Morning Joe - MS NOW rates Texas Senate race a toss-up

Episode Date: September 2, 2026

September 2, 2026: 8 am — MS NOW rates Texas Senate race a toss-up To listen to this show and other MS podcasts without ads, sign up for MS NOW Premium on Apple Podcasts. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On Iran, you said repeatedly that this war was going to be over soon. You said that this would be a temporary blip on short-term, on gas prices. It is similar than six months. People are getting hurt still at the pump. Should the American people not also judge you on your projections here that were clearly off-base? Manu, that is one of the stupidest questions you've ever raised. I have nothing to do with the prosecution of the war across the globe. You are responsible.

You are selling this to the American public, are you not? So should the House Speaker be held responsible for the duration of a military conflict around the globe? You answer that. I mean, Iran again, traded strikes yesterday as the war officially enters its seventh month. U.S. Central Command said it hit military targets in Iran in response to Tehran's recent attempted attacks against shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and against American forces across the Gulf region. Iran then retaliated by launching missiles and drones toward nearby U.S. bases with Jordan, Kuwait, and Bahrain. saying they intercepted incoming fire. President Trump again ramped up his rhetoric in the wake of these new attacks,

posting on social media that if Iran retaliates, quote, they will be hit again at a much harder and higher level, but it will not be the biggest attack of them all. That is waiting in the wings, and when it is over, there will be very little left of the Islamic Republic of Iran. That's from the President of the United States. President Trump later said he would not force Iran to the bargaining table. David Rode, what happened to the economic pressure?

It looks like we're back into a live, hot war. It looks like it, I agree. And there was a semblance of a new strategy here, and it seemed like the U.S. in the last couple strikes have been trying to attack any effort by the Iranians to close the Strait of Hormuz. The first strike a few days ago was against an Iranian missile. It was preparing to launch. And it's a missile that takes off and then can place mines in the Strait of Hormuz.

These attacks over the last 24 hours were against missile sites and other things in the Straits. But you've just got the president's rhetoric that's all over the place about how he's going to destroy Iran as a country. And so the question is, can the president stick to, you know, consistent messaging? And one little last line on the bottom of that post that we just said on true social, the president asked, why haven't the Iranian people or why aren't they rising up now to somehow, you know, take over Iran? And I just want to say there was a failed effort by the, you know, U.S. and Israel to try to spark an uprising at the beginning of this war. and it's astonishing he's making that claim. Again, in his speech announcing on February 28th,

he promised the people of Iran help is on the way. We're entering the seventh month. And an effective, you know, U.S. military effort against this regime has not materialized, I would argue, in the last seven months. Yeah, he didn't deliver on that promise. And we know that the Iranian regime really represses any signs of protest, thousands of people killed even this year. But, Willie, you're right to highlight the idea that this was supposed to be a time of

quiet for this White House. They wanted to just lean on economic pressure. They knew it would take a long time, but they figured it was successful. And there are some, the White House officials can point to some signs that things are working, that the Iranian economy is teetering. But we know that the Iranian regime doesn't really care if things are hard for their people. And Caddy, the idea was to back off some of this loud rhetoric at the very least. Trump, not falling through on that idea. And yes, To David's point, the military strikes are a little different. They're not just indiscriminate. We're bombing some things.

They do seem really focused around the Strait of Formoos, because I'm told for the president now, who's so frustrated with how this conflict has gone and is mindful that the midterms are rapidly approaching gas prices remain so high, if he can say the Strait of Permuz is open, if he can credibly say that it's even largely open, that might be enough for him to declare a win and just get out of here, leaving alone the idea of people rising up, regime change, even the nuke program, at least we kicked down the road. He needs that. And so far, he can't even get that because Iran is showing, despite this sort of tentative ceasefire, they're still trying to control it with minds and more. Yeah, I mean, notwithstanding the fact that we should all remember that

the straightforward moves was open back before February 28th, and that I guess doesn't enter into the president's at least rhetoric when he comes to it. There was a really interesting piece by Brett McGirk in CNN the other day, making the case that actually the president's strategy of economic pressure on Iran is working, that you've got to. inflation over 70%, you've got a GDP that is contracting. They are not getting out in this kind of battle between who can control the strait in order to maximize their economic benefit out of it. Actually, the United States is doing better because they are getting ships out, but Iranians are not getting their ships out, and they're not getting enough overland out either. So

