Morning Joe - Top Democrats who backed Graham Platner now pulling endorsements

Episode Date: July 7, 2026

July 7, 2026 - 7am: Top Democrats who backed Graham Platner now pulling endorsements Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner is facing calls to drop out after a woman accused of him of sexually assaulting her MS NOW's Keving Frey in Maine with reaction from Maine voters Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) joins Morning Joe from Turkey on NATO Summit  Trump arriving in Turkey for start of NATO Summit FIFA recap DOJ plans to send election monitors to cities in Michigan ahead of its August primary Know Your Value: Author and former executive with Nike and Reebok, Karen Korellis Reuther on her new book, “Man-Made: How We Designed a World That Leaves Women Out, And How We Can Make It Right.” 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.

All right. Live pictures from Ankara Turkey of Air Force One touching down President Trump will be arriving in Turkey for the NATO summit. And there is preparations for his arrival happening right now. We'll be watching those pictures as we welcome you back to the second hour of Morning Joe on this Tuesday, July 7th. Jonathan Lemire and Richard Haas are still with us and join the conversation. We have MS Now contributor, Elise Jordan, with us. We have a lot to get to as it pertains to the NATO summit. We'll be watching the welcoming ceremony as it happens on the tarmac in Turkey. But here at home, Maine Democratic Senator, Senate candidate, Graham Plattner, facing calls to drop out of the race after a woman accused him of sexually assaulting her, which he denies.

MS now's Britt Miller has the details. Graham Platner, Maine's embattled Senate Democratic nominee, facing fresh allegations of sexual assault, now threatening the future of his campaign. MS now does not identify victims of alleged sexual crimes unless they come forward publicly. But his accuser, 41-year-old Jenny Rassacott, telling multiple outlets she dated Plattner on and off for two years, alleging in 2021, he showed up at her home, uninvited, and drunk, forcing himself onto her. She details those painful claims on CNN. I remember specifically him, like, grabbing at my chest, and I, like, hit his hand, and I said,

don't touch me. And I remember that during the altercation. Did Grand Planet rape you? By definition, yes. Absolutely. In an effort to verify her claims, political. reports they spoke to someone Rassikot dated and confided in while reviewing documents like emails with Rassikot's therapist and messages from Rassikot to an acquaintance warning them

about Plattner before he ran for office. Rassacott argues her revelation isn't politically motivated, adding she was torn between supporting Plattner's politics and him as a person. That was actually one of the huge reasons that I didn't come forward and still struggled. like that was a huge moral conflict. I like the things that he speaks about. They're important. They're important to people. I'm one of those people.

Blattner releasing a video, strongly denying the new allegations. I wanted to directly address the troubling, serious, and false allegations against me. Any accusation of non-consensual behavior is categorically false. So, regardless of the inaccuracy of the reporting, but mindful of the political reality will inflict,

We are taking the time to reflect on the best path forward. The progressive Democrat is hoping to unseat Republican Senator Susan Collins, but some party heavyweights are already scrapping their support for the Marine veteran, including Platner's strongest allies. Representative Rocahnah saying, quote, Platner should drop out from the race. And Senator Ruben Gallego calling the allegations, quote, troubling and deeply serious. But these new accusations add another thread to Platner's web of controversies,

including alleged abuse towards women, a Nazi-linked tattoo, which he has since had covered, vulgar comments online, and a sexting scandal early on in his marriage. Planter has confirmed those behaviors, but denies being physical towards women. Just last month, MS Now's Chris Hayes questioned Plattner about any other past transgressions coming to light. At this point, I guess people have to take you at your word that that's true and that there's nothing else. Is that what you are saying? Yes, of course. And Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer says the party's Senate campaign arm won't invest in this race if Platner doesn't withdraw.

He has until Monday to decide otherwise. His name stays on the ballot. Back to you. MS now is Britt Miller with that report. Mika also a few weeks ago repeatedly pressed Graham Platner on that very question of whether there was more coming. He said no, nothing that he was worried about. Let's bring it to MS now. Congressional reporter Kevin Fry. He joins us live from Portland, Maine.

