Morning Joe - Oil prices rise amid renewed U.S.-Iran strikes

Episode Date: September 9, 2026

September 9, 2026 – 6am:U.S. strikes Iranian oil tankers after Tehran targeted Navy shipsOil prices rise amid renewed U.S.-Iran strikesMS NOW: Trump called for an Iran uprising. It didn’t happenRepublican Midterm Convention begins tonight, some vulnerable GOP candidates skipping the eventTrump drawing attention for ‘new account’ of what he says happened in the aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacksNFL Opening Night: Patriots vs. SeahawksU.S. Open: Shelton upsets Alcaraz in latest-ever finishSEC schedules vote on whether to expel LSU‘Be on that Hill’ by Seth Wickersham: New anthology on the last 26 years of American sports 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.

Yeah, as soon as I hugged him, I seen he was crying already, and I was like, man, I know. I've been there. I've been there twice, to be fair. Lost in five. Obviously, you know, I wasn't serving for the max to make semis, but he's young and he hasn't been there. And we're super tight. Like, we've always had great relationship. We laugh and joke all the time.

He's like one of my good buddies on tour and hurts it. I know how much that hurts. I know how much you wanted it today is something that you dream about. So I just told him, bro, I know, but you're going to be here so many more times, man. I'm going to be in a rock and tear when you do so. Francis Tiafo talking about his post-match hug with fellow American Alex Mickelson, who he eliminated yesterday at the U.S. Open after Mickelson was just a few points away from advancing to his first ever Grand Slam semifinal.

And you were there last time. I was there for the match after, but this one went so long that I walked into this incredible moment. last shot. Good morning. Welcome to Morning, Joe. It's Wednesday, September 9th, along with Joe, Willie, and me. We have the co-host of our 8 a.m. staff writer at the Atlantic, Jonathan Lemire. MS now National Security Reporter David Road and managing editor at the bulwark. Sam Stein is with us. All right. Sam's all ready to school. He does have one, you know. Prep school ends one day. One day we're all out in the cold, tough world. Sam, it's going to be okay.

Very sharp. The oldest prep school grad. He's adorable. He's not going to get into Dartmouth. He's next fall. You know what? Go big greens, Sam. You're going to love that orientation.

They take you on a camping trip. It's very nice. Very nice. Just to be clear, all you guys are talking simultaneously, and it's impossible to hear you. I have no idea what you're saying, yeah. That's what he does. But we can hear you loud and clear, Sam.

So, wait. Last night, a couple incredible matches. Again, the story of Tiafo, the fact that his father comes from Sierra Leone, and that he works on a construction project for a tennis center in Maryland. They like him. Say, hey, if you want to take care of the grounds, that's fine. He doesn't have the money for his kids to live anywhere. They live in an old office with him.

And he learns tennis. And here we are. He's now going into the semifinals of the U.S. Open. Willie, that is the American dream. A lot of people in the White House don't understand it, not getting politically here. They don't like these stories. They don't understand these stories.

They think these people from other countries should be kept out. No, no. This is America. This is what makes our hearts swell with pride to see that in America, anything is possible. His family were refugees from war in Sierra Leone, so they fled to the United States. His father, as you said, was a custodian at a tennis center. They built it out.

Tiafo and his twin brother lived there. Just took up tennis because it was there and look at him now in the semifinals of the U.S. Open with a chance to clear a hurdle. He hasn't been able to get over now. He will play in the semifinal. Shelton. Come on, man. That's going to be good. In a match that ended up 333 a.m. Eastern City and I were just leaving the orphanage.

That's right. We stopped by. We were in flushing anyway. Of course. Tumbling out of a power. Shelton wins, beats Alcaraz in five sets, matches four hours and 30 minutes. By the way, still a lot of people there, 3.30 in the morning. Impressive crowd.

Just an incredible match. So now we get an all-American semi-final. Tiafo Shelton guaranteeing, John, we get an American in the men's final this weekend. And long overdue, an American make that run. It's a mate Tiafo is such an extraordinary story, and that was such an incredible match. And yet, maybe not the best of the day. That's how good last night was, too. I will note, and not just to be a grumpy guy who has to get up early.

These matches start a little bit late. It's scheduled to start at 10.30. No, I know. It doesn't make any. That can't be good for television ratings. That can't be good to grow the sport. People are missing these matches. But yes, we talk about it every year.

The U.S. Open arguably is the best two weeks in the New York sports calendar, and it has more than lived up to the hype. We've got two Americans there, and we've got Americans alive on the women's side as well. I mean, imagine if you had one of those matches, prime time TFO. I know. And then that one, prime time. Tonight, everybody would be watching it. Even the semifinals, this Friday night,

the second men's semifinal will be over at midnight, one a and something like that. But on the women's side, Jessica Pagula advanced. So she's in the semifinals, has to play Sabalinka again. And you might get Cocoa golf. If she wins today, she could be in the semis. You know, it's crazy. They show the stat every year and every year,

I mean, for people that are a bit more casual tennis watchers like myself, They show the stat that no American has won a major since 2003. That's crazy. Yeah, and erotic. U.S. Open way back. Going on 25 years down. One year after year, incredible run. 2002, Willie wins the open.

