Morning Joe - National Guard deployed to Washington D.C.

Episode Date: August 13, 2025

National Guard deployed to Washington D.C.

Good morning and welcome to morning, Joe. It is Wednesday, August 13th. We have a lot to get to this morning, including the deployment of the National Guard by President Trump in Washington, D.C. soldiers are already in the nation's capital. But what exactly will they be doing there? We'll dive into that. Plus, we are learning more details about President Trump's planned summit on Friday with Vladimir Putin. It comes as Russian troops make significant gains on the battlefield, piercing Ukrainian defenses in multiple places. It all leads to major questions about this meeting, like the face-to-face with Vladimir Putin. Is it a gift to the Russian president? We'll dig into that. Also ahead, President Trump's nominee to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics is now floating the idea of ending the monthly job. of ending the monthly jobs report. No jobs data. We'll look at whether this is just another move to distract his MAGA base and what the impact of this could be. Along with Willie and me,

we have the co-host of our fourth hour contributing writer at the Atlantic, Jonathan Lamere, U.S. Special Correspondent for BBC News and the host of The Restis Politics podcast. A writer at large for the New York Times, Elizabeth Bue Miller is with us, and MSNBC Justice and Legal Affairs analyst, Anthony Coley joins us. And just before we start, Willie, do you know what a laboo-booboo is? I don't. And I shared Caddy Kay's confusion, I think, is a fair assessment of her state during that story about what a laboo was, why there was such a kerfuffle around the laboo-and-why people were going to such great lengths to steal and then to double-lock their luboos as well.

Well, I happen to know, and I can tell you, Caddy, that the screeching sound from my house when someone in my family received one was as vexing to me as you were vexed during that story. I don't get it. And something creeps me

out about them, these dolls that have, like, the craze and are becoming worth hundreds, even thousands of dollars. But they're a big deal, Katie. Clearly. Clearly. And I'm, I'm I'm terribly sorry that you had to put up with the screeching sound. They have not hit my house yet, but Poppy gets back today from London, so, you know, I'm waiting.

I'm waiting. I'm waiting. Let's get to our top story. The National Guard is now in Washington, D.C. Some troops were deployed to the city yesterday, more than 24 hours after President Trump announced he is taking over the Metropolitan Police Department and putting Attorney General Pam Bondi in charge. In total, the Army has mobilized 800 guardsmen to assist law enforcement with things like security, crowd management, and perimeter control. They will not make any arrests. The troops were told they would be there until September 25th, but the president has said the deployment will end once, quote, conditions of law and order are reached.

the city's Democratic mayor. Muriel Bowser met with Bondi yesterday to discuss how to make the most of the federal support. Bondi called the meeting productive, while Bowser offered her strongest rebuke yet during a virtual town hall event last night, calling the president's actions authoritarian. My jobs are many right now. And part of it is just managing us, practically managing us through this crisis. But I'm also really ticked off. about the intrusion on the district's autonomy and the characterization of the good work that we do in this city to make it beautiful, to have excellent services, to attract millions of tourists, to have a growing school system, to have a growing city with new residents showing up every day. So that's the real Washington, and I'm counting on you to make sure the world knows that as well. Meanwhile, the Trump administration is expanding on the president's push to remove homeless people from the nation's capital.

At yesterday's briefing, White House press secretary, Caroline Levitt, said current D.C. law allows local police to dismantle encampments. She laid out two options for homeless people, either cooperate with the administration or face potential jail time. Homeless individuals will be given the option to leave their encampment, to be taken to a homeless shelter, to be offered addiction or mental health services, and if they refuse, they will be susceptible to fines or to jail time. The president posting his intention to clear the homeless from Washington earlier this week on social media, writing, The homeless have to move out immediately.

We will give you places to stay, but far from the capital. Homelessness in the United States is at record numbers, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development. More than 5,000 homeless people currently live in Washington, mostly in emergency shelters. Data shows around 800 people live unsheltered on the streets. So Jonathan Lemire, let's start with you here. Obviously, the president is leaning in hard on this idea,

on this policy of deploying National Guard troops. We can take the homelessness issue separately to have them in the streets. Again, as Mika pointed out, unclear exactly what their role was, just as it was when they were sent to L.A. earlier in the summer. Yeah, so far it seems like they haven't done a whole lot. The people, reports throughout Washington, you know, we are seeing federal law enforcement there. We are seeing National Guard troops, for the most part, just sort of standing around, protecting, you know, substantially protecting things.

