Morning Joe - Trump told Zelenskyy and allies he won't discuss territory divisions with Putin this week, sources say

Episode Date: August 14, 2025

Trump told Zelenskyy and allies he won't discuss territory divisions with Putin this week, sources say

So I think we may get very well some Democrat support, but I hope so. But even if we don't, we have the majority. So we're going to vote it in as Republicans, and we're going to do something. And that's going to serve as a beacon for New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and other places all over the country. This whole, our whole country is going to be so different and so great. It's going to be clean and safe and beautiful. And people are going to love our flag more than they've ever loved it. And we're going to do a great job.

President Trump yesterday suggesting the federal takeover of Washington, D.C. could happen in other cities. He also wants to extend control over police in the nation's capital beyond 30 days, but that would require congressional support. Meanwhile, the mobilization of the National Guard troops is raising tensions in the city as some residents protest. Their presence will go through that volatile mix in just a moment. Good morning and welcome to Morning Joe. It is Thursday, August 14th. And with us, we have the co-host of our fourth hour contributing writer at the Atlantic, Jonathan Lamere. NBC News, National Affairs Analyst in a partner and chief political columnist at Puck, John Halman, Washington Bureau Chief at USA Today. Susan Page is with us. And politics reporter for Semaphore, Dave Weigle, joins us this morning. So we're going to get to the big story. of Washington in just a moment. But first, sources say President Trump has reassured European leaders that he will not talk about any possible divisions of territory during his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin tomorrow. Now, yesterday, Trump took part in a phone call

with several leaders, including Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky. And according to people, briefed on the call, Trump said the goal of tomorrow's meeting is to secure a seat. ceasefire in the war. But some leaders got the feeling Trump is not optimistic about what will come out of the summit. sources tell NBC News all the leaders agreed Ukraine must be included in the negotiations. And Zelensky should be able to decide what territorial concessions he's willing to make. As the Wall Street Journal frames that President Trump agreed with Europe on Ukraine's red lines for a deal. Later in the day, while speaking to reporters, Trump suggested there could be a second meeting with both Russia and Ukraine. If the first one goes okay, we'll have a quick

second one. I would like to do it almost immediately. And we'll have a quick second meeting between President Putin and President Zelensky and myself, if they'd like to have me there. and that would be a meeting where maybe it could be absolutely work. But the first meeting will not work that out. Certain great things can be gained in the first. It's going to be a very important meeting. But it's setting the table for the second meeting. I think the second meeting, if the second meeting takes place,

now there may be no second meeting, because if I feel that it's not appropriate to have it because I didn't get the answers that we have to have, then we're not going to have a second meeting. Do Russia face any consequence? If Vladimir Putin does not agree to stop the war after your meeting on Friday? Yes, they will. What will the consequences?

There will be consequences. There will be, I don't have to say, there will be very severe consequences. Let's speaking right now right now, life from London, NBC News, international correspondent, Ralph Sanchez. He's at 10 Downing Street where Ukrainian President Zelensky just wrapped up a meeting with the British prime minister. Raf, why can you tell us? Well, guys, good morning. We just watched President Zelensky come through that famous black door of Downing Street. He was embraced by British Prime Minister Kirstarmer.

And this is the latest in a series of very public shows of solidarity that European leaders are making with Zelensky, with Ukraine, as they wait to see what comes out of that summit between President Putin and President Trump in Alaska tomorrow. Zelensky, of course, will not be in the room, will not be at the table. neither will the European leaders. There is a lot of anxiety on this side of the Atlantic about what President Trump might agree to. And so the Europeans are doing everything they can to try to shape this summit, even if they aren't there in person, aren't there at the negotiating table. They spent hours and hours yesterday in a series of video calls. And at the end of it, President Zelensky said that they had agreed on a number of principles, number one,

that there should be no deal about Ukraine, without Ukraine, that Ukraine cannot be excluded from this process. Two, that there needs to be a ceasefire, first in the war as a prelude to longer discussions about actually ending the war. Three, he said that Russia cannot be allowed to have a veto over Ukraine, potentially joining NATO, joining the European Union. And finally, Zelensky said that if Vladimir Putin does not show seriousness in Alaska, that the United States needs to move ahead with those long-promised sanctions and tariffs.

