Morning Joe - Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro calls out RFK Jr. amid measles outbreak

Episode Date: September 18, 2026

September 18, 2026: 8 am — Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro calls out RFK Jr. amid measles outbreak 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.

Say Smith and Jones. You know, that's about it. It's weird being on a TV show and they say leave. It is. That's an old joke. Liev. Liev. Liev.

They say leave. The way we used to mispronounce Keeve. Keeve. Keev. Steak Kiev. We say Kiv. You do know we're live, right? Right now?

Yeah. Oh, we are live on television. Oh, we are live. That makes it much easier. That makes it much easier. We can't fix this in post. No. Thank you.

No. There's a delay, right? No. Oh, okay. We used to have a seven second delay. Oh, shoot. Because I used to say a lot of words I shouldn't say. You still say them, which just nobody seems to care anymore.

They don't care anymore. It's like the number of just... The great moment, though, is when I said that, we had a seven second delay. It's still didn't catch it. Alex went like this. It was for chopper four instead of the seven second delay. So we got a great shot in New York. Yeah.

That was about it. Yeah. You may recognize our next guy. Lee have from his role as Ray Donovan from the long-running showtime series, newspaper editor Marty Barron, the Oscar-winning film, Spilite. You're great. That one. Yeah, I love that one.

You're great in everything, especially morning show. I couldn't help but notice you were trapped by John Heilman. You were like in the green room and he wouldn't shut up, right? How did that make you feel? It's familiar. It's very familiar. This is sort of how it goes when I'm when I get together. with John. Those are how our conversations go. But I'm good at, I'm good at, I'm good at nudging my way in.

Good. You know, I want to talk about your show and I want to talk about everything else that you've done that's so great. But I want to talk about what you want to talk about because it's what I want to talk about and that works really well, which is Ukraine. Yeah. I do. You go back to the night after the invasion and you see Zelensky and his cabinet. on social media. And I'm telling you, somebody that spent his entire life reading history and looking at heroic moments,

don't you feel like that's something our grandchildren are going to look back and see that moment and think of it as Churchillian? That's exactly why I'm here. You know, a lot of people think that I'm involved in Ukraine because of my heritage. I have grandparents and great grandparents

from Eastern Europe. Poland and Ukraine. But it really was the night after that, the night after the full-scale invasion, I'm sitting on the couch with my children. I've been on a television show for the past eight years, and I'm trying to show them who I am, what my values are. And when that comes on the screen, and I see the idea that we would be involved in a ground war in this age, it was a stunner to me. And I just felt not because of my Ukrainian ancestry, but because I am American

and because the values that they're fighting for, for me define what it is to be American. You know, Dr. Brzynski was born on the border between Poland and Ukraine. A lot of his family was in leave. Did I say that right? I'm disappointed that Mika wasn't here because I wanted to talk to her about that. Yeah, I know. I know. Everybody's disappointed when I show it.

I don't know. Yeah, but she sends her best. But the family, it's so personal to the family still. It was so personal to Dr. Brzezinski. Talk about, talk about what you're seeing now and how for you and your family, for the Brzezinski's history is never. history. There's always the belief and the understanding that what happened before could happen again. Yeah. Well, look, a lot of, because I had made this film about being Ukrainian and everything is illuminated, people came to me and said, how can we help? And I had no idea. I assumed the sort of the

big international NGOs like Red Cross and UNICEF and things like that were the best way. And then met some friends who helped me start Blue Check, which is a way of vetting and funding local Ukrainian NGOs, which we've found over the course of this crisis, is really the best way to support the Ukrainians if people want to support them. So what we do is we partner with about 30 groups on the ground, and you're seeing some of them right now. Really quickly while you're talking. So specifically, somebody's at home watching, they want to help the Ukrainians blue check. Yeah.

It's like bluecheck.com. www.w.w.w.bluchec.com. Diw. We vet and verify Ukrainian NGOs. NGOs like the one you're looking at right there, voices of children. That run right there is Zaparuka. They provide dachas or homes for families who are living with children who are going through pediatric oncology, cancer treatments.