Nobody saw that coming. We were eliminated very early in doubles, though. We were. We just didn't have the stamina. You should not have been smoking in between sets. Well, the problem wise, I walked into court and I had to cut off jeans and keep on drunk. T-Shark. You were reprimanded. I thought Sam won. Didn't Sam win?

Sam. He wasn't even blind. He was wearing a junior. He's still in the juniors. Next year, I think. We plan for Lane Kissing. Yeah, exactly. All right, let's get to the. He is grumpy today. Let's get to the news. Can we please?

The United States military says, it destroyed five Iranian oil tankers yesterday in response to Iran's recent attempted attacks on a U.S. warship, the latest back and forth comes as the war stretches into its seventh month. U.S. Central Command released this video of the strikes, saying they hit four of Tehran's tankers in the Gulf of Oman and one near Karg Island, a hub for Iranian oil exports. The statement said

the crews of the five vessels were told to abandon ship before the attacks. In response, Iran launched missiles toward American targets in Jordan. Jordan's military saying its air defense systems intercepted 18 ballistic missiles, while two others fell in unpopulated areas. This renewed cycle of strikes is one that may continue. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters yesterday during his troop to Colombia that the U.S. would respond every time Iran targeted its naval ships. All of this, sending oil prices back up, reaching $100 dollars a barrel this morning for the first time in months. You know, David, if the president's going to pursue the strategy he's going to pursue,

which is to really choke Iran off economically, and that's really his only good play left, this does make sense. I mean, he's hitting economic targets right now. And you're getting the first glimpses over the past couple of weeks of the Iranians starting to say, we've got to end this. this war, certainly the political leaders trying to get the Revolutionary Guard to understand that this economy is in full class. I mean, this is a crazy thing.

The Iranian, Iran's government was buckling because their economy was so bad in February. Yes. When this war began. Now imagine how terrible the economy is right now. And with these strikes, again, it's bad news for American consumers. rumors, but at the same time, this appears to be the only path this president or any president can go down that finds themselves in this quandary. It does seem to be a clear strategy, and it is having an impact. They've stopped all exports of oil from Iran in terms of taking

out these tankers. So Iran is trying again to escalate, this escalation dominance thing we talked about in the beginning of the war, where whenever the U.S. strikes something, they hit back even harder. But many people say this is the first consistent strategy in a while. you're going to see oil prices go up. Right. Hitting $100 a barrel. And essentially the Iranians think that Trump at some point is going to blink. He, and we'll talk about this more, but it's the same thing.

But I thought, knowing Donald Trump, as I've known him for a long time, a lot of other observers thought, it would have blinked a long time ago. He tried to blink. He tried to bribe the Iranians. And then he learned very quickly, they couldn't even be bribed for $500 billion. So at that point, what choice do you have? Yes. And I would just say the critical thing is that he stick to a clear message, the erratic messaging

where it's sort of, we're going to, you know, annihilate you as a civilization or we're going to, you know, they suddenly are going into peace talks. If he sticks with this embargo strategy, which I think is something the U.S. military has been pushing, that's the question is, can he be consistent, you know, for weeks and months ago? And, John, there was a moment before David Ignatius went on break. that David brought up yesterday where the president said, basically we're going to keep our head down. We're going to kind of low-key this and see what happens.

If you sort through all of the madness and all of the chaos that came after that to now, that's actually, if you look at what's been going on, that's sort of been this strategy as far as choking them off economically. Yeah, I mean, we're grading on the curve here. But in terms of message discipline, Trump has largely stuck to this idea, that it's going to be this economic chokehold and will hit as needed. I mean, we're not seeing tweets and say, peace is at hand. No.

Oh, my gosh, we have a piece still. It's going to be signed on Sunday. It's been a while since that. They've also stopped the talk of, like, wiping out their civilization, and we've had a praise be to Allah in a few weeks either. But the problem is it's still two competing goals here for this White House. On one hand, there is this economic strategy, which is going to be a longer-term play.

It's going to take a while to roll out the sanctions, this chokehold, because Tehran has shown a remarkable resilience so far with their economy. And frankly, they don't much care if their people are suffering. So that's one. That's going to take a while. The problem is the clock is sticking towards the midterms. And as David just said, this strategy, though it's probably his best play, though it's very well, some observers think this could work, it's going to keep oil prices high. And if there are these sporadic strikes, Willie, it's going to keep the war in the headlines, which is the last thing Republicans want now two months until voters go to the polls. You know that does Donald Trump? He's tried to turn the page for months on this war. I'm just looking over David's shoulder at the prices there.

