Morning Joe - Rep. Ro Khanna praises ‘New Generation’ of Democrats, criticizes Trump’s Iran deal and discusses challenging Elon Musk to a debate

Episode Date: June 24, 2026

June 24, 2026 - 7am: Rep. Ro Khanna praises ‘new generation’ of Democrats, criticizes Trump’s Iran deal and discusses challenging Elon Musk to a debate Today marks 4 years since the Dobbs decision, the Supreme Court case that effectively overturned Roe v. Wade and repealed the Constitutional right to an abortion. The Nation's Amy Littlefield discusses how the Dobbs ruling has affected the number of abortions across the country and women’s healthcare overall. Mamdani allies sweep New York House Primaries The latest edition of 'Brand Up, Brand Down' with Donny Deutsch 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.

Welcome back. Time now for a look at some of the other stories making headlines this morning with more than 200 recruits. Sick with the flu. The Army, Navy, and Air Force once again are requiring flu shots for basic trainees. Don't know why we have to learn this lesson. That's according to officials who spoke with ABC News. It comes just two months after Defense Secretary Pete Heggzath made the annual flu shot optional for troops. According to the report, the Army is preparing in the coming weeks to broaden that requirement to troops deploying overseas, first responders, child care workers, health care personnel, prison staff, and soldiers taking part in certain large-scale training exercises. ABC News also has reporting on a 20-year-old Honduran man who was deported by the Trump administration. Now, a federal judge has ordered the government to facilitate his return by saying that his removal, quote, boggles the mind. According to the judge, the man was likely denied due process, including access to a lawyer.

There are probably a number of cases like that. We'll be following them. In California, a federal judge has issued an order blocking the Trump administration from arresting non-U.S. citizens at immigration courthouses. ICE has routinely arrested undocumented immigrants making court appearances as part of the administration's mass deportation campaign. In response, the Department of Homeland Security's top attorney called the judge's order, quote, judicial activism. And U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is reportedly backing off plans to use warehouses to hold thousands of ICE detainees. According to the Associated Press, the federal government informed

a judge on Monday that a warehouse purchased in a Detroit suburb will be sold. Plans to use two other warehouses in Georgia and Texas are also unraveling. As the AP notes, those three warehouses are among the 11, the federal government purchased for more than $1 billion under former DHS Secretary Christy Noem. DHS didn't confirm the report, but said in a statement, it is, quote, moving swiftly to utilize existing detention space with our state and county partners. We'll be following those stories and turning back to one of our top stories this morning. Three candidates endorsed by New York City Mayor Zoran Mamdani are projected to win their

Democratic primaries in New York, marking the weight of his influence over the growing progressive movement embraces views viewed as a proxy fight with the party establishment. MS now reporter Nick McCool has more. Your next Congress member, Brad Rander. This morning, Zohran Mamdani's political firepower on full display, the New York City mayor endorsing three progressive candidates and running the table in last night's Democratic congressional primaries around the city. It was my name on the ballot today.

but tonight's victory belongs to all of you. Mammani's pick for New York 10, former city comptroller Brad Lander projected to handily beat sitting congressman Dan Goldman, who Lander said had not been forceful enough in speaking out against Israel's actions in Gaza. Both candidates are Jewish, but Goldman said he felt anti-Semitism from some while running this race. On your opponents, do you think he exacerbated any of those attacks? I think he used the issue as a wedge issue because, you know, and you'll have to ask him why he did that. In the 13th district, five-term Congressman Adriano Espayat, chair of the Hispanic caucus, projected to suffer a stunning defeat to Mamdani Back Challenger, activist Dary Elisa Avila Chavallier.

I know that each of us are seeing what I'm seeing right now. a new dawn for this district. Like Lander, Chevalier running against a Democratic incumbent who had strong backing from the party's elite. There was a huge effort in the final days by the political establishment, by Hakeem Jeffries and allies, to help Adriano Espionate win. And it just simply was not enough to overcome the Mamdani magic. And in the seventh, state assemblywoman Claire Valdez, running with Mamdani support, projected to win the Democratic. nomination to replace Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez who endorsed her opponent Antonio Renoso.

Momdani's big night in heavily Democratic districts could make their House caucus even more progressive with the mayor's endorsements against establishment picks in multiple races. He's somebody that won the mayoralty with very few of these establishment democratic endorsements. And so this was him coming back and doing things his way. We need different leaders. We need different leaders. It comes as an heir to the Kennedy political dynasty suffers a defeat in the New York 12th.