I thought it was interesting because Brett McGurk, obviously Joe Biden's Middle East advisor, not the person you would think who would endorse the strategy. but was saying, listen, keep with this strategy because you will squeeze the Iranians economically. And Willie, in 2014, it was that economic pressure that brought the Iranians to the negotiating table to begin negotiating the original Iran, the JCPOA, original Iran nuclear deal. But now the president is scrambling that by getting involved in these tip for tats. And you don't know once you get involved in this, how long it goes on for, or where it leads to next. And this economic pressure campaign relies on the help of many other countries around the world,

not clear that they're all falling in line as yet. We talked about the impact of the war in Iran and the elections, while a whistleblower alleges the U.S. Postal Service is secretly working to carry out President Trump's controversial plan to exert federal control over mail-in voting in those midterms, that's despite a court order blocking key parts of the effort. Last March, Trump issued an executive order directing the Department of Homeland Security to create lists of eligible voters in each state while also requiring the Postal Service to only deliver ballots to voters on those approved lists.

Federal Judge has since issued a nationwide block of that order in a case brought by voting rights groups. But yesterday, Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal's office released a damning whistleblower report. It warns the technology developed by the Postal Service to carry out President Trump's executive order could, quote, derail the midterm election. saying the technology has not been properly tested and at risk, quote, catastrophic failure if implemented. The whistleblower, who is described as a federal official with direct knowledge of the plan, claims the federal ballot mail portal would serve as a national database to verify voter information and could reject tens of thousands of ballots in a batch of a single barcode fails to scan.

The official also warned millions of voters may not receive ballots on time or at all due to the quote slap dash rollout of the system, which reportedly was scheduled for completion by yesterday, September 1st. In response, the Postal Service confirmed, it continues to work on the portal, but maintains it is complying with court orders because it's not yet using components that could invalidate ballots. So David wrote, I know you spoke to Senator Blumenthal about all of this last night. I mean, first of all, there's the idea, right, that the federal government, the Trump administration is creating its own lists which dictate who can and cannot vote. vote by mail in this country. That's one question we've been talking about for a long time now.

But now this specific question about how it would be implemented. This clearly is a technology, a lot of people don't think should be used at all. But if it is going to be used, it's not ready for prime time. Yes. And I just want to emphasize, you said it, but another version of this is that the president gets to decide whether you, a viewer, can vote. It's just an extraordinary thing. And then you had the House Speaker just at the top of the show saying, oh, no, no, Congress has no, and overseeing like how we wage war when you have Americans risking their lives, 50,000 of them. So it's just this theme of a stronger president of anything like this. Senator Blumenthal is very clear to me last night.

He talked about how brave this whistleblower is and how nervous this person is about retaliation. But he said it's the system is just slap dash and sloppy. It's designed to not work properly and designed, you know, it seems to exclude people from voting. So it's extraordinary that this is happening. And again, there was a court order saying. the administration should not carry out this project, and yet, according to the whistleblower, they're carrying it out. Again, the executive branch, the president, ignoring the courts, a co-equal branch of government. And I'm sorry, I'm going to constantly talk about our democracy

and this ideal, American ideal, of three co-equal branches of government. Nothing to apologize for their... Meanwhile, Homeland Security Secretary Mark Wayne Mullen yesterday saying that ICE would, quote, enforce specific threats at polling places this November. This is what many perceive as another potential challenge to our fair and free elections. Let's take a listen. I was being very, very clear when I said, ICE isn't there to patrol the polling places. We're there to enforce specific threats. The only reason why we would be at polling places, if there is a threat to that polling place,

or we're serving a warrant on someone that we have been actively tracking down. So when press for more clarity, DHS put out a statement that read, ICE is not planning operations targeting polling locations. ICE conducts intelligence-driven targeted enforcement. And if an active public safety threat endangered a polling location, they may be arrested as a result of that targeted enforcement action. And so, David, combine that with your new reporting this morning on some pushback from Democrats to concerns about the Trump administration,