And it's become a real flashpoint. There are concerns. Is the president using this as a first step? Will he perhaps keep these troops in place longer than he says now? Will he make an effort to put them in other cities, blue cities that he's identified? New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, the like. These are useful political foils for him. He and his team like these images of a law and order president, put that in quotes,

trying to, like, show their safe, standing up to crime and making it safer for residents, but also, as President Trump has said, potential visitors to the nation's capital. And certainly some in Washington welcome the help. Others are really leery about it. And there hasn't been done much in coordination with the city government, as we just heard the mayor there. There's been a lot of outcry about Republican budget cuts. cuts that could have helped Washington, D.C., a billion dollars or more, that could have been more useful, perhaps, than these troops.

Elizabeth Bumiller, let's go to you here and just give us your sense of, you know, what this could mean for the administration. Is this, are they feeling this out? Is this sort of a testing ground where they feel like, look, you know, maybe this works in Washington. We could try it elsewhere in other cities, too? Well, I think right now a lot of this is theatrics. A lot of this is just, you know, we've known for decades that Republicans like to run on tough on crime issues.

There's midterms coming up in a little more than a year. It's also a very good distraction from Jeffrey Epstein, as we've all pointed out. I mean, right now, I think a lot of this is just, it's very good television for the president. And his description of Washington as this is one of my colleagues at the Times called this sort of, you know, this mad max hellscape with, marauding gangs and violence everywhere is just completely out of proportion with the reality. Yes, there's crime here, but it's down. And I think right now, last night we saw these troops on the mall around the monuments. There was nothing for them to do. They were taking pictures of themselves with visitors and with tourists. They hung around for about two hours and they

went back. It's just, it's very, very striking. And right now, again, they're not supposed to be arresting anyone. And it's unclear exactly, as you said, what they're going to to do. They're going to, um, the Cash Patel said yesterday that they had assisted in 23 arrests. I mean, it was a big deal, but there's an average of 68 arrests every day in Washington. So it's, again, it's not, not clear yet how much they're going to make a difference. However, just just to finish this up, I think that the president is looking at, as he said, Baltimore, Chicago, New York. Now, those are going to be very different cities. Right now, he does have authority in Washington, um, but he does not.

not have authority, at least under these conditions in the other cities. And it's going to be a much bigger fight in those cities if he does it. It's probably important to look at the politics of this. There are some who are saying that this is a big effort to distract the base from other issues, including Jeffrey Epstein. And Willie and Jonathan Lemire, the other part of this in terms of politics is, I think it's a political loser to say that Washington, Washington doesn't have its problems. The numbers may be going down in some ways, but Washington, just like a lot of other major cities, has an issue with homelessness, it has an issue with people who are addicted

to drugs or in the streets, and they're having the past been court rulings that really tied city officials' hands in its ability to respond to the problem in an effective way. And that's where the National Guard and the President may have more sway, more power to do things about it. than the city actually did. Having said that, there are many who are concerned about exactly how the president will and the attorney general will use their power

to address issues like homelessness and where they will put people and using the knowledge we have so far of how this administration has treated migrants. I'm sure there's many concerns among Democrats, especially, about how people will be treated when they are taken off the street. We'll see what happens.

We will definitely see what happens, and we won't jump ahead of that. But I think this is a political win for the president. Anybody who takes a look at what is happening in Washington, even the mayor herself will say, they cannot do certain things to take people off the street because of court rulings. And there are people on the street,

often near monuments and coffee shops and near Capitol Hill, you can walk out there on a weekend morning, and you will find that happening. So I think one of the things that is a real struggle here politically is how Democrats deal with the reality in Washington versus clearly the triggering attempt that the president is having on this situation that is politically, a winner for him, Willie, but not necessarily what might solve the problem, truly, when we're dealing with people who are struggling and who are out there and who become dangerous in the long run. Yeah, I mean, like any American city, there's crime, there's a problem of homelessness. We just read some of those stats. D.C. is unique in that it's our nation's capital. Anthony,

