays this year. Last year, he hit the under on that. This year, what do you think? Are these Jets actually going to be good? So, the Jets, by the way, won seven games last year. Last year, he hit the under on that. This year, what do you think? Are these Jets actually going to be good? So the Jets, by the way, won seven games last year, and that was without Aaron Rodgers. If the line is four and a half, and the question is how many four-hour

podcasts will he release this season about various ancient conspiracy theories, I would say probably, hopefully, hopefully take the under because he's learned his lesson about how this is just not going to work like this anymore. But the reality of Aaron Rodgers now is that if they do not make the playoffs, having won seven games last season without him, we probably shouldn't talk about him anymore or listen to him in any meaningful sense. He's one of the great quarterbacks you've ever seen. He is the other guy in that historical photo next to Tom Brady, the other guy you've got to say and consider and acknowledge. But if the Jets don't make the playoffs with this guy, John,

what a humiliation, what a disaster, because they paid him all this money. He's the most powerful person in the building, as everybody in New York knows, and yet I don't think it's guaranteed. So, Mike Lupica, weigh in as the New Yorker on the Jets. What do you think their prospects will be with Aaron Rodgers in his 40s now, coming off the Achilles injury? And also another team you love, which is the Packers, to keep an eye on. Yeah, Willie, when you look at Rodgers, truly only one quarterback

has ever played at a high level after the age of 40, and that's Tom Brady. He is 40 years old. He will high level after the age of 40. And that's Tom Brady. He is 40 years old. He will turn 41 the first week in December. He is coming off what can be a catastrophic injury in sports and Achilles. OK, he hasn't played a real game since January of 23. He did only play those four plays last year. And at the end in Green Bay, people forget this. He lost to the 49ers at home in a playoff game. And then in a last game of the season, that was like a playoff game at Lambeau Field, he lost to the Lions. So what Aaron Rodgers are we going to get? And people say, well,

he's looked great in practice. Yeah, I look great on the practice tee on the golf course too. But this is going to be a little different in San Francisco on Monday night. They have become in one year, the greatest reality series that we've got in sports. It's the real quarterbacks of Park, New Jersey. And he is to me as great as he has been. And he has played the game at the highest possible level he's the mystery guest of this season we're going to start finding out on monday night exactly how much game he has left because pablo's right they turned the whole organization over to this guy and if this doesn't work if they don't at least make the playoffs this will be one of the this will be

the most jets thing that has ever happened all right so let's go around and before we go let's ask everybody their predictions for the super bowl and we start where we always start every year with a woman who's guessed correctly i think for the past seven seasons mika brzezinski who's it going to be don't yuck my yum okay uh lions chiefs lions chiefs yeah i've to say, that's my pick as well. The Lions Chiefs. What do you say, Willie? What's your pick? I'm going to go Chiefs.

Never bet against the Chiefs to three-peat. I'm going to go blindly shocker. The New York Giants. Under my guy, Daniel Jones. Just under my guy. The Gunslinger. Can we just get someone over there right now? Very fast commercial.

And you're right. I say that admitting that I have been looking at next year's draft board for quarterbacks. Carson Beck out of Georgia looks great. There is a sadness in Willie's pick. There really is. Sort of a flex off the characters in darkness on the edge of town. We are very sad for him.

But let's move on to Jonathan O'Meara. Jonathan, you're a Super Bowl pick. I can at least be honest about how the Patriots are going to be terrible this year. Willie can't do that for the Giants. I mean, I'll pick, let's pick Green Bay. I think they're an up-and-coming team out of the NFCC and I'm desperate to pick anyone other than Kansas City, but I simply can't. I'll go with Chiefs as well. Pablo. Yeah. At the risk of echoing both of you guys, Mika and Joe, I do think it's Chiefs Lions. I think Joe Scarborough's Lions are due for a Super Bowl

berth, not their first Super Bowl win ever,, again, the lathered-up Chiefs, but I think that's where the wise money is this season. Lupica. I agree with Mr. Lemire. I think the Packers are not only the youngest team in the league, they might be the second most talented after the Chiefs. I think Jordan Love may be the Packer quarterback who gets the Super Bowl before Aaron Rodgers does. And, again, I love Mahomes. I love the Chiefs. I think Jordan Love may be the Packer quarterback who gets the Super Bowl before Aaron Rodgers

does. And again, I love Mahomes. I love the Chiefs. Patrick Mahomes was back in season last night. That's a good deal. Gene Robinson. I'm not going to pick the Washington Commanders, though we have a great young quarterback in Jane Daniels.

And so we'll see how they do at the recently renamed northwest stadium it's not fedex field anymore so we're excited about that but uh super bowl i'm gonna go ravens lions i just think you know it was it was it was if he had cut that toenail, you know, we would have. I mean, the Ravens would have had a chance to win that game. I like what I saw last night. They were uneven. Their offensive line is just getting started. So I think they're going to be really good.

I think you're right. And, Katty K., Man City or Liverpool? I thought you were going to let me weigh in on the Super Bowl, and I was just going to say you should never, ever bet. Obviously, don't bet against Mika on anything to do with sports. So whatever Mika said, I go through. Tolerant. Tolerant.

Never forgive me if I didn't say City. So, you know. All right. Well, it appears the Morning Joe consensus is Chiefs against the Lions. Yeah, there you go. We'll see. What about you, Joe? I learned a new phrase today. Chiefs, Lions, Chiefs.

I said Chiefs, Lions as well. Mike Lubica, Pablo Torre, thank you very much for coming on this morning. I just can't get over that phrase. I'm never going to forget it. Don't yuck. We all deserve our own yums, is what I'm saying. That's all.

We're going to seek in a quick 90-second break while we escort I don't know if it's okay. We all deserve our own yums, is what I'm saying. That's all. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, we're going to seek in a quick 90-second break while we escort Pablo off the set. Maybe we'll just remove him. Stay with us. We'll be right back. Okay.