possibly sending armed federal agents or troops or ICE agents to polling places. We should note Mark Wade Mullen made that announcement yesterday. Well, it was also saying there'd be a ramped up immigration enforcement here in New York City, deemed Operation Rotten Apple. But I think many people are concerned this November that there's going to be a multifaceted push by the Trump administration to keep voters away. Yeah, so Senator Alyssa Slotkin of Michigan has been pushing this issue for months. And she first asked two people and was about active duty. troops. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Kane. A positive, positive thing is that Kane actually responded in writing. She asked for

these letters months ago, and he's very explicit here in this letter that it is the role of the states to administer elections in this country and that there is no plans to send active duty U.S. soldiers to polling sites. It is illegal under federal law for active duty soldiers to go to polling places. on the other hand, Defense Secretary Hagseth has not answered, has not provided anything in writing the same pledge that, again, that was just made by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs and Staff. The last update just last night, slot can send new letters to Mullen, who spoke about DHS and ICE agents saying pledge in writing they will not go to polling places and also to FBI director Cash Patel, Attorney General Todd Blanche, and also the commander of the National Guard. And so she's making this an issue, and I think it's the way Democrats are kind of put a marker out there, educate Americans that it is federal law. It was passed way back under the Eisenhower administration. No armed federal agent, no armed soldier can go to a polling place in this country that's against the law.

So, Jim, they're being pretty clear on the federal troops. They're being a little less clear, I think, on the ICE agents. I mean, you know, or maybe there was somebody there we wanted to arrest, or maybe we thought there was some kind of a threat there. So, you know, we thought maybe I should be there. Is part of the strategy here just to sow confusion and to make people nervous about the whole prospect of going to polling places because you don't know. I don't know if there were going to be federal agents there.

I don't know if they were going to be ICE agents there. I think Mullen also has gotten crosswise with Trump on a couple of different issues and maybe doesn't want to say too much or sort of keep powder dry in case Trump wants to do something else. But you listen to that press conference. Why would DHS be at a local polling place instead of the local polling place instead of the local police. What's the threat that he could be even thinking about?

The city or the county sheriff, the local police, it doesn't make any sense. And he probably knows that deep down. He's minding his own internal politics. Can I just say for a minute, though, all of this effort, I think, is clearly warranted, given what Trump's record is. I think it's going to have the effect of motivating Democrats more. I just think that from a raw political standpoint, when you tell people that they can't vote or we're going to challenge your right to vote,

or we're going to monkey around with your mail-in ballot. Boy, that just motivates people more. And I think maybe it's going to be harder. I think you're going to see Democrats show up. You've seen that happen in Atlanta, in Georgia, in previous. Absolutely. You add to that, all this David's talking about, the voting rights of this year,

that is going to be fuel on the fire for GOTV, John, as they say. And I just think there's going to be challenges. But Democrats are coming to the polls. You talk to any Republican strategist, on campaigns this year, they'll tell you the same thing. The biggest challenge they have is overcoming the turnout deficit. The enthusiasm gap is enormous between the two parties. And when you tell people, we're going to make it harder for you to vote. We may have federal agents at polls, they will say, well, I'll show you. I'll be there at six and I'm willing to vote.

It's just extraordinary. Again, the president is going to decide who gets to vote, who gets on the list. You'd like to at least go. You would have federal officials at these polling stations so that the president has some influence on whether his party wins control of Congress. So it's extraordinary. Right. And a U.S. Postal Service stacked with the board of governors of people friendly to Donald Trump, some of them election deniers as well. We will see also Donald Trump not on the ballot this fall, which helps the enthusiasm gap toward Democrats as well. MS now senior national secure reporter, David Rode. David, thanks for your reporting as always. We appreciate it. Still ahead on Morning Joe, Senate Majority Leader John Thune is urging President Trump to get involved

in the Texas Senate race between Ken Paxson and James Tala Rico. We'll show you those new remarks and take a look at just how close that race has become. And as we had to break a quick look at the Travelers forecast this morning from Ackeyweathers, Bernie Rayno. Bernie, how's it looking out there? Well, a huge temperature difference across Mid-Ailatica and Northeast today. Nineties, Pittsburgh, Washington, D.C., 88 degrees there. 70s in New England. Here's your confrontation zone.