Crude, $95 a barrel. Brent crude, $100 a barrel, Sam Stein. So obviously, this is an economic strategy at this point from the White House. But as the guys just said, is to underline it. By attacking those oil tankers, the price of oil goes up, making President Trump's domestic problems. even worse, making gas prices higher here for people going to the pump and making Republicans running for re-election this fall, making their job much more difficult. Yeah, and I don't disagree with anything that was said, but I guess the only question I have is, to what end are we doing this, right? What does the off-ramp actually look like? We had a memorandum of understanding that was pretty vague in terms of its objectives. Is the idea here regime change?

Is it weapons inspectors getting access to sites? Is it ending formally the nuclear ambitions? I mean, what is the actual endgame? I think that matters here because if we are going to do this long-term economic focus strategy, if we are going to just rest on an embargo, attack their oil tankers, and endure the pain at the pump, there has to be some sort of diplomatic offer. And from everything I've seen, it's unclear if there's actually diplomatic back channels happening, real diplomatic back channels, not the sort of talks here and there.

And also a stated clear list of objectives that we want to get done. After that, this is just a crisis and stasis, right? Right. It is. David, I would guess that looks, though, at the end, the straight opened, the status quo after the war that we had before the war. So Iran can't run around saying we've actually improved our standing economically since the war. That's number one. And number two, some sort of nuclear inspection.

and Donald Trump won't get rid of the Iranian nuclear program, but if they can go back to some sort of inspection regime, then he can say we won. Yes, and there are players, just since Sam's question, the Qataris are trying to work this out, the Pakistanis and the Omanis are as well. And you have a divide in the Iranian government. The hardliners do think that Trump will blink and be erratic,

and we are here because of five, six months of just mixed messaging. This strategy could have been settled on much sooner, and we'll see if the president can stick to him. And you're writing about the uprising the Trump called for in Iran never happened. Why? So, and this is more critical of the president. My apologies. But I talked to six current and former U.S. officials. And the president who started calling again for an uprising, it's sort of a microcosm for the entire war. It was completely rushed and there was sort of no thorough planning. These six officials called me this idea of an uprising in the way the U.S. approached it and the Israelis, to be fair, it was rushed,

amateurish, not realistic, flawed from the beginning, and a fantasy. And it's been a messaging problem with the president. He initially called for this in the February 28th speech for them to rise up. And then he starts changing his messaging immediately in March, where he's suddenly saying also that there's going to be an incursion by armed Kurds from Iraq. But then President Erdogan of Turkey pushes back against that and he sort of calls that off all of a sudden. He then sort of, after calling for Iranians to rise up, he says, well, we're not sure people should go out in the streets. And he correctly is warning about, you know, and the problem, of course, is the Iranian government

governing, I'm sorry, gunning people down. And so essentially this failed. It's just a microcosm of the president's messaging being off. And then there's a key question of what did Netanyahu promise here. Did the Mossad say, we're going to be able to quickly stoke a massive uprising? And it would have taken ending an internet blackout in Iran. you'd need some army units to switch over to the side of them and then this possible Kurdish incursion.

So it's just, again, a tragedy for the Iranian people that was a result of a rush to war and poor plan. You didn't have to look far, though, David. It had been, what, a month, six weeks before that, when young Iranians did take to the streets at the beginning of this year and were, by some estimates, gunned down in numbers up to 30 or 40,000. So did they not look at that and say,

well, an uprising, just because we've decapitated the top of the government, is not going to work here. There's one former CIA official who supports what the president is doing, wants to see this regime, you know, fall in Iran. But the moment was then in January. We didn't do that because our carriers and other forces were in Venezuela. We hadn't, we couldn't do it then. We didn't have enough forces.

So it's, again, this kind of going to war too quickly, overestimating what we can achieve, overestimating what our service members can carry out, and instead, you know, fewer things over longer, times a clearer focus will lead to more success. All right, President Trump is set to deliver the keynote speech and closing remarks tonight at the first of its kind Republican midterm convention in Dallas. The two-day event is part of an effort to mobilize voters for November's elections that will

decide if the GOP stays in control of Congress. Thank you for the music. Night one is expected to highlight Republican policies. Wait. Patrons. The Patriots are winning on NBC. Oh, it's Patriots and the Seahawks. Rematch.

Oh, my God. This is a rematch of the Super Bowl in prime time. This is a great. Mike Torrico on the call. Oh, that's Fariko. No one's going to watch the NFL. Well, you know, so what you're going to have here is beta males watching the Republican convention in Alphamels. Wait, and this is like an oxymoron or something.

A lot of beta males participating in the convention. They're going to be talking about Republican policies on health care. Really? that's going to be great. Are they going to remind people that so much health care was taken away from them? They can't afford it and women don't have access to life-saving health care? Probably so. That's going to be a great convention.