These are all things that, you know, in the civilian, in the civil sector are struggling. They're struggling with because they're countries at war. Voices of Children is an organization that works with children who have been displaced. Apparently there are almost 2 million children that have been displaced living outside of Ukraine now and then displaced in places like Denezsk where they're... How many have been kidnapped by Putin? We work with an organization, Kuleba, he's called Save Ukraine. The last number I heard was around 18,000, but some people are saying it's closer to 20,000. It's unbelievable.

I met with a group of teenagers while I was there who had just been rescued by Kulaba's organization. And these are the kinds of people that we support. And I was talking to those kids about what they saw as a future for themselves. And it was extraordinary, some of the responses. At one point when I was at Voices of Children, an air raid alarm went off, which are more frequent than ever. Now you get about eight to ten of them a day. And some of those are ballistic now, so there's often not time for them to react.

But this, fortunately, we had time. And I spent about a half hour in a shelter underground with these three teenage girls and talking to them about what they wanted out of their lives. when this was over seemed like a good idea. And one of the women there, Olga, said that she wanted to become an attorney. And I said, really, what kind of an attorney? And she said, well, as if I were stupid. She said, most civil rights, of course, to prevent this sort of thing from happening.

And that's what I saw that was really inspiring to me when I was in Ukraine. Is their response to this, how much they're able to do with very little? And I don't know if any of you saw the op-ed that Eric Schmidt had in the Post, watching Post. But he describes how Russia's catching up with Ukraine's innovation and how we're all very worried about this winter and the next year or so because that seems to be the case. And I think he's accurate in that.

But I'm also really inspired by their response and what they've been able to do. and that they keep stepping up to the plate for us. You know what I mean? It's incredible for everybody. And not just for the United States, for Poland, for Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, for all of the countries that are under threat from Putin every day. It's a point of personal privilege here about this thing,

which is that I think a lot of people, when you see some actor, musician or artist who gets involved in these kind of things, people have this really immediate reaction, which is like, you know, dilettance, whatever. This is like the least dilettante thing I've ever seen anybody get involved in. I mean, they have started this thing. It's like, I'm going to do a thing about that vets organizations. It's like not glamour work, right? And you've been, and it's like the least glamorous, and you've been on the ground a ton.

I just love me to talk a little bit about how many times you've back to Ukraine over the course of the war. It's like a lot now. And what you've seen as you've spent more and more time there on what you've learned about Zelensky, what you've learned about the course of this war. You've been saying to me since it's about a year in, they're going to win. Nobody should doubt this they're going to win with a degree of confidence that almost no one I've known has had and has never wavered. So just talk about what informs that. I think it's like proof of concept stuff for me. You know, when you get into these situations where the odds seem overwhelming or, I mean, you know, in our own country right now,

trying to wade your way through the polarizing political melee that's going on right now, It seems like the solution, for me at least, and I'm inspired by the Ukrainians in this regard, is to kind of localize and isolate things. Like, what do I care about what matters to me and what do I need to get done? And for me, I think that if I could say anything about President Zelensky, that's what I admire about him. He's gone through a lot. He's dealing with a lot, the corruption issues and all the other stuff that he's struggling with right now, particularly in terms of relating to this administration.

He's handling it very well, I think. And what he does is he bites off bite-sized chunks. And I think that that's what I'm inspired by, in my interactions with the Ukrainian people, is their innovation and their ability to look at, okay, what do we need to address right now to survive this moment? What do we need to address to deal with this issue on the battlefield? And whether or not our administration wants to accept the help, we've now come to understand that they've really become innovative experts in things like air defense and food insecurity. And look, the Saudis certainly aren't turning it down.

Well, the Saudis aren't turning it down. The Emirates aren't turning it down. Months ago, they were getting Ukrainians all across their country to help out. And, Molly, our administration's still too proud to go to the best. And right now it's the Ukrainians who understand how to do this best. Yeah, I mean, and I actually had a question about this. administration, which is they have under the, under Doge, the richest man in the world, Elon Musk, they've cut USAID and foreign aid because any number of reasons.