New York State, Pennsylvania, some nasty sun. thunderstorms this afternoon. They reached Bosch and New York City in Philadelphia tonight. Cross the southeast, dry and hot, thunderstorms across Florida. Still some rains from Edward across East Texas. We'll have some travel delays in Miami, not until tonight along the I-95 corridor. They help you make the best decisions. It'll be more in the know. Download the ACU weather up today. I'm hoping the White House will become engaged. Texas is an incredibly expensive state. And obviously one that we need, we've got to hold. If we're going to keep the United States Senate, if we're going to keep a majority, Martha,

in Texas, that is we absolutely have to win that race. So everybody's all in for Ken Paxton. The primary is over. We're focused now on the general election. But because Texas is such an expensive state, we're going to need the president and his team to be engaged there and to be putting resources into that race. Senate Majority Leader John Thune urging President Trump and his allies to invest in the U.S. Senate race in Texas. The state where Democrats have not won a Senate seat in decades, but Republicans

may have reason to be concerned. Our MS Now internal elections desk, which has been characterizing the race as lean Republican all along, is now officially shifting it to a toss-up. Join us now to break down the race. MS. Now political director, Shauna Thomas. Sean, it is great to see you. So before we get into why this has been changed by your desk, let's talk about how you guys make the decisions. It's not just kind of a whim. It's an analysis of data and fundraising and everything else. So what prompted the desk to change this to a toss-up? So I have to give a lot of credit to Kabir-Khanna, who runs our elections, research polling, nerd stuff. But basically, there were enough polls, there were credible polls, especially in the last couple of months, that showed a

very clear shift towards this being a toss-a-brace, this being within the margin of error. Not necessarily saying James Talleygo, the Democrat is going to win, not necessarily saying that Ken Paxson is going to lose, but that there is a real race here. So that's number one. Number two, we look at how much money people are raising. We look at things like how they did in the primary. So this was looking at things from the primary until now that say, okay, traditionally, as you said in your intro, Texas, full statewide race, that is going to probably be a Republican. But there seems to, to be enough clues now that it's within the margin of error, that it's an actual toss-up, that it is possible for Talleyico to overcome the history, especially the last 30 years history, of a Democrat not winning statewide. So we decided to move it as we move into this fall season. Now, Kabir said this last night on All In. We are going to keep saying this over and over. Polling is a snapshot in time. This is also a snapshot in time. We know that there's probably going to be more money poured into Texas. As you saw, John Thune in that clip that you played,

is basically saying, please come in, spend money on Texas. And we know that the polling is going to change, especially as people start paying attention. I don't know if I'm supposed to mention this man here, but I was listening to Chuck Todd's podcast, who is obsessed with watching college football and looking for ads and political ads. We're probably going to start to see more ads for Ken Paxson around college football games in Texas. We will most likely, likely also see some ads for Tala Rico, so people will start paying attention. But right now, we can't tell you who's going to win and who's going to lose. Therefore, it's a toss-up. Coming up, our next guest is running for governor of Colorado. The state's attorney general,

Phil Weiser, is standing by to talk about that race and his efforts to protect the midterm elections from threats to mail-in voting. That conversation straight ahead on Morning Joe. Welcome back. Jurors in the murder trial of Lindsay Clancy will return for a fifth day of deliberation. after telling the judge they remain deadlocked. The jury of three men and nine women are struggling to reach a verdict in a case that's centered on postpartum mental health. MS now reporter Nick McCool has more. After many hours of deliberation, we are unable to come to a unanimous decision. A jury deadlock in the trial of Lindsay Clancy, the Massachusetts mom accused of murdering her three children.

The jury has been deliberating since last Thursday. Yesterday, jurors told the judge they couldn't reach a unanimous verdict. I know there were over 80 witnesses. There were over 300 exhibits. But because of that, I'm going to ask you to go back out and to continue your deliberations at this time. Clancy doesn't dispute she killed her children. But her team says she was experiencing postpartum psychosis at the time and isn't criminally responsible. Her attorney, Kevin Reddington, after the jury was dismissed for the day.