it may be a short-term political winner. We'll see if he likes how this goes. If he does decide to expand this concept to Chicago and to L.A. and to other cities, he's threatened to use it. We'll see if it's a political winner in the long term. But it is true that there's a perception and a feeling among people who, some people who live in Washington, that the crime is worse. Data tells us otherwise. So it's walking in that line of addressing the statistics and not, as we said yesterday, making policy based on anecdote because you heard a story about something happening? Right. There is a gap between what the data shows and how many Washingtonians feel. And I live in Washington. This is personal for me. Many people are

frustrated with crime that we see, particularly committed by juveniles in the city of Washington. People are frustrated, Willie, that they, when they go to CVS to buy deodorant, that they have to get it from behind locked plexiglass. Right. But the response here, and you know, let me say this, right, this is not, these are not just random anecdotes. What we see in Washington post-polling among others is that roughly half of D.C. residents, mostly half of D.C. review this as a serious problem or an extremely serious problem. And the question then becomes why, right? What I talked about with Kady Kay a little earlier and way too early is that juvenile arrest. are down in the District of Columbia. But we don't see that in Baltimore, where year over year juvenile arrests are up. And so what are the reasons for that?

Jonathan Lemire rightly pointed out the $1 billion that Congress is withholding, which would allow Washington, D.C. to hire more officers. But the D.C. Council has a role to play here as well because some of the laws that they have passed are not as strong as they could be for juvenile offenders and for re-offenders. Now, having said all of that, I want to be clear

that does not justify the disproportionate response that we are seeing from Donald Trump. It is a political stunt. He is exploiting people's fears. But to be frank, Democrats on the D.C. Council have created this political opening that allows him to do that. Now, I'm not naive, Willie. I suspect that even if juvenile crime wasn't a problem, Donald Trump would have taken the

actions that we have seen in recent days. But from a raw political perspective, you never want to give your political opponent an opening to address the needs that many of your constituents have. And that's what we're seeing playing out right now. Yeah, yeah, I couldn't agree more. President Trump also is attempting to force the Smithsonian to change its museums, exhibits, and operations to reflect his view of American history. NBC News has learned the White House sent a letter to museum officials directing a wide review of eight of the Smithsonian's 21 museums ahead of America's 250th anniversary. Vice President J.D. Vance will oversee that process. The museums will have 30 days to turn over information about their current exhibits and plans to commemorate the anniversary. And within 120 days, the White House says the Smithsonian must replace, quote, divisive or ideologically driven language with unifying historically accurate and constructive descriptions. The Wall Street Journal, which first reported this story, writes that the goal is to, quote, ensure the museums align with President Trump's interpretation of American history.

It follows an executive order issued back in March in which the president criticized the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture for supposedly promoting race-centered ideology. NBC News then reported more than 30 artifacts were removed from the museum, including Harriet Tubman's hymn book and Frederick Douglass's memoir. This latest letter comes just days after the Smithsonian changed its text on a description of President Trump's impeachment following the January 6th Capitol riot. The new wording has no references to Trump's statement challenging the 2011. election results as being false. Whoa. There's a lot here, Katty. A lot. And I would love to get your take on this, but it seems to me that this kind of feeds into the basic facts that Americans can agree on or not, and also erasing history, which seems

incredibly dangerous in many ways in the long run. So clearly President Trump and his team spent four years out of office examining every kind of aspect of American government to see where they could maximize their political leverage, whether it was at universities or at law firms and now at the Smithsonian museums to see if they could bring those museums more in line with the will of the president.

I think the fact that he even says in that order that this is to put history in line with President Trump's interpretation of history. I mean, it would be fascinating to sit down with the president and ask him for an hour as a scholar what is your interpretation of American history? Where do you see issues like the Civil War? What is your interpretation of issues like slavery?