Are you seeing that on the ground? 100%. I mean, you've got to realize that in 2025, when, when USAID got gutted, it left this $637 million hole. And there was no way that the private sector was going to be able to fill that by itself. But what we found is that the Ukrainians are doing it. And that's the thing that it's just hard for me to swallow that, you know, for me, this all sort of begins around our interest in nuclear nonproliferation.

And the Budapest memorandum in 1994, when we asked them to give up the third largest nuclear arsenal in the world in the interest of nuclear nonproliferation, they agree. And we solemnly swear, as do the Russians, to protect their sovereignty, protect the sovereignty of their borders. And here we are, first 2014 and now 2022. And so if we're not convinced by the legal and moral obligation, I think the piece that doesn't sit well with me is what you're talking about is when I first saw this invasion,

the values that they're fighting for and the ideas, not to mention. They're fighting for Western values. And this is a great irony. The people that go around chirping about Western civilization and Western democracy and you can't say Western

democracy anymore and da-da-da. This is a fight for Western liberal democracy. This is the border. Where is that border going to be? Is it going to be in between West and East Germany?

Is it going to be in Poland? Is it going to be in Ukraine? That's what this fight's all about. So the very people that talk about these values, that talk about Western democracy, are asleep at the switch right now in America. It's a gateway to Western Europe. I mean, that's what they're defending, really. Yeah, and certainly many in Kiev, as you all know, bracing for what could be a tough winner. One note on your day job.

You are also starring the upcoming Apple TV series Nocturn. Tell us a lot. Nocturn is There's kind of a hard turn. Yeah, that's a... It's a wonderful show on Apple. The amazing Stephen Graham, Zazi Beats. It's a thriller, a homicide detective chasing... I play a homicide detective chasing a serial killer.

And it's a 10-part series on Apple coming out in late October. All right. So, two camera. I know you've done this before. Yeah. How can people watching who want to help help? Well, Blue Check vets, local NGOs. We have pro bono vetting from Integrity Risk International and Ropes and Great.

And so you could, we get 90 cents on the dollar. So if you want to donate, please go to www. combe. And we'd be happy to take your donation. Thank you. All right. Yeah. Thank you so much. Thank you. We really appreciate you being here. I will let me know you were bitterly disappointed that I was here in place of. No, I wanted to talk about her dad. I thought he was a pretty

impressive guy. Have you read Ed Luce's biography? No, I haven't, but you need to do that. It's a, it's just an extraordinary story. That's a wonderful. I think you'll, I think you'll love it. All right. Thank you so much. Thank you. And thank you for the work that you do. Thank you. On this issue. Still add, we have Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro. He's calling out the government for its lack of action and putting up AI guardrails. And he's going to be with us live coming up next to discuss that much more straight-down morning show. Quite little downtown there of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. You're right. Friday morning there in the Keystone State. Amid a deadly measles outbreak,

health and human services secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. spoke yesterday to members of an anti-vaccine group that he founded, and he told them that they have a friend in the White House. If any in this room doubts the president's commitment, put those doubts to rest. He's directed us to pursue answers to strengthen vaccine safety, to expand opinion, options for families who want them, and to preserve individual choice without federal mandates. Let me be clear. Let me be clear, you have a strong and steadfast friend at the White House. Now let me be clear. This is pure lunacy. It's been lunacy for a long time.

Give us the inside reporting really quickly about the White House, not happy that Donald Trump followed Bobby Kennedy Jr.'s lead on conspiracy theory surrounding vaccines because I want to underline this. Because people see this bullshit, and they're probably thinking, oh, well, this must be a 50-50 issue because I know people that are really against vaccines are strongly against facts. No, it's not. This is like a 70-30 issue, a 75-25 issue, an 80-20 issue. So when the president goes against vaccines that have kept American children safe for years, he does it at a political cost to himself in the Republican Party. Yeah, and the White House had tried to steer Trump away from this, but every so often, and he embraces the anti-vaccine rhetoric from Secretary Kennedy. Kennedy, on this issue, had actually been quieter in recent months. They had sort of got to him like, hey, pipe down,

