Morning Joe - Trump dismisses affordability concerns (again) at Las Vegas rally

Episode Date: August 6, 2026

August 6, 2026 - 6am: Trump dismisses affordability concerns (again) at Las Vegas rally El-Sayed wins Michigan primary, calls for unity Trump targets El-Sayed in Vegas speech, labels him as “communist” Iran says Hormuz deal with Oman in “final stages” David Drucker latest Op-Ed for Bloomberg, “It’s the Worst Time to be John Thune” UFC lost $30M on White House fight  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.

Sometimes, you know, intra-family squabbles are the biggest ones. But we all know that when we walk out the house, we stand united. And sometimes we got to have it out about the conversation about who we are and who we want to be. I know not everybody's going to agree with me on everything. That's not how this works. But I do know that they agree with me on the need to beat Mike Rogers and the need to hold Donald Trump accountable. That is Abdul al-Sayed yesterday after his win in the Democratic primary for a U.S. Senate seat in Michigan, making the case for unity, a word you're going to hear a lot of in the

next few days, within the party after a hard-fought race against Haley Stevens. President Trump, meanwhile, was out west touting his economic policies in Las Vegas, despite the state, like so many, struggling with higher costs, and there fewer tourists. Plus, Iran says it is in the final stage of drafting an agreement with Oman over the Strait of Hormuz. We'll look at the terms of that deal and the concession President Trump would have to make for it to go through. Also this morning, the Senate Homeland Security Committee will vote on a resolution to hold Dr. Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress. We had Rand Paul here this week,

promising to do just that. We'll have a live report from Capitol Hill. Good morning. Welcome to Morning, Joe. It is Thursday, August 6. I'm Willie Geist. Joe and Mika off today with us, the co-host of our 8 a.m. hour staff writer at the Atlantic, Jonathan Lemire, MS now Senior Capitol Hill Reporter and host of way too early Ali Vitale. MS. Now National Affairs and John Heilman. He is partner in chief political columnist at Puck and senior writer at The Dispatch and columnist at Bloomberg opinion, David Drucker. Want to get to the president in Las Vegas. But quickly, Ali, I want to go to you on Michigan now. Yesterday at this time, El Sajad was the presumptive nominee. Now we can say he has won that race. Haley Stevens has conceded.

I mentioned the word unity. We're going to have breakfast. We're going to have rallies. We're have all kinds of things. How are Democrats really feeling right now about El Saeed's win? Look, I think Democrats are using the word unity. And this was a concern that 24 hours ago, I was standing under a bridge in Michigan talking to you about. This was a worry that both El Saeed supporters had and Stevens supporters had because of just how bruising this primary actually was. And so the way that they are all immediately coming together, a concession call from Haley Stevens, immediate statements saying let's get behind the ultimate nominee. All of that makes sense. I think the other piece of that Democrats are actively still grappling with is how big is the

tent that we can support? Because it's not just a question of backing El Sayed. They're looking ahead to future primary elections like those in Wisconsin where Francesca Hong is leading. She's actually a Democratic socialist as opposed to L. Seid who doesn't apply the label, but certainly has some of the policies. They're trying to figure out how big is the tent that they can support. And then the larger question of what does it mean for 2028? That I think in the Michigan results especially just goes to show that the party doesn't actually have. have an obvious North Star when it questions establishment or not or whatever else on the ideological spectrum. And for now, Republicans, conservative media celebrating El-Saiads when they think it's a good sign.

Much more on that in just a moment. But let's go to President Trump, who is back at the White House this morning after delivering a speech yesterday in Las Vegas that was supposed to highlight his economic achievements. Instead, the president gave his typical rally style remarks filled with false claims and political grievances. The president also blamed undocumented immigrants for higher prices and again mocked the term affordability. But right now it's one of the best things. I mean, it's one of the greatest things. People are making a lot of money, no tax on tips, and it's great. This past filing season, 440,000 tipped workers right here in Nevada saved an average of

$10,000 on their taxes. Think of that. Just on the no tax on tip. More Americans are working. in the United States right now than at any point in the history of our country. I saw polls today on television. I say, Donald Trump, polls on the economy aren't good. The economy is the greatest economy we've ever had by far. The economy aren't good. They're fake polls, just like fake writers. And as the legal aliens go home, the cost of rent, groceries and other staples is coming down very fast. Our costs are coming way down. You know, they talk about affordability.

I took over the country. The prices were through the roof. In my first day, the press said, what are you going to do about affordability? It was a word they devised. Affordability. They never used that word before. Man, John, they're trying to get him to talk about affordability.

They've had all these rallies. They've designed these set pieces for them where you can just get to the idea that people are having a tough time affording the cost of living. He just is incapable of it. Look, you've got to admire the man's consistency. He just won't do it. No, no.

