Morning Joe - Trump says he has 'no regrets' about his second term

Episode Date: October 5, 2026

October 5, 2026 – 6am:NYT: Pools: Senate races in GOP states tilt toward DemocratsPOLITICO Magazine: ‘Democrats underfunding races that could remake the map’ by Jonathan MartinBloomberg Opinion: ‘Democrats are running s desperate gambit in ruby-red states’ by David druckerTrump: I know more about inflation than anyoneTrump: ‘No regrets’ about first two years back in officeIran warns of growing economic crisisOil shipments face new threats around Strait of HormuzNFL recap with Pablo Torre 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.

I want to show you something. We will bring prices down. Yeah, I know all that. That's why I voted for it. Because he was saying all that stuff. And then now it's totally different. I think that's the way it is for all politicians. They say something getting elected,

and then once they're in office, they're totally different. You regret your vote at all? A little bit. I hoped that he would be able to. to live up to some of his hype, but he's hyperbolic. That's all he has ever been. His middle name ought to be hyperbole. He can't deliver on any promises. He talks a lot, but I haven't seen anything to come to fruition yet, you know? Of course, I understand they don't need nukes, but I mean, I need to live and not be able to spend all my money on gas. How does it make you feel

watching all those campaign promises? Like he's just lying. That's a few very frustrated three-time Trump voters in Alaska speaking with MS now last week. and welcome to morning, Joe. It's Monday, October the 5th, and with us we have co-hosts for our 8 a.m. hour staff writer for the Atlantic, Jonathan Lemire, opinion writer for the Atlantic, Jonathan Lemire, opinion columnist, and Bloomberg opinion columnist and contributing writer for the dispatch, David Drucker. Jonathan Lemire, what was happening while I was sleeping last night in that Lions Bryce Young game? Your boy, Bryce, continues to play well. The Detroit defense, not very good. But the Panthers, a lot of points last night, Panthers win. And not that anyone who cares, but enough to get my fancy team of victory as well. But yeah, the Panthers now, the Lions are competitive NFC South with the Bears also 3 and 1.

The Vikings 4 and 0, surprisingly. But we see this last night. You know, Panthers hold a rare Sunday night game for them in Charlotte. They get the national stage, and they get a national stage, and they get a, win. And then the other sporting event last night, Joe, is that the Atlanta Braves beat the Dodgers last night in L.A. to tie that series up one to one. Yeah. So that series is one-one. And they still have a start from our old friend Chris Sale to come. So suddenly, the Dodgers dynasty in a little bit of trouble here. Yeah, but you know what everybody's talking about this weekend is everybody this

week in the one sporting event, the moment that everybody's talking about is Mr. Wells, trying to stretch a double into a triple. It was a sad thing to see. It is one of my favorite highlights of all time. For those who aren't sure what we're talking about in game one of the Yankees Rays series, Drew Rasmussen of the race carried a no-hitter into the eighth, you know, Saturday in game one here. They're up only one-nothing though. And as Joe, as someone put it, it is rare when you're the guy, Austin Wells in this case, who's the only person on your whole team to manage a hit because he did. He ripped a double down the line. And yet, everyone is mad at you.

Because inexplicably, even though he's a catcher, and he moves about as slow as species evolve around the bases, he tried to go to third and was gunned out by about 15 feet. That was the Yankees' one chance to score. They lose the first game. How sad? How sad? I was going to say he may be a catcher, but he runs like a catcher.

Jonathan Martin, a lot of polls flying at us this weekend. We're going to get to them in a minute, but the New York Times had governor's polls. They had Senate polls. And I must say the two numbers that stood out and sort of counterintuitive here. I've always said Texas is fools gold. But if you look at the trend lines, Obama 13, Clinton, 9, Biden, 5, it wasn't until 2024 that it blew in the other direction. you had a two-point Senate race there, not so many years ago. Actually, as a politician, I always looked at trendlines.

I always looked at trendlines and polls. I didn't care what the poll that day was. Show me the last five polls. Texas is actually trending in a way that doesn't really surprise me, showing the Tala Rico's up right now. But I will say some of those other New York Times, well, in Alaska, you've got a candidate in Alaska who knows it's statewide and just wanted to statewide.