Jack Schlossberg, grandson of President John F. Kennedy, running a distant third behind the projected winner, Assemblyman Michael Lacher, who is deep roots in the Manhattan District. Jack Kennedy Schlossberg has the hair, he has the good looks, he has the charm. He does not have the local political connections. This race was won by local political connections. And we do want to know Democrats are projected to pick Kate Conley as their nominee for New York 17th, a competitive district in the lower Hudson Valley. She's an Army veteran of both Iraq and Afghanistan who went on to become director for counterterrorism at the National Security Council under President Biden. She'll take on vulnerable Republican incumbent Mike Lawler in the fall. Back to you.

MS now is Nick McCool with that report. And one notable result from South Carolina in that state's first congressional. district, a former Navy Admiral, fired by Defense Secretary Pete Hagseth won the Democratic nomination in the race to fill Republican Congresswoman Nancy Mace's seat. And those are some strong Democrats, Willie, that are obviously in swing districts, but we're really starting to see a trend here. If you look at what's happened over the past couple of years, New York City becoming more progressive every year and what we can now start to call the early stages of the Mom Donnie era. And yet, right across the river in New Jersey, last year, they pick a military veteran,

Mikey Cheryl, to elect his governor, a CIA, a former CIA operative as their candidate who ends up winning the governorship in Virginia. And now you've got a Navy Admiral fired by Hegsith in South Carolina won, which could be a competitive district. And, of course, a very competitive district, Mike Lawler's district, Democrats, in the primary shows a war hero, six tours of Iraq and Afghanistan, awarded the Bronze Star three times, and a special ops war hero. So it's very interesting.

We're sort of seeing history repeating itself a year later. Yeah, the movement, first of all, of post-9-11 veterans into politics is a good thing for our politics. Either way, you look at it, whether you're a Republican or a Democrat, and we're seeing that specifically here in the cases you just. outlined on the Democratic side, running the right candidate for the right district or the right state. But we'll see if what happened last night with Mayor Mammani's endorsement carrying so much weight, if that is then used by Republicans nationalists, say, look, just like AOC a few years

again, this is the way Democrats are going. I know Donny Deutsch has a view on that. He's the host of Onbrand with Donny Deutsch. Also with us at the table this morning, political strategist, Adrian Elrod. All right, Donnie, you've seen all the results come in. Mayor Mammondani did very well last night in his endorsements, some of the candidates with troubling past comments and participation in events, certainly. What's your view of the big picture here? Big picture is, Joe, I know you talked earlier, and you just mentioned obviously kind of the ability to cherry pick.

My concern for the Democrats is the overall brand washing of basically saying, you know, there were two squad members. Wait, wait a second. Wait, hold a second. I'm not cherry picking here, Donnie. I'm actually, I'm talking reality. And the reality is that right-winger winners. and MAGA, hold on one second,

a MAGA people all day are going and saying, oh, look, they're all socialists now, all social, and they're not going to pay attention to an admiral in South Carolina. They're not going to pay attention in one of the most competitive seats, getting a war hero, three times bronze store. So I'm not cherry picking. It's going to be the MAGA media that cherry picks today, and they're just going to want to look at New York City,

how weird they go, New York City is not the center of the world, 365 days a year. Today, they will act like, And I hope you don't act like New York City is the center of the world because it's a big country out there. You know what? There's what's called badge branding. You know, you sell Chevroletes and you use Corvette to kind of sell the whole thing. And my concern, this is from a branding point of view, not a reality point of view, is that you now have the ability. Just I'm not talking about Fox News. I'm talking about if the Republicans are running against Democrats. No matter who the Democrat is, they say the Democratic Party stands for this.

The Democratic Party stands for what these principles stand. this? How many points did Mikey Cheryl win by when we heard she was going to lose? But now you have, this is pre- This is- How, hold on a second. How many points did Abigail Spanberger win in Virginia, despite

being told, oh, the Democrats are all socialists are all left. But this is not, it's the same exact thing, Donnie. There's new news now. You have a real wave happening. Joe, I think the Democratic Party, and you've got now two Democratic Socialists, is taking on an overall persona. This is where the energy is in the party. You and I can agree to disagree on this. I believe the Democratic Party overall is going too hard left. I believe there is anti-Semitism in there. We'll

save that for another day. But I believe this is a branding issue for the Democrats that they are going to have to answer for. So this will agree on this. It's obvious a challenge. It's obviously going to be a challenge, obviously, as they move forward to make sure that they continue electing Navy admirals, they continue to elect war heroes. I hope so. I'm sorry. They continue to do that sort of thing. They continue to elect war heroes like they did with Mikey Sherrill.

They continue to elect CIA analysts like they did with Abigail Spamberger. I mean, you know, Adrian, this is very simple. I do wish that Donnie would get off the Upper East Side once in a while. But if you've ever seen Donnie's place on the Upper East side, he's got people running around with little red vest sweeping his front. You know, I mean, he doesn't leave the brief say, so he understands what he doesn't understand what's having in America. Cheap shot. Cheap shot. I look, though, Adrian, I look at these election results. And I think back to the old saying, all politics is local. Let me tell you, when I ran in northwest Florida, people didn't care what was going on on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. They cared what I was saying in Northwest Florida. That's going to happen in South Carolina.