They could bring the horse to water, but yet he won't. It is amazing. Yeah, I mean, I talked to AIDS, you know, again, even yesterday, ahead of this West Coast swing here is in L.A. and then Vegas. And look, we're going to have this centerpiece event on the economy. We'll talk about no tax on tips, which is one of the few things he can say he's done. And that particularly resonates there in the surface economy in Las Vegas. But yet he takes the idea of affordability, claims the media invented it or perhaps

Democrats, and this utterly dismisses it. And he just, it goes to his inability to ever admit a mistake, to ever admit that ever admit that things aren't perfect, that things aren't a golden age. And I wrote sort of related to this, a piece for the Atlantic this morning about how the reflecting pool embarrassment, how the Air Force One embarrassment, how it wasn't secure enough for him to fly overseas, led to him lashing out, you know, and even using the levers of government to go after those that he blamed in those respective cases, whether it's a canoeist or New York Times reporters.

In this case, he is embarrassed or at least humbled by the state of the economy, and he simply can't admit that it's not going great. Yeah, it is for those at the very top, no doubt. But there's a reason why there's so much populist anger right now in the country is because most of the nation feels like they're being left behind. And they look to the president who seems out of touch. It's not that he's offering solutions that aren't working and maybe he'd get credit for trying. He doesn't seem to be even trying. And that, I think, is holding him and his party back at the polls. We're concerned with billing billion-dollar ballrooms and statutes.

to himself across Washington. You heard the president talk there about more people working than ever before. It's a line he's been using a lot lately. That number driven, though, by population growth, as we mentioned yesterday, not his economic policies. You also heard him talk no tax on tips. Labor unions and research groups have disputed the actual savings for workers, though they like the idea. On top of that, tourism is down significantly in Las Vegas, leading to fewer tips for service industry workers. The city drew about 3.1 million fewer visits. visitors last year than in 2024. That's a 7.5% drop. The largest decline since recordkeeping began in 1970, leaving aside, of course, the pandemic. Meanwhile, a gallon of gas in Nevada, about $4.80.

That's more than 70 cents higher than the national average, according to AAA. So David Drucker, again, the White House and staffers around the president are trying to get him to go out there and acknowledge at least the pain that a lot of Americans are feeling. We know how this always ends up. in front of a crowd, he's in Vegas, he gets frothy, he gets riled up, and he wants to talk about his achievements, which is fair, but he can't zero in on the issue that is the top of every poll of people's concerns heading into these midterm elections. Yeah, and Willie, he's not going to, right? I mean, you know, the president is famously consistently and consistent.

He will talk about what he wants, when he wants, as the incumbent, and we saw this during the first presidency. He does not accept the premise that anything is wrong, right? He will talk about what was wrong as he took office, and then he will just say it's been fixed. And it's a trap that many presidents, not just Donald Trump, falls into, because presidents do not like to accept any sort of blame. And, you know, as a political matter, that's somewhat understandable. But one of the worst things a president or any elected official can do is not acknowledge voters' pain and meet them where they are. So let's just quickly take out, you know, the economic metrics for a minute, and we can have a debate about that. We can have economic experts about that. What the polling

tells us is that voters do not believe the economy is as great as Donald Trump says it is, and they do not believe, according to the polling, that he's sufficiently focused on the thing that they care about most, which is the economy. And so it doesn't really matter whether Trump is right or wrong. Voters don't think he's right. And that's costing him and his party heading into the midterm elections. And also he's talking about gas prices that drop down to the floor, as he said yesterday, once this war in Iran ends, most people at this point don't see an end to the war in Iran, at least for the moment. In that speech yesterday, President Trump also spoke about that race in Michigan and had this to say about now the Democratic nominee Abdul al-Sayyat.

And the polls were wrong again last night when they thought it would be a landfled victory for a hater of Jews and a hater of Israel. This guy hates Jews. Somebody said, oh, that's a little strong. No, he hates Jews and he hates Israel. Abdul al-Said. Can you believe this? This could only happen to me. Abdul El-Sahad, lovely gentlemen. He's a man of hate. Unclear what could only happen to him there, John. But as I mentioned, I mean, you can look at the front page of the New York Post. You can look anywhere in conservative media right now.