but it came back yesterday with that. Again, they're doing all this right before an election on a 75-25 issue, 80-20. Where to go, guys. Yeah, Kennedy also said they're going to look into chem trails. So we have to look forward to as well. Secretary was... And the alarm strong. Did he really walk on the moon? Well, that one. Or was it a Burbank studio? Yeah, I mean, we'll see. He's going to get to the bottom of that, too. The secretary was headlining a conference for children's health defense and anti-vaccine advocacy organization he led for more than a decade. During his hour and a half long speech, Kennedy told attendees to be patient. With his speech? Because that's a long speech from him.

It's a long speech. He can be tough to listen to sometimes. He's passionate from him. Yeah, he made big change on day one, but couldn't do so because of procedures. Have you seen John Maloney on RFK Jr.? Yes, very funny. Brutal. Can't repeat much of it here.

No, well, you can't. repeat much of what John Mullaney says, but it is brutal. Worth finding on YouTube, ladies and gentlemen. It's worth noting officials in Pennsylvania reported a fourth measles death this week, an 18-year-old who was unvaccinated. The three other deaths include a 40-year-old woman, also unvaccinated, and then two infants who were too young to receive the vaccine. Joining us now, Democratic Governor Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro.

Governor Shapiro, thank you so much for joining us. Secretary Kennedy's had some harsh words for you and your state's handling of this, Blame putting the onus on the state for these outbreaks, but we should reiterate the facts. We weren't having sort of measles outbreaks before this administration took office. It's exactly right. I mean, measles was eliminated in the United States back in the year 2000, and now it's come roaring back. And I think you can draw a straight line from RFK's dangerous rhetoric and the work of that group that he chose to speak in front of yesterday in the midst of this measles outbreak.

and the death and the sickness that we are seeing all across Pennsylvania and increasingly across America right now. I've got 731 cases of people being sickened with measles in my state. In more than half of my counties, we've got four people who died as a result of measles. Again, a disease that was eliminated 25 years ago. And what did RFK do? He claimed that we were fabricating this, that folks didn't have measles. He actually refuses to acknowledge these four deaths on the official CDC website. He reached down into the bureaucracy there and told them not to record these deaths. And then yesterday, when he should have been telling the American people to go get the safe and effective measles vaccine, the one thing that can actually protect you from

getting measles, he instead goes and speaks to this anti-vax group and stokes more fear, more confusion. Look, as a governor, I want to make sure that the people in my state have all the information they need to be able to go talk to a trusted medical provider and make a decision that can protect them. The information they're getting is BS. And you've talked about this before where he's come into your state and said, oh, well, here's the cure for measles. And he talks about what, what? Chicken soup or something? Yeah, yeah. Can't make the self. He said that in what is now the epicenter of the measles outbreak right here in Pennsylvania. I mean, the fact that Donald Trump put this guy in charge of public health, someone who is so unsurious, so deranged when it comes to

these issues. And then for some reason, is standing by him, Joe, I think you made a great point on the lead in there. I think it was you that made this point. I mean, folks in the White House know that RFK is out of his mind. They know that he is making people sicker. And it's actually somewhat shocking to me that the president continues to stand with him. We continue to see more cases. Just yesterday, we had an awful situation in Philadelphia where a NICU full of babies, a NICU full of babies, Joe, were exposed to someone with measles. I mean, you know, I pray to God that those children are going to be okay. I pray for their families. This is unbelievably serious and incredibly scary, and the person we have running America's public health system is making matters worse.

Governor, talk about, though, that the reason he's running America's health system is because Donald Trump put him there, and he was the founder of the group he spoke at yesterday. So it wasn't that this administration did not know who they were picking. He had an institution there, and as well as some of the heads and Nash Action Network, you know their cabinet members clear with the White House before you have them at your conventions. And I've had to do that between two presidents that I worked closely with. I know the cabinet member doesn't go without informing the White House where they are. So this is not just an RFK junior policy.