Kevin, good morning. So Britt ticked through some of the support that has evaporated just in the last few hours. Importantly from the Maine Democratic Party and nationally from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. That's Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, the two senators from New York. How was this playing so far, though, among voters? We've been talking this morning about how resilient through all of these scandals and controversies Plattner has been. This one, though, given the level of detail. and the accusation feels different.

Yeah, I mean, and this is kind of what, the worst fear that not only Democratic operatives here in Maine, but also some of the voters that I talked to just a few weeks ago when we were here on the ground ahead of primary day, when the latest batch of allegations against Platner first surfaced, that being the sexting scandal at the time, at the time I asked multiple voters, okay, so is there a red line? Is there a line where you're no longer willing to forgive and forget and argue that this is a man who has changed his life and is willing and moving forward. And they were never able to really spell that out for me at the time. One woman went so far as to say, basically, look, you're voting for a candidate.

You're not looking to marry him or date him. I was texting with one of those folks that I spoke with the last time I was here last night and basically asking, does this change the paradigm at all for you when it comes to whether you would back him? And she basically said, obviously, these new allegations are troubling. she hadn't had a chance to read through all of them, but she argued that, look, she has to determine whether or not these are, in her words, legit accusations are part of the party basically trying to remove him. Read into that as what you will. As we talk to voters today, that's going to be really kind of the main question I have, though, is have we now breached

the point of no return? Obviously, that has happened with the Democrats across the country. The idea that the DSCC, Schumer, Gillibrand, are not going to be introducing funding to help here, in Maine. Obviously, this is one of their prime targets, one of the main pickup opportunities they need to secure in order to win back control of the U.S. Senate. That is rather telling the other thing that was notable last night is you saw the Democrats in a lot of those competitive Senate races across the country in Texas, Ohio, North Carolina, all coming out and saying it is time for Plattner to go. So that's some of the tea leaves that at least were reading as of last night. So Kevin, Plattner does have a few days to make up his mind. Some people think it may come much sooner than

that. If he does decide, in fact, to step aside, the main Democratic Party already has been talking about and thinking about certainly what comes next, a scramble that would give them a couple of weeks to put somebody else on the ballot. Are you starting to hear about those sort of contingency plans? Yeah, so essentially our understanding of the timeline goes something like this, which is Monday is the key day by which Platner either needs to step aside or not and determine whether or not he remains on the ballot. easiest option for Democrats wanting to get a new face and a better chance of beating Susan Collins is for him to go away by then. And then essentially the party has about two weeks to come up

with an alternative, whether that be through a meeting, a sort of caucus, whether that be the party big heads and individuals come together and come up with an alternative name. Already we're seeing lots of names being batted around, be it failed gubernatorial candidates who may have done somewhat well in the gubernatorial election here just a few weeks ago but didn't actually secure the Democratic nomination. We're hearing about actors like Patrick Dempsey. Various names are being floated around. The question is, can they rally around someone? We know part of the friction here, though, is certainly that obviously Platner was a very outspoken progressive, who was more than willing to bat against the party establishment in Washington, including Schumer. Do the voters here

want someone who also fits in that vein, but maybe doesn't have that amount of baggage. That's going to be one of the things that I think the party leaders are going to now have to be kind of grappling with. As you say, some reporting that Platner, if he does leave, would like a say in who takes this campaign from him.

Congressional reporter for MS now, Kevin Frye, reporting for us from Portland, Maine. Kevin, thanks. We appreciate it. So, Elise, we have cataloged over the last several months, all the accusations, the Nazi tattoo, all the things, the past statements on social media that he has made. And Maine voters have been willing to live with it for the most part.