Now, President Trump spoke to that grouping of European leaders and President Zelenskyy yesterday. It is not clear that he agreed to all of those principles, but he did say that it was a positive series of calls. And he does, as you've heard in that sounds you played at the top, seem to be indicating that he does not plan to make any agreement with Putin. He is framing this meeting tomorrow in Alaska as a kind of feeling out discussion that if it goes well, that if President Trump thinks that there is a landing zone for a deal, he wants to move quickly to a potential three-way meeting between himself, Zelensky, and Putin. He did also say, when asked by reporters, that he was prepared to press ahead with economic consequences for Russia. If Putin does not show he's serious about a ceasefire,

But we have heard that from the president before. Deadlines set without sanctions being imposed. Now, parts of the Russian delegation have already made their way to Alaska ahead of that sit down tomorrow. And we are expecting to hear more from the Kremlin about this later on in the day. Guys. All right, NBC News is Ralph Sanchez at Ten Downing. Thank you so much for being with us. We greatly appreciate it.

So, John, it is very important. answering some of the news that has been coming out over the past 12 to 24 hours, one that the president has agreed to the red lines that Ukraine has set out there, and also that there won't be territorial concessions without having Ukraine in. Talk about again in this ever-evolving relationship with Vladimir Putin, what you're hearing about the meeting, the meaning for the meeting. And Jonathan Lemire, what comes next? So we will see what happens tomorrow. There's a lot about tomorrow we still don't know. The agenda is still being set reflecting how hastily thrown together this news conference has been. Certainly as we've chronicled on this show,

President Trump for months now is really soured, rhetorically on Vladimir Putin, angry, embarrassed even, that Putin is ignoring his calls for a ceasefire. This week, publicly injecting a little more notes of hope, hoping, saying that he thinks some sort of agreement can be reached. Europeans encouraged by what they heard on that call yesterday, Trump telling them he wouldn't give away territory. Trump again suggesting that this is more of a feeling out meeting, but he hopes that some sort of ceasefire, even a tentative one, the framework of one, could be reached as soon as tomorrow. We'll see. As far as a possible subsequent trilateral meeting, Trump, Putin, Zelensky. Trump wants one. Zelenzky certainly wants one.

The Kremlin hasn't said they'll agree to that yet. In fact, to this point, they have said that they wouldn't have Putin sit down with Zelensky because they don't want to legitimize Zelensky and his government. So there's a lot here still to be determined. One note, Kremlin, just a few moments ago, perhaps getting ahead of the White House, in announcing the agenda for tomorrow, saying the two men, Trump and Putin, will hold a joint news conference at the conclusion of their summit in Alaska. That, of course, will be shades of Helsinki when the two men appeared together in 2018.

We should note that the one time President Biden met with Putin. that was in 2021 in Geneva, the two men did not hold a news conference. White House has not confirmed this, but Kremlin seems to suggest they want the two men to appear together, which perhaps assign at some confidence that they'll feel okay about how tomorrow goes. Well, of course, there's really no upside for President Trump to all the press conference if Vladimir Putin is dragging his feet and once again ignoring him. But who knows, if there appear to be concessions that Ukraine can accept,

then maybe the press conference makes sense. But obviously, the White House is going to want to avoid what happened in Helsinki in 2018. John Heilman, we've heard from Capitol Hill from the likes of Lindsey Graham and others. A lot of Republican, strong Republican support for Ukraine, especially in the Senate. Lindsey Graham giving the warning several times that if you thought Joe Biden's withdrawal from Afghanistan was bad, that would be nothing compared to Donald Trump giving in to Vladimir Putin on Ukraine. It is interesting, as John Lemire has reported over the past few months, the American president's language toughening up against Vladimir Putin.

What does he have to do to assuage not only the Republicans in the Senate, but also more importantly, for him at least, his legacy and critiques that he would be the person who, quote, lost Ukraine if it's a bad deal. Well, Joe, I think there's, you know, you just said this thing that's important, which is that Trump's language has toughened up on Putin over the last few months. What hasn't really toughened up in any significant way has been the administration's policy towards Russia. and you have a lot of foreign policy and national security experts who point out all the time that there hasn't been a commensurate toughening, as I said, a commensate toughening on the policy side. So I think the answer to your direct question of what does Donald Trump have to do, he has to have his actions match his words and he has to not get played.

Because I think there is a high expectation among a lot of people that Vladimir Putin, the Grand Master, Strategic Wizard, former KGB, all that stuff is going to walk into this meeting and be able to set Trump up and put him in an awkward position where coming out of the meeting and into that press conference, which I've never seen Donald Trump pass up a press conference opportunity before, so I wouldn't expect no matter how this meeting goes that they don't end up standing up in front of reporters after this, but that somehow Putin puts him in a position that he somehow ends up on Putin's side or in a position where Putin is able to effectively get the United States to blame Ukraine for the lack of progress coming out of the meeting. I think if