And do you think who's going to come out and play the role of Tim Burton and become sterilized? Or a picture show and seeing sweet transvestite. Great platform. There's so many, so many Republican senators that can fill that. Talk about rural hospitals. That's a good one, too. I'm sorry. You wanted to go to Vaughn, I believe, but I just.

No, we were talking about Republicans and their platform. Being beta males and the Rocky Horror pictures. That's probably going to be the opening of the whole convention. That'd be smart. Yeah. It's on brand. It would be on brand. Yeah.

I mean, they tried to keep it off brand. So. I'm alpha. I'm alpha. But we're going to be watching. Oh, yeah. Football. It's America, maybe.

Oh, my God. So how do you? Take away your health care. The Patriots will be good. Yeah. They bolster their offense. But I admit last year, They were the product of a pretty soft schedule.

That's not the case this year. It's a brutal run. Not as brutal run as a coach had of an offseason. I don't know what you're talking about. That was a brutal run. We had an distraction-free off-season focused solely on the game. I don't know what you're talking about. But, yes, opening up in the other team's building, the team that just beat you in the Super Bowl as they raised the banner, I mean, that's motivating, but that's also, that's a tough lot.

Especially that's a tough one. Back to Texas tonight. Go ahead. Let's go back to. They could also in their platform on healthcare talk about how they don't want people to get vaccinated. That's a good one, too. This could be a fun night. It's really crazy.

In Dallas. In Dallas. I got the program. All my betas are in Texas. Yeah. Really? Like, they're going there. Fun.

Yeah? No, they are going there. And then we get, we get, you know, this was so funny. They're all like attacking Tala Rico. Oh, he's beta. You know, like, whatever. He's a talented guy. Tala Rico.

He's running against maybe the worst. politician. If you ever seen a worse politician on a national level, indicted by his own party, Ken Paxton. But Talarico, he's moving people. I think Republicans have a real blind spot there. It's going to be a close race. Texas, again, usually fools, golds for Democrats. We'll see if this year's different. You should say Talarico handles the dumb nickname questions better than anyone I've seen do it. Maybe the President Obama or some others, but the way he just completely completely deflects and said dumb nicknames aren't going to bring you health care. Love it.

I'm going to lower prices, all that stuff. All right. Let's go to Dallas. MS now, senior White House reporter. Vaughn Hilliard is there. Vaughn, there's been so much consternation about this. Should Republicans go? Will they go?

Donald Trump's speaking on both nights. What do you expect to see there in the arena? Right, Willie. This is kind of a byproduct of the 10-year story that we've been covering of Donald Trump, shaping the Republican Party in its image. Tonight is going to be a byproduct of that. And the fact that you have vulnerable Republicans, John Houston from Ohio, Mike Rogers from Michigan, you have Ken Paxson trying to hold on and win a Senate seat here in Texas,

all coming here. And that is because they understand and they believe that they need Donald Trump's help in convincing a swath of the American public to come and vote over the next 55 days. If you take the state of Michigan, early ballots go out in just 10 days from now. But it's not just those candidates like Mike Lawler, another House vulnerable candidate, that are here in Dallas, but you also have the likes of Scott Besson, the Treasury Secretary. You have Todd Blanche set to deliver a speech here. This is more than just a political campaign event. This is an administration event coming off the heels of an increase in tension in Iran, of the rise

and gas prices of inflation and food and domestic prices, continuing to remain high as the president escalates this trade war with Canada. But I just got to tell you guys, walking into this arena here in the heart of Dallas here this morning, you don't see pictures of Mike Rogers lining the concourse that folks, the thousands of folks are going to be walking past. You see an image of Donald Trump, an image of Donald Trump, an image of Donald Trump. And our credentials here. And liberalogy. Everybody's got different pictures of Donald Trump.

And so it's more of a Donald Trump show than it is any of these House candidate, House or Senate candidates. Wow. Besson. Wow. Besson. What's going to be? What's he going to do that?

You can't give a speech attacking. Lichtenstein. Right? Or maybe Luxembourg? I don't know. Get some jabs in. Yeah. You always fight people at dinner parties in Washington and stuff.

I almost beat him up. It's so rich. Don't you love forests? I do too. MS now, senior White House reporter Von Hillie. Hey, Vaughn, let me ask you. Yeah. Who do you like tonight?

The Patriots or the Seahawks? I think we're going to stick out west. We'll go with the Seahawks. But Dallas, they're actually not going to be here in town. I know they're going over to be across the Hudson over at the Meadowlands. So Dallas, they get to focus on one thing here, and that's this. Yeah. Are you an Arizona Cardinals fan?

I am an Arizona Cardinals fan for what that's worth. We get one win this year. I think we're going to be in a decent place. Okay. Well, we can talk. I'm a Falcons fan. So, God bless you, my son. God bless her. All right.