I don't know that it's a good sign or a bad sign or any sign. It's that they're working hard to try to come to a decision. The jury has been asked to consider murder in the first and second degrees as well as manslaughter. Jurors could also acquit Clancy or find her not guilty by lack of criminal responsibility, meaning she didn't have substantial capacity to control her actions or understand they were wrong due to a mental illness. One of the most difficult things for a juror to do is to get inside the head of a criminal defendant.

When you're talking about issues of intent, insanity, it is hard to know what someone's thinking. Some of the final evidence that jury heard was from rebuttal prosecution witnesses, mental health workers who called into question Clancy's postpartum psychosis defense. It is my opinion within a reasonable degree of medical certainty that Ms. Clancy was criminally responsible. The defense says the jury has asked to see a couple pieces of evidence, but we haven't heard much else from them during deliberations. What's really telling here is they haven't asked to have testimony read by. So I don't think they're really debating the evidence in this case. I think you have jurors who are viewing the same evidence very differently, just like many people who are watching. And now, as the jury

prepares for a fifth day of deliberations, the possibility of a hung jury and a mistrial looms large, risking retrial of searing testimony and brutal evidence. Some of the toughest, most gut-wrenching things that any person can be subjected to. I think a hung jury in a mistrial is a win for the defense. There's enormous pressure on the prosecution

to secure a guilty verdict when you have a mother who's killed three children. I fully expect the Commonwealth to retry this case regardless of what the split is. Clancy faces life in prison without the possibility of parole if she's convicted on first-degree murder or with the possibility of parole for second-degree murder.

If she's found not guilty by lack of criminal responsibility, she'd likely be placed in a psychiatric facility. Back to you. MS Now's Nick McCool with that report. All right, thanks to Nick. Still ahead here on Morning Joe, we'll show you just how unpopular President Trump's attempts to rename Lake Ontario is with Americans.

You can guess, keep it here. As we take a look at Toronto there, we know what they call it. Keep it on morning, Joe, right back. Welcome back. Democrats in the state of Colorado are battling to keep control of the governorship this November when the state's current governor, Jerry Polis, is forced to step down due to term limits. Democratic nominee and current state attorney general Phil Weiser is facing off against Republican Victor Marx in that race. Weiser defeated incumbent Senator Michael Bennett in the Democratic primary earlier this year, and he joins us now. Mike Barnacle, Jen Palmeri, also back with us.

Mr. Attorney General, thank you so much for being here. We were talking as you sat down, I mean, there's one of the themes this year for Democratic in the primaries. There's been certainly in some places, progressives are winning. In other states, more moderates are winning. We were talking about the state of race in Massachusetts last night in the Senate, where it felt like the calls for generational change were rebuffs. But the one theme, the one consistent seems to be voters wanting someone who's going to

fight, and you think that's what. made a difference for you? There's no question, Jonathan. When our campaign was launched, there was a through line, whether it's a lawless bullying Trump administration, whether it's irresponsible companies like Meta's harms to our kids with social media. Coloradoans know I'm fighting for them. People are feeling scared. They're concerned. Housing costs are too high. Our kids are struggling. And in Colorado, we've got a range of challenges. People want the answer to this question. How do I know you're fighting for me? How do I know I can trust you? If you can earn that trust, putting in the war at the grassroots level, and people believe you, you can get their vote.

If people think, hey, you're just trying to win this campaign with lots of money and campaign ads. I was out spent two to one, and I won by 14 points. People are thinking, hey, I can trust you, I believe you. I'm with you. You also seems to be no question. Real enthusiasm among Democrats this November, which could stand to benefit your general election race. But also a fear amongst some Democrats about, well, frankly, whether they're going to be able to actually vote. And I know mail-in balloting is something big in Colorado.

It's something you've been working on. But something the Trump administration, learning by the day, including this new whistleblow report, seems to want to curtail. It's surreal. The president votes by mail. Republican states like Utah vote by mail. Colorado standard is a gold standard. We've had Republican secretaries of states administer it.

It's pretty simple. Get people their ballots in plenty of time. People can think about the issues. We have a lot of direct propositions on the ballot. People need to get these ballots in advance. They can mail them back if they want. They can hand them in drop boxes. They can vote in person.