This is the candidate that they wanted in Michigan, but also nationally, so that they could make the claim that the Democrats, whether it's here in New York City and the state of Michigan, potentially with the governor of Wisconsin, are making a turn far left. Yeah, right turn on red, the headline here. And this is the subhead, though, that I think Republican are seizing on GOP midterm prospects improve as DEMS nominate socialist radicals. I mean, obviously not actually, as Ali pointed out, doesn't actually consider himself

part of the DSA. But we're seeing this is the Republicans' closing argument here, is that they think that the Democrats, you know, that there's energy on the left, they're communists, they use those words interchangeable, even though, of course, they're not actually the same thing. It's the red scare. And they feel that, you know, and whether those labels actually work or not, at the very least, there is a sense from both parties. Michigan, because of this result yesterday, Michigan is now perhaps more of a toss-up than it would have been previously. I think that is

possibly true. And we had the nominee on our area yesterday. We interviewed him. We asked him a lot of questions, including those are on Israel. And he's going to have to keep facing those questions. And I think his answers are unsettling to some voters. That said, we also shouldn't downplay some of the energy that's on the left right now. He is a political talent. Yes, there are some things, surely he will need to adjust here in the next couple of months. But I think it would be a mistake to suddenly say, oh, this seat's going into the Republican column here, Allie. When I think, you know, polls suggest yes, a tight race to be sure.

And I think that, you know, there is an onus on him as well as some of the others in Michigan to bring that party together in that state after a particularly bruising fight. But one thing that he can do is point to Mike Rogers, who seems like a somewhat normy Republican, but tie him very effectively to Donald Trump and say this guy has been a loyal foot soldier for this president whose poll numbers are in the low 30s. Yeah, I mean, that is definitely the backdrop and the case against Rogers, right? And midterms are referendums. But I think Michigan voters are going to have, on the one hand, Rogers didn't have to go through a primary. He just lost the last election to Alyssa Lachin by 0.3 points. I mean, it was close, right? So they feel good for that reason,

as well as the fact that El-Sayet, I think, has some healing to do within the Democratic coalition. might have a harder time bringing along some disaffected Republicans. I think that is going to be one of the big tests here. On the other side of it, when I was out there, I was meeting voters who were telling me, even if they still supported Trump, they connected the Iran war to gas prices. And they were questioning, why wasn't this war ever just explained to me? Because I think their inclination is to back Trump, to give him the leeway, to give him the patience that Republicans on the Hill are giving him. And I think that's going to be one of the true tests, is they are making that connection. And it underscores why Republican strategists that I talked to consistently say the Iran war

is the biggest and I think most unpredictable thing that keeps them up at night about the midterms because to voters, it is a direct connection between a Trump decision and the affordability cost that they were already feeling. John Heilman, what do you see in the results of Michigan that was closer? Donald Trump's right about that, closer than the polls had it. But Abdul al-Said is the nominee right now. He's going in against Mike Rogers, a guy who, for... a while, stood up to Donald Trump and then didn't, including on matters like the 2020 election. So what do you see ahead here in Michigan, but also nationally for Democrats with the emergence of candidates like El Cyanid?

Well, first of all, Willie, I mean, to the extent that people felt like the Michigan race was a kind of a microcosm of the debate that's playing out between the two main factions in the Democratic Party, and some people were hoping for clarity that you would see a victory by one side or the other that kind of clarified where the party was headed and where the Michigan electorate was. We didn't get that. We got an impressive win by El Cid in the sense that he took on all that outside money. And he managed to win the race as an insider against all of not just all the money,

but the entirety of the Democratic establishment in Washington, D.C. and in Ann Arbor lined up against him. That's impressive. And yet, you know, as we all know, there was a sense, you know, going into the race. going into Tuesday that some of the recent polling look like he might win by double digits. And I think that didn't happen, obviously. So we don't have clarity about which of the two factions emerges all that much stronger here. And we also have a Democratic Party that's pretty deeply split.

Now, I will say, if Haley Stevens had won this race, she would have had just as much work as Abdul al-Said does to put the party back together. She would have had the problems, the kind of converse problems that he is now going to face. He's got to solve his problems with white, working class voters and with black voters in Detroit. She would have had to solve her problems with Arab American voters and with students. He got a ton of enthusiasm on very important places like East Lansing and Ann Arbor. So the party was going to have to work, given how bruising the primary was and given how divided the party is, it was going to have to work to come back together. And Abdul al-Assad has a lot of work to do in that regard.

He has one enormous advantage, which is what you saw last night to get up. Las Vegas, which is Donald Trump, who not for the first time, in fact, for the umptean time, continues to make this race, uh, these midterms, which are always, as I heard someone say there earlier, uh, always a referendum on the sitting incumbent. But to do that, to keep highlighting how disconnected from Americans' economic concerns the president is and thereby extension how much, how disconnected they think Republicans are, uh, Mike Rogers is going to be facing a stiff headwinds emanating directly out of the Oval Office. And I think in the end, one of the reasons why you think Abdul Al-Saiad, who is a very talented

political athlete, why he might win this race is that this year, the headwinds that the whole Republican Party is facing are so stiff that they might really help him carry him across the finish line despite all the splits in the Democratic Party and the work he has to do. And the El-Sayad campaign already chaining Mike Rogers to Donald Trump on every single issue. So when you look at this, there's a piece of Wall Street Journal opinion page, David Drucker, March of the El-Sahed Democrats, basically suggesting here go the Democrats headed sharply to the left, suggesting this could be a problem for them, not just in the midterms, but if this emerges as the kind of successful candidate in the Democratic Party, it could cost them in 2028.