But I will say a lot of those other New York Times polls very, very close. And, you know, the hundreds of millions of dollars Republicans have and the advantage of dumping money there could make the difference in Iowa, in Nebraska, in Kansas. I mean, we'll see. Yeah. Yeah, look, the smartest thing the Republicans did last week was cut bait on North Carolina. Roy Cooper is going to win that race. And move money to Kansas. That New York Times poll showed Kansas is tied in the Senate. which is extraordinary, but, you know, the conditions are just right. Democrats have a good candidate, and Roger Marshall's got some challenges.

So, look, I think the money may be enough in Kansas, but it's not going to be easy. And there's a reason why they're doing triage now because they're just, they're not going to flip Georgia. They're not going to hold North Carolina, and they've got to now go to some places that demand money. And obviously, Kansas is the biggest one. But, Joe, it's not a good sign a month from the election. when you get a raft of polls like this back and you're working on Republican campaigns and the best news besides Susan Collins,

which continues to be a unicorn in American politics, the best news besides that is you're only tied in Kansas and Iowa. It could be worse in Kansas and Iowa. But it's just that bad of a cycle right now. It's just that ominous where they're trying to save whatever they can and they're going to be able to save a few of these Senate races. And I read about this over the weekend, a lot of these Gov races because of money, but they can't save all of them.

And some of these races are just going to go down with the cycle, because when the wind blows, Joe, it just takes down some places you wouldn't have otherwise expected. And the wind's blowing. It really does. Yeah, the wind does seem to be blowing pretty hard in the Democrats' direction. I will say, loved your article this weekend because, Looking at the state of Florida, David Jolly's a guy that despite, spite the fact, everybody in this state, including me six months ago, was saying there's no way Democrats going to ever win statewide here again for a very long time. David Jolly could win statewide in this race.

He just, I mean, every ad that's out there is an ad bashing him for some made-up hurricane tax or some other stupid thing. because they can't run against David as a radical because he's a former Republican congressman. He's as moderate as a day as long. He fits Florida voters probably far better than the Republican nominee. And yet, Democrats, for some reason, you know, they like the exciting races. They like the national races. They like the Senate races. They don't understand the importance of having a Florida governor and a Texas governor.

changes political maps for years to come, or at least stops Republicans from gerrymandering those maps in the biggest sunbelt states. Yeah, it's enormously important to win these governors' races. If you're a Democrat, especially as the census looms because a lot of House districts are moving south because of the redraw that's coming in 2030. And also, Joe, because of the presidential map. So you've got two of the three, you know, federal chambers, the House and the president. that really hang on the coming 2030 redraw after the census. Because guess what? Leading on the blue wall of the Midwest ain't going to do it anymore for Democrats. And if they can't be competitive in Florida and Texas every four years in the presidential, they're going to have a really time

getting to 270. A really hard time getting the 270. So you've got to get Florida and or Texas onto the map. But they have a shot this year, Joe. And you mentioned it. The, the, the top of your comments, which is that 24, there was a snapback to Trump of the Republicans in Texas and Florida, for that matter. And why was that? Well, that's because younger and non-white voters, and there's lots in both Florida and Texas, came back to the Republican Party. Well, guess what? Because of ICE, because of the economy, because of the Iran war, a lot of those same non-white young voters are now up for grabs or leading Democrats. So Democrats do have a shot in Florida and Texas. But they're not going to win there. If they do.

don't have anywhere near the money. And they're getting wildly out spent on the air in the Gov races in those two states because you just can't get Democratic donors nationally to engage in gov races. They don't know who the candidates are. They can't understand why it matters to them. And they just see a straightforward question of, if we control the Senate, we can block Trump. And that's understandable. It is. But if you look a couple of sort of chess moves down the board, Joe, boy, these government races really, really matter. And I think more than just the strange fact of are we going to have 51 or 53 seats in the U.S. Senate next year. Right. Well, again, especially in the states like Texas and Florida. You can block Donald Trump for two years or you can control

the future. That's how Republicans think. That's it. From the governorships to school boards, Republicans invest in the future. That's why they've dominated local politics in so many areas for so long. I want to talk this morning, though, Mara, about a mirage. And I'm probably alone here. But I think the Kamala, and I'm bringing this up because Democratic donors are so freaked out by what happened in 2024. Oh, they're so left wing. They're such radicals. They can never win these races.