And it's fascinating to hear Kevin's reporting, you can kind of apply what some voters are saying about Platner to what they said to Republicans about Trump over the years, which is we're electing a president, not a saint. In this case, we're electing a senator, we don't have to marry him, all that. They're trying to get themselves to a place where they can stay with them. But do you think it's different this time? This has been a slow motion train wreck. do think it's different from Trump just because he had that very developed public persona of

he was who he was. And that was his famous brand. And voters wanted something like that here. They thought that they were getting a vet. He might be rough around the edges, have PTSD, which granted PTSD does not cause you to do the things that Graham Platner has repeatedly said used as his excuse. But that said, he has had so many problems over these. His last six, seven months has it been the year that he's entered the race, that you just

can't look beyond it. Like, this guy clearly is a ticking time bomb. And what else is there to come even? There was, this is horrible, a breaking and entering and rape allegation. And there previously before was also a very credible accuser who, frankly, did not get the attention that she deserved or treated with the respect she deserved for her allegations. Lindsay Fifthfield. All right.

So let's take this conversation abroad. Joining us now from Ankara Turkey is the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Democratic Senator Gene Jeanne of New Hampshire. She's also co-chair of the bipartisan U.S. Senate NATO Observer Group. And we have a lot to talk with you about as it pertains to NATO, the summit happening there right now. But I would like to ask you to weigh in on this. latest news that broke in the past 24 hours, Senator, and that's the accusation of rape made against Senate candidate Graham Platner. To be clear, an accusation made in the media,

not in the court of law. What is your take on what should happen? Should he step down due to this accusation? Well, good morning. And yes, I think he should step down. It's time. And the sooner the better. Have you been moved by this latest accusation or all along have you been concerned about this candidate? There are a number of issues that have surfaced with respect to Mr. Platner. And I think taken together, it means that the Democrats need to look for another candidate. And are you at all concerned about the timing of this accusation in terms of just fairness in politics and due process? And do you feel that an accusation should take down a candidate or is it a bigger picture that you're talking about here, Senator? Well, again, I think if you take the issues broadly, it's more than just this one accusation, although certainly it sounds very serious.

So, again, I think for the good of the seat, for the good of the Democratic Party, Mr. Plattner should get out of the race. Okay. Turning now to what you're there. for the NATO summit. Tell us what you're hoping. There's a number of issues at stake here, especially defense of Ukraine. What are you hoping comes out of the NATO summit? What are you hoping to hear from the president and the connection he has with other members there? Well, this is an opportunity to take stock of where NATO is in terms of its spending and its capacity to be able to address adversaries, primarily Vladimir Putin and Russia at this point

because of the war in Ukraine. And it's a good news story with respect to spending. All 32 NATO allies are at 2% of GDP, which was the threshold that has been set. Now, the goal is to get to 5% of GDP. And there are a number of nations that are well on their way, seven at this point are over 3%. And we know that between 2024 and 2025, spending by NATO allies went up by 20%. So that's good news. Now, obviously, there are some differences of opinion that need to be addressed. And I hope that there's going to be a very strong statement of support and strong work for Ukraine coming out of this summit. I had the opportunity to go with the bipartisan, bicameral delegation that's from Congress. We were in Weesbaden, Germany. Yesterday, we had a chance to be briefed by both

our, by Commander Buzzard, who's been working with Ukraine, the Ukraine Defense, Ukraine Defense Group, and General Donahue, who is the head of the NATO operations here in Europe right now. And we saw the very good work that's going on in support of NATO. And I hope that that's going to continue as the result of this summit. Because the most important message coming out of opera is for our adversaries to understand that the NATO allies are united, that we are working together. We are working to address threats. And the only countries, the only leaders who benefit by a message coming out of this summit that the NATO allies are divided are Vladimir Putin in Russia, President Xi and China, North Korea. and Iran. So it's very important for us to point out that any differences we have are being

worked out amicably and we are the strongest security alliance in history. Senator, as you've been speaking, we've watched President Trump to send the steps of Air Force One, that new one, the gift from the Qataris, and greeted at the bottom of the staircase by President Erdogan of Turkey, a very friendly greeting there before he moves in for these talks. You have been an advocate through these last several years, especially when the relationship with NATO has been so under strain, an advocate for these strong ties with our European allies for funding of Ukraine. Is that a message that you think Donald Trump, the President of the United States, will come around to as he sees perhaps Russia not faring as well, not looking as strong as it once did? do you believe that the relationship with NATO, one, can be repaired, and number two, that Ukraine will get the support it needs to ultimately either end the war or get a deal that is