And one, Mike Lawler tried to get involved in the Democratic primary last night. He failed in that swing district. They're going to be looking at a war hero. They're not going, oh, Mom, Donnie, he's a socialist. He doesn't like Israel. They're going to be looking at the two candidates that are in front of them and decide, do I want the war hero or do I want this guy that goes along with Trump too much? Yeah, that's exactly right.

I mean, the bottom line is New York City is not America. And that's what we're seeing play out across the country. Because to your point, Joe, well, it's America. Last night in New York, three Democratic Socialists did prevail in some of these very heavily contested primaries. But at the end of the day that is not America, let's not forget. You just mentioned the Mike Lala race.

Kate Conley won the Democratic primary in that seat. That's New York 17. That is in the state of New York, not the city of New York City. But we are seeing some really strong national security candidates with some really strong backgrounds that in other places where, you know, you're not seeing this super progressive wing of the party take over the Democratic Party in that respective area. You're seeing those candidates prevail. So, look, Donnie's exactly right.

Republicans are going to try to brand us as the Democratic Socialist Party. They're already doing that. They're going to say we're the party of Mandani or the party of anti-symitism. Those things are not true. You are seeing a very strong Mondani coalition being built and endorsed and win. in New York City, but that is New York City. It is a tiny part of America. That is not what you're seeing Democrats do across the country and other primaries. It's a pretty big part of America, if I may. Well, yes, I mean, it is the largest city in America, but it's not, you know, the heartland.

Let's bring into the conversation, Democratic Congressman Rokana of California. He's a member of both the House Armed Services and Oversight Committee's. Congressman, thanks for being with us. Tone to ask you about, but let's just start with this conversation. Your thoughts on what happened in New York City last night, but also in places like South Carolina. It was a great night. I mean, you have a new generation running and put aside the labels. They're running saying the system is broken that Donald Trump, the Republicans and the status quo have allowed a few people to hoard extraordinary wealth. It's a lopsided economy. They can't afford to buy a house. They can't afford child care. They don't have a good job.

and they're running to tackle income inequality. And that is a message that's going to resonate. And I am tired. I never want to hear a Republican lecture any Democrat about past statements. After all the statements that Donald Trump and MAGA have made that have been racist and xenophobic, the fact that some Democratic candidates may have had something in the past, they have no moral authority. This president is a lame duck. We're going to win with a new generation.

And it's going to be a broad coalition. Yeah. Hey, let me ask you, Roe, Congressman, just about the Democratic Party and whether it is a big tent or not, I'm making the argument that you can go everywhere from having a Democratic socialist to waive in New York City to having retired admirals, to having war heroes. And it is usually progressives that do most of the groundwork. So you want to have a mix. of both. And like, for instance, in Iowa, the caucus goers have always been extraordinarily progressive. And then Joe Biden goes to South Carolina and he starts sweeping one contest after another. It's a big party, isn't it, that has a lot of different factions that if they work together, they win. Joe, you're absolutely right. And at our best, with FDR or LBJ or Barack Obama, we had a very big coalition. I mean, I call myself a progressive Democratic. a progressive capitalist, and I endorsed two of the candidates for Congress, who won last night.

Claire, I endorsed Bradlander, I supported. But I've also supported Josh Turek in Iowa. I've supported Mikey Cheryl in New Jersey. I campaigned for Abigail Spanberger. And the reality is what unites the Democrats is we don't believe in foreign wars that are increasing prices. We don't believe we should be giving tax breaks to billionaires while people's health care is being taken away. We want to increase the living wage. We want to have an economics that works for the working class. And that broad message is something that the party is going to unify around and we're going to win decisively in the House come November. Thomas, we want to turn you now to the situation in Iran.

You wrote a new piece, and I should highlight the venue for it. Fox News. Interesting. In which you make the case that the deal that President Trump is trying to make with Iran, and some specifics are still being worked out, to be clear, is worse, in your words, than the J. JCPOA. Tell us why you made that argument and why you made the argument where you did. Well, it is objectively worse. I mean, under the JCPOA, you had the force of IEAE intrusive inspections and the force of international law with the United Security Council. Now you don't have any intrusive inspections. Obama actually got the nuclear material out of Iran.