I gave money in 24 and look what happened. There's a mirage here. They're so shattered by Donald Trump winning in 24. They didn't look at all the other races. I mean, I keep reminding people, go back and look what happened in all the swing state Senate races in 24. And the governorships in 22, when Democrats were supposed to lose. In 24, a Jewish woman wins in Nevada, a swing state senator's race. In Arizona, a really, a real.

progressive Hispanic man wins. This supposed to be the year of Joe Rogan, right? In Wisconsin, a lesbian gets reelected. In Michigan, a woman wins in Michigan. I can go on and on. You know, and even in Georgia in the preceding years. A black man wins in Georgia. A Jewish man wins in Georgia. You have Dave McCormick, who was a very good candidate for Pennsylvania, who had lost in 22, took great notes, knew exactly what he had to do to win in 24. Dave McCormick was the exception to the rule of, weirdly enough, in 2024, a huge Democratic night. If this is a blue tsunami in 26, we're going to look back and people are going to go, oh, wait, over the last two election cycles, Democrats have won 90 percent.

They could be saying this. 90% of every swing state Senate race. And yet here you have Democratic donors sitting on their wallets because they're so freaked out that Kamala Harris lost. No, it's true, Joe. And I think we don't talk a lot about the process of how those Democratic donors are recruited and cultivated. But actually, you know, those conversations in my experience tend to be very insular. they tend to happen between just a handful of Democratic officials who go out and cultivate these relationships.

And in some ways, that works for the party. But in other ways, the donors don't get a full sense of the landscape that they need. And of course, you have really talented candidates across the party like Cooper, like Ossov, who kind of are independent in that and they make their own relationships. But I think the Democrats do have a problem. They have to get their donors to be a little bit more bullish. on races outside the box. Yeah, and Mara, I mean, I wrote on this last week about the growing Republican anxiety

that simply they don't feel like the president has given them anything to run on here. And now, we're a closing argument this weekend appears to be about daylight savings time. And that there are so many who are just scrambling to make sense. And they do set, Joe, you and I have been talking with this for a long time, of course, that when things tip, they tend to tip one way and one way hard. And there are Democrats who, despite their inherent pessimism, are starting to feel very optimistic and are looking to expand the map. And yes, win in places that six, eight months ago would have been unlikely. That's Iowa, Kansas,

and the like. But David Drucker, there are a few states where they're taking a different tack. And let's be clear, Democrats are benefiting because Donald Trump and Republicans are so unpopular. Democrats have done a little better in rehabilitating their own image. They're more trustworthy on certain issues. But Democrats, as a brand, still pretty poorly. And certainly part of the country in particular. And you've been looking at your latest piece for Bloomberg opinion, a couple of states, Nebraska, South Dakota, even Idaho, where the Democratic Party is backing,

more or less, independence to try to win there because they know their own party can't. Yeah, I think it's indicative of the fact that in so much of what we like to think of as red America, right, these deep red states that are culturally and otherwise very conservative. But I'd emphasize the cultural issues in that regard. The party's brand continues to be weak, and it's one of the reasons why, throughout the Trump era, we've seen Democrats have a tougher time with the Electoral College map.

But the point I made in the column was that where Democrats are running quality candidates, and actually where they're just running as Democrats, these are the conservative states, the red states, where Democrats have, at this point, a better-than-fellow, fighting chance of winning on election day and flipping the Senate. And I think that's the key, right? When we get back to these comparisons about what happened in 2024 at the Senate level versus

the presidential contest, and we look at what's happening now, Jonathan, you're right to point out, as in most midterm elections, the party that seems strong is in many ways just benefiting from the fact that the ruling party, the party that controls the White House is weak and voters are extremely dissatisfied. But if Democrats win the Senate, it won't simply be because Republicans are weak. It's going to be because when you look at Texas, in Alaska, you look at Ohio and Iowa in particular, but obviously we talked about North Carolina. These are really good candidates, right?

Look at Georgia. They're candidates who are fitting their states, right? They're responding to who these voters are. You can look at a Josh Turric ad in Iowa where he says he'll work with President Trump on border security. You can look at Texas where James Tala Rico, is this avowed many of the sort of far-left kooky things that he said when he was just a state senator from the Austin area, and that's what people wanted to hear. So these are candidates that want to win that know what it takes to win, and it allows voters who normally vote Republican to say, hey, not so bad, considering that

I'm unhappy with the alternative, and that's the key. Yeah, you know, it's very interesting, Jonathan Martin. Yeah. We'd come on the show every Monday morning last election cycle in 24 and say, hey, you know, they're having this trans. Democrats aren't even responding to it. It's about convicts, trans, and taxpayer money. Right.