agreeable to that country? Well, I think it's positive that President Trump is here. Obviously, he will be part of any discussions that come out of the summit. And it comes on the heels of the G7, where the communique coming out of that conference of strong Western allies was the support for Ukraine and President Trump signed that statement. So it is in the interest of the transatlantic alliance of the United States, of democracies everywhere to see Ukraine successful. And what we know is that momentum has turned and that Ukraine is doing well. Russia is experiencing casualties of over 30,000 a month. They have lost territory in the last

couple of months that they had taken from Ukraine. Their economy is in dire straits. Ukraine last night just hit a target, an oil target, 2,000 kilometers into Russia. So this war has shifted. Putin should come to the negotiating table. He should understand that he is losing. And the best thing he can do is get to the negotiating table and strike a deal. All right, Senator, we know you've got to get inside to some of those meetings, ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Democratic Senator Gene Sheehan of New York, joining us live this morning from Turkey. Thank you, of New Hampshire, excuse me. Thank you for joining us this morning. We appreciate it. Richard, we're watching these images. What do you see first in that warm greeting with President

Erdogan and then what do you expect to happen when they step inside the room with some allies that President Trump has spent the last several years and took the last few months, trashing? Last few days over FIFA. Erdogan has emerged as a critical figure, both in Europe but also in the Middle East. The Israelis, by the way, are extremely uncomfortable about Turkey's role. On the other hand, there's the question of whether we're going to provide some of our best aircraft to Turkey, the F-35s, which Erdogan clearly wants as a symbol as well as for the military capability. I think the president is inclined to do that.

it'd be another sign that the U.S. Israeli relationship were not exactly on the same page. Beyond Turkey, though, it's all the issues you just heard about, which is, you know, how do you reassure the Europeans when, quite honestly, there are questions, let's be blunt. Well, like if tomorrow the Russians did something in Estonia or Latvia, none of us could sit here and tell a European leader 100% the United States has your back. Well, for an alliance, that is about as corrosive as you. get, there's got to be a kind of automaticity about an alliance. That is no longer there. It's suddenly become conditional. Then sure, there's all the other issues. The president's unhappy.

I think what the Europeans ought to do is make good on some kind of a proposal to do something in the Strait of Hormuz if conditions allow just to begin to put the war behind us. I think that would be helpful. They've got to get serious about European defense effort. It doesn't make sense for every, there's 32 members of NATO. For 31 of them to essentially have national defense programs, they're not sufficiently integrated, so the whole is less than the sum of its parts. There's lots of things the Europeans should do,

other than just spend more, they should spend smart. They've got to build a European defense industry. We don't have one that's adequate. They don't have one that's adequate. So actually, it ought to be a really rich agenda about what to do about Russia, what to do about Ukraine, Europe, in the Middle East. We'll see if we can get past though the Akramani. I think most member states in the alliance would say these two men right here are the biggest strains on NATO.

Erdogans tested the borders of before. And of course, Trump has called into question repeatedly. And I think Richard's point is right about what's on the agenda. But I also think another topic that's probably going to come up in some way is Greenland. Like the White House officials in recent weeks have started ramping up the Greenland talk again, saying that they, you know, not less so about a military intervention, but the ability to purchase it or require it or whatever or have. more influence there. And in the last, in Davos, when this, that issue seemed to be coming to a head, a real crisis. Some, you know, vague agreement was made to give the U.S. more access to things, but that's not enough for Trump and his team. They've made that clear. And again, Greenland is part of a NATO member. And if there was real pressure on that, an alliance is already weak. Good point. We potentially could split apart in time. We're still talking about Greenland.