Here you don't even have the material being destroyed or out of Iran. It's just being diluted. Most problematically, you are going to have Iran possibly continuing to charge a toll on the Strait of Hormuz, something never under Obama. So what this shows is tough diplomacy actually helps the United States, and it actually made Israel safer and that Donald Trump has, through bravado, made the Middle East less safe and the United States less safe. Congressman Kana, you are challenging Elon Musk to a debate after the trillionaire called for you to be jailed. So in a recent interview, you said Musk needs to answer for potential deaths linked to the shuttering of the U.S. Agency for International Development after the sweeping cuts made by Doche, prompting Musk to respond with legal threats.

Okay. So that word potential does an awful lot there, Congressman, when in fact, one study after another study shows that those sweeping cuts have led to hundreds of thousands of deaths possibly. And you projected out over the next five, ten years. The numbers get really depressing, really quick. Well, I'm less concerned about Musk threatening to put me in jail, which he doesn't have the problem. power to do or sue me. And I'm more concerned that the world's richest person presided over cuts that hurt the world's poorest. I mean, you have two studies, the Lancet study, that said that those cuts could have led to potentially 4.5 million children dying and 14 million children. And then you have a Boston study talking about the debts that actually took place based on these

cuts. But look, this is not someone who is unfamiliar to me. I've known him for over a decade. He blurbed one of my books. I've tried to give him the benefit of the doubt when he did Doge. But he is so consumed with his own wealth and power. He thinks he can intimidate me. I'm not going to be intimidated. He thinks he can silence us. The reality is, why is he lashing out? He sees the writing on the wall. He sees that the Democrats are going to be in charge. And now he's finally going to have to answer because when we subpoena him, he's going to have to come before the committee and explain why he had those unconstitutional doge cuts. And that's why the House elections matter.

Finally, we're going to have accountability. Democratic Congressman Rocana of California. Thank you very much for coming on the show this morning. We appreciate it. Thank you. And still, I have a morning, Joe. There are new doubts being raised following President Trump's claims that vandals damage the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

We're digging into new reporting that the algae and the peeling pealing paint were not caused intentionally, and the Trump administration knew that all along. I guarantee you, you go to Donnie's estates. Oh, there's no algae. There's no algae in any of his reflecting pools that go up to his Hampton mansions. Oh, fabulous. None at all. All right, we'll be hearing more from Donnie. He does speak for America. I'll be right back. Today marks four years since the Dobbs decision. The Supreme Court case that effectively overturned Roe v. Wade and repeat healed the constitutional right to an abortion since that decision states across the country have enacted their own laws with 13 outright banning the procedure. Despite this, the number of

abortions since the decision has actually risen. There were nearly twice as many abortions in the United States in 2025 than in 2021. That is due in large part to the rise in telehealth and the widespread practice of mailing abortion pills across the country. Access to the pill is the target of several huge legal battles in the states with abortion bans going on right now. Joining us now, abortion access correspondent for the nation, Amy Littlefield, she's the author of the book, Killers of Row. My Investigation into the Mysterious Death of Abortion Rights. It's good to have you on the show. I want to ask you about the book, but also the state of, let's start off with the state of women's health care as a whole, because it's not just the fall of row, an access to life-saving health care that is abortion, and the numbers of cases that we've covered here on this show of women who have had their lives threatened, have been forced to give birth to dying or dead babies.

And then, by the way, denied the access to ever create life again because they became sterilely. in the process. That sick, sick process has been playing out in this country ever since the fall of row. But also now the access to health care itself and the cost of it. Can you talk about the overall state of health care for women in America today? Yes. Thank you so much, Mika. It's great to be with you. I think this is a somber day when we have to hold two realities in our minds at the same time. Four years after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the number of abortions has increased, but so has the number of pregnancy-associated deaths in states that ban abortion. One of those outcomes was entirely tragically predictable.

The other one is surprising. So let's start with a surprising part, right? The number of abortions has gone up, and that's because of abortion pills by mail, because of brave clinicians in Democratic states mailing abortion pills into states where abortion is banned. No one thought that every year after the Supreme Court overturned Roby Wade, we were going to see an increase in the number of abortions. So that's really astounding. But we cannot lose sight of the fact that tens of thousands of people have been forced into pregnancy against their will because not everyone has been able to find out about or to access these options.

And so what that means is that the latest data tells us there has been 68 additional pregnancy-associated death. By the end of 2023, alone, there's always a lag in the data, in states that have banned abortion. Now, 68 might sound like a small number, but I would argue that when we measure that in terms of mothers leaving behind grieving children, in terms of parents being forced to cope with the loss of daughters, in terms of partners leaving children, when partners losing their wives, when we start to look at this in terms of the scale of the human tragedy and the fact that these deaths were foreseeable and preventable, I think it's a number that should stop us in our tracks. Well, in fact, your latest piece for the nation is titled,