It's reliable. These attacks on elections, they are so lawless and dangerous. It's worth emphasizing the president has no authority under the Constitution to do any of this. This is all a bullying and intimidation game. You even hear the Republican governor in Wyoming saying, I don't want you sending these poll monitors because you're intimidating people. The president's got to get this memo. We need Republicans on this page. Get the hell away from elections. It's not your job. So are you prepared or will you be prepared if the federal government wants to inject like troops or ICE agents around polling places on election day?

Let me give an advertisement for Colorado elections because we have a resilient system. They're not a lot of people voting on election day in polling places. Most people will be able to vote ahead of time handing in ballots to drop boxes or voting early at stations. or in the mail. That means if they do what you're worried about, Mike, and I'm worried about that, too, for states that have a one-day election, I'm really worried.

Colorado, we've got weeks and weeks. So we're not going to be as vulnerable to that as other states. Talk about the meta-settlement that you've reached last week with them on social media. This is a really big deal. Lori Schott, who's from my state, was held up by the Surgeon General, as someone as a brave mom who lost her daughter, Anna, who died by suicide. She looked at Anna's phone.

And there was information from Instagram being fed to her saying, don't talk to your parents about your mental health because they're going to institutionalize you. We've seen self-harm rates go up. If you're a girl like Anna, you're twice as likely to get self-harm as other people. So we took this on after the whistleblower test fight in Congress. Congress has ignored this problem. We have a coalition, essentially every state in the union, we had the pressure fully on meta.

We were in trial. We had them on the ropes. There was a Tennessee case, a companion case. Meta then came to the table and said, what do we need to do? And we said, you've got to change your behavior. These notifications and alerts, all hours of the night and during the day, kids weren't sleeping. They were distracted at school. Kids were feeling terrible at themselves.

This is a game changer. It'll limit the total time. People can be on these platforms. It'll ensure age assurance so young kids aren't getting on. We are going to have other industry actors like YouTube, like Snap or TikTok. we're going to have to go after them too, because this is not just a meta problem, but it's been a big meta problem, and we've got a big result, including up to $18 billion. Certainly hope this seems to be a tipping point on this particular subject. So as you go about in this campaign, Democrats certainly a state, Colorado, certainly a state that has turned blueish in recent years, a little less of a swing state than it used to be, but certainly Republicans do win there from time to time. What are voters telling you matters most?

I think about it's a state with a lot of military bases, the Air Force Academy. Also there is the war in Iran and the costs accompanied that. Part of it is the cost of living. What are voters telling you? This point about cost of living and affordability is a big, big issue. Housing tends to be the top of mind. Colorado is a state where many of us could look forward to buying a home. You heard the phrase starter home.

That is now feeling out of reach for people. So teachers in Denver or surrounding counties, used to be able to say, we're going to be a buy a home here. They can't say that now. Firefighters used to be able to say, we're going to buy a home here. They can't say that. We've got to fix this. This is a top of mind challenge for me. People use the phrase a lot. It's meaningful to me because I'm a first generation American. My mom and grandparents came here, having survived the Holocaust, to build a good life for yourself, to live the American dream. People feeling that's out of reach. So fighting to make sure we have more affordable housing,

whether you're a renter or can own is top of mind. Healthcare is a big concern, how much health care costs, feeling like the system is ripping you off when you're sick, not trying to keep you healthy. People are concerned about their kids' future, the point about meta and the youth mental health crisis or kids being set up to succeed. There's a lot on voters' mind. And overall, how do we build a thriving economy that we're a growing state? Colorado has been looking at potentially declining population. That's a concern. So people are nervous right now. And of course, all this stuff with how Trump is threatening our elections or threatening to pull space command from Colorado, there's a lot on voters' minds. Do you ever hear from voters?

who discuss in a rather general way, the disappearance of America, the America that they grew up knowing or reading about and learning about, that the country that is in their mind is disappearing slowly? Mike, I think that is a central question right now for people. Is the America that we grew up believing in still the America in front of all of us? And in this next generation, we're either going to establish that, yes, you can get a good education here and an economic mobility. You can own a home.