We'll see if that hits the agenda. Richard Haas, thank you, as always. We appreciate it. Still ahead on morning, Joe. We'll dig into yesterday. very disappointing end to the World Cup for the United States team, as well as for one soccer legend. Roger Bennett joins us with his takeaways straight ahead on Morning Joe. But all I did, all I did, I asked for a review because I didn't think it was a foul. I think it would have had a big stain. And I related just that feeling.

I didn't tell him what to do. I can't tell him what to do. And I don't believe he made the decision. I think it was a committee that made the decision. And they made the right decision. President Trump yesterday. speaking of reporters ahead of the highly anticipated and controversial match for the U.S. men's national team, the pregame spotlight centered on FIFA overturning the suspension of

Florin Balagan, making him eligible to play after a call from President Trump. But once the match kicked off, it was all Belgium. Didn't matter who was on the field for the United States. Charles de Ketteri scored twice. And although Malik Tillman briefly equalized with a deflected free kick, Belgium answered less than a minute later. We were even and then we weren't after a costly giveaway.

By goalkeeper Matt Freeze had a tough day led to Hans Vanakins' goal. Romulu Lukaku added another in stoppage time. That was the, well, not what the dagger came earlier, but that was just a little salt in the wound. Belgium advancing with a 4-1 victor of the United States. The loss

marks the fourth time in the last five World Cups, Americans have been eliminated in the round of 16. Let's bring in the founder of the men in Blazers Media Network, the great Roger Bennett. He's author of the new book. We are the World Cup, a personal history of the world's greatest sporting event. Raj, great to see you. It is the world's greatest sporting event. It has been so much fun, even for the non-soccer fan, just to watch and drink in and absorb and enjoy. But last night, Raj, deeply disappointing effort by the United

States. They played pretty well through the tournament. Just didn't look like they were up to the task yesterday. Willie, it is so hard to watch. that footage. It's too soon. That was one of the greatest, the whole game, the whole past 48 hours have been one of the greatest own goals in American footballing history. This team was young, this team was athletic, this team was capable of playing swaggy, kind of like Anne 1 basketball, football in wonder, we were able to take on the world. We felt, you know, the motto of this team was why not us? And at the end of this,

after 24 hours of quite unprecedented football fusing with geopolitics, to watch that team just disintegrate under the pressure of the game, of the moment, of the, you know, the nation watching and the whole, you know, intrigue that occurred politically

in the past 48 hours to disappear without trace. Instead of why not us, it was just like, never us? Why can we never go on a run? Why can we never get past the round of 16? Why do we self-sabotage to this extent, which this was? It's really someone that cares about the growth of the game in this nation, about this World Cup, about this team showing that it can prove itself to itself. Last night was a human agony. So, Raj, obviously Belgium is the better team. They showed that on the field yesterday. Maybe we knew that going in. But there was another element to

but the United States team looked hesitant, making uncharacteristic mistakes. They kind of, that first goal, three or four of them stood around and said, are you going to get it, are you going to get it? And the next thing they knew the ball was in the back of the net. There was something about not just that maybe Belgium was better,

but the way the US played that was disappointing as well. They were a ghost team, Willie. I was in Seattle for the last game against Australia. We faced Paraguay in the first game. We destroyed this team. This is a Paraguay that ended up being quite, you know, showing they were a middleweight team that could be eliminated Germany

could play with a true ferocity. We annihilated them. Then we went to Seattle. There's a crowd, a home crowd that believed so much. I marched to the match with 15,000 fans. There was an ablience. The nation was behind us. We saw celebrations from sea to shining sea.

Marshaun Lynch led the fans with me to the game. And he said that when the Seattle Stadium is really there, It can make a noise that can hit the Richter scale in terms of it sounding like an earthquake. I heard that earthquake and it felt like everything was possible. At the end of that game, we beat Australia 2-0. Exquisite football. The team walked up to the fans and every team in this World Cup gets to sing a song, gets to choose a song.