Four Years After Dobbs, How Dobs? You write, quote, four years after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade with its ruling in Dobbs. There's an image I can't get out of my head. Portia Gimese was living in Texas when she suffered a miscarriage in 2023. Texas punishes medical providers who violate the state's abortion ban with up to 99 years in prison. After Gamezi showed up to the hospital, bleeding and miscarrying at 11 weeks pregnant, ProPublica reported doctors delayed providing a simple procedure to remove fetal tissue. And so she blood to death. For months afterward, Portia's three-year-old

son would chase after women who looked like her on the street shouting, that's mommy. That's the detail I can't forget. I can't stop imagining that little boy chasing after strangers on the street. And that story repeats itself. And I just wonder where this is going in terms of numbers and in terms of perhaps the dwindling numbers of doctors who will be brave enough to help women like this at their time of need. We're talking about basic healthcare to save a life. Yes, yes, exactly. We are talking about people dying when they're miscarrying because doctors are too afraid to intervene and save their lives. And I just want to mention a couple of other stories, right, because it is these human stories, not just the numbers. We can become inured to numbers, right? But these human stories, right, Tierra Walker in Texas, she's suffering from high blood pressure and seizures from pregnancy. She doesn't want to leave behind her son, JJ, who's 14. So she tries to get an abortion, but she's not considered to. be sick enough. And so instead of getting that abortion, Tierra ends up dying. Her son finds her draped over her bed on his birthday. Okay? These are the stories that we're talking about.

Nevea Crane, 18 years old. Her mother has to watch her organs fail as she dies because she was sent down twice, sent home twice from emergency rooms in Texas. So we have to sit with these real human stories. I mean, there's a long time saying in the pro-choice movement that abortion Bans don't stop abortions, they only stop safe abortions. I think in 2026, with the widespread availability of medication abortion, that saying needs an upgrade. What we know, what we have known for decades, is that abortion bans do not stop abortions. What they do is they kill women. Abortion Access correspondent for the nation, Amy Littlefield, thank you very much. Amy's book, Killers of Roe, my investigation into the mysterious death of abortion rights,

is available now. And Adrienne Elrod, I'd like to turn to you on this issue and how Democrats position themselves. It's my belief that this should be brought into the affordability issue because we have the closing of rural hospitals across the country. The skyrocketing cost of health care, that's a universal, non-debatable issue that's impacting all Americans. The issue of abortion, of course, there's a huge debate in this country. It's often infused with false. religious pretenses, and it becomes a sidetrack. At the same time, women's lives are in danger and they can't afford their health care. Is there a way Democrats can put that into words in a way that has an impact at the ballot box? Well, Mika, I think you just answered your own

question, and you put it beautifully. We have to talk about, regardless of where you stand on abortion, right, which, by the way, a significant majority of Americans support women being able to access abortions, even if they themselves don't believe in abortions for themselves personally. But we have to talk about it in the affordability lens because, you know, I think the author of this book just laid it out some of these stories that we are reading about and that are still happening every day that are not making headlines where women are dying because they can't get life-saving care when they have an issue with their pregnancy. And even if they don't want to have an abortion, sometimes things happen and they have to, and you have fewer and fewer

doctors will perform them. And then you layer on top of that the fact that rural hospitals are closing down because of the affordability issue and because Trump is taking away funding from those rural hospitals. So I personally think, Miga, Democrats could do a slightly better job of sort of correlating these two. You know, we talk about affordability across the country. Candidates are talking about it left and right. They're meeting the moment in their own community is about how affordability issues are affecting their constituents. But in order to correlate the abortion access, lack thereof, to affordability is something that I think we could do, frankly, a better job of doing.

Yeah. All right. Donnie, let's talk really quickly about a brand, branding issue. As we talk about the Democrats going into the fall, you know, we have been inundated with so much coming at us, whether you talk about the failure of the Iran War, whether you're talking about the scandal surrounding the Epstein files. We've talked in shorthand about costs, corruption, cruelty, chaos, all of that. As I was reading through Maggie and Jonathan's book this past weekend, a number jumped out at me.

I forgot, because of all of the things that are going on, forgot the massive size of health care cuts that the Republicans passed along to working Americans. with a big, beautiful bill. I know you and I talked about this a lot before, but there was already a crisis in rural health care. There could be like Armageddon in rural health care because of this Republican passed bill and slashing Medicaid the way Republicans did in a way that will disproportionately hurt red states over blue states. Yeah. Look, if I go down on a list, there's a lot the Democrats have to talk about. Going back to our debate earlier, my concern the same way that every issue gets clouded by the fact that, oh, are the Democrats socialists now? The same way in MAGA, there are a lot of candidates in MAGA, a lot of Republicans who are basically not MAGA,

but the party is branded MAGA. My concern is all those issues you're talking about, all those left-brain issues that Democrats do have them on the other side, get overshadowed now by an overall banner of socialism. Maybe I'm wrong, but it's the way I feel. Okay, but, but Donnie, come on, man, I shouldn't have to tell you this. You are, you are the advertising hero. You are the branding legend. Legend, yes. Wait, wait, wait, what's the, I think Brittenham once said, like, the dog doesn't like the dog food. If I'm living in Mike Lawlercy and my child gets their health care because of Medicaid, or if my family is affected, or if I'm out in Oklahoma, or if I'm out in California in a swing district, or I'm anywhere.