And I think it's no coincidence that it is the Museum of African American History, which is such a well-visited museum here in Washington, Mika. It's one of the most popular museums for people to go to. Anyone who hasn't been to it, I recommend that you come to it when you come to the city. It is very safe to visit the Museum of African-American history, and it is incredibly moving and gut-wrenching experience. it's hard to see how you could have the exhibition that tells the story of slavery in America in a way that is unifying, and I can't remember quite what the other word was, unifying and

uncontroversial or something. I mean, it's not. I mean, the question of slavery is not necessarily a unifying story. It's a hard, difficult, divisive story for America to tell. And I think the African American Museum does it very well. But if it starts having to tell a sanitized version of that story, it's no longer really a museum at that point. I mean, it's not a historical representation full of people who are doing serious research and scholarship. I mean, let's be blunt.

This is really bad and really, really dangerous. A nation needs to know its history. It has to be honest about its history, to learn from it, to honor it, and also to then grow and improve for the present and future. There's no way that rewriting a history to fit one president's vision is good for a nation's health or is good for a nation's democracy. We've already seen the Smithsonian change in its impeachment exhibit. You know, because, you know, to eliminate the references to President Trump, they've been restored, modified, edited, sanitized some, but at least they're back. But now it seems like that's just the first step to a sweeping revisiting of American history through the

the Smithsonian. We already know a little bit about how this president views this issue in his administration. We're seeing Confederate monuments being restored to parks in Washington. We're seeing military bases being renamed by two Confederate generals or clever by half. Some named after the same name, Bragg, as a Confederate general. And Anthony Coley, I mean, this is not what a healthy democracy does. You know, you can be patriotic. You can love your country. We have the 250 anniversary next year. Certainly President Trump and his team are already gearing up towards really celebrating that. Some of that

is good. But to honor a nation's history, you have to be honest about it. And to rewash it, to sanitize it, to whitewash it, to not be honest about it, that's not good. Listen, the American story is both glorious and painful.

It has warts. You don't lift up and highlight the glorious parts and bury the wards. You tell the full American story and all of its truth. What this guy is doing is trying to turn the Smithsonian into a propaganda machine. He is trying to rewrite history, just like he did on January 6th, right? If you think really about what he tried to do with pardoning all of these criminal defendants, people who were serving jail, even for abusing and killing police officers. He's trying to rewrite the narrative of both his narrative of the American history,

of his part of the American story, or even more broadly, the broad American story. This is dangerous. It's chilling. And I think every American who supports honest truth-telling and fact-telling should be. should be concerned about this. Elizabeth, the executive order from President Trump in late March was titled, Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History. That's one man's idea of what truth and sanity about American history are.

He basically wants anything race-based removed from our history. And you think about when Jackie Robinson was removed from a Defense Department page, his military service is part of that story and his pioneering life. And then it was put back up. and then later, about a month later, Harriet Tubman was removed from some pages. References to slavery were moved down. My point is, these are not clerical errors. This is a concerted effort, and the president gave license to all of these efforts

when he signed that executive order a few months back. That's correct. And I was just remembering the quote that those who are those who do not remember history are condemned to repeat it. And this is, I don't understand how you do this kind of a, of an investigation of the African-American Museum looking for things that are racially unpleasant. I don't understand. The whole museum is, again, as I would agree with, Katty, it's one of the most moving places I've ever been.

And you see in this history that it's, you know, it's two steps forward and one step back. You see it repeated over and over and over through the generations of history. And again, we need to remember that. I also think that this completely undermines and just marginalizes the government's, the Smithsonian. I mean, there's going to be plenty. There's plenty of a scholarship in America at universities, you know, historians who there is plenty there for Americans to find.

It's not going to be wiped out, but it just completely undermines the government's efforts to tell the story. It's not like we're going to forget this history that's too much part of us right now. But I do think it's just it's the strangest thing, strangest thing imaginable that they're doing this. MSNBC Justice and Legal Affairs analyst Anthony Coley, thank you very much for coming on this morning. We appreciate it. And still ahead on Morning Joe, we're going to take a look at some of the other stories making headlines this morning, including a new push to end a Central Park staple.

Plus, we'll bring you the response from the Trump administration after a judge blocked the release of grand jury transcripts in the Galane Maxwell case. And a reminder of the Morning Joe podcast is available each weekday featuring our full conversations and analysis. You can listen wherever you get your podcasts. You're watching Morning Joe. We'll be right back. 25 past the hour, a lot going on in the war with Russia and Ukraine. President Trump and Vice President Vance are set to join a call with European leaders and Ukrainian President Zelensky today, where they will discuss the president's

set for Friday with Vladimir Putin. We know now that the venue for that meeting will be a U.S. Air Force base in the city of Anchorage. One day after Trump again floated the idea that Russia and Ukraine will end up swapping land. Press Secretary Caroline Levitt seemed to lower the stakes yesterday. This is a listening exercise for the president. Look, only one party that's involved in this war is going to be present. And so this is for the president to go and to get, again, a more firm and better understanding of how we can hopefully bring this war to an end.