So our conservatives, are Republicans on Capitol Hill as energized, by El-Sayed's win as they suggest they are? Yeah, I think they are. Look, I think that when you're behind the eight ball, the way Republicans are, and Republicans in Congress, right, they do this for a living. Republican strategist I talk to, they do this for a living year after year after year. They know what the polling says. They know what the metrics are.

They know what a good cycle looks like. They know what a bad cycle looks like. And so with El-Saiad's nomination in Michigan, they really think they've caught a break. And they might have caught a break. And I think, you know, what we need to keep our... eye on in Michigan to take a look at how the Senate race is going to go is the governor's race, right? Jocelyn Benson versus John James, if Benson can win the governor's mansion, which she is favored to do and which I expect her to do by six points or more, that updraft could carry

El-Sayed, despite the qualms that many voters in Michigan, both independents, soft Republicans, and Jewish Democrats have about him because of his positions on Israel and because for, you know, Many voters, even Democratic voters, the idea of socialized medicine, Medicare for All, which is the third plank of his very effective message, money out of politics, money in your pocket, and then Medicare for All, that gives voters a lot of qualms. And it gives Republicans a lot to run against. But your point about 2028 is really pressure, right? Because if El-Saiad wins, what that is going to tell the Democratic Party,

but definitely the left flank of the party is we can win in competitive states. not just gerrymandered House districts, and that, I think, is going to change the nature of the Democratic presidential primary that's upcoming. If he loses to Mike Rogers in a year when Republicans are really facing severe headwinds, I think that's going to have the opposite effect, and Democrats are going to look more closely at electability

in the way we think about it traditionally. All right, we'll see. Heading up to Election Day, a few months away. Still ahead on morning, Joe, we'll have the latest on a possible deal. to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and what Vice President J.D. Vance is saying about the state of the war in Iran. Plus, Republican Senator Tom Tillis will be our guest after voting to advance Todd Blanche's nomination for Attorney General. We'll talk to him about his initial concerns over

the so-called anti-weaponization fund and why he came around in the end. And as we go to break, a look at the Travelers' Forecast this morning from Accueweather's Bernie Rayno. Bernie, how's it looking out there? Willie, steamy and stormy. That's the story over the next couple of days. You're active with a forecast, spotty thunderstorm late in the day in New York City. But Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Harrisburg, Washington, D.C., a couple of thunderstorms this afternoon. Straight thunderstorms. Also in Chicago, some wet weather in St. Louis. Plenty of heat in Texas, and we're battling afternoon thunderstorms once again in the southeast. If you're doing any traveling, we will have some delays in Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., not until, tonight, though, in New York City and Boston. To help you make the best decisions and be more in the know, download the Accuether app today. The Iranian government said yesterday it is in the, quote,

final stage of drafting an agreement with Oman over the Strait of Hormuz. The country's foreign ministry spokesman added that a joint statement would be issued if certain parties do not obstruct the process, seemingly referring to the United States. Iran also continues to insist on some measure of control over the strait, saying it will not go back to its. pre-war status of being an open international waterway. The Trump administration previously had rejected any deal solidifying to Iran's control over the strait. Regional officials tell the Associated press the draft deal with Oman is finalized and awaiting approval from Iran's supreme leader,

who is believed to be wounded and has not been seen publicly since the start of the war. The officials add the potential deal as a temporary solution to the dispute over the key waterway and could pave the way for the U.S. and Iran to resume nuclear negotiations. Vice President J.D. Vance was asked yesterday on Fox News about where talks stand. Number one, the Iranians are extraordinarily difficult people. Number two, they have a fractured system. So there are people within their system who want the war to be over. There are also people within their system who are crazy radicals who want the war to continue. Our job is to navigate through that and get the best outcome for the American people, but for the President of the United States as well.