Thank you, Vaughn. Still ahead on Morning Joe. President Trump has added a new claim to his disputed account of what took place on September 11th following the terror attacks in Lower Manhattan. What did he say? Please, this is so. Did he stop a airplane by its nose like Superman? What is he talking about here? Why is he making up stuff?

Is that what happened? Yeah. Plus, the fight over Missouri is congressional. lines became chaotic yesterday amid two competing court orders. We'll run through that legal fight. And as we go to break, a quick look at the travelers' forecast this morning from Acuweathers, Bernie Rayno. Bernie, how's it looking? Mika, it's going to be a wet morning from Detroit toward Chicago. Some thunderstorms this afternoon, though. St. Louis toward Indianapolis, your acuather forecast calling for a bit more humidity along East Coast with increasing clouds.

afternoon thunderstorm, Burlington, Albany, Buffalo. We'll have the usual thunderstorms, Florida, and East Texas. The rest of the southeast is just hot and dry travel delays. We're going to have them today in Miami and across the Florida Peninsula, but not along the east coasts. They help you make the best decisions and be more in the know. Download the Accuether app today. Is that you?

That's Eddie Silverman. He's my brother-in-law. He died on September 11th. Oh my gosh. Oh, I'm so sorry. Yeah, terrible. He was in the building? No, no.

He was Uptown on 57th Street. He got hit by a bike messenger. It's awful. Uptown? Yeah, yeah. Bike messenger. Hit him. What a shame.

Later on, Larry says let's roll. And the full-scale fight breaks out between the two. So perhaps out of the plot from curb your enthusiasm, there's a reason we showed that clip. President Trump yesterday gave a new account of what he says happened in the aftermath of the September 11th terror attacks. Speaking at a ceremony yesterday honoring those killed, Trump said he went to lower Manhattan shortly after the attacks

and claimed two firefighters physically carried him to safety when a nearby building appeared ready to collapse. I'll never forget two firemen, we thought it was coming down on top of us and two firemen, big, strong guys, and I'm not the smallest guy in the world. They grabbed me under the arms, they got to get out of here. And they literally lifted me up. This is not easy to do.

I'm big. They lifted me up and they started running with me. I said, fellas, I can run myself. But they were amazing. But they thought it was coming down. It didn't come down. Wait, what in the world? Trump has made similar claims about his presence at ground zero for years.

Yet there is no evidence supporting the account that firefighters carried him from the site. A photograph of Trump dated September 18, 2001, has also circulated online as supposed evidence. He was heavily involved in the recovery effort, though accounts of his role at the site have been disputed. Of course, we're coming upon, wow, is it the 25th? Wow, anniversary of 9-11. That's great. Sam Stein, your thoughts on the president's accounts? I mean, I have questions. When they picked him up and carried him, was it like under each shoulder? Did one of them grab the ankles and the other one grabbed the arms? Like, what is he talking about here?

How did this happen? I would love some photographic or video evidence. And on a more serious note, it's like, that's kind of blasphemous in a way, right? Yeah. To put himself at the center of the, it's very on brand, of course, to put himself as the central character in this tragic event. But he's done this for years, and there's just no evidence to substantiate the claims. Now, he did go down to the site afterwards. There's definitely video evidence of that.

But to add on these flourishes that, you know, the building was about to collapse and these two guys had to lift him up and run him out of there, it's so unnecessary. And it really is, frankly, demeaning to the people who were there, who did die, who did flee further safety. And the fact that he doesn't know, the fact that he doesn't know that, the fact that he can't comprehend that. Or maybe he does and he still tells these fibs anyway, it really says a lot about the guy. Yeah, I mean, when you think about Dave, what people actually experienced that day, and he did come out yesterday in a post where he attacked people who were criticizing him yesterday for the story and saying it wasn't the day of. It was later.

But just to be in the mindset, we're talking about 9-11, which is so sacred to most of us and to insert yourself somehow into the story, we know infamously he was in Midtown Manhattan on September 11th. He called into Channel 9, WWOR, was talking through it for 45 minutes and said, well, now my building 41. Wall Street is the tallest in lower Manhattan. That was his immediate reaction to the story. Also told, he was giving an honor yesterday to the man with the red bandana, Wells Crowther, who we found out afterward rescued so many people and ultimately died that day. And he paused to say, he's more famous than I am now. I don't like that. He's more famous than I am. Just this inability to feel a sacred moment and to insert himself into it. He was in Trump Tower when he gave that radio interview. That's four miles from ground zero, four miles. And then I,

I was there. Several of us were there that day. I was standing two blocks away as the buildings burn. When the South Tower came down, I ran for my life. And then when the second one came down again, I was there all day. I work with a photographer at Grounds. You think of all those workers who were searching for bodies. He died of cancer several years ago. His name was Ed Keating. He took this amazing picture of a T-set covered in dust. T-sets now in the 9-11 museum. He's gone, you know, because he spent weeks and months there documenting the cleanup. So it is. I think, you know, insulting. And you have thousands of Americans who died in Afghanistan. There hasn't been a major terrorist attack on this country in 20 years. That's to their credit. So it's extraordinary to have a president making this claim. And that last, that picture of him, that's September 18th. That's a week later. That's 40 Wall Street. That's many, many blocks from Ground Zero. You couldn't get in. Jonathan, I know you were there. Also, Mika. This is just false.