Ahead of Friday summer, we're getting reports that Russia has breached Ukraine's front line in the Dynetsk region. Analysts say the Kremlin has advanced units and they push farther into Ukrainian-held territory, making small but significant gains. According to one think tank, the severity of the situation was made clear by Ukraine's hasty deployment of some of its most experienced. experienced troops to the battlefield. Meanwhile, Russia continues to attack civilian centers where than 20 people were hurt on Sunday when Russia fired guided aerial bombs at a bus station

in southeastern Ukraine. So a couple of days ahead of this meeting, Jonathan Lamar, Vladimir Putin does not appear to be a man ready for peace or perhaps trying to increase his leverage in these conversations. The White House describing this as a feel-out meeting, trying to lower the bar a little bit, not expect some grand peace deal to come out of the summit at an air base there in Alaska. So what are the concerns? I know you have some new reporting this morning about what Vladimir Putin may gain from this meeting. Yeah, there's a lot of concern in Ukraine and throughout Europe as to what's going to happen on Friday. Officials there actually somewhat encouraged the way the White House has lowered the stakes in the last 24 hours about this meeting, suggesting it

be more of a listening exercise rather than a deal being struck, although who knows what will happen when Trump and Putin are potentially alone in a room together, just they and their interpreters. We've seen that before because President Trump is eager to get this war concluded. Vladimir Putin seems less so. And his nods to diplomacy, Putin's nods to diplomacy to this point, mostly seem an exercise in buying time because so far the summer offensive has been rather ineffective, until perhaps now these last 24 hours or so, some breakthroughs for Russian troops. That may not make Putin motivated to make a deal. But there is a sense here, and a number of people I've talked to. The White House, of course, pushes that Trump will be tough with Putin,

but there's a fear in Europe that Putin's going to offer a deal. He's going to say, look, I'll stop fighting, but I get to keep everything that I have, the land that I've conquered, and Ukraine can't have any security guarantees that would ward off Moscow from trying again down the road. If that's the case, if Putin offers them the deal, the fear is that Trump would take that deal of Ukraine and say, this is it. But Zelensky, of course, can't accept that. And if that's the case, then Ukraine may draw Trump's ire again. That's a real concern. Amgeson has a new column in the United Times with the headline, Trump is giving Putin a most wonderful gift. It reads in part this. As much as Putin loves wealth, he has shown that he loves power

even more. Eternal power in his own country, which he wins by expanding Russia's borders and power in the world at large, which he wins by making other leaders fear him. Trump seems to be unaware that by meeting with Putin, he's giving Putin exactly what the Russian leader wants, a demonstration of his power. Trump is giving Putin additional gifts by agreeing to meet him without Zelensky and by sidelining the European Union. Trump is affirming for all of Russia to see what Putin has claimed all along, but the conflict is really between Russia and the United States. The moment Putin walks into the negotiating room,

he has gotten everything he wants, plus an opportunity to make a quip about Alaska as historically Russian land. Consider this a prediction. If the meeting does not produce an agreement, Putin loses nothing. Trump, on the other hand, would lose face if he watched, out empty-handed. He may be motivated to accept something, anything. So that column there lines up with a lot of the reporting I've done, the fears that Europeans have. They're trying to manage

Trump, though, ahead of this summit. He's going to be part of a virtual call today with European leaders. Zelensky also on that call. And we should note, you know, Zelensky's learned some lessons from that Oval Office dust up in February, where Trump and Vance sort of berated him for the world to see. He's playing nice here. He's clearly disappointed. that he's not part of this meeting. At least to this point, though, he's not criticizing Trump by name. He's simply saying, we're worried the Russians could try to deceive the Americans. That's a fear that the content seems to have entirely.