And I do think that where we will ultimately land, it's going to be messy and it's going to take some time to get there. Where we will ultimately land, as you see, oil, I think, was at $79 today. Those oil prices are going to come down and stay down. Iran will never have a nuclear weapon. And the United States will be in a stronger position. But we're kind of in the middle of the game. And I think people are trying to prejudge exactly how this is going to go. Join us now, President Emeritus, of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Richard Haas, he's author of the Substack Home and Away. Richard, good morning. First of all, it's amazing to watch the administration discover that Iran is extremely difficult. Or the other day, President Trump's saying they're very duplicitous. You don't say, Iran. Do you agree with his assessment of where things stand and also your assessment just of what this potential deal with Oman could mean for the Strait of Hormuz and the war itself? I think there's a pretty good chance we'll get this deal, which at a minimum will lead to the reopening of the straits for some time. where I think he has it wrong is Iran is going to have far greater control over the strait than it had before the war. It's in a position here to dictate which routes or channels, ship, shoes. They're not imposing tolls, but the MOU, the vice president's administration signed,

gives around the right to impose tolls after 60 days. So that's a question of when not F. So, yeah, I think that's going to happen. we're going to, the United States is going to have to ultimately lift its blockade, essentially to reopen the straight, allow Iran to sell some oil, lift that sanction. So, yeah, so I think that's going to happen. The nuclear issue, the talks haven't even begun yet. We're talking about years of dealing with the nuclear issue.

It's going to be incredibly complicated. What I think we're looking at, Willie, is not a black or white situation. We're looking at a messy situation. It's at best an intermittent ceasefire. There'll be periodic problems with this. that Iranian proxy, you'll attack this or that target or ship. It's not going to be neat and clean. It's certainly not going to be peace. There'll be ceasefires some days. It's just going to be messy. And that's the future of this part of the world. John, in the piece you were talking about

earlier, your piece for the Atlantic of the embarrassments that President Trump is feeling right now. Iran is certainly the biggest of war he thought was going to be quick and easy with overwhelming military might drags on and on and on. As Richard points out, may end up with Iran in a better position than when the war began. Yeah, he has been routinely embarrassed and humbled by the situation in Iran. I mean, just over the last week, at the end of, you know, on the end of last week, he says we have a deal, then we don't, so we're going to ramp up strikes. Then he's told we don't have the missions to do so. And then over the weekend of Camp David, and then he says there's going to be a deal again, and then there's not. And now maybe there is. I mean,

he just, it's this pattern, Richard, where he threatens something, Iran calls his bluff. It doesn't happen. But if this deal were to come, I'm curious your take. on how the rest of the Gulf is going to react. Because so many of the leadership there has been insistent that we are not going to pay for access to the Strait of Hormuz, which had been open and free for all. We're not going to put money into a fund that will eventually use to rebuild Iran,

which, of course, has been bombing us now for months. But I talked to someone in the region yesterday, and they suggest they almost like thrown up their hands. Like, we give up. We've lost such faith in this White House. Two, three, six. First, the rest of the region, you know, the Arab countries, look, we haven't been able to defend them. We won't be able to defend them.

They have basically decided they're going to have to accommodate, learn to live with, a more radical, more influential Iran. And I think what you're going to see is some combination of accommodation, you use the word of peace, but I use the word accommodation. They're going to probably become a little bit more self-reliant. And by the way, if Iran ever moves towards nuclear weapons, guess what? Several of them will as well. They're going to look for new partnerships, maybe in packages. some with Turkey, some with one another. They're not going to depend on us, though.

I think what you're seeing is they have learned the hard way that reliance on the United States is a risky business and they can't depend upon us. For the Trump administration, what's so interesting, you know, the word dilemma is overused. It's a real dilemma. They don't like this. But the answer is what can they do about it?

They want the straight open for all the economic and political reasons. What are they going to do militarily? After five and a half months, every time we pound Iran, we don't get the results we want. then we can't prevent Iran from escalating against the energy and water infrastructure of the neighbors. That would be a disaster.

That would be a disaster. So the administration can threaten, but then it has to back down. It can't use military force against Iran's energy infrastructure. You almost have a kind of mutual assured destruction thing. We can't go after Iran in order, so they won't go after the neighbors. So the administration can talk tough, but at the end of the day, they are going to have to accept a more influential Iran. This war, let's just be blunt. It will leave Iran better off for all the damage we've inflicted.

It'll leave the United States worse off in this part of the world. And more broadly, it raises fundamental questions about the dependability and reliability of the United States. I think certainly all of that is true. I think the other piece of it that strikes me when I hear the vice president speak about this is the fact that he's saying we are in the middle of it when the president has tried repeatedly to say, well, it's wrapped up. We're in the MOU. The Hill is trying to figure out which way is up in terms of is it an active conflict or is it not,

though clearly it is. And I wonder when you think about the ways that the Iranians are continuing to exercise their leverage over the street, what are the ripple effects of that? Take us, put aside the fact that the Middle Eastern countries are starting to make deals because they are recognizing what the landscape is. What are the practical implications of the Iranians continuing to leverage their control of the street? That's everything we've been talking about. Yes. That it basically means. But going forward. Going forward, Iran is, Iran was the, in someone, had the worst years possible after October 7th. It's, you know, it lost the regime in Syria.