Yeah, and Mika was down there. By the way, on cancer, victims coming out of 9-11. I saw a report yesterday. I'm sure all of you did too. More people have died of cancer following 9-11 that were on the site, around the site, then died on that day. And, of course, the government lying through their teeth to people telling them it was safe when they were down there.

Mika was down there from the beginning, ran down, had just been hired by C. CBS News ran from 57th Street all the way down there. And was like you, when the building, first building collapsed, turned around with her co-worker and ran to find shelter. And so, I don't have to even ask you whether you saw Donald Trump down there. You were down there for what, two weeks, three weeks straight? Like five. Five weeks straight? Yeah.

Five weeks. straight. And what's interesting is, and I'm just curious, just on a personal note, all these people died of cancer. You from day one, you wrapped a cloth around your mouth and nose. You just instinctively knew. Well, we ran, Byron Pitts and I ran from that rolling cloud of debris when the tower came down. And you just, you think about it, that entire building is in there, everything. And so it didn't seem safe and we ended up actually wearing gas masks at times during our coverage and just took them off to do our reports. But yeah, there was a lot of concern, especially for the people who worked for months and months and months in the pit. They suffered long-term injuries. I mean, there's so many,

so many incredibly tragic stories that came out of that day and the thousands of people who just didn't go home on that beautiful, beautiful first day of school feeling September morning. I can't imagine making up stuff about it. I just, that is as low as it gets. And John, you were... That's needy. You were down there, obviously, as well. On the side of this, that more people have now died of cancer from being down there

than actually on the day of the attack itself, the government, the federal government, everybody lied about this. They all said it was safe, not to worry about it. Thank God, Mika was wearing a mask and some other people were wearing masks down there. But those who didn't, chances are very good. They got cancer.

And I guess Mom Dani has ordered the release of documents showing how much the government lied. Yeah, that's the story that Willie just held up. The City Hall this week is releasing a trove of documents, thousands upon thousands, concerning the air quality at Ground Zero in the days and weeks, months after September 11th, and they were not forthcoming at the time. Yes, there were some warnings at time. Mayor Giuliani once urged people to wear masks, but those warnings were sporadic. A lot of people

didn't. I was down there, not as long as Mika, but I was down there for some time as well. I had a mask for part of it. There were, you know, there are now thousands of people who have died, and people who are still very sick to this day. That number is only going to grow. People who have gotten sick from cancer because of their time there at, at, ground zero. It is hard to believe it is 25 years. It is not hard to believe, sadly, that President Trump will try to make himself part of that story in a way that was simply not true. We're going to talk more about the 25th, 25 years later after 9-11 with Hillary Clinton, who's going to join us tomorrow morning. We're going to take a brief break. We'll have more news for you.

Morning Joe continues in just a moment. Life shot in New York City. The 2026 NFL regular season kicks off tonight for the first time since 2016. Opening night is a rematch of the Super Bowl. Bowl, the defending champion Seahawks, hosting the New England Patriots, kickoff 820 Eastern on NBC. Can I just say, you know, last year throughout the entire season, of course, our wonderful computer picked the top five teams throughout the entire year. It was amazing.

The Seahawks, I kind of draw a parallel between the Seahawks and Spain and the World Cop, right? Nobody really at the beginning said, this is the team. Oh, they're great. look at all the stars. You know, but by the end, you're going, oh, my God, this is a team. They play together as a team. They think, move, breathe as a team.

I mean, the Seahawks were an extraordinary example of a team that won by being a team, not a collection of superstars. This is really inspiring. Great defense. I think part of that was a lot of people weren't sold on Sam Darnold. Yeah. We've seen him be good, but we've both seen him be bad, and he was good all season. was great through the playoffs.

They won the Super Bowl. They played a night. Joining us now, Pulitzer Prize when he hosts a Pablo Torrey finds out MS now. Contritor, Pablo Torre, and senior writer for ESPN, Seth Wickersham. He's author of the new book, Beyond That Hill, stories from the summits of sport, which comes out later this month. Guys, good to see you both. I'm tired, man. Did you stay up and watch?