You can build a small business. Or if people feel like all that's out of reach, that's feeling a lot of the anger out there that's really a problem in our politics. The reason we have Donald Trump as president is people were angry and frustrated. They're willing to do anything. The reason that I'm running against someone in this race

who's, let's just say, really unconventional, is people are willing to think, you know what, I can't trust anybody. And so the way I view this is my job is to put in the work, people know I'm fighting for them. He's in this because he believes in all of us, needing all of us. And for me, this is personal. As I said, my family survived the Holocaust, came here with nothing, and I've had the chance to live this American dream. I worked for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the

Supreme Court. Worked in President Obama's White House. Now I'm running because of governor's governor. That's the America I know and love. That's what I'm fighting for. All right. Colorado's Democratic gubernatorial nominee and its current state general, Phil Weiser. Thank you, Mr. Thank you. Up next here on Morning Joe, the school system in New York City is rolling out a new push to rein in artificial intelligence. What that means for more than half a million kids. Keep it right here in Morning Joe for that and more. But what's the purpose of changing the name? Oh, could distract you from the fact that we're in a war that we can't win in Iran. It doesn't make any sense. Like, who cares? Lake Ontario. Well, it's a good name. We've had that name forever. As you heard, podcaster Joe Rogan, not on board with President Trump changed the name of Lake Ontario. This comes as new polling shows that a majority of Americans agree with them.

They are opposed to renaming the lake. A new Reuters poll found that just 14% support the Lake America name change, while 63% opposed the move. The rest were undecided or skipped the question altogether. But despite that on popularity, Apple Maps, now the second digital map provider to adopt the name Lake America in place of Lake Ontario. The Trump administration asked Apple to join Google, which is through the name change over the weekend, showing American users the name Lake America while keeping Lake Ontario for Canadian users. And Jen Palmerie, as I read that highlight, you put your head down on the table. Not for not the first time this morning. I would, did I put my head down on the table?

I'm trying to not take it personally. I think it's about the news, not me, I hope. But this is not what voters want. The Trump is spending his time and energy on something like this. Oh, my God. Spending your time and energy on this. companies are caving to it. It's just such nonsense. And it just, like, it just adds to the sense of, like, frustration and anger and that these people are super out of touch. I don't know. It's all beyond me. Everything, everything he does is just beyond me, right over my head.

Yeah. And you think, like, we see maybe some. The short-termness of it, though, right? Because it's like, he's not going to be president forever. What are you doing, renaming it Lake America? Just, the corporate move forward. It's everything. Right. Well, the corporate capitulation, maybe you could have explained away in the first couple months when he seemed really powerful. Now, when he's this week,

I don't know why... He's so unpopular. I don't know why you're doing it. Meanwhile, when students return to New York City school next week, I'll note Thursday, September 10th as a New York City school parent, that's very late.

There will be some new rules when it comes to artificial intelligence. According to the New York Times, the city's education department is set to announce a new policy that bars younger students from using AI. Under these new rules,

about two-thirds of all students in NYC public schools will not be allowed to use AI until they enter high school. And even then, it will only be permitted in specific cases. The department is also recommending a cap on screen time, like limiting middle schoolers to no more than 45 minutes a day. That makes sense to me. Speaking of AI, our next guest is drawing a parallel between the rise of AI agents who sometimes go rogue

and President Trump, who, some say, also goes rogue against the interests of the country, the Republican Party, and even himself personally. Joining us now, editor at large for Newsweek and CNBC founder Tom Rogers. He's also senior advisor for Versa MS now's parent company. So Tom, you are one of those people who argues that President Trump goes rogue. Explain to us what you're arguing in this piece. Well, President Trump has become the biggest booster for the AI economy powered by data centers and AI agents.

even as the Republican Party, like Democrats, want to apply the brakes and slow that down. But it did remind me of a notion of agents in a different context. Some seriously, some rhetorically have said Trump is an agent of Russia. Nobody can explain the hold that Putin has on him. The fact that he is undermining the defense of Ukraine, that he is sowing chaos among our NATO allies, which serves Russia's interest, that how he is allowing Russian oil to be sold at higher prices on the market today, all the while while Russia is helping militarily Iran oppose us.