Yeah, I mean, I've spoken to senior European officials in the last couple of days who have pointed out to me that there is a long history of the United States kind of trying to negotiate European security issues over the heads of Europeans. And they see this in that vein as well. I think the concern is that the perception the White House is that this is all about territory. And if you can just fix the territorial side in a kind of neat deal, then you fix the Ukraine issue. Whereas, of course, for the Europeans, what they are keen to stress to the White House in that call is that this is not just about territory. It's as well about Ukrainian independence.

And that means Ukrainian independence going forward and forever. And so where is that independent security guarantee going to come from once you've sorted out? out the territorial lines. Elizabeth, as the president, you know, flies to Alaska to meet Vladimir Putin, what are you hearing about what president, that's kind of what the Europeans are concerned about. What does President Trump want to get out of this? Why is he having this meeting with Vladimir Putin? He is so desperate for a Nobel Peace Prize. It's as simple as that, you think? Well, there's more than that. I think he wants to show his toughness. I think he wants to perhaps show that he can stand up to Putin. We don't know. You know, he did not do well.

Helsinki in the first term. That was one of the great shocks of his first term when he said he agreed with Putin over his own intelligence agencies about Russian interference in the 20-20 election, but 2016 election. But we shall see. I think he, I just also think he, again, this is theater. He wants to show that he's moving forward on some kind of a peace deal. But it's set off huge alarms, as you said in Europe. And the idea that they're meeting without Zelensky there, it's like your parents discussing your future without you involved. It's, I think, and also the fact that it was done so quickly, these negotiations usually take months of planning by the State Department.

It's just Trump is believing he can go in there and make some kind of a deal. He's talking about land swaps. Nobody knows what he's talking about. And he also, by the way, called Alaska, Russia numerous times this week when he was discussing the talks. So we may never know what goes on in those meetings. that meeting because it'll just be the two of them within translators and we don't, we'll never know exactly what happened in there. Okay. We'll be following this, of course, and coming up on Morning Joe, we'll tell you which former U.S. Senator is looking to return to the upper chamber

and what this says about the state of the Democratic Party ahead of the midterm elections. Morning, Joe, we'll be right back. And Pete drives one to deep right center field headed back toward the wall. It's out of here, out of here. Pete Alonzo stands alone. The polar bear on his own private iceberg. Pete Alonzo, the most prolific home run hitter in New York Mets history.

The New York Mets crowning a new franchise home run king last night. Pete Alonzo going Apo for his 253rd home run. That passes Daryl Strawberry for the most in Mets history. Alonzo added a second home run into six inning to lead a barrage of six Mets home runs in the game, which prompted this video board message announcing City Field had run out of fireworks for the night. The Mets snap a seven-game losing streak with a 13-5 win over the Braves. But the story in baseball continues to be the Milwaukee Brewers. They got the best record in baseball by a long shot at this point.

They won their 11th straight game last night, clobbering Pirates A's Paul Skeens. Major League Baseball leader in ERA, usually untouchable. He lasted only four innings against the Brewers. The brew crew blowing out Skeens and the Pirates 14 to nothing. Join us now, MSNBC contributor, Mike Barnacle. Mike, how about these Brewers? Man, they have a good team. two 11-game win-streaks in the same season, putting them in company with some of the great

teams of all time. We'll see how it ends, but right now, man, they're good. Really good team playing good baseball. Milwaukee's a great baseball town. It's good to see. The surprise last night was Skeen's getting walloped. I mean, that really happens, if ever. But Milwaukee is in it to win it. And good for them. Good for them. It's good for baseball. The Cubs are probably upset. I mean, Craig Counsel, you know, they hired Craig Counsel away from the Brewers to be their manager two years ago, paid him a lot of money.

And yet the Brewers continue to roll, Jonathan. Yeah, they do. You see the standings here. They've opened up a seven and a half game lead. I believe they were tied at the All-Star break, Cubs and Brewers. And now look at this. And Willie, I think there's a lot of Mets fans backing off the ledge a little bit yesterday. They'd lost seven in a row.

Now, I believe five, yeah, five games behind the Phillies. And both of our teams who have been scuffling of late picked up wins last night. Toronto just keeps winning. Lead the American League east by four and a half over the socks, six on the Yankees. It does seem like, though, let's get a panic check from you. The Yankees have obviously been struggling of late, but want a couple in a row now, back home for a stretch, schedule getting softer. How do you feel?