I fell asleep. US Open, we're talking. During Alcarat Sheltin, but I'm enjoying the post game show because I ended the 3.30, and you roll right into this. Before we talk about, let's talk about what happened last night at the U.S. Open. I mean, just extraordinary. First of all, Tiafo and then Shelton. Teyafo was dramatic enough, and I apologize for postponing America's pastime by talking about the tennis. But when you have a thing that ends at 3.30, Mika, and it starts at 11, what a failure of programming scheduling.

And yet part of the myth that you get to enjoy because Carlos Alciras is. the best. The best. Speaking of great things coming out of Spain. Yeah. And he gets upset by an American who gets to now help ensure that there will be, in fact, an American in the final, the men's final of the U.S. Open. And that's no small thing at, you know, Arthur Ratch Stadium. So a delight. And no doubt. I mean, the U.S. Open understands that New York at night, like those matches are special. That's the magic. But night, I'm just going to put it out there. That could be 7 p.m. or 8 p.m. It doesn't have to be midnight every time. This show is particularly body. I was there. I had to leave.

It was impossible. Came right from flushing. I would have. Straight from flushing. But they were, I mean, these guys are barfing into their towels. So do we have a chance to win for the first time since 2003, win a major?

I think this might be it. If not now, then when? So, you know, all of them, then who? That's right. C-se-Puei, as they say. Of course. Willie, that is what. they say. Yes, I guess so. Let's talk about football. No offense to the U.S. Open. We're here

now. It's football season. What do we think about the matchup tonight, Seth? Super Bowl rematch. Yeah, it's weird to have a Super Bowl rematch happen so soon. There's a lot going on in Seattle. Obviously, they have new owners. Vinod Kosovoz bought the team for $9.6 billion. This offseason, the league was hoping to get $10 billion. They settled for $9.6. And, you know, I think that, like, walking into that stadium in that atmosphere as defending Super Bowl champions would be hard for anybody to come

into, but especially the Patriots having just been kind of clocked by that team, hit it right into a bus saw. I think it's going to be tough. As soon as the Patriots were mentioned, every time I come on, I have to deliver bad Patriots.

What's Seth? I'm going to open the door even wider for you to go through it. Oh, here we go. And this won't even be about what's happened to Tom Brady and its fashion choices, lifestyle choices. Life choices. These life choices. We'll just talk about the Patriots.

Were the Patriots, were the Patriots, the recipients of good fortune last year because of an easy schedule? Or is this a team that's going to be solid again and make the playoffs again this year? They'll be solid again. I mean, look, they benefited from what they benefited from. I think it helped them a lot that the team they played in the A.F. championship game lost at the starting quarterback, three plays before the end of its previous game. But they're going to contend this year. I mean, they have good players. They have, they just signed Christian Gonzalez to a big contract. I think Drake May will keep improving.

The coaching staff is intact. Nothing happened to that coaching staff over the off season. Nothing happened. I think it'll matter with the game. Are you doing the Patriots? Yeah, no, it's a boring. Very quiet. Very quiet. Yeah. But like, look, they're going to there. But I think the interesting thing is every year there's a team like the Patriots that kind of comes out of nowhere, like Seattle last year that you were talking about that isn't necessarily the preseason favored. And I'm curious who that'll be this year. Yeah. First, I do think the Pats will be good. They got an AJ Brown, they had Romero Dobbs. Like the weapons around Drake, who I believe in, they're going to be very good. The defense should be good. I'm glad they

locked up Gonzalez. No doubt. They'll take a step back this year because they don't have that schedule. And you're right, Seth, that part of the beauty of the NFL are these teams come out of nowhere. In fact, it's really rare to have one team be deemed the prohibited favorite. But we have one this year. The Rams are considered the team because they traded for Miles Garrett. Aaron Dawton came out of retirement. They are considered with Stafford and the weapons they have. They're considered the favorites.

But those favorites don't tend to win. Super teams don't always work in the NFL. Well, it worked last time with the Rams. I mean, as we all remember. And in the book, I actually have a story about Sean McVie. I spent a ton of time with him that offseason after he had won at all. And I think the interesting thing, I mean, Sean is a tortured soul and he can go to some dark, dark, dark places. And I think that it's a particular challenge when you go through a season and every win is a relief.

And not rather than just kind of enjoying it. And I'm curious to see, he's done a lot of work on himself, both as a coach and as a man. And I'm curious to see how that plays out this year. Well, he was threatening to retire. Before the Super Bowl. Right. So just Aaron Donald, I'm out, I'm back. Sean McVeigh, I'm out, I'm back.

And we're the best. And so there is this like simmering, are all you guys okay? Like what's going on here? You've got to be atop the sport in order to feel satisfied in any regard, which is Brady-esque. I might even say that. This is the annual season of Cowboys hype as well. They've become like a sexy Super Bowl for a lot of people. Every single year we have Cowboys.