Maine? I can hear people yapping about Mom Donnie in New York City, and I can also look at my child and go, well, I can't get her the health care she needs. You're right. I'm looking at 28, though. told me after 20, Bill Clinton told me after 2024 on this show, why did the Democrats lose? Because they, they, they didn't reach people where they live. I think Republicans are doing the same thing here. And so, yeah, they can talk about mom Donnie. They can talk about the upper west

side. But man, across the rest of America, they're going to be looking at costs. That's on the local races. I'm talking, I'm looking at 28. And I'm saying if I'm Marco Rubio or I'm J.D. Vance, I'm salivating going, I got a real talking point where the Democrats going. So let's see, let's see how it plays out. I love you. You're in a bubble, baby. Let me tell you, Donnie, because I love you too, because I can tell you, they are not salivating right now.

They see the poll numbers, and they are in terrible shape. Okay, Donnie's not just here to talk politics. Thank God. He'll tell us about adult braces and dad bods, and how they stack up and the latest edition of brand up, brand down, dad bods. I don't like it. What's a dad mod? We're about to find out.

Donnie? Morning Joe, be right back. Summer Day in St. Louis, Missouri. We're at 6.40 in the morning. St. Louis Cardinals tied, Jonathan Lemire, as you just pointed out, for the lead in the wild card with Philadelphia. They've had a surprisingly good season. Low expectations, they're playing well.

Some good young players. And Ted Drew's frozen custard. It's that kind of day in St. Louis. It's going to be hot and muggy. All right, it's time now for a new edition of Brand Up, Brand Down with the Great Doggie. Donnie. you really run the gambit, as you always do in this one. And we begin, Brand up for adult braces.

Yeah. Please. Brand up for adult braces. Basically, a lot of adults are wearing braces out, not for cosmetic reasons, but for health reasons. They're linking oral health to overall health. When you all of a sudden, you have crooked teeth or you have jam teeth, you get bacteria in the gums, you get plaque, and it kind of hurts your cardiovascular, it hurts your gastro help. So a lot of adults are wearing braces now for, they're basically saying that oral health equals good health overall. Invisaline, too. It's not just the big metal guys.

But you see a lot of adults with braces now, and that has a lot to do with it. Yeah. You know, Willie, we saw an adult with braces probably about a decade ago. It did not end well for Mika. Do you remember that? Oh, that was an invisible line, wasn't it? Yeah? No, she had metal and was lisping.

She was like Marcia Brady for her. I tried to check. I tried to fix my bite. Right. We may have a clip. Let's take a trip. I was fixing my bite. There's an adjustment period, sir.

There is, I hope. There's an adjustment period. Mark, she's going back today. Look at this. The first three words. No, no, you can't explain. I think you should explain now. Okay, we've got to explain now.

We're on live TV. No, I'm good. You can't say ISIS. I can. I can. No, you can't. Yes, I can. Say ISIS three times.

I know. I'm fine. Okay, you can't explain. Why didn't you putting it in the prompter? I like that the test word was IIS. Didn't work. Yeah. You haven't heard of ICE.

She kept reading and she go, I should stop! Yeah, exactly. You guys are aging well, by the way. We digress. Yeah, look good. You guys are aging really well. I have to seven.

Not really. Thank you so much. Thank you. No, we're not. We've got a chamber. When we got to the Upper East Side, Willie, we've got this, he's got this chamber that we get.

get in. Donnie does. And, you know, and it helps slow down aging. Yeah, no, it doesn't. The hyperbaric chamber. Yeah. So you know it's huge right now. I can speak from experience in my household, not with me, but my wife, Majong. Everybody's playing Majong. It is an incredible, huge brand up for Majan. Everybody's playing it. It's the old Chinese tile game. Searches on Yelp were up 4,000 percent for Majan clubs. They're saying also it's good for, they've done studies with elderly Chinese people. They say they're less prone to depression for social reasons. And also, it's very good for mental acuity. It's your quick decision making, risk taking, evaluating circumstances. But Majan is on fire. It is just, and with young people.

It's really, it's not just older people. It's young people, mostly women, obviously. Our friend Ashley Parker, sort of a beautiful piece of the Atlantic about how she's into Majong now. So you're certainly right about that. Now, I'm object. I'm not sure why I was chosen to introduce this next suck. To refuse yourself. Yeah, but brand down dad bods. Dad bods. Yeah. They've done it. Well, it's a, it's a, it's a, Brand down with a little caveat at the end that for brains is brand up. But for actual physicality, it's brand down. The average man puts on four and a half pounds after they have a baby. They've done tests with monkeys that monkeys add on 8% of their weight when they have babies.