For some reason, the twins cannot beat us. And I don't mean this season, I mean ever. So when the twins come to town, I don't know what it is. I really don't. but we've gotten healthy. A big 9-1 victory last night. Judge hit a home run. He looks to be getting healthy.

Stanton swing the bat pretty well. The problem is the bullpen is a disaster. Our defense has not been great. We've got problems up and down the lineup. We were talking about this yesterday, John. I didn't fully appreciate it. But since July 13th, the Yankees have the worst record in the American League of any team. I mean, that includes the bottom feeders and all the divisions.

So really in a tough stretch. But as we always say, it's a long. long season. And if you look at the wild card standings, it is Seattle's playing great, by the way. They tied for first place last night. It's kind of Seattle. It's us. Cleveland's in the mix. It's going to be a fight down to the finish, John. Yeah, no, it will be good. The Mariners were one of the most aggressive teams at the trade deadline, and they are being rewarded here. They're playing fantastic ball. They've caught the Astros. And then we should know, you mentioned the Guardians. They've sneakily gotten back into this race, or even sort of perceived as a

seller at the deadline, trading away a few players. The Tigers have been one of the best stories in baseball all year. They've come back to Earth a little bit. Perhaps we have seen them they were overachieving. I mean, look, they still have a five and a half game lead in the American League Central, but, and we have a good Ohio segue coming up here, Cleveland has played themselves back into the race. You know, the problem with the Yankees, but Willie, roster composition. They have a weird roster. They have outfield difficulties. When Giancarlo Stanton is putting the outfield to play. It's tough. It's tough to watch. And they got a lot of money to spend a lot of money in that payroll, but it's warped. Yeah, Stanton's a D.H. You just got to get Judge healthy enough

to be back in the outfield. And hopefully we can get into the wild card and who knows what happens. John mentioned the state of Ohio, an excellent segue to former Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio, now eyeing a comeback, aiming to return to the United States Senate in 2026, according to sources familiar with his plans. Brown, who lost his bid for a fourth term last year, quickly becomes the Democratic frontrunner to face Republican Senator John Hustead, the former lieutenant governor who was appointed to fill the vacant seat left by Vice President J.D. Vance. Democrats who need to flip four seats to take control of the upper chamber next year view Brown as someone who can make Ohio competitive. Clearly, he's won many times there, despite its recent red shift. The former

Senator has been pushing his party to reconnect with working class voters. And it does feel Mike Barnacle like Senator Brown has the message for the moment, and he's not just coming around to it now. It's been the entire motivating thesis of his political philosophy is connecting to working people in Ohio. You know, Willie, Sherrod Brown, who obviously was in the United States Senate for a few terms, and he was focused every day of his life in the Senate on helping working people, helping them through legislation, whatever. He's one of the few Democrats I can think of who could answer

the following question out there in the campaign trail bumping into someone, a young woman, young mother, a young father, whatever, at a grocery store or at a gas station who would ask him as a candidate, what difference can you as a Democrat make for my life, in my life, for my children? He's one of the few Democrats I can think of who could really give an answer that would make a lot of sense. I don't know what's wrong with the Democrats that they can't talk to people or have difficulty talking to people,

but Sherrod Brown is not one of them. No, and he's certainly, as really noted, had a lot of success there in Ohio, but that's a state that has gotten very red in recent cycles, and though he has, I mean, universal name recognition in Ohio or pretty close, he's still going to,

that's going to be an uphill battle for him, Elizabeth. But Democrats are heartened. This is certainly a great recruitment. That's one thing. I mean, Senator Schumer, as a Democrat's leader there in the Senate has come under a lot of scrutiny in recent months for some of his legislative moves. But one thing he's always been good at is bringing in strong candidates, getting the best possible Ds out there on the line. That said, the map's still not

super favorable for Dems to get back the upper chamber next year. No, but this is a big win for Chuck Schumer. It's also a big win for Democrats, potentially. You know, Sherrod Brown did, of course, lose last time, but he ran, I see it's eight points ahead of the ticket. You know, he did much better than Kamala Harris. So there's, you know, he's the best bet that the Democrats have in Ohio, my home state, which is increasingly red. But, you know, Democrats are still in the urban areas. And it just gives Democrats a little bit of hope ahead of what's going to be some very tough, a very tough, tough map for the Senate in 2026. And by the way, he would only be replacing the current senator that he was, and he will have to run again in 2028 should he win.