It's, it lost control of its own airspace, its proxies were getting hammered. Iran has emerged from this in some ways as the most influential local state. That is not, that's not going away. America's relationships with its partners in the region are clearly afraid. These, these countries are essentially on their own. Energy prices are going to be somewhat higher than, what were they, $3 a barrel before the war? At best, we're probably. looking at, you know, 350 or something like that. The pressure on nuclear weapons isn't going away. As bad as the strait is, the situation, the issue of Iran's nuclear program, more people in Iran want nuclear weapons now than before the war. A lot of them are saying, we never would

have gotten attacked had we got nuclear weapons. Iran is more radical than it was before the war. We've achieved regime change, just not in the way we wanted to. We brought about a more radical regime. So the nuclear challenge is enormous, and it's sitting out there. So again, this War did not resolve things. And what's so ironic? Think about it. The national security document of this administration wanted to dial down American involvement in the Middle East. It's going to be very hard to do it.

Or if we do dial it down, we're going to end up with the Middle East that's much less supportive of American. Yeah, Iran's going to end up where North Korea is, where they feel like they need those weapons to guarantee there's very survival. Yeah. And to your point about gas, 406 this morning, it was 317 a gallon a year ago. Coming up, we'll talk to David Drucker about his new piece for Bloomberg titled, It is the worst time to be John Thune.

I'll tell you what David means there. Plus, as data centers continue to pop up across the country, we've got to report about how residents in Utah are pushing back. They're doing it all over the country. Morning Joe's coming right back. Beautiful live picture, the White House, the monument behind it, 637 in the morning. David Drucker, your latest piece for Bloomberg is titled, It is the worst time to be John Thune in it.

you write this. Quote, complaints with Thune's leadership usually revolve around his lack of alternative strategies to accomplish all or parts of Trump's agenda or insufficient willingness to go to war against the minority Democrats. The nitpickers aren't many, and Thune has managed to maintain his political standing in a red state that supported Trump by an average margin of 28.4 percentage points across three presidential elections without becoming one of so many other Republicans who've been compelled to kneel before Zod, great reference to Superman, too. In fact, the reason Thune's standing as majority leader is not on the rocks, even with his rocky relationship with the president, is because he's doing the bidding of a healthy majority

of Senate Republicans. Viewed from that vantage point, Thune's job might be burdensome, but it's his for the foreseeable future, no matter how much that frustrates his critics. David, not an easy job for anyone to be the Senate Majority Leader under President Donald Trump, but Thune has been walking that line for a long time. Why is now the worst time to be him? Well, there are just so many competing pressures, right? I mean, for John Foon, the number one priority is preserving, if not growing, his majority in midterm elections, where Republicans are facing, you know, as we've been discussing, severe headwinds, right? I mean, that's no secret. And it's bad enough that even though the Democratic Party's path to a Senate majority runs through

a collection of red states, it's actually doable. And so at the same time, Thune's trying to protect his members. It's another big thing. Senate majority leaders or minority leaders do. I don't think people really understand this. They're elected by their peers to be the leader so they can run all of the interference and take all of the slings and arrows so they don't have to. And as long as the focus is on Thune, as long as Trump is mad at Thune, as long as the conservative base or the MAGA wing of the party is focused on Thune, That means you have a whole lot of other Senate Republicans that are quite happy because students doing a job.

But he's trying to focus the message on the economy and get things done just before August recess and then after when they return in the fall in a way that puts his members in the best possible position to get reelected for those that are up and to project the kind of message voters are interested in. That's on the economy. And meanwhile, you have Trump who is obsessed with the Save America Act, which is, you you know, that legislation that would move much of the administration and rulemaking on elections from the states to the federal government.

And there's simply not the support within the Republican conference for this legislation in order to pass it, you know, never mind 60 votes and never mind killing the filibuster for which there's no support. And so that's just a lot to juggle. But again, it is the job he signed up with. Willie, what I was just trying to do with the piece, in addition to explaining Thune's a predicament right now is explain what it means to be the Senate majority leader. You're not omnipotent. You have certain levers you can pull, but it's a difficult job.

You know, Allie, he's doing a such an interesting figure. He's kind of from the pre-Trump era almost, what Republicans used to look like, but thriving in the Trump era in his own way, standing up, as David pointed on a couple of things saying, we're not getting rid of the filibuster, Mr. President, move along from that. And the Save America Act just doesn't have the vote. So how was he doing that dance of standing up at moments to the president, but also staying in his good graces mostly? David's piece does such a good job of taking us inside the halls of Congress because he's completely right that it's a very bad time to be John Thune. And also that Thune is just doing his job. His job is to take the slings and arrows on behalf of his members.