So it's not just a human thing. Something happens overall. The good news is that men are spending more time parenting, four times as much as parenting as 20 or 30 years ago. As a matter of fact, millennial men are spending as much time parenting as hands-on parenting as boomer women were. And the good news for your brain is it's keeping people fresh, it's keeping people stimulating. So cognitively it's good, physically not so good. All right. How about Brand up Mike Myers? Mike Myers, yeah, baby. Mike Myers in a recent interview said, yes, there will be a Austin Powers 4. He's been very coy about it over the years. He says they're

really planning on doing it. It's going to be much more focused on Dr. Evil. I think that it's 20 years later, 2002 is the last one with Goldmember. And it'll be interesting to see how a new generation because obviously guys like us don't go to the movies a lot. I assume it would be a theatrical release. It would be interesting to see how a new generation responds. What doesn't respond to Mike Myers? All right, brand down, the dirtiest part of the hotel room. I'm sort of afraid to ask.

Yeah, this goes back. Last week, we got rave reviews from our brand up, brand down for the blowers in the restrooms. Remember all the bacteria are out? Well, here's our newest news you can use. The dirtiest part of a hotel room is not the light switch. It's not the remote control. it's those refillable shampoo and soap dispensers.

What happens is bacteria goes up. And unfortunately, maintenance-wise, they're not replacing them. They don't wait them to be done. They just fill them up. A lot of bacteria, very unhealthy, yuck. So don't use the shampoo. Is that what we're saying? Well, what happened, they used to have those little shampoos,

but they got rid of them for recyclable reasons. But bring your own shampoo. Okay. Wash your hands. Brand up Pokemon. Pokemon. It's 30-year anniversary of Pokemon. A $150 billion revenue when you added it all up, more than Star Wars, more than Hello Kitty, more than Marvel combined.

Logan Paul just sold on the air a $14 million Pokemon card. It is the most valuable franchise of any media franchise in history. I was never a big Pokemon guy, though. No. So one of the best things about this World Cup are seeing these fans coming in from all over the world. The Norwegians took overtime square. I ran to a bunch of them yesterday in Soho. But the group that's had by far the most success,

the Tartan Army, which basically took over the city of Boston, drank them out of their beer, which was a challenge to those who live there to say, hey, we got to do better going forward. They're a phenomenon. It's a phenomenon. The Sam Adams Boston Tap Room had to get 99 kegs, two emergency deliveries.

They wanted to do 7,000 pints. They're dry. And this group is just drinking. They said that on a typical July 4th weekend, they've quadrupled what they do on that just in the last three or four days. and it's just the Boston's running dry. Incredible.

Look at the emergency delivery going on there. They also filled up Fenway, which is very cool. The only good thing that's happened at Fenway this year. Brand down streaming prices. What's going on? Yeah, the average monthly streaming price is going up from $62 to almost $80 in the last couple of years. And it's just getting more and more expensive.

The average person spends over $900 a year on streaming. Every single streaming platform is raising their prices. We're going to really test the price elasticity. We see where people go, enough. I can't do it anymore. Most people have obviously multiple things. Netflix just rose their prices. And even more people are going to the ad-related ones because they just can't afford it anymore.

Yeah. And you don't realize, like you say, how many you have and they get auto-billed every month. So you're spending a thousand a year. I mean, it's crazy. Wow. Okay. Let's close strong. Brand up.

Sleepaway camp for adults, Donnie. Yes, that's a new phenomenon. The social camp. It's called the social camp in the Poconos. Adults, they spend $3 to $8,000 for a week at sleepway camps. you relive all of youth this warning in the poker noses for all women.

Company retreats are using sleepway camps now also. So adults reliving, they use sleeping in bunks. Love it. Love it. The final Branddown for the Democrats. Oh, there we go.

There we go. It just goes right back to it. Get off the Upper East Side, man. Hey, no, I like his house. So, Lamere, we have to talk about brand down, the Boston Red Sox. And I'm going to say, that this a few nights ago.

I'm not trying to be mean. This is depressing for all of us. But I think I don't, many people, many people, many people are saying that this is the worst Red Sox team in their life. And in their lifetimes, the numbers bear it out. And maybe two nights ago may be seen as a low point of Boston Red Sox baseball. in the 21st century. Remarkable. They managed to win last night somehow, but the night before, no team had ever done this.