Trump can avoid that, that will be part of the process of him starting to make people think that Trump is toughening up on Russia in action as well as in some of his rhetoric. Yeah, you know, Mika, Vladimir Putin, the person we're looking at right there, has a long, long history of flying American presidents, American secretaries of state. Putin played Bush. and then invaded Georgia in 2008. Putin played Obama and then invaded Crimea and Ukraine in 2014. We've already talked about the 2018 press conference with Putin and Donald Trump that went extremely poorly for President Trump. And the question is, in 2025, what will Donald Trump have learned from all the mistakes of America?

presidents over the previous 20 years of being fooled by Vladimir Putin and then made to look like a fool in the years that are coming. Yeah, this is very important. He's, you know, remember he was talking about 60 days, Putin had 60 days to move toward a ceasefire or else there would be consequences. He shortened that to 10 days, Vladimir Putin, who was not interested in talking about a ceasefire, suddenly became interested in talking about a ceasefire, we're going to have that meeting. If, in fact, the reporting from the Wall Street Journal ends up being correct that Donald Trump agrees to the red lines that Europe and Ukraine laid out there, then I suspect that will stop anybody from thinking that he was played. And yes,

an end of this war is badly needed, but not an end to this war on Vladimir Putin's terms, or that again will be another humiliation for another American president. No, I mean, this issue, this long-running war could be, the end of it, could be really so key to President Trump's legacy. He could be the president who saved Ukraine and the safety of the world. or he could be the president who got played by Putin, one of many. And you know, Mika, what's so important here is, we've talked about the president saying that he understood the red lines

that Ukraine and Europe had laid out there. Also, there was a talk not specifically about NATO, but there was a talk about some sort of American security guarantee. I mean, that could even come in the form of the president, saying at that press conference, the United States of America is going in and is going to help clean up what Vladimir Putin did to Ukraine. We're going to help rebuild Ukraine. Our American companies are going to be there. Our American contractors are going to be there. And then turn to Putin and say, you're not going to want to strike Ukraine because an attack against

American workers rebuilding what you did in Ukraine is an attack on America. And you're not going to like what you see. Even that is a short term, a short gap guarantee of security for Ukraine if the United States is in there actively rebuilding the country. Absolutely. We'll be following this, but we want to get to the other big story out of our nation's capital. We are less than one week into President Trump's 30-day takeover of the Washington, D.C. police, and President Trump is already saying he intends to extend federal control of the force. We're going to be asking for extensions on that, long-term extensions, because you can't have 30 days. 30 days is that's by the time you do it.

We're going to have this in good shape. We're going to do this very quickly, but we're going to want extensions. I don't want to call national emergency. If I have to, I will. To continue, control of the D.C. police passed the 30 days legally allowed. The president would need congressional approval. Yesterday, Trump said he was confident the Republican majority Congress would give him just that. Well, if it's a national emergency, we can do it without Congress,

but we expect to be to Congress before Congress very quickly. We think the Republicans will do it almost unanimously. So we're going to need a crime bill that we're going to be putting in. And it's going to pertain initially to D.C. It's almost, we're going to use it as a very positive example. The president also hinting there at the possibility of extending his takeover of the local police force to other major cities. Meanwhile, the newly federalized law enforcement in Washington, D.C., began operations in the city yesterday. Tensions were high as local and federal officers, some uniform, some plain clothes,

were stationed at various checkpoints downtown like this one. A large group of demonstrators soon gathered nearby with signs warning motorists of what is to come. Officers stopped cars as they approached the checkpoint and flagged some for additional checks. Witnesses say this car was towed away after the driver was removed from the car and arrested. The 800 National Guard troops that were deployed to the city by President Trump were not seen at the checkpoint. A White House official told NBC News yesterday, the deployment of National Guard troops would be significantly higher throughout the week, and the operation would expand from evening shifts to working around the clock.

So, Joe, not everybody is embracing this. This is dividing Democrats in some ways in terms of the response, but also, as you can see, the residents of Washington, D.C., not feeling completely comfortable with this, some of them. Well, some people don't like it. And there was, of course, the subway sandwich assault hurt around the world. Someone threw a subway sandwich and a police officer. It's sort of a sort of Lexington shot hurt around the world, except in sandwich terms. So Susan Page, you've lived in D.C. for a very long time. I know people suggest sometimes I overstate the insecurity that D.C. residents have felt over the past 30, 40 years.