You've got the unholy trinity for politicians and for working white men, black, man, Hispanic, and then you go down the line, right? And so you'd sit there and you'd go, okay, this is going to. be trouble. I know it's going to be trouble for Democrats not to respond that time. I will tell you this year, and, you know, my son and I will watch the four NFL games, and I just see a commercial pop up here, commercial pop up there. It's almost like their heart's not even in it. The ads are all, Republican ads are all over the place. When they bring up, like, a problem with trans, you know, trans athletes or something like that against Tala Rico, when Tala RICO's already

said, yeah, I'm against that. Then you're just sitting there going, Yeah, I think they're fighting the last war. It's not going to work. On the Democratic side, though, look at the people that you get Tala Rico, who actually knows the Bible far better than any Republican in Congress. I've heard to talk about it. At least he applies the red letters.

You look at Alaska. You've got a great candidate in Alaska. You look at Kansas. You've got minister of the largest Methodist Church, and he's a great campaigner. You look at Iowa. We've talked about Iowa. You look at Nebraska, an independent candidate there. At the end of the day, as David says, it is quality control. And right now, Democrats are running some really good candidates. Yeah, you throw in Roy Cooper in North Carolina, who's never lost a campaign statewide in this century.

I didn't misspeak. He's been on the ballot every year since 2000, first as AG, then his governor. He won twice with Trump on top of the ticket, 16 and 20. He's poised to win again. Sherrod Brown, who has been in Ohio politics for over 50 years. Again, 5-0 and 1-1, obviously three statewide races as senator before finally getting clipped in 24. Presidential year, very tough cycle. Well, he's back and obviously has virtually 100% statewide name ID. So, yeah, good recruits.

Give Chuck Schumer credit for getting some of the candidates he wanted. And frankly, the key. Joe that could win. You know, I'm not sure Democrats could win without Roy Cooper, Sherrod Brown, Mary Pelotola, you know, in those states. And in Kansas, I'm not sure who else besides the biggest Methodist pastor in the entire state and a sort of pillar of Johnson County, the big Casey suburban county. I'm not sure who else could win. So yeah, candidates do matter. No question about it. But, you know, and it also, if you talk about the people, you bring up the people, whether you're talking about a Methodist minister in the

largest Methodist church in America, you talk about Talarica, who's a seminarian, studying to be a preacher. You talk about a bronze star winner running, you know, in upstate New York. We talk about an admiral running in South Carolina. We could go down the list. These are quality candidates that just completely undermine the stupid argument that the Democratic Party's been completely taken over by the DSA because four or five candidates that the mayor of New York elected are supported one. So we'll talk about that. Much more move.

Go ahead. Go ahead. No, I would just say it's such an echo of 2018 when the story was overwhelmingly about the squad, some of these primaries, but the reality of the general election 2018, was a lot of folks who were new to politics, a lot of them women who got fired up about Donald Trump's win and who are now senators and governors, Cheryl, Slotkin, Spanberger, they all got inspired to run in 2018. They really are the biggest legacy from the 2018 classes, those kind of folks, and it's so similar this year. Yeah, exactly. And still out of morning, Joe, a top Iranian leader makes a rare admission that the country's economy just keeps deteriorating.

that could mean for the ongoing war overseas. Plus, what we're learning about new artificial intelligence task forces meant to examine the risks surrounding AI. Also had outgoing Republican senators Tom Tillis, who's been openly critical of the president and the administration will be our guest. And as we go to a break, a quick look at the travelers' forecast this morning from Accuweather's Bernie Rando. Bernie, how's it looking out there? Joe, it turns out to be a very nice Monday across the northeast of mid-atlantic. But Some low clouds this morning, Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, a few sprinkles, Buffalo, Burlington. How about sunshine, Chicago, St. Louis, Indianapolis, 86 with sunshine in Dallas, spotty but drenching thunderstorms, Gulf Coast, and right around I-4, Miami turns out mostly sunny.

No big travel delays in your acuether travel forecast. Just watch for the low clouds in Atlanta and Boston this morning. To help you make the best decisions and be more in the know, download the acuether app today. So when you look at $21 trillion coming in and we have $1 trillion very easily affordable, and I know more about inflation, I know more about everything than anybody in this room, anybody anywhere in the world. Well, there's a woman sitting right over there that she's a housewife, but she's very good. She's got a natural instinct for business.

She perhaps knows more than I do, but I actually don't think so. And they're laughing. He says that's Donald Trump in Ohio telling. us, I don't think he gave us a view of like step, step, stair, ramp. I don't think he did the sort of tour around the staging, outdoor staging this time, but it said a lot of things that were quite interesting that I suspect books will be written about later when it's safe to write books about such things. Not sure why it's not now. But I know more about everything than everyone. name. Proverbs, pride cometh before the fall, but he doesn't really read the Bible.