This is a Donald Trump policy. Yeah, I mean, without question, Trump picked him. He stood by him. I find it shocking that he is. And America is worse off because of RFK's. We're certainly worse off because of this measles outbreak that continues to grow all across our country. We're worse off when it comes to our food system and a whole lot more. I mean, he is wreaking havoc on this country and it is incredibly dangerous and as a governor.

I'm just trying to protect my community. I'm trying to protect my state and the federal government is making that task way harder. Hi, governor. Yesterday, you were the keynote speaker at the AI Summit Horizons, 2026, in Pittsburgh, where you called out the federal government for not moving more quickly to regulate AI. What are you warning? And what do you think they could do? And where do you think they are failing? Look, I think what we are seeing quite clearly is that AI is moving far more rapidly than even many of the CEOs of these companies.

me even imagine. They are losing control of their technology, and many are issuing apocalyptic warnings. Now, I'm not a domer, but I do believe that we need to get control of this immediately. I think we've done a good job on it in Pennsylvania. The conference I spoke at yesterday has been a centering place for a lot of the policy that we've put in place. But I'm very mindful that we are one state. And the reality is we need a national, I would argue, and even international standards to protect the American people from this technology, to make sure they actually benefit from this emerging technology. I was very specific yesterday in saying we need to have a number of things in place, including independent monitors of this technology as it advanced.

There needs to be total transparency over this work, and safety needs to be the number one priority. And I called on the president to stop aiding China in this competition, as he did with that sweetheart deal for the Nvidia chips and instead try to work with China to have some ground rules in place. American companies can still compete and win with rules and regulations in place, but that is needed to protect the American people. I think if you think about this, this is a construct that we're used to in America. You know, we don't let a pharmaceutical company go develop a prescription drug and just give it to the American people. No, it has to go through the FDA process. We don't let an airline manufacturer go and make an airplane and have it come off

the assembly line and put a bunch of passengers on it and fly them somewhere. No, it's got to go through an FAA approval process. We need a similar regulatory structure at the federal level. And the idea that we all know this, that the CEOs warned about these challenges, and Mike Johnson, who's frankly one of the most spineless weakest leaders in America, decides to adjourn the House of Representatives. When members of both parties were calling on him to stay and try and work this through, it's unconscionable. The fact that the President of the United States says we don't need any regulation when the leaders of the industry are saying we do, that's unconscionable. And I think it makes the American people less safe. Yeah. And yeah. So no work on

AI, no work on the Epstein files, no work on all the things that Americans would like Congress to actually work on. So let me ask you some critical closing questions here. The Phillies. How deep can they get in the playoffs? Real deep. I mean, look, J. I think they look good. They're hot at the right time. And when you think about the first two series, you're really only talking about needing three pitchers in those first two series. And I think the Phil's, their first three in our rotation are better, if not, you know, at par with any other team in the National League. We've got the best closer in baseball. Our lineup is hot right now. And I think these guys, their season, they've played well together for a number of years. This is our moment. The ownership's done a great job of putting us in a

place to win a World Series. And I think the fills can do it this year. Let's do a fact check there. So best closer in baseball? Yeah, Duren's really, really good. He's right. Maybe Miller in San Diego, but he's top two or three. Okay, and they've got, you think they've got three good pitchers? Certainly Sanchez and Wheeler, top two. Yeah.

Yeah, they've got some injured. Lizarro. He's hurt, though. He's hurt. But, yes, he's, the governor knows what he's talking about. I think that we should cut his mic before he starts talking about the 76ers. I don't want to hear any more about the general. I'm ready.

We can't. We can't come on. We're not going to talk about the Sixers. Because we have to keep Lemire on his feet for another 33 minutes. So we can't talk about the Sixers and the trade. The fact that you got Barnacle and Lemire on this show, it really, I mean, it's hard for me to come on, given how much Celtics love you have on this. But I got to tell you, my Sixers look a hell of a lot better than the Celtics right now. It's really, see, there you go.

Anyway, he did. Oof, I know. I mean, he's also not wrong. It's kind of like talking about Philly. It's kind of like that Joe Frazier left hook. There's a history of loxers in Philadelphia. I don't know if you're. There are.