They were playing in Colorado. They were up to nothing. The Rockies ended the game. The last eight Rockies hitters, eight all got hits. You might wonder how'd that happen? Well, because two of the runners got thrown out on the basis, because the Rockies are also the Rockies. But that meant in the ninth inning, Rodgers Chapman, who had been our relatively reliable closer, melted down. They lose.

Jared Duran in the outfield, literally kicked a ball. all three different times to allow the winning run to score. But it's just, it's a microcosm of what has been a disastrous season. The Red Sox have 32 wins. Oh, yeah, well, good. Let's see it. So here's a Ronald Chapman giving up the line drive down left field. No, watch Sharon Duran trying to field this.

Oh, boy. Okay, go here. Nope, missed that too. No. Allowing all three runs to score, they lose. Rockies walk us off. We have the fewest wins in the American League. We're going to be sellers at the deadline.

And I agree, Joe. The only other team I can come up with is 2012, which is the year after the collapse and there was the Bobby Valentine disaster. That team was dreadful, too. But this is probably the most boring and most depressing Red Sox team in generations. And what makes it even worse is there were such high expectations at the beginning of the year. But there was also frustration from the fans because we let Bregman go, just like we let Swarber go years ago, just like we let everybody go.

We have been selling since 2018, and it has been an absolute catastrophe. The Boston fan base is kind of like the... I won't even compare it, but let's just say the Boston fan base has seen this coming. They warned about needing a right-handed hitter. They warned about needing to get Bregman back. They just didn't do it.

And I don't, you know, everybody's blaming Breslo, if that's the case. I don't know how you have the worst. Red Sox team in history or at least the 21st century and allow this to continue through after the All-Star break. I don't, you can do that in most small markets. You can't, I don't think you can't do that in Boston. Okay. They're going to blow it. They're going to blow it up. The only question is, is Breslo allowed to be the one to do it? Do they even trust him to make these moves? But no, it's a deeply depressing season. Plenty, plenty of good seats available at Femwebark.

For the Scots. All right. Dynne-Dorge, thank you. much. Scotch. Dad, bod, brand up, brand down. Up next, a brand new. Get off up. It's a brand down for President Trump. The botched renovation of the reflection pool.

We'll go through the government documents that contradicts the president's claims of vandalism. It comes as the administration is now taking steps to keep people away from the landmark. Morning Joe is coming right back. Happy birthday, America. Yeah, 250. Government documents contradicts. contradict President Trump's claims that vandals sabotage the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool after that multi-million dollar renovation.

The president contends the peeling blue coating and algae blooms polluting the pool were caused by criminals who used knives in the, quote, dark of night. No evidence of that, just a claim. But the New York Times reports, it obtained internal government documents showing while National Park Service workers found two cuts in sections of foam between the pool's expansion joints, those were not directly related to the blue coating that is now peeling, nor to the algae that has turned the pool's water green. The documents also reveal workers already were observing cracks, holes, peeling, and equipment failures, even as the administration publicly insisted the pool

was pristine. Trump said six people were arrested, seven-sighted for slashing the pool's sealant, but the administration has not provided names, charges, or any documentation of that claim. In response to the Times as reporting, a spokesperson for the Interior Department did not answer specific questions about the government documents, but stated in part, quote, vandals were attempting to destroy, impede, and delay the ongoing work to the pool. This all comes as the Interior Department has installed fencing now around the reflecting pool amid the administration's reports of vandalism. A snapshot story for the administration. We've been talking about it a lot this week, which is corruption of a no-bid contract to a friend. who looks like a Batman villain who lives in Palm Beach near Mar-a-Lago, incompetence in the execution of that, as we're seeing in front of us right now,

and then a conspiracy theory about vandal slashing it to cover up, and you have members of the National Guard now detaining people, questioning people who put their hands in the water of the reflecting pool, and now we have a chain-link fence around it as we get ready for the 4th of July. I think there are two reasons why this story has really broken through. The first is what you just outlined. It's a perfect metaphor for the Trump administration right now. The second part of it is it's not just green.

It is shockingly green. Like, it is very, very green. And here's why President Trump cares so much. Yes, it's about his vanity and trying to remake Washington. He's supposed to give a rally. Two nights on the National Mall. And that is now going to be part of the backdrop is this fenced off green reflecting pool. Remember, this was supposed to be the 250 concert where all those artists were going to come.

But because the Trump crowd hijacked it and then artists started bailing out. There's expectations of a relatively sparse crowd tonight for the president. I don't think he'll handle that well, is my guess. And he said outwardly that it's going to just be a Trump rally and not really a celebration of the country. Celebration of himself. With a chain link fanks around the green reflecting pool. Still ahead, we'll go through the big winners from yesterday's primary elections across the country. One of them, the projected Democratic nominee in the race for New York's 12th U.S. congressional district.

Michael Lasher will join us. Morning Joe's coming right back.