The English team sing Wonderwall, song that bizarrely makes grown men cry in a moment of victory in football. The US song, the US team sings country roads by John Denver. It was beautiful. The harmony between the players, sobbing, the fans. We couldn't believe what we were singing. Everything felt possible. And what we didn't know in that moment was that was ultimately the high point.

That's the lesson of this thing. We all know what happened afterwards, the intervention, the kind of buckling of the rules, playing a striker who should have been banned. and the intervention, the changing of the rules. It was almost like we muddled with karma. So ultimately that's it. You're a high point in life.

You don't know when it's going to be. Ultimately, I do feel this team was talented. This team was young. This team was athletic. This team was capable. This team did believe. And we almost undid ourselves. And it feels very raw.

It feels like a march of folly. It feels like really a moment of self-destruction. Yeah. I mean, Roger, I wrote a piece for the Atlantic this morning, noting that for many people, the America 250 celebrations were underwhelming. They were too politicized, too polarized, too Trump. But the World Cup had become this sort of, like, a surprising source of patriotism. Like Americans rallied around this team and that the rest of the world came to the U.S. and fell in love with the country again.

We've all followed the stories of how Applebee's has become our best soft power because, you know, these European tourists can't believe these appetizers they can get. That has not changed. The World Cup is still a success in that way. But for the U.S. men's soccer team, I think you're right. To be clear-eyed, this is a disappointment to fall out like this at home to get embarrassed at this stage. So where does the team, where does the program go from here, you know, heading into the next World Cup four years from now? Look, I love what you've said. It really is beautiful.

And listening to it, there is an element. with this football team that really hurts and very hard questions that have to be asked. Why is it? Number one, that our women can step up, kick ass, take names, win things. Why is it that we can put a man on the moon? We are a nation of 330 million people.

We win things. The nation loves teams that win. We love a dream team. We love Charles Barkley, beating the Angolan's by 70 points and still dunking on some hapless defender and elbowing him in the side of the head. When I watched that as a kid, I was like, what is that?

And I was, that's America. And this US team needs to aspire to be like that. We are not like that. It's one of the greatest, honestly, the greatest, most perplexing realities in sports. But what you've also said, there is a truth and a beauty. Here's what's the frustration for me. This World Cup has been humanly beautiful. We've talked about it.

You know, the Scottish fans just taking over Boston. Boston fleetingly becoming the capital of Boston, the Dutch fans bouncing through the hearts of Kansas City, the Argentinian fans going into Jerry World, making it seem like it's in Buenos Aires. Lawrence, Kansas, falling in love with the Algerian football team. These are all totems of hope as fans across the world, go to Buckees and have their minds blown by Nuggets.

It's been exquisite. America being loved again. in this moment, we needed this. And America, for me, falling in love for football. And here's the thing that's great, is that today, I'm in Atlanta. Lernel Messi is about to take the field of the Mercedes-Benz. He's playing Mo Salah, the Egyptian King, one of the greatest footballers ever to come out of Africa.

This is still the World Cup of Umbappi, of Erling Harlan, the giant Viking, Shaquillo Nailing cleats, of Lernel Messi performing casual quasi-Rouzai. religious activities with the world watching. The frustration for me, when this World Cup is remembered in 20 years time, the US men will barely be a blip in it. They'll remember Argentina. They'll remember maybe England, Harry Kane.

They'll remember the heroic Cape Verde goalkeeper who came out of nowhere to charm the world. But the US will not be in it. And the reason they're not in it is that they strapped on a pair of wax wings and headed straight for the sun. We should be in it. We should have gone deeper. We should have been able to make the world, and we should have been able to make the nation believe.

And the reason we didn't today is because of our own hand. And I think that's what really hurts this time. Especially in our own backyard, it would have been pure magic to have them even into the quarterfinals and talking about them for another week. So you mentioned Messi today. Cannot wait to watch that game against Sala and Egypt. The other game yesterday, they had another soccer icon,

perhaps playing likely, he says now, his final World Cup match. Cristiano Ronaldo, his career in the Cup came to a close. Portugal losing 1-0 to Spain. So, Raj, let's put that in perspective. 41 years old, I believe Ronaldo is at this point. He was in tears at the end of the game. How do you mark his World Cup career? This is an agony.