Joe Frazier, man. That guy. Hey, and finally, the Eagles have been a strange team to follow over the past four or five years. Inconsistent. You know, they get deep in the playoffs. They have a horrible season. They win the Super Bowl. Last year was kind of, it's a good year, but kind of middling.

What about the Eagles? What are they going to do this year? And how do you deal with the Eagles? weekend and week out, not knowing exactly what you're going to get. Yeah, I love how you just kind of stepped on the fact that they won the Super Bowl. I mean, these guys are being consistently. I mean, seriously, you sound like a Yankees fan here. We have two of the titles.

You know what? Yesterday was yesterday. What's going to happen tomorrow? Look, first off, I think Jalen is constantly disrespect. I think he's one of the finest quarterbacks in the league. I think Howie Roseman, the GM understands you win Super Bowls with your offensive line, your defensive line. He strengthened both of those. I would argue we got the best running back in the national football league. A bit of a down year last year. But Sequan's unbelievable.

And I'm getting rid of A.J. Brown and enjoy him up with the Patriots. I think getting rid of him a Kyle Lemon, giving him a Devontas Smith and opportunity to be our number one option. I really like this team this year. And I'm looking forward to them going real far. The fact is Howie's put him in a position to win another Super Bowl, and I'm confident we can make a deep run. Jay Linda Devante, man. Roll tide. You've got to say, those are your guys.

Roll tide. We're all for that. I've been told, Governor, to say thank you before we get into the flyer. So, Democratic Governor of Pennsylvania. Josh Shapiro, as always, thank you so much for being there. Great to be with you guys. Have a great day. All right, you too.

And still had a morning, Joe. our third midterm Canada of the morning. Florida State Representative from Democratic U.S. Senate nominee, Angie Nixon will be our guest. Is her new polling shows a race that's neck and neck with incumbent Senator Ashley Moody. You're watching Morning Joe. We'll be right back.

I said, let me ask you a question. If you get a little leak and the water starts coming in your boat and you're in electric, do you get electrocuted or not? He said, you know, nobody's ever asked me that question. And I said, so here's my question. You remember this? They used to say it during the campaign. driving the press crazy, but people found it sort of amusing.

I said, so if I'm an electric boat, and I see I'm going down, and the water's pouring in, so I know I'm going to be electrocuted. But five yards away, there are sharks. Do I take the electrocution, or do I go swimming with the sharks? And you know what my answer was? I'll take the electrocution, okay? He's back to the shark story. Electric boat.

Or sharks? He's playing the greatest hits again. This is, this is. This is one of his... This is steely man. I mean, and people... Reel it in the years, baby. Do it again.

You know, look, I want to say, seriously, people say he's out of touch. This is what Americans care about. They wonder. They do. They're waiting tonight, not about how they're going to make ends meet. No. Not about AI, but rather electrocuted or sharks.

He elected a lot of night. And he took a firm position. there. He said, I will be shocked. I'll stay in the boat and be shocked. He really doesn't like sharks, I think. Well, I mean, I don't think that may be. Don't like sharks. I mean, who does? Doesn't like mosquitoes. He hates mosquitoes. And he, with a passion of the fiery sons, hates windmills. Wendmills. Wendell. Hades windmills. Anyway, so we established that. So we do we do. Yeah. So we are back at the greatest hit. So let's see. What do we play this one? We played the shark and electric blood thing. Great. You can't even say it.

I think banning fishing. Banning fishing. I think that should be a future greatest. I'm going to ban fishing just to hurt you, Tom, or whoever it was. So you think he's like a band, like, say, the Rolling Stones. They've got the great catalog that everybody loves. But every once in a while, they pop a new song that they stay. Hey, that works.

Add it to the set list. I think this is more like being at like the comedy seller. I got my set. I've done my set. Now I'm going to put in the banning fishing. Still working on new material. We'll see if the banning fish works. We'll put that into the thing.

Okay. All right. Well, two shows. Here we go. By the way, this guy. He has not banned it yet. No, he, they know. He's been joined by people.