Blessed or the meek, Jesus says in the beatitudes. Second Chronicles of my people, called by my name, humble themselves. They'll hear from heaven. Now, that doesn't work either. God opposes the proud. That's from James and loves the humble. I mean, it's, again, this is, what's so interesting is you look at the immigration policies and some of the other just absolutely hateful policies that have nothing to do with securing the southern border. I've always been for a secure southern border. I've always been critical of a poorest southern border. I've always been critical of the EU and they're short-sighted and just insane open borders

policy for decades that actually led to a lot of the extremism there. So, I mean, I'm for a strong southern border, but the abuse, the anti-Christlike abuse of these human beings that are here in American that have, according to Scalia, the same constitutional rights as you and me when they're on American soil, it's just absolutely insane that this is a guy that evangelicals decided to get behind over the past decade. because it is the antithesis of everything Jesus says in in the Gospels. Well, the president is not stepping away from it in that same rally read his version of the snake, which he has turned into this nasty anti-immigration poem during that. Unclear, though, who the housewife was. That's still TBD. But yes, Joe, you are right.

It is sad that he did not repeat. I really will go down to some of the great presidential rhetoric of a few nights. before when he says, I can go stairs. I can go ramp. I mean, let's just, we'll leave it there for that. I can go step. Step. Yeah.

I can go ramp. Let's hope he brings that back here for the stretch run, because that is a strong closing argument. I can go ramp. Let's take a look down some of the morning papers. Beginning with the Times of Israel, that's reporting that the fly Dubai co-pilot accused of trying to crash a plane carrying nearly 174 passengers had reportedly been removed from training by Oman Air

over concerns about his extremist views. The 29-year-old, who has been identified as Hamam al-Hamami, allegedly stabbed the pilot last Wednesday, sending the Boeing 737 into a rapid descent before passengers and other pilots intervened. The plane then made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia. Investigators are now examining whether al-Hamami intended to crash the aircraft in Israel.

Fly Dubai says a full investigation is underway. Meanwhile, according to the Wall Street Journal, Director of National Intelligence, Jay Clayton, has been tapped to lead a new federal artificial intelligence task force as public concern grows over the potentially destructive impact of the new technology. It comes after President Trump met with top AI executives last week at the White House and said they had all voluntarily agreed to self-regulate the development of AI.

But Trump stopped short of proposing any legislative measures. The task force will have 120 days to report on the risks of AI. Its charter states that it will develop plans for responding to any threats while preventing over-regulation of the industry. And it will review the government's current warning system for breaches and hacks and recommend improvements. Trump also continuing to try to rename AI SI for superintelligence. And lastly, in USA Today, Tom Cruise's big budget political satire digger has turned out to be one of the biggest bombs of the year. The film, which is about an oil tycoon embracing an ecological disaster,

open to just $8 million domestically, despite costing $125 million to make. It marks the lowest opening for a film starring cruise since his political drama Lions for Lambs back in 2007. Meanwhile, the adaptation of Colleen Hoover's book Verity drew in $32.6 million in its debut weekend, which topped the box office. It was followed by the video game reboot Resident Evil, which racked up $12.5 million, and the Brad Pitt-led Heart of the Beast, which had $11 million at the box office. Coming up here on Morning Joe, MS. Now's Akala Gardner asked President Trump if he has had any regrets about his first two years back in office.

We'll show you Trump's response just out here on Morning Joe. I love it. I think it's been a great. I think it's the most productive two years. They say anybody of anybody in the history of the presidency. I think it's the most consequential two years of anybody in the presidency. And I only base that on the record. If you look at the record, if you look at what we've done,

I think it's the most consequential presidency so far, and we're going to try and keep it that way. Donald Trump meet Kamala Harris. I mean, you're in front of the White House. She was on the view. It didn't really work out well for her, saying that she wouldn't change anything with Joe Biden's last three or four years. When inflation had been high, now you're still.

saying the same exact thing. You know, no regrets, no humility, no self-awareness at all. And he's got a low approval rating in the 30s that he's earned. And you almost get the sense.