They got beaten by Spain in the Iberian Ham Classico. There he is. it's one of the greatest to ever do it. His duality, his duel with Messi was really, not just in the recent times, this over the past 20 years is the rivalry, kind of like Michael Jordan and Larry Bird is the game that kind of drove football into the modern period.

He is one of the greatest to ever do it. Messi looks like he's wandered out of Supercutts, just a normal dude who can just perform these kind of like crazy superhero feats. Little Messi, Christiano Menado was power, was arrogance, he looks like a bottle of Drakhan noir,

made human flesh. And ultimately, Messi excelled late on in his career, the consistency, kept on coming. He won the World Cup, age 35. The World Cup evaded

Cristiano Ronaldo. And for all of his greatness, he kept chasing it, like Captain Ahab, chasing a white whale. This Portugal team was stacked with young talent. He carried a lot of political power. He kept playing.

He wouldn't be substituted in the final game. And ultimately his obsession with the World Cup, the best thing he could have probably done was watch from the bench come on in moments. It was his desire to be the eye in the team that kind of sunk this Portugal. So there's a bittersweet farewell there, but one of the greatest to ever do it.

ended as a morality tale. Football's amazing. It just contains multitude. It's always biblical what we watched last night, to be honest, Willie. Only the great Roger Bennett could get supercuts and Moby Dick into the same thought. Brilliant, Raj. As always, as always. He loved Willie. Huge. Raj. Founder of the Men in Blazers Media Network, the Americans may be gone, but there's still a lot to be excited about, starting with Messi and Argentina against Egypt, a short time from now where you are in Atlanta. Raj, thanks so much. We appreciate it.

Thank you. Comment up next. The Justice Department reportedly is sending election monitors to three cities in Michigan for that state's upcoming primaries. We'll dig into some new reporting on that when Morning Joe comes right back. The United States Capitol shrouded in fog at 744 on this Tuesday morning. The Justice Department is planning to send election monitors to three cities in the battleground state of Michigan ahead of its August primary votes.

The cities of Detroit, East Lansing and Lansing, all three Democratic strongholds, receive letters from the federal agency in recent weeks. Lansing and East Lansing are located in a swing district, which Republican Congressman Tom Barrett currently represents and now is seeking a second term. One of the letters from the DOJ claim there were several problems with the 2024 elections in Lansing. They say officials did not use a statewide voter registration list, and there were long lines and lengthy waiting periods. But officials in Lansing say,

none of that's true. This marks an escalation in the Trump administration's attempts to scrutinize voting in Michigan, which President Trump long has said is a rigged state without offering any evidence to support that claim. An appeals court has denied the DOJ a copy of Michigan's registered voting list. In response to the DOJ, Democratic Attorney General Dana Nessel wrote, quote, the courts have been clear time and time again, states run elections, not the federal government. She went on to explain federal monitors are allowed to observe, as per law, but that her office stands ready to hold accountable those who attempt to unlawfully interfere with or intimidate Michigan election workers. At least obviously now the president has a Department of Justice, happy to do his

bidding. He says the elections have been stolen from him over the last several years. They have not been. He wants close eyes on places where Democrats might win. Well, and this is another escalation. When Secretary of State, Jocelyn Benson, she did not, and she's running for the Democratic nomination for governors, she wouldn't release those voter rolls. And so this may go as high as the Supreme Court. And the idea, the strategy behind this is to create legal obstacles on the way and to scatter the brains of voters so that they don't know what is accurate and what's happening and cast doubt over what's going down in these places. And so we'll see what lands in court during election season and how that plays in public and voter opinion.

And the leadership in Michigan, some of what you just mentioned, some of those names, has been notable for its strength and standing its ground around elections against Donald Trump. We'll see what happens here. Still ahead. what we're learning about the health of Republican Senator Mitch McConnell made growing concerns about his ongoing hospitalization. It's been several weeks now. We'll be right back with more morning, Joe.