It's far different than Manhattan. And now, let me just say it again. In Manhattan, most people there feel very comfortable at night walking 30, 40, 50 blocks. That's never really been the case in Washington. That's not to say it's a hellscape. But certainly, I would guess there are some Washington residents. And I've talked to some Democrats and members of the press who are taking a wait and see approach. If this is done peacefully, if it's done without, more in partnership with the D.C. police, they'll be fine. If not, of course, they'll be fighting that bill as it goes through Congress. What have you heard? You know, I think this is one more example of President Trump's skillet taking issue in which there is broad public agreement like

illegal immigration ought to be stopped at the southern border or the sentiment that men should not participate in women's sports and now standing against crime. There are very few politicians who want to stand up for crime. Now, it sets a kind of trap for Democrats because they can say, if Trump says I'm going to make the capital city safe, everybody's for that. And if Democrats say, well, look, it's on a 30-year, it's at a 30-year low last year, it's declined even more this year this is not the national emergency betrays it as being it seems as though they are not taking a tough stance on on crime so i think this has been very tricky for

democrats and one as one result you see some democrats including the leadership of the city protesting that this federalized takeover of law enforcement in washington is a bad thing and inappropriate and unnecessary a lot of democrats are just going to wait and see because they're concerned about, about getting kind of caught in a political trap that the president has set for them. Yeah, and it does seem, John Lemire, that D.C., even though the president was talking about other cities, D.C. is a one-off. D.C. is obviously the nation's capital and Congress, certainly has a say over what happens there, as does the president in consultation with Congress. But, you know, this is something I will say that Democrats and Republicans have been asking

for 30, 35 years about, you know, the nation's capital, why Congress doesn't take a more active role in especially safety and security issues. But in this case, of course, getting the funds to D.C. That D.C. needs. Of course, it was slashed this past year. So they need to get the funds there. But I want to circle back to what Susan said, and that is, this seems like a trap set up for Democrats. Again, I know there are a lot of people watching the show that don't live in D.C. And don't hear from me. I'm telling you, I have received a lot of texts from Democrats that worked on Democratic campaigns who have never voted for a Republican before that says if he doesn't overreach, a big if, but if he doesn't overreach, if he does this in partnership with the D.C.

police force, then they will see that as a positive thing. Yeah, I think it's a really split verdict here, as Susan and others have said. There are some who think this is good. Others say, you know, it's worrisome. They don't want to see President Trump, you know, meddle with local affairs there in Washington. You're right to say that D.C. is a little different. It is the nation's capital. Also, because it's the federal city, the president and Congress have a lot more authority there than they would somewhere else.

But you're right to suggest this could be a trap. It's akin to, of course, what we saw in Los Angeles a few months ago when the National Guard was deployed there. National Guard basically just stood around for a couple of weeks, didn't really do anything. But it angered a lot of local residents. It angered the city's mayor, the state's governor, saying, look, this is unnecessary. This is a dangerous overreach. So Dave Weigel, let's talk about that for a moment. And Joe is right to underscore that Republicans in Congress cut a billion dollars or so of funding

that could have gone to the district that could have been used for all sorts of things to improve quality of life, including public safety. But if the president yesterday, it was striking to have him sort of brashly say, look, we're going to go. New York, Chicago, LA, list the cities. That, I think, is something Democrats who might be leery of making too big of an issue of D.C. because of all the reasons we've discussed. But if he does try to push this somewhere else, then that, I think, turns us into a political opportunity for them. It could. And this happened in the first Trump administration. The FBI was plusing up law enforcement operations in big cities. The difference

at that time was a mass protest movement that would meet these extensions of force in those cities and a political backlash to Trump. And he's a very canny understanding of how things have changed, especially in D.C. So the mayor, Mayor Bowser has been clashing for years with a more progressive counsel that has passed criminal justice reforms that she disagreed with or she watered down. And she, in the days since this began, has said in press conferences, community meeting, that yes, the city needs more police. That is not the message of progressives. It's not the message of Democrats in Congress, even. They do say they fund policing, they fund law enforcement grants, Republicans want to cut them. They have some messaging here, but the administration has moved

into this gap between Democrats who believe that a lot of their party went too far in the post-Ferguson post-George Floyd area and decriminalizing fair evasion or trying, trying more, or raising the age, I should say, for a young person to be detained. And they have a mayor in Ducey who can't endorse Trump, that'd be suicide, but she does agree with parts of this. So how does that move from city to city? How would Mary Brandon Johnson, Chicago confront Trump on this? I think quite differently. How would Mary's Iran-Mamdani confront this? I think very differently. But D.C. is a perfect test case for them because they know they have a mayor who agrees with some of the premises, not the takeover, but the premise that there needs to be some correction of what

liberals have done. Well, and this is a trap for good reasons. I mean, you know, the answer to this This problem for Democrats is not, oh, everything's okay. There's nothing to see here. Move along, move along. Oh, Washington has dropped 24% or whatever in crime. Well, let me give you some other numbers. The Washington Post took a poll at late April early May. 91% of Washington residents say crime is a problem. 91%. 50% of 51 percent. It is an extremely serious problem. And John Heilman, we've had people before put this in racial terms. And this is what I must say. This is one thing that I think Democrats have gotten so wrong about crime, so wrong about crime. Let me just read. Let me just read the Washington Post here. There are stark devise. among lines of race and income in the poll, with black residents and lower income residents significantly more worried about crime than white residents and those with higher incomes. As they were last year, black women are among the most concerned, with 65% saying crime is a very or