I know it sounds crazy, but Americans would rather the president talk about them than keep talking about himself and his uncle that went to MIT or something. I almost like, I'd rather him talk about gas prices instead of Marie Antoinette ballrooms, diesel prices, instead of grand arches that veterans groups are against, and inflation that he's supposed to know

so much about, but obviously doesn't, would rather him talk about inflation that's destroying their lives instead of the reflecting pool and the Kennedy Center. You would think, you know, it's such a slap in the face to ordinary American. who are working two, three jobs right now to put food on the table. They can't even eat steak. They're telling me I've been traveling the country on assignment for the times,

and it's such a privilege to get to do that and talk to voters. But when I'm in Georgia, when I'm in Texas, when I'm in Michigan, people telling me they don't know how they're going to make the rent. They're working two jobs.

They can't go to their kids' games because they can't put gas in the car or they're afraid ICE is going to come take them, even though they've been here 30. I mean, this is, they're telling me some of these people, some of these voters voted for Trump, and they have regrets, and they are man enough, woman enough to say, I made a mistake. I regret this, but the president of the United States can't. And I wonder, Jonathan, I mean, do you think the president has any idea how toxic he has become to the Republicans ahead of this midterm?

I mean, some of his advisors do, and that's why they're being a little picky about where he goes. And there are some states where candidates don't want him there, the New Hampshire and Maine among them where they've said, no thanks. We'll take, we don't need a presidential visit. But he's trying to make this about himself. He has decided that's the best way for Republicans to win. He's trying to nationalize the election. He's trying to make a referendum on his record. He is going to be traveling a lot, finally, in these next few weeks.

And a lot of Democrats say, thank you, sir. Please keep doing that. Meanwhile, we've turned to the latest now in Iran. And Iran's economy is under growing pressure with the country's national security advisors saying it could be among the most difficult periods in the history of the Islamic Republic. Iran's currency has plunged since the war began back in February, while U.S. sanctions and naval blockades have sharply restricted oil exports. That has only heightened a long-running cost of living crisis there. That economic strain is colliding with renewed danger in the Strait of Hormuz as seven vessels were reported. attacked around the waterway since late September. And while oil shipments had been recovering

toward pre-war levels, Tehran has said the straight will remain closed until the U.S. accepts its plan to reopen the waterway. And Joe, this is a moment where two things are true at once. You know, U.S. officials have been telling me and you, I think, privately, for months now, hey, this is going to work eventually. Iran's economy will have, will suffer too much for them to withstand it, even though they don't really care about the plight of their own people there. and it does seem like they're reaching a very difficult point. That said, after a week or a couple weeks there where it seemed like the oil through the Strait of Hormuz, there was some growing optimism like, hey, maybe this is going to work.

We're going to get more and more out. It sharply dropped in recent days because the number of these attacks has picked up. Yeah, you know, David Drucker, you go back to before the war began, go back to mid-February, go back to the early part of the year and all the protests. Those protests in the streets of Iran, where as many as far as, 40,000 people may have been gunned down by that extremist government, which has been the epicenter of terrorism. This is 1979.

You know, the economy was already in a terrible position then. It's been in a terrible position for years. You had six or so months of war under that. And now suddenly we're starting to see the cracks. You saw political leaders about two or three weeks back trying to tell the Revolutionary Guard, you guys have got to get real. We have got to end this war and start rebuilding our economy. And now we're hearing it again out of Iran.

And it's quite clear. And we've said it on this show now for three to four months. An MOU that pours hundreds of millions of dollars into Iran's coffers is a nightmare. And it's the last thing we need to do. It looks like this approach, the president has taken over time, a more patient approach. that focuses on economic pressure instead of military pressure may be paying off. It may be, and time will tell Joe. I mean, the challenge with dealing with Iran is that they're resistant to economic pressure because they don't care, right?

I mean, they're not going to respond to protests from their own citizens. And if there are too many protests, as we saw over the past year, they're going to deal with them leathily. And so it's always been, what do you do with a dangerous regime that harbors and cultivates international terrorism that does put Americans at risk, that does put our allies at risk? And it's been the conundrum over the past 50 years. And one of the reasons why previous presidents have been so cautious about Iran is they were worried we'd end up in the sort of situation militarily we are now. and yet putting the squeeze on Iran economically is something that takes a lot of time, a lot of patience. And I'd say ultimately, you know, the president's biggest challenge here is not necessarily that the economic squeeze won't work, but that it's going to take time to work.