And if you think that's a stretch, think of Trump as an agent of the Democratic Party. I mean, if the Democrats thought they could brainwash the president who came to power on the affordability issue and get him to start mocking the affordability issue and then start a trade war with Canada and Maine and Michigan with two Senate races that are going to decide the control of the Senate, it would be preposterous to think they could do that. And yet he's doing it. He seems like he's an agent subverting himself when he was now so concerned about his personal legacy. He was all about draining the swamp.

He incompetently drained the reflecting pool. And he's going to go down as a swamp monster, the ultimate scoundrel when it comes to his personal interest, which in terms of its legacy, which he's subverting. So I had a suggestion. Go create an AI agent that knows how to serve your own interest, Mr. President. And you could program it with a guest you've had on here, Professor Sondonfeld, who wrote a book, Trump's Ten Commandments, which laid out exactly how Trump acts when it's in his self-interest.

And then I say, you know what, though? Let's hold off on that until after November. it just suits us fine that he is acting as an agent of the Democratic Party. Well, certainly a lot of Republicans have the frustration, whether they think he's actually doing our purpose or just at the very least not doing anything to help their cases. But let's actually zero back, swing back to AI itself for a moment, where Trump, again this week, has really fashioned himself as a champion at AI data centers. And look, there are obviously there are arguments for things AI.

But data centers right now are very unpopular. Pollings suggest that Americans think they're too loud, they're too expensive, they use too much water, they use too much energy, costs are going up, they're worried about their future of their jobs, there you go. Do only 27% in this Gallup poll, only 27% surveyed favor having a data center in their area. And this has become politically toxic. We've seen Democrats, but also some Republicans start to run away from it. Trump's not, though.

He's not. And he's got a decent argument on this one. I mean, we cannot totally put the brakes on the development of AI. It is too important to the economy of the future. There is a real argument about China and how advanced it is. I'd even argue China is already ahead of us on AI in a number of areas. And at the same time, we have seen that data centers are not in the interest of local communities when it comes to electric rates, when it comes to use of water.

And you've got to show up with your own power if you're going to be a data center. and balance these interests of AI future with consumer interests, which are very, very real. You know, your thesis that Trump should use an agent, he should have an agent for this or an agent for that, it would be rebutted, I think, by some people who would claim that Trump, for his entire narcissistic life, has only been interested in one agent himself. And everything he does has less to do with Putin, or self-interest, and it has to do with just him. What's going to benefit him?

What do we do about a man like that? Well, I thought about that, and as I thought about it, I said, you know, he's really subverting himself. There is no interest is served by him by mocking affordability and undermining the chances of the Republicans to hold on to Congress. There's really no interest in his legacy in terms of everything he is doing to make sure that his legacy is ultimately subverted as being the ultimate scoundrel that has occupied the White House. Just a lot of this doesn't make sense. And his, you know, his ego and his narcissism clearly is there,

combined with some kind of craziness, as you say, you can't even explain. But I do believe that he would be better served by agents programmed in his interest than how he is acting because it seems to be acting against his interest. The new piece available to read online now, Tom Rogers, Tom, Thank you, as always. So, Jen, in light of all that, all that chaos, what's the Democratic message? How do they play off that? Well, I think that you have to, it's not just, it can't just be about him, right? You know, so he's, he's the table-setter for why everything is, why everything is terrible.

But you have got to, I mean, we had, we had Phil Wisner, the governor general candidate for Colorado on. Like, Democrats can't just be like, oh, the Republicans are so bad and he's so terrible that we're, that we're good. It's just, it's adding to. And like you see it in the data center numbers, it's just adding to frustration across the board with voters. And the people, it's very easy to get turned off and say like pox on both their houses. I think you just be all the more aggressive on what you're actually going to do. And you can't wait, even wait to be elected. You've got to be showing in your campaign with the kind of fights that you're taking on that you're actually going to, you get people's lives.

You're going to do something about it. The outrage may be warranted, but it only gets you so far. You have to also. You have to put a positive case forward as well. That does it for us this morning. Thank you so much for watching. We will be back tomorrow at 6 a.m. Eastern for another morning, Joe. But up next, money, power, politics with Stephanie Rule.

It'll be here on MS now right after a short final break.