For example, you've got to imagine that there was a conversation that happened with Susan Collins about the dynamics in her home state and the tough reelection battle that she faces when she said she was going to vote against Todd Blent. That then leaves it at people like Thune and frankly Barrasso's feet to make sure that they are still accomplishing the president's agenda by finding the other votes they'd need to put Blanche on the floor, right? It's why we're looking at Murkowski and Cassidy who have their own concerns about that nomination. All of that flows through leadership offices. And so these complaints about, oh, he's not being creative enough to pass legislation and he's not pushing back on Democrats enough. It actually doesn't behoove Thune to antagonize Democrats.

And he has said this in recent weeks because the way that the rules, work is that he needs some Democrats to get on board with things if they'd like to get basic things done. And that, yes, that doesn't apply to the SAVE Act, but they are going to thank him for preserving the filibuster in the same way that Republicans were looking at Joe Manchin and Kirsten Cinema saying, we're glad that you preserve that power of the institution. This is a deliberative body that prides itself on being deliberative. I have to say the discourse gets seemingly dumber every Congress. And yet, it is a place that still wants to have debate. And I think Thune is an institutionalist who has reoriented himself in the Trump era. We know he was

not always a fan of the president endorsed against him in the 2024 GOP primary. I remember talking to him on the trail with Tim Scott. I mean, like those things are true. But he has reoriented his North Star and continues to say to me, every time I talk to him, we are aligned on getting the president's goals accomplished. But he's not the house. It's a different dynamic. David's piece also does a really good job shining a spotlight on Superman 2, which was the best, which was the best of those. Agree. Terrence stamp.

The best, Terrence stamp. That's really, really good. Really good. John Halman, we can leave the film criticism aside for you. But certainly, this is an interesting dynamic to watch the Thune v. Trump, where Thune has picked his spots. And there are moments where I wonder if it offers a preview of what the relationship between the Republicans and the Hill and the White House will look like after November. Now, where the GOP may lose one, perhaps even both. houses of Congress. But beyond that, Republicans at that point will have to start looking beyond Trump.

There'll be another presidential election. Trump will firmly be a lame duck as much as he doesn't want to. And I think that the possibility for clashes between these two men is only going to increase. Trump's going to want his interests. And Thune have more leverage to finally put the party first. Oh, my God. Jonathan, I mean, I literally are saying the things I was thinking I was when I went listening to David, talk about his piece. You know, it is a miracle. It is an absolute miracle that John Thune and Donald Trump's relationship hasn't already gone totally south in that, you know, we see what Trump actually cares about. There is no legislative agenda out of the White House. What Trump, the only thing Trump really wants is the Save Act from the Senate.

And the fact that Thune has not only, it's not that he's not been able to deliver it to him. It's that he has, he's not been able to, but also doesn't want to deliver it to him. I would have predicted that by this point in this year that the relationship between Thune and Trump would look a little bit like the relationship between McConnell and Trump in the first Trump term. And the fact that they're still not at each other's throats is kind of amazing. If Trump loses both, one or both, but particularly both, if he loses control of the Senate for Republicans, I think the open warfare and antagonism between the White House and

the upper chamber among Republicans up there is going to be intense over the last two years of the term because their interests are going to be utterly unaligned at that point. And Trump will be incredibly bitter and claim that John Thune was the person by not changing the filibuster was the person who cost him and cost Republicans, the upper chamber. So it will have bitterness and vindictiveness on top of institutional schisms. I just think that's going to be a really fascinating thing to watch and really an explosive thing potentially if, if Democrats take control of the Senate.

Still a big if. John Hellman, Ali Vitale, David Drucker, thank you all. David's new piece is online for Bloomberg. I remind everyone what happens at the end of Superman too, which is that when Superman is asked to kneel before Zod, Christopher Reeve does kneel, crushes his hand and then throws him into a crevice in the fortress of solitude, as you were just explaining to me, Richard. Superman always visited that this weekend. Yeah, let's watch that this week. And still ahead, we'll get to the new concerns around one of President Trump's Freedom 250 events set to take place this month, an indie car race through the streets of D.C. Wendy Joe's coming right back.

PCA, Pete Crow Armstrong, making his case for MVP and a showdown between the top two National League candidates yesterday in Chicago. DCA hitting two home runs, driving in four runs to help the Cubs complete a three-game sweep of Shohei Otani and the slumping L.A. They'll be fine, who now have lost their last six games. The big story in baseball, though, Boston. The Red Sox have extended their latest winning streak to seven. Uyraibrayu homered for the fourth time in three games. Right-hander Sonny Gray of the Vanderbilt University.