And he never laid the groundwork with American voters to deal with and absorb some of the political, some of the economic pain that it might cause us in terms of. of the impact on energy markets, right? It's something he did. In his sense, consulting with himself and close advisors. He never involved Congress. He never said anything to voters. And all they're looking at now is the end result, which is higher gas prices,

skyrocketing diesel, energy costs that are affecting a range of things in agriculture. And it's just something he doesn't know how to do. But that's part of the problem. And how do you approach this strategically, right, Joe? like most presidents do, even if it goes south, he at least would have bought himself some time and probably some support on Capitol Hill that is running thin right now. Well, and he had Republicans begging him to come to the Hill, or at least have the leaders of the Hill come to him to explain to the American people exactly what was going on to prepare

them. But instead, Jamart, all we got was, we're winning this war, we're destroying this war, hagsith holding a stupid press conferences like a five-year-old saying, anybody that doesn't say we're going to win in a couple of weeks and we're destroying everything and we're the mightiest military hates America, hates what our troops are doing. I mean, it was that sort of nonsense that put, unfortunately, the White House and this country in a very bad position. So now we're the position where patience may be the best practice, but at home politically, patience is growing so thin, wearing so thin with the American people. Yeah, he has no interest in looping in Congress, whether it's on AI regulation, prosecuting a war in the Middle East or even dealing with college sports.

He wants to do photo ops and executive orders. That's what he's comfortable with, Joe. But history will look back at the great irony that this is somebody who, Joe, in February of 2016, you remember very well this day, the day that Scalia died, he effectively wrapped up the South Carolina primary in the primary for his party, starting the 10 years of the Trump era, by going after George W. Bush and the Iraq war in South Carolina and targeting Jeb Bush on stage. Ten years to the month later, he launches his own preemptive Middle East war that has had the effect of hastening the end of his presidency and making him a lame duck earlier than he ever wanted to be. 10 years the same month, and he's walking into the same trap that George W. Bush did. And history, I think, will look back with rich irony at that 10-year change. Right. Well, and you look at the presence he's critical of.

It's George W. Bush privately because of that and publicly just loathes him for going into the Iraq war. Talks about how stupid it was that he went in and he didn't take the oil. And Jimmy Carter, because the Iranian. were able to push Jimmy Carter around the way he was. Donald Trump has put himself into a position that any group of advisors that had any competence at all would have kept him out of. He put himself in that position. And because of it, well, he now has approval ratings rivaling George W. Bush's and Jimmy Carter's.

Politico's Jonathan Martin, as always, thank you. Thanks, John. And coming up next, a closer look at the Michigan Senate. race where Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed is receiving more support from moderate Democrats in his state. That's a fascinating race. MS. Now's exclusive joint interview with Senator Alyssa Slotkin and El-Said is straight ahead on Morning Joe. Last two carries, 25 yards for Henry. Jackson back to work. What a catch by flowers. Scoots right in. Third and five for New England. Ming, out of the pocket. Launches downfield to the end.

Chisholm, touchdown, Patriots. This is the type of drive you wanted if you're laying corn right now. Go to Rodriguez, and Rodriguez. Over the block of his left car, he's into some daylight. Inside the five, touchdown, Deguars. CD Lab slot to the right, pickens top of your screen. Prescott to the end zone. Giants coming for since pass intercepted.

True to score, touchdown. Second and goal, they're going to run again. Williams tries to get to the edge, and he is. Walker breaking outside. Walker's got room. Walker's taken it again and a touchdown again for Walker. That's Shaheed in the backfield takes the pitch and Rashid turning on the jets. Shaheed is in touchdown. Purdy. They get by Williams. They dump it off. It's Kittle. Oh, look at it. Second and Ted. Young. Bryce Young just tearing it up, roll tide that some of the biggest touchdowns were across

NFL yesterday, including the Carolina Panthers' primetime victory over the Detroit Lions last night. Week four concludes tonight in New Orleans with the Saints hosting My Atlanta Falcons on Monday night football. And with us now, Pulitzer Prize winning host of Pablo Tori finds out MS now contributor Pablo Tori. Pablo, you know, the games, there were some good matchups in the later games. Some of the earlier games, it all ended very well. Not the best matchups. A lot of dull games till the very end. And I've got to say, speaking of dull, like, is there an uglier team to watch in football over the past couple years than Philadelphia?