Welcome back. Every day we interact with hundreds of things we really stop to think about. The cars we drive, the shoes we wear, the tools we use, the spaces we enter. But what if many of those things were never really designed with everybody in mind? in her new book titled Manmade, how we designed a world that leaves women out and how we can make it right. Karen Corellis Reuter,

a former global creative director at Nike and vice president at Reebok with more than 40 years experience in design, examines how the world has been built largely around the male body, and she argues that has left women overlooked with consequences that can range from inconvenient to actually dangerous. And Karen joins us now. Also here for this conversation, MS now contributor,

Huma Abidine. She is vice chair of the Forbes and Know Your Value 3050 Summit. And Elise Jordan is still with us as well. Karen, welcome to the show. It's great to have you. Thank you, Nika. It's great to have you here. You write that women and men inhabit the same world, but it doesn't always suit them equally. And I'd love to hear some examples of designs that most people don't even think about or realize were created simply around the male body. Yes, absolutely. So, you know, I work on a continuum from insulting to deadly. So, you know, in the world of sneakers, you know, insulting is that we design most shoes, most sneakers to the anatomy of a man's foot. A man's foot is a

rectangle. A woman's foot is a triangle. So oftentimes with shoes that are meant to keep us comfy all day, I find myself wanting to take them off. That's simply insulting. And we use a term called shrink it and pink it. Scale something down and color it a stereotypical female color. You know, I'll move to dangerous where, you know, PPE that women are wearing on construction sites, in firefighting, in police work, are not designed for our body and the military. It's designed to a male standard, which we continue to measure against. And, you know, it does go to deadly, and that is crash test dummies and CPR manigans, for example. Karen, I want to ask you, you spent decades at Reebok and Nike.

When did you first notice that things were being designed for men in mind and that women weren't afterthought? You know, I have to say, for many years, I had my head down designing many of these products and using some standards that had been made available to me that were measuring the size of our bodies, not realizing that they had only measured men. There was a time where I realized that there were so few of us practicing in the fields that affect the built world, industrial design, product design, architecture, mechanical engineering. For a long time, I thought it was insulting and trying to be. to do a better job with that.

When I realized how dangerous and deadly it was, was drove me to do more research. Well, the dangerous aspect is just jaw-dropping. When you look at some of the statistics that you pull out, like that women are 73% more likely to die in a car accident. So even with car safety, why wasn't that designed with women in mind? So the statistic is 73% more likely to be in

very bad and 17% more likely to die. We are testing in the U.S. We are testing with crash test dummies that are built from a male anatomy. They are shrink it and pink at crash test dummies. And we do not even test the female version of that crash test dummy in the driver's seat in the U.S. Karen, I want to go back to something. You've mentioned shrink it and pinkett a few times and the fact that it's also more expensive for women that we spend on average in a lifetime $180,000 more on personal needs for ourselves.

What is the lesson that women should take away from this book? How do you think about having each of us know what to ask for when it comes to design, what we need for our personal care, for safety, when we go to have a gynecological exam, How do you talk to creators, designers, inventors you're teaching at Harvard now? What do you teach your students? Well, for one thing I teach about the design brief. When you write a design brief, that's the blueprint for the project. And as a designer, you need to look at that with a fine-tooth comb.

You can always find out who's being left out, who might this harm. And why can't we design a product that is unique for 50% of the planet? And we can. And we absolutely can. As a designer, I know we can. I love it. The new book, Out Now titled Man Made, How We Designed a World that Leaves Women Out and How We Can Make It Right. Let's Make It Right. Karen Corellus Reuter, thank you so much for coming on the show this morning. We really appreciate what you've said here. And Hume Abidine, thanks to you as well. Always great to have you. Coming up on Morning Joe, one of our next guest says Donald Trump has a new and likely ineffective.

A favorite word. The editor of the New Republic, Michael Tamaski, joins us ahead with that. Morning Joe is coming right back.