extremely serious issue compared with 82% who said the same thing last year. That's what the mayor understands. Dave was saying the mayor understands. This is a problem. That's what the mayor understands. I mean, those are huge numbers. And it is black residents of Washington, D.C., and those who are struggling economically who see it as the most serious problem. This reminds me so much of during the defund the police campaign that a lot of people from gentrified areas of New York were talking about. There were, the New York Times reported it, there were a lot of representatives that represented majority black districts in some of the most dangerous areas in New York City.

and those representatives were saying, no, don't defund the police. Give us more police, more police for our streets, more police for our businesses, more police for our schools, more police that would allow our children to walk from our homes or our apartments to their schools without being beaten up or attacked by drug dealers. I mean, and again, here we see in Washington, D.C., again, the overwhelming majority of black voters and especially black women see crime in D.C. is a very serious crime. So when somebody comes on TV acting like they're, you know, they're the champions of black voters. And no, we can't have this happen. I think, I think they, as Reverend Al would say,

they need to wake up from being woke and they need to look and see who are the people most concerned even today? by crime in D.C. Right. Well, there's a lot there, Joe. First of all, I'd say, I think we agree about this, that arguing with people over statistics when they feel a certain way, you want to try, you don't want to engage in allowing someone, whether a political opponent or anybody else,

to concoct fantasy scenarios that are divorced from reality. At the same time, it doesn't work for any politician to say to try to tell voters that they're wrong in how they're. they feel. So Democrats pointing at statistics as an argument against this are not going to win that argument. That way, they have to be able to appeal to people, especially when it comes to their personal safety and the safety of their property. You have to be able to appeal to them and have answers for them that do address those things emotionally. I think the race component here, Joe, is complicated in the sense that, you know, Washington is an overwhelmingly African-American

city. And so the reality is that there is a relatively speaking, there's a relatively speaking, ultimately small white population in Washington, D.C., and that population happens to be largely, as you indicated, upper middle class and rich, and the upper middle class and rich people in America in general, whether it's in Washington, D.C., New York City, Chicago, or anywhere else, are the people who are least vulnerable to

and least affected by crime. So it makes sense that those poll numbers you read track. I think that it, I don't hear that many people coming out of making an argument that what Donald Trump is doing, is racist in some way because black voters don't want more cops on the street. I hear people more making the point that Donald Trump, when he names all the cities that he wants to potentially go and federalize local law enforcement or militarize local law enforcement,

they all happen to be cities with, many of them cities with black mayors, and many of them cities, almost all of them cities that are governed by Democrats in blue states, when the highest crime rates in the country are in red states where there are white mayors and largely overwhelmingly white populations, I think the racial overlay goes much more to Trump's broader agenda than it does to the questions they're about how this particular policy plays out in Washington with respect to the racial politics there. And again, Mika, as we've been saying, Washington is a one-off because of the special relationship that the federal government has with Washington, D.C.

there obviously will be a lot of concerns and a lot of protests if the president tries to do this in other cities. And we will see if this is handled in a peaceful way, if it's handled without overreach, then I suspect you may even find some Democrats voting for a bill to extend a federal partnership with local police officers if it goes peaceful. And if they do it the right way, if they do it in partnership with the Washington police and in a respectful way. All right, semaphores, Dave Weigel, thank you very much. His new reporting is online right now. We want to take a moment to take a look at some of the other stories making headlines this morning.

Police say two men got away with up to $800,000 in the robbery of an armored truck outside a store in Philadelphia. video shows a guard walking with a case when the suspects who were both armed grabbed the bag and jumped into the getaway car. No shots were fired and no one was injured. Police are investigating whether this crime is connected to other attacks on armored vehicles around the city over the summer. Tropical Storm Erin is expected to become the first hurricane of this year's Atlantic season. The system is forecast to pass northern.

of the Caribbean Islands this weekend, with some early suggestions, it may curve away from the east coast of the United States at the start of next week. Still, weather experts remain cautious that the storm's trajectory could change. And the percentage of Americans who say they drink alcohol has fallen to a record low. That's according to a new Gallup poll. This year, only 54% of Americans said they drink alcohol. Experts say the drop could be driven by greater awareness of the associated health risks. The previous low mark was back in 1958. And still ahead on Morning Joe, President Trump's nominee to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics

was spotted in the crowd during the January 6th Capitol riot. We'll tell you what the White House is saying about that. Plus, we'll go through the list of this year's Kennedy Center honorees who were handpicked by President Trump. And a reminder that the Morning Joe podcast is available each weekday featuring our full conversations and analysis. You can listen wherever you get your podcasts. You're watching Morning Joe. We'll be right back.