He was fishing alone. He was the lonely fishing this morning. Maybe they've realized that they've been talking of discussion. What do you say? Hey, honey, I'm going out to stand on the rock and go fishing. I'll see you later this morning. I think that, yeah, and then my friends are going to join. My friends are going to join and they're going to get on the rock.

How do they get on the rocks? I don't understand this. How deep it is? They probably could just walk up. Oh, just waiters. Okay. Yeah, I think they got waiters on. All right.

From the Gavin Newsom collection. Meanwhile, let's turn back to, let's turn to our next guest. A new survey reveals that the U.S. Senate race in Florida could be much closer than many expected. The St. P. Polls survey conducted for Florida politics shows that Republican incumbent Ashley Moody tied with her Democratic challenger, progressive state representative Angie Nixon. And state representative Nixon joins us now. She is the first Democratic socialist to win. a major party nomination for statewide office. Thank you so much for being with us. This morning,

Florida, as you well know, has become so red, so Republican, so Trumpy in recent cycles, that it is so significant that earlier today we played an ad from a Republican congresswoman distancing herself from some of Trump's policies, particularly on immigration. Are you seeing that same tenor from voters you talked to? Were even people who, who perhaps had been supportive of Trump in the past think he's gone too far and might be looking to change direction. Listen, yes. So thank you all for having me.

And as I'm on the ground, folks are fed up. They're upset about all the chaos and the corruption that's coming out of the Trump administration. And in light of the immigration issues that are happening right now, they have data, their own data said that over about 50% of the folks that they kidnapped. had no criminal record. And that is leaving Haitians and Venezuelans and many in South Florida fearful of being detained because of these really ridiculous policies. And folks on the ground, people, voters, Floridians, they are upset at what's happening.

They want more money in their pockets. They want to be able to afford their groceries, their gas. And that's just not happening with this Trump administration. The affordability question is one thing. but let's talk about your campaign. One of the things I'm hearing out of Florida, Reverend R.B. Holmes and others, is that this picture of you of being this radical is now becoming decimated by you moving around the state. I mean, you go to black churches, which is not radical.

You come out of that. You deal with issues that a lot of mainstream voters of all races are concerned about. Have you found the more people see you, the more this whole labeling you as a socialist, as a blinking sign is really not working because of the affordability issue on one hand, but you culturally are a Floridian that understands what Floridians are about. Exactly. I am indeed a Floridian that understands that many of us are working harder than ever and we're still struggling to stay afloat. Meanwhile, we have people like unelected Ashley Moody, who is a liar, a cheater, a thief, a scammer, who stole $10 million from,

sick, low-income kids to put into a political slush fund for Ron DeSantis. And the way in which she became a U.S. Senator is because she was rewarded for stealing $10 million. On top of that, she also, you know, she voted to end health care for over 440,000 people in the state of Florida. It's not radical or extreme for me to want to ensure folks have access to quality health care, knowing that medical debt is the leading cause of bankruptcy. It's not radical for me to want to make sure that public schools are fully funded and knowing that there are teachers

who call my office because they're living in their cars, because they're not being paid a living wage. It's nothing radical for me to want to ensure people have access to affordable housing. What that is, is me having common sense and knowing that we cannot continue this status quote, business as usual, and we need to get rid of Ashley Moody. And that is why I am tied right now. People understand that I have continually showed up this past nearly two decades, my adult life here in the state of Florida, fighting against this rise in authoritarianism, this rise of this dictator, and really working to just help alleviate all the stress in their lives. The government should work for people and not against them. And right now, the government under this Trump administration

is working against people. Representative Nixon, Molly, Johnfest here. I wanted to ask you about one of the things you did when you were in the statehouse is you ran against Ron DeSantis and all of this sort of things that he did to your state. And I'm wondering if you could talk, because you're probably talking to a lot of voters. And I wonder if you could talk to us about what they're telling you that are the big concerns of Florida voters at this moment? The big concerns of Florida voters is that it just costs too much money just to be alive. Like literally, people are hurting. They are struggling.