The Eagles, I can't figure that team out. I mean, their fans even booing them near the end for good reason. It's just inexplicable with the talent they have that they just, their offense looked super. so dismal every week. Yeah, and the Eagles, their defense last year, just to add to that, the defense last year was excellent. This year for the first three games, it has been just bad. And that wasn't even the biggest problem against the Rams as we watched some of these

highlights. The problem is that the Eagles are supposed to be a contender top to bottom in a city, by the way. This is the funny thing about, as you know, Joe, sports. Philadelphia is unsparing and detailed in its criticism. And so the idea that they know how disappointing this team is, they're going to let this team know about it. And so this perpetual tension of the Eagles, when they were winning a Super Bowl, there were criticisms.

Keep that in mind. Is Jalen Hurts good enough after he was Super Bowl MVP? And now look at them and not great. Well, you know, I got to ask. So let's talk about somebody else who, again, just can't seem to get over. the finish line. And that's Josh Allen with Buffalo, man. That guy is so frustrating. We've all, I don't know about you, but I've been cheering every year. Maybe this is his year.

And then they go up against the lowly Patriots, one of the most pathetic teams in all of organized football. And they still manage to lose to the Patriots at home. Yeah. Yeah. The shot of the Patriot there on the ground being defibrillated reminds me of the guy at the desk with us now. who is now alive after being buried alive. Look, as we watch the Patriots just do a couple, there's some trickeration, John. I mean, this was in Buffalo. Drake May was, as of last week, somebody that you guys had given up on.

Not me. And here he is out dueling the guy Joe to your point that we say might be the best quarterback in football. This was a much-needed performance from Drake May. and the Patriots. May, undeniably was bad the first two weeks of the season. Yesterday, much better. And I appreciate how, first of all, we admire this catch here.

That's the game. That's one-handed grab, averageism there. The Patriots were much more aggressive. There was a desperation, I felt like, in there. The play caught. A lot of trick plays, a lot of throwing the ball down the field, which they did a lot last year in heaven so far this year. I mean, they went into this game missing a whole bunch of starters.

I will admit, there are text chains that I am on that was predicting final scores along the lines of Buffalo 45, New England 10. The Lumier's single chats. Only they could be leaked. It was pretty grim for a couple of days. But yeah, this was a huge win. It's Buffalo's first loss in their new stadium.

And suddenly, Joe, the Pats are in the mix again in the AFC. A much needed win. And I'll say it does seem like I know we're going to get to the rankings in a minute, but Pablo was talking about a second ago, it feels, it's just four weeks. But it does feel a little bit like last year where there's a bunch of good teams. Maybe no great teams. And to your point, some really bad teams. We already have, we have five teams that were 0 and four.

And that led to a number of sort of dud games, particularly on the early side yesterday. Yeah, no doubt about it. By the way, we are going to get those computer rankings. Of course, we had a terrible development, Pablo, AI swarms from Anthropic and OpenAI, got into our computers, despite the fact we have Don Rickles. Yeah. Yeah, nephew, got out of the fox again. Don Rickles' nephew is our tech guy.

And, I mean, the words that were coming out of that guy's mouth. But before we get there, I want to talk about two teams that actually have been surprising this year so far. The Browns, Browns have looked pretty darn good. And even in defeat last night, it was great to see a good Raiders team because growing up when I was very young, that Chiefs' Raiders matchup was as good as the Cowboys and the old Redskins. Those were the two great rivalry. So it's great to see the Chiefs and the Raiders having great games again.

Joe, I grew up. I caught the exhaust pipes of NFL films. John Fasendo. The autumn wind is a raider. The relevance of a team with that much iconography and now talent, look, I've been wondering how good are the Chiefs this season. And the Raiders are a pretty good measuring stick.

as weird as that is. And so watching, by the way, Kenneth Walker, what's the difference about the Chiefs this year versus last year? As I last year was all in, and this year I'm trying to figure out, do I dip a toe back as I await what our data centers are suggesting is the number one team in the NFL? Kenneth Walker is a difference maker. They added a running back from the Seahawks,

who is just automatic, apparently. And for an offense that needed one of those shots of adrenaline to the heart, that's what they got in him. And so, yes, they are 4-0 and the Raiders just narrowly, narrowly. Yeah, they get their first loss of the season. All right, Pablo, stay with us. Coming up, we're going to be getting, of course, the AI Swarms top five rankings also. Going to talk about the MLB playoffs in a minute and the Mighty Crimson Tide,

playing against Georgia this next week for the game of the week. I'm going to see what your thoughts are there. But coming up, we have Republican senators Tom Tillis of North Carolina with us. He's no stranger to conflict when he comes to politics. and now he's out with a new book, How to Lose Friends and Antagonize Presidents. He'll join us next to discuss. Morning Joe, be right back.