All right, still ahead on morning, Joe. Mexico is sending more than two dozen cartel members to prison in the United States. We'll dig into the terms of that deal. Plus, we're getting a look at new video from the deadly mass shooting at Rob and Elementary School in Uvaldi, Texas. We'll dig into what this says about the delayed police response in that shooting. Morning Joe, we'll be right back. Before the top of the hour, new body cam footage from the horrific mass shooting at Rob Elementary School in Uvaldi, Texas is bringing more insight into the delayed police response at that shooting. The school system released the video following a lawsuit filed by NBC News and other organizations.

NBC News, National Correspondent Morgan Chesky, has the details. We warn you, some of the video is disturbing. Sir, this is our own-load of the School District Police. Can you please put your fire on down? New video capturing crucial moments inside Yuvaldi's Robb Elementary School after a gunman opened fire on May 24th, 2022. The district releasing hours of never-before-seen footage, showing a response caught amid confusion and chaos. At 11.40 a.m., just minutes after the shooter entered the school,

you can see officers treating his grandmother, the first victim, who IDed her own grandson as the gunman. Salvador Ramos. Apparently, he just shot his grandmother. Outside Rob Elementary, as precious time passed. Panicked parents heard off camera, shouting at authorities to do something. By 12 p.m., with dozens of armed officers lining hallways, the school's police chief, Peter Rodondo, began pleading with the gunman, barricaded inside a classroom. These are innocent children, sir. Please talk to me. Please talk to me, sir.

No response is ever heard. I need cover. You got more kids. Nearby, other officers tried to clear classrooms of terrified students and teachers. Go, pass, fast. Go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go. At 1208 p.m., the gunman's own aunt hurt begging authorities to shoot him. Get him. Get him.

Help us, help us. He's doing it because his mom and everybody is. Nearly an hour after that first gunshot, authorities shout questions back and forth looking for keys. They'd later find the door, unless. Unlocked. Painful minutes follow until 12.50 p.m. when a team of officers breached the classroom. With the gunmen dead, authorities frantically call for medical backup. The frightening scene unfolding and in one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history. NBC's Morgan Chesky with that report.

We're going to take a moment now to take a look at some of the other stories making headlines this morning. Mexico sent more than two dozen suspected cartel members to the United States yesterday. The Trump administration is putting growing pressure on Mexico to dismantle the country's powerful drug organizations. Last week, President Trump directed the Pentagon to prepare operations against Mexican drug gangs that have been designated global terrorist organizations. The White House has also tied tariffs on Mexico to the fentanyl trade. The nonprofit group that manages the Central Park is weighing in on the debate over horse-drawn carriages for the first time.

The Central Park Conservancy says it now supports a ban on the practice and is urging city leaders to follow suit. While horse-drawn carriages have been a fixture in Central Park since the 19th century, the Conservancy says it is, quote, no longer compatible with the realities of a modern, heavily used, and shared public space. The union that represents carriage drivers sharply criticize the move instead of ban could cost hundreds of jobs. And Beyonce has won her first Emmy Award, putting her one step

closer to an egot. The singer received the honor for Beyonce Bowl, the half-time show on Netflix's Christmas NFL game. The award was among the juries, which are determined by committees, and not by the regular voting process. Beyonce has won 35 Grammy Awards, but has yet to receive an Oscar and or a Tony. So we'll follow that. And Elizabeth Bue Miller before you go, I won't have you comment on Beyonce, but I'd love to know what you're watching today. Well, it's very early, but I'm heading to the Washington Bureau of the New York Times in downtown Washington. And I'm going to be looking for National Guard on the street. I'll be looking today throughout the day to see what they're doing.

The city, you know, we talked earlier about it's a political ploy of Donald Trump, but it's also a potential powder cake. And, you know, for the next 30 days, he owns crime in Washington, D.C. And so if there's, we'll see what, you know, I'm looking around to see what it's going to be like today.