All for you in the selection process of these honorees. I would say I was about 98% involved. No, they all went through me. I turned down plenty. They were too woke. I had a couple of wokesters. Look at the Academy Awards. It gets lousy ratings now. It's all woke. All they do is talk about how much they hate Trump. But nobody likes that. President Trump announced he will host this year's Kennedy Center's honors ceremony and said he made sure none of the nominees that were chosen were too woke. Now, this year's nominees include country music singer George Strait, the rock band Kiss, Grammy-winning disco pioneer, Gloria Gaynor, Tony Award-winning actor Michael Crawford, and Hollywood, heavyweight, Sylvester Stallone. This is just the latest move by Trump to reimagine the cultural institution.

Back in February, he abruptly fired several board members and then made himself chair, pledging to make the Kennedy Center great again. And Joe, before I go to Susan Page, I mean, I'm kind of relieved that, like, I don't see fight night here, at least. Because there's fight night. You're really concerned. The 250 anniversary of this, I mean, fight night at the White House. John, John, this really does this really do. disturbed meika yesterday apparently this fight this fight night thing like it's is really popular if you

don't believe me ask ari ammanuel he will tell you how popular are this fights stuff this fight this fight night stuff is i mean the the the money that they just signed this deal why this paramount deal is proof how popular it is it may not be for us as we discussed and we're discussing I mean, I discussed that length yesterday, but, you know, to tell you, John, how, how, how big this is, and I, I've talked about, you know, I grew up loving boxing. I've never really gotten into the whole UFC, kick people in the leg, watch it snapping, too. Not my gig. No, it's just, but, but, but, but, but the thing is, still, you know how popular this is and how we're just talking about the NFL, I think

Paramount paid about as much to have the right to run these fights as David Ellison paid for Paramount itself, like, to buy it. He's paying that much to rent the UFC. Yeah, Mika, Mika, Mika. Mika. Mika. They being was popular at one point. Do you know how I talk about how the NFL's big, barbaric? Mickey, do you know how we say from time to time? We feel sorry for Roger Goodell because he has to wear a raincoat and an umbrella when he goes to work because money's coming out of the vents so much. That's the same thing with Ari.

He's since fined this, he has to wear scuba gear to work so he can breathe because, I mean, this is, again, I'm an old dude. I haven't been to any of these fights before. The kids watch it. The kids love it. John Lamar. about how big this is. Yeah, it's gigantic. And really, what could be more American than a roundhouse kick to the head?

So I think that's what we want on the lawn on July 4th. And I'm proud to be a... Speaking of, I'm surprised, Lee Greenwood's not on the list for Kennedy Center auditors. Joe was singing there. Did he already get it? Maybe he already got one. I don't know. You know, Dr. Brinski, give him another one.

Every time a new president would come in, they would say, Dr. Prisinski would love to give you presidential medal of honor. And he hit open his closet and he goes, I already have three. Now you must die. I mean, they get asking him this. I do want to go to Susan Pace. Susan, there was a movie a few years ago, speaking of awards that won an Academy Award. What was it?

Everything All at Once or Every Place All at Once. It's actually a great movie, even though I can't remember. the title, that's kind of Donald Trump right now. He wants to be everywhere and everything to everybody all at once. All at once. And so, I mean, you know, these names from Sylvester Sloan to Gloria Gaynor to kiss, to George Strait, I mean, I think there are going to be a lot of Americans that are going to be a okay with this list. However, some may be quite surprised now that the president's making the picks himself. Yeah. The president said he would like to get at a Kennedy Center award. So no Lee Greenwood,

no Donald Trump this year. Maybe next year, hope stays alive for both of them. But one of the things that strikes me about Trump's news conference last week and also the one yesterday is how there are no limits to his view of presidential power. So he's not only going to have a summit with the president of Russia. He's also going to fix the median strips in Washington, D.C., and make the grass better and take care of the homeless. problem. Those are still not entirely clear where the homeless people are going to go. They're being cleared from from barks here. He is everywhere, not just political, not just the federal takeover of police in D.C., takeover of American culture, of American culture institutions

in defining the Kennedy Center Awards. Not that there's anything wrong with the people getting these awards, wonderful entertainers all, but a different take on the American culture than we've seen in the past there. And John Heilman, I'm curious, your thoughts about Kiss. I'm sure you were a member of the Kiss Army in the late 1970s. Gloria Gaynor, also a huge star in the 70s. And George Strait, who is a country music classic. What's your take on those three?