Poor Cowboys fans. Is it at all different this year, maybe? I mean, constitutionally, I, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again. expecting different results, as they often say. I don't have an argument as to why that should be any different this year other than, yes, there is a strong team that's going to enter that tunnel and they will do some Cowboys stuff and we will not be surprised when they do. Do you have a different view of that?

I think the Cowboys are the great team to love in August and they're pretty predictable. I mean, let's just be honest. I mean, they are what they are. I mean, I think that like the LA Chargers, that's kind of my best group pick. Did the Atlanta? Falcons? Oh, you need to check your registration. By the way, I'm just curious.

Are you going to be predicting the Chiefs won the Super Bowl every week like you did last year? I would like to. Travis is married. He's going back. I would like to ask the computer to please erase some of the files. Yeah. A long time talking about. You saved the Chiefs in a very long time.

Yeah. They're not looking like good, I should say. Yeah. The Chief's relative. I think that era may be over, yeah. Speaking of going to dark, dark, dark, dark places, as you said about McVeigh, let's talk about Lane Kevin. The SEC, Willie, this is crazy.

The SEC is actually talking about taking a vote to kick LSU out of the SEC. In all the years that we followed SEC football, I can't remember. So the presidents and the chancellors of SEC schools are going to meet tomorrow to vote on whether to kick LSU out of the SEC, Two-thirds of the 16 school conferences teams would have to approve the measure for that to pass. LSU, Pierce have given up, though, on the effort to add two players who were in NFL training camps. ESPN reports the team has finalized its roster now, adding two other players instead of those former NFL rookies, eliminating the chance they could suit up for the Tigers this season. So Seth, maybe through all the bluster and the talk that Lane Kiffin sees this,

and it's like, okay, I've pushed this far enough, maybe I'll step back from the brink. But the SEC, you know, they put a rule in place, then they got the court in Baton Rouge to say, no, Lane, you're good. Take the NFL players. So the SEC says, okay, if you want to blatantly and wantonly break our rules, we're going to vote to kick you out of the league. It's not going to happen, right? They're not going to throw LSU out of the SEC, but sending a clear message. Sending a clear message and also just like, has anyone been in a collective league's heads like Lane Kiffin has been in in 2026? I mean, this is the year of him trolling almost all of college football.

but especially the SEC. It'd be interesting to see. I would love to know if he was ever actually going to play those players or if he was just doing it to force opponents to prepare for them or whatever he was going to do. Lane Kiffin, it's funny what he's doing. College football has always been, in terms of wanting to have its cake and eat it too, hypocritical.

We're not a professional sport, but we generate billions of dollars. Lane Kiffin is one of the largest hypocrites in sports. And so the idea of the mirror being held to pseudo-professionalism by a guy who has bounced between the NFL and college and is constantly doing things to wear the costume of professionalism. I mean, Joe, he walked out with Theo Vaughn and Livy Dunn and all its influencers, dapping up people.

Like, he himself is a presidential candidate in an era in which, by the way, he is treated as such. And so I get the resentment. It's justified. And it's also a mirror back to everyone else who's trying to do the same thing, but less obnoxiously. And that degree is the politics of us. I said it after Dion Sanders won his first game in Colorado and was jumping around and yelling, I told you so, I told you so.

Take the win. Keep your head down. Beep here, Bryant, and said, those bull boys, you lost by 65 points and it's all my fault. And just keep going. I mean, just sticking your head up like that does not. Just does not pay off a spree. especially in the SEC.

It's just a different level of football. They're not Big Ten football, obviously, anymore, but it's a different level of football. They will target him. He lives on it, though. He did that halftime interview, which the SEC actually cited in the statement yesterday with Holly Rowe, they were up by 30 at halftime.

He said, imagine how much it would be if we had pro players. I mean, he was winking and joking, but they said, see, he's just the antithesis. Again, I will say a bear Bryant or Nick Saban. It's not how you do it. Give us a story to leave with. One that seems relevant to the start of this NFL season. There's a story that Don Van Nata and I, my colleague, my frequent colleague did on Jerry Jones and Roger Goodell. It's about, it was in 2017. It was crazy to think that Jerry Jones at the time was thinking about suing the NFL to block Roger Goodell's contract

extension. They were so mad at each other. And he was so frustrated with the way that Roger Godell was running the league. And you just saw a couple days ago, new four-year deal for Roger that'll take him till he's age 72. He's not going anywhere anytime soon. And Jerry Jones is one of the chief champions of that deal. Wow. All right. Senior writer for ESPN, Seth, Wickersham. Thank you, his new book. Be on that Hill. Stories from the Summits of Sport is available September 22nd. It's very good to have you on the show. Congratulations. MS now contributor, Pablo. Tory, thank you as well. Thanks, guys. Thanks, thanks, I think.

Okay, coming up, we'll dig into President Trump's plummeting approval rating as Americans continue to voice concerns about rising costs in the state of the U.S. economy just ahead of the midterms. Morning Joe is coming right back.