We are witnessing people, parents, turning the gun on their children, then turning the gun on themselves because they're losing their jobs. that is absolutely shameful, horrific, and it doesn't have to be this way. We live in one of the richest countries of the world. We created the world's first trillionaire. And you mean to tell me that we have people, men and women, who have given their lives to help protect and serve this country and they're living on the streets. We have people struggling to pay for their prescription.

drugs, that is absurd. Ashley Moody doesn't care about people. She won't debate me because she's afraid that she cannot stand up and speak for her issues and the bad votes that she's taken. She will not have in-person town hall meetings with anyone other than Republicans. I will. I go to all, I will be going to all 67 counties. I am unafraid to answer any tough questions.

people are tired of the lies. They're ready for someone who is going to, again, work to put money in their pocket, wind down these thoughtless wars and put Floridians and Americans first. Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Florida. Angie Nixon, thank you for joining us this morning. Good luck with your campaign.

Thank you for having me. All right. We're right back with much more, Morning Joe. Take Anthony to the beach one time. We just expect everything to go back to normal. It don't work like that. You can talk to me, Mom. I read through all of those letters that you said me. He was a whole different person.

He sees you as some that we could never see our fathers. He sees you as a God. Him tight. Let him fly away. Don't let them take him away. Tell me love. If I go, will they miss me? I was a look at the powerful new film.

If I go, will they miss me? It centers around a family in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles and the relationship between a 12-year-old boy and his recently paroled father, who has just returned home from a lengthy stint in prison. Joining us now, one of the film's stars and executive producers, Daniel Brooks. Daniel, thank you so much for being here.

Congratulations on this. Talk to us about the origins of this story, and what drew you to it? Something you obviously believe in enough, not just to star in, but to help put on screen. Oh, for sure. So yes, the origins of the story is written and directed by a guy named Walter Thompson Hernandez, who's from Watts, where we're shooting. And he originally made this as a short film that won Sundance a few years ago.

And then he turned it into a feature and had myself and J. L. Fond star in this. And it's a beautiful story, like you said, of this family, of a young boy that just wants to connect to his father. The reason that I decided to come on to it because it's so much about humanity. It's one of those stories that is so specific that it reminds you that we're so much more alike than we are different. We all know what it means to hurt. We all know what it means to have pain and want your mom, your dad to love you a certain way and see them as God sometimes. And so it's a beautiful story about grace, forgiveness, about keeping that childlike wonder. And I really hope that people will go see it because I know when you do, your life will be changed.

So tell us a little bit more, tell us about your role in it and more about that that relationship between father and son. I mean, also we should note, just a beautiful performance by all involved. And it really, as you say, sort of universal themes. Yes. Well, first of all, if you're a cinema lover, you are going to eat this up because it is so poetic in the way that he shoots. Walter used to be a journalist for the New York Times. He also was a photographer. so his eye is so much different.

And it kind of feels like a documentary. It feels like you kind of just like peek into the window of this family. But when we talk about this father and son relationship, I think it's also a love letter to fathers and sons. The character that I play is Lozita, who was actually a real woman. She passed away from breast cancer about two years, two or three years ago.

And I thought, what a wonderful way to honor her, you know, in this way. And so, yeah, yeah, it's a fictional story. but you also see the real big aunt in the film who's riding the horse. And there's all these pictures of Lozita and some of us as well from our youth in this film. Excuse me, in this film. So it's very personal is what I'm trying to see. So let's take a look at a scene from the film that you actually improvised where Lozita, your character, apologizes to her son, a little aunt.

Let's take a look. I'm sorry that I didn't protect you the way I should have. I told you that would never happen again. And it won't. He was wrong. And I want you to know, like, we're not perfect. Your daddy is a work in progress.

I'm a work in progress. But we're going to figure this out. Okay? Forgive me. I forget it. I'm sorry. I'm sorry about all of it. The new film titled If I Go, Will They Miss Me?

Actress and Executive Producer Daniel Brooks, who has a whole host of projects coming up in the months ahead. Danielle, thank you for being here this morning. We really appreciate it.