Well, I would joke. Joe, you said a member of the Kiss Army in the 1970s. 1970s, I'm, you know, always and forever a member of the Kiss Army, dude. Come on, you know, you've got to be a Gene Simmons for life. Is that the one with the tongue? I think that I'm a little bit like Mika. Yeah, that's the one with the tongue, Mika, that's right. Is that the one with the tongue? A question to ask my generations of mothers looking at that kiss posters on their kids'

walls. But I'm with Mika about this. You know, if you think about the lineup at the Republican National Convention. You know, you guys have mentioned Lee Greenwood, but, you know, Lee Greenwood, Chris, Kid Rock, you know, Trump has always had trouble getting anybody with any kind of cultural legitimacy, anywhere close to the mainstream. I mean, I get Kid Rock sells a lot of records, but, you know, these high-end good acts have not, like, kind of flocked to Republicans in general, but to Trump in particular.

So you kind of had this feeling that this could be a disaster, and you could end up with, kid rock at the Kennedy honors or or Lee Greenwood you know that's a pretty respectable list of artists right there joe i'd say you know in uh yes is a is a band in the rock kiss is a band in the rock and roll hall of fame uh george straight is uh is legit gloria gainer is an incredible artist those people are all um i'm i'm pleasantly relieved i would say like mika uh that we're not in a zone where it's kind it's a bunch of kind of maga musicians playing up there and that these are people who, you know, they might not be totally your taste or mine, but they're not bad. They're totally legit. That's all right.

Listen, and they certainly are in line with people that have received these honors in the past, whether you're talking about Led Zeppelin, of course, Julie Joel has done it. So many others have received it in the past. So these are people that were pop icons in their time and remain pop icons for many people. And of course, John Lemire will see how Meek is failing next year when Dana White gets one of these honors. Dana, of course, runs UFC. She has. He will have an exalted place at the 250. We will note, though, Lee Greenwood, not getting a Kennedy Senate award this year, but even

better. He's been nominated to the Kennedy Center board. So President Trump has indeed taken care of Lee and Grubel. Proud to be an American. All right. And I proudly stand up, my friends, next to you. Go ahead, Mika. I know you would.

Coming up on morning, Joe. Also, we have Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut. We'll join us. He's calling for changes inside the CDC after a gunman attacked the agency's headquarters last week. Morning, Joe. We'll be right back. Hey, did you guys see this? UFC president, Dana White said that Trump's suggestion of a cage fight at the White House next year is absolutely going to happen.

I feel like we're this close to having a monster truck try to jump to Lincoln Memorial. Just real close Broke. Broken bad little flare. That could have been in a run. Wave is on, a challenge for Marsh, from left center to the play, to tall,

Offrey on Mealtose Globe. A score, Martina third, fire by Sanchez. A broken bat single turns into, yes, a little league home run for the Cincinnati Reds as they beat the Philadelphia Phillies 8-0 last night. To Los Angeles now in the first matchup, major league matchup of the three-time MVP's showing Otani of the Mount for the Dodgers facing his former teammate Mike Trout. Otani struck out Trout twice.

They pitched into the fifth inning for the first. time this season, reminiscent of their famed World Baseball Classic Showdown a few years ago. But this did not stop the Angels from sweeping the freeway series with 6-5 victory. The Halos took both three-game series against the Dodgers season, 3-Zip, 3-Zip, and have now won a franchise record seven straight over their much more famous cross-town rivals. The Dodgers, who led the National League West by nine games on July 3rd, well, they fell out of first place and now sit one game behind. behind the San Diego Padres, who are set to visit Dodger Stadium for a three-game series starting tomorrow night. That's a big one.

So if it's a day that ends in why, that means the Milwaukee Brewers won. The league-leading Brewers streak to their 12th consecutive victory. This time, a 12-5 blowout of the Pittsburgh Pirates yesterday, and they'll try to tie their franchise record with another win tomorrow night. That one will be in Cincinnati. And big news here. Last night's Brewers win unlocks a longstanding promotion from the local restaurant chain, George Webb, which will now give away free burgers after the Brewers achieved their 12-game win streak. The burger giveaway has been activated just three times in the more than 75 years since it was introduced. Joe, the Milwaukee Brewers, they've opened up a significant lead in the National League.

central, and now they are feeding the good people of Wisconsin. They are feeding the good people in Wisconsin with a burger promotion that happens with the regularity of Haley's Comet crossing the sky. But what a team they are. Let's bring it right now. MSNBC contributor Mike Barnacle, a host of Pablo Tori finds out on Metal Arc Media,

MSNBC contributor Pablo Tori. I want to talk about a lot of things. I want to talk about, first of all, it's just crazy. The angels owning the Dodgers the way they do. I mean, angels can't beat anybody else, but, man, they own their crosstown rival, which is pretty crazy. Also, who among us thought that in August the Dodgers would lose control of first place? I never saw that coming. But, Mike, I want to start with the Brewers.