Struck out eight batters in six innings to match a career high with his American League leading 14th win. What a season he's having. The Red Sox beat the White Sox four nothing to secure their ninth. Ninth consecutive series win. Boston now sits just one game behind the Yankees in the AL East after New York's 3-to-1 loss to the Cardinals last night. Let's bring an MS now contributor, Mike Barnacle. We were talking about this earlier. Everyone's wondering, what is going on with the Red Sox to which Lemire said, I have no idea. I do not know. I do not know. I'm glad you came on this. How was that lineup doing this? You look at that roster today. It's basically the same roster.

was two months ago when they were losing five out of every six games. There's no explanation other than maybe the manager, young guy who knew most of the people coming up. He managed Worcester, AAA affiliate of the Red Sox. He knew all of the younger guys. He had them working for him and playing for him out there. A lot of them were on the 26-man Major League squad. He's a very calm guy.

He takes it one inning at a time, a lot of bunting, a lot of stealing, back to basic baseball. They do have good pitching, and the bullpen has been a revelation in the last few months. But you're right. So the Red Sox squared off against the Yankees in a four-game series of Fenway on June 25th. The Yankees were that long ago. 13 and a half games set. 13 and a half.

Right. It's now one because since June 25th, the Red Sox have gone 29 and 5. 29 and 5. It's the greatest stretch that this ancient franchise has ever had. With this team? And this team's not even any. good. No, they are good. They are good. I mean,

the American League is very down, for sure, but to their credit, they saw an opportunity, they pushed their chips into the table, they made a couple of moves of the deadline. Yep. It's wide open, Mike. If you look at them every day, which I do, and you do. They play basic baseball. Station to station.

Yes, basic baseball. Richard, this has been one of those seasons for us as Yankee fans where you're kind of looking in the rearview mirror. Oh, it's 10 games now. It's five games. Now we're looking back there. One game behind us in the division and more importantly, perhaps, in the wild card.

Plus, the Yankees, they're going back to the previous conversation, Medicare for all. I mean, the Yankees' health needs are just unlimited. I mean, I don't get it while they're the walking wounded. You know what's striking about the Yankees is how much they miss one guy, Aaron Judge. It really is striking. No pop in the lineup. No part of the kid, George Lombard Jr. George Lombard Jr.

One game does not tell a story, but, boy, is he smooth. Next-gen shortstop looking. But, you know, no, Willie, if we have to talk about George Lombard Jr., that tells it all. That's not a good sign. It's better than talking about Anthony Volpe. Yes, folks. Yeah. Oh, we're going to miss you.

Anthony, we hardly knew yet. All right. Another Freedom 250 celebration is coming to Washington later this month, keeping with sports here, an indie car race through the streets of D.C. The Washington Post has new reporting on concerns about that race from the National Gallery of Art. Apparently, the Indy cars, well, they do hit. It speeds up about 185 miles an hour. And the National Gallery is concerned about the possible effects of the vibrations on its

priceless works of art. The museum didn't release specifics of its report, but did tell the post the study did not raise concerns about the structural risk to the buildings. I hope not. The Smithsonian, meanwhile, determined the race will not threaten any objects in its collections and is not taking any special precautions. This comes after the White House hosted a UFC event in June for President Trump. birthday. UFC CEO Dana White called the event Amazing, but said it would never happen again because of the

cost. Now we're learning the UFC lost $30 million on that fight. An executive for UFC's parent company says they anticipated the loss beforehand, adding the company spent about $60 million in production costs. That executive praised the event as beneficial for the company during an earnings call this week. It's a loss leader. Brought a lot of attention to the UFC. They're willing to take that hit. Man, these events, one after another, we had the motocross jumping across the White House. He had the UFC. Now, IndyCar races through the streets. Cool, but do we need them?

No. No, we don't. And I think there's sort of an on the nose metaphor here of this, Richard, this giant spectacle that Donald Trump wants and that may or may not, people may or may not show up because they didn't for like that state fair he put together on the national mall. And yet it's an over-the-top spectacle that everyone involved lost money. Like, there's something, there's a metaphor here. It's an analogy for something. I can't quite my finger on it. I'm struggling with indie car races.

Nothing says American democracy, Declaration of Independence, like fast cars going down Constitution Avenue. I mean, I'm sure the founding fathers are, like, you know, like, who put this together? Well, we do like fast cars in America. We do, be fair. Yeah. For the 250th? They didn't know about fast cars when they were dreaming up the country, I guess.

President Emeritus of the accounts on foreign. relations. Richard Haas, Richard, always great to have here. Thank you. Coming up, we'll get some insight on the state of the FBI under the leadership of Cash Patel. Nicole Wallace, our good friend, joins us after sitting down with the former acting director of the agency. Morning Joe's coming right back.