You watched the game yesterday. And, man, you just say it's baseball. done right. Tell us why the Brewers are so damn good. The Brewers are so damn good, I think largely because of their manager, who's a great guy, former college coach. He's familiar with the moods of players. He's been doing it for a long, long time. The Brewers play baseball the right way. They hit and run. They steal bases. And they're very good defensively. And they have the best record right now in Major League Baseball. The other team that we just passed over out in the West Coast, the Dodgers,

they are the second best team I would submit in the National League. The San Diego Padres, a few miles south of Los Angeles and a few miles south of Chavez Ravine, they are really, really something, Pablo. Yeah, this has been a week, a season, a late season, of the first runner-up of the divisional beauty pageants, getting a bit of shine. Pat Murphy, the Brewers manager that you referenced,

the Padres, by the way, who spent a zillion dollars to be seen as legitimate contenders, they are. And the thing about the Dodgers, I mean, it's funny. Like, if you're Chey Otani, you had this experience in Anaheim or in Los Angeles of Anaheim or whatever it is that they call that team now, the Angels of the Angels. You have this experience where it was so deeply irrelevant to be an angel. And Mike Trout was there trapped in this purgatory, Joe, this purgatory of just total uselessness. But

when Otani faces that team, it's a remarkable thing that happens. He's flashed back to the trauma of being a person who is quite mortal. No, it's just such a shame. The Trout never left Anaheim.

I mean, people, at the peak of his generation, yeah. Yeah, I mean, at one point at the peak of his career, so many people on the East Coast never seen the guy play a complete game because he just didn't make it at the playoffs. But yeah, at his time, like Barry Bonds, even pre-steroids, the best of his generation. I want to talk about the Padres in a second, but let me just, Lamere, we always say

that baseball is a marathon. It takes a long. I, you know, I said this about Cleveland when they won 22, 23 in a row in August a few years ago. It is August. And I'm glad for the brewers that they're peaking. I'm glad for the good people of Wisconsin, they are peaking. But a lot happens between August and October, and I'm not so sure they aren't peaking early. They could be. And we've been talking about the last couple of days as the brewers have received this national attention, and rightly so, for this win streak, this burger winning streak, that they are socialist burgers that they're distributing. Getting very hungry this morning. That their team that is, we'll see, they're built for the regular

their season maybe. We'll see if they're built for the playoffs. We have seen in recent years, you know, they don't have that big slugger or two that you need in the middle of the lineup, usually. Look, their starting's rotation with the return of Brandon Woodruff, maybe they've got that ace there, which they didn't have earlier in this season. They've got a strong bullpen to Mike's point. They put the ball in play. They just force the action. They don't strike out. So that is, that part is a recipe for success in October. We'll have to see. But, Joe, you're right to highlight the Padres. That's the game's best bullpen. There are lights out. I was going to say. Yeah. And they've got, you know, Mani Machado and a team that can

hit too. I was going to say, Pablo, as Mike said, I mean, they're a really, really good team. And they are built for the playoffs. If the Padres get ahead of you by a couple of runs in the early innings, they've got that bullpen to go to and good luck catching up with them. I mean, that bullpen right now, the best in baseball. They've got good hitters. And again, here we are in August and they have moved ahead of the Dodgers, and they've moved ahead of the Dodgers for all the right reasons. Yeah, looking at the payrolls because, as is true of politics, is true of baseball, you follow the money.

Yeah, the seventh most money spent in Major League Baseball, the Padres have active roster, $172 million. Yeah, look, they know, look, we always say this about the Dodgers. The reason they are special is because they have all of the money in the world, but also the best brains that they imported. The brain drain from Tampa Bay, right? The raise gave them the intellectual horsepower. Well, the Padres are also really well-run,

and now they have those pockets, and they have, as you say, the sluggers, the bullpen. This is a bullpen sport now, Mike. I mean, look at how baseball is played. It's like, yeah, you better have a zillion guys coming out of the pen to, you know, shorten the innings. Your starters got to pitch. The thing about the Padres that has always amused me and amazes me is A.J. Prella, their general manager, who has gone out and cast his net for players and paid players,

10, 12-year-long contracts. At some point, the Padres are going to go bankrupt. But before they go bankrupt, they're going to win a World Series at some point. I hope so. All right, Mike.