Morning Joe - U.S. & Iran trade strikes for second day

Episode Date: July 9, 2026

July 9, 2026; 8am: U.S. & Iran trade strikes for second day 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.

President Putin said, I would love to meet in Moscow. And I said, I don't think, you know, I have to put myself in this position. I don't know that he'd go to Moscow. Maybe he would. Would you go to Moscow? It's difficult. There are a lot of Ukrainian drones there. It's dangerous.

All right. All right. Ukrainian president for Lord of Mayor Zelenskyy, cracking a joke after President Trump put him on the spot there. Well, well, done. May it's been a joke, but it's funny because it's true, Willie. I mean, it is for, for years, the Trump administration and people around Trump have been lying about Ukraine, lying about Russia, saying that Russia was going to win the war, that Ukraine, I mean, I literally heard it every week from them. This war's almost over.

Ukraine's going to lose. Yesterday, we finally saw what Ukraine has known for quite some time. They're winning this war. Intel out of Russia suggests maybe economically it's close to being over. I don't think it's close to being over, but man, Russia is in serious trouble right now, and it seems that Donald Trump, who loves winners and hates losers, understands this as well as anybody. Yeah, fine. That was a really striking moment yesterday, Zelensky, that quickly saying,

I wouldn't go there because it's not safe because of the offensive position that we Ukraine have now taken. And we've got drones swarming around Moscow at will. And interesting, too, to watch yesterday, the president, now, again, it may change today. But the president's at least his tone shifting as he sat next to Zelensky. His tone shifting when he talked about the war in Ukraine, he called Ukraine, quote, ingenious in the way that they've developed these drones and prosecuted this war over the last several years. and then talked about allowing them to produce weapons, defensive weapons, patriot missiles, things like that, long on the list of requests from Ukraine. So, again, was it a moment in time? We'll see. But at least yesterday, the President of the United States, really a tone shift in terms of Ukraine and Zelensky.

Yeah, we'll get to more on that very significant shift in just a moment. We'll also bring you the latest on the strikes across the Middle East overnight. coming after President Trump told reporters, the ceasefire was over. So good morning and welcome to morning, Joe. It is Thursday, July 9th. We have a lot of news this morning along with Joe, Willie and me. We've got the co-host of our 8 a.m. hours, staff writer at the Atlantic, Jonathan Lemire.

Co-host of the rest is politics podcast. The BBC's Caddy Kay is with us. And co-host of the weekend, Washington Reporter for MS Now, Jackie Alamini, doing way too early, Judy for us this morning. Thank you very much. Way too early, way too well. Making us all look bad. Jackie does. And Caddy Kay hanging out, you know, with the stars at Wimbledon. Katty, it's really, I don't know how you do it. I don't know how you stand the strain of being so beloved on both sides of the pond. So bad. It was such a good day. I was invited to the

Rollbox at Wimbledon. I watched the Novak Jokovic match. It went on for five. hours. Can you imagine? He's, what, 40 odd? I was exhausted watching. I had to go and get a cream tea in the middle just to give myself a little bit of sustenance. And then I realized that he was still paying. I mean, five hours of tennis and slamming that. Anyway, it was a great day. A great day. I would not have been watching tennis because you had Sherlock sitting just the right to the right of you. Benedict Comabach. And the mooch came over. Yeah. It was a, it was just a very And the mooch, two of the biggest stars on planet Earth. And before we get to our lead story, I've got to say Jonathan,

please. That's, you know. Exactly. And he's usually so quiet and retiring. So this would be quite a change for the mooch. But I've got to say, Lamere, a lot of big news coming out of New England, a lot of huge earth-shattering news. I speak, of course, of your Boston Red So.

now three games out of the playoffs. Surging Boston Red Sox. Joe, it's a good thing you and I never lost faith in this team. Never once. We have been there from the opening day. We believed. Unwavering confidence that Craig Breslo and the big spending ownership would put together this roster. Yeah, they're playing better.

They swept the Yankees two weekends ago. They then just swept the Angels over the weekend. They've won two in a row against the first place White Sox. Because the American League is so bad this. year we are still in the mix. Maybe that changes their calculus at the trade deadline. But at the very least, it's nice to see them finally play some good baseball. The pitching's been terrific. Yeah. I used to say, again, America League's so bad, I would usually say, well, we may end up being the tallest building in Schenectady. I think I'm going to change

this one to the tallest building in Utica. We'll take whatever we can take. Okay. We will get to the news now. We have a lot to get to, including the top political story this morning. Democrat Graham Platner has suspended his campaign for U.S. Senate in Maine after days of intense political pressure to drop out of the race ahead of Monday's ballot deadline. His candidacy was thrown into chaos earlier this week after a former girlfriend accused him in the media of sexually assaulting her years ago. Plattner has denied those allegations, but the controversy led to a number of top Democrats pulling their endorsements and a mass exodus of voter support.

Here's part of the 11-minute social media video that the embattled candidate posted last night. I think as many of you know, over the past couple days, I have faced some very serious allegations, and I just want to make it clear this is all false. The things that have been claimed did not happen. It's not real. There is a reason that this is happening now. I only have until July 13th until I am officially the nominee. This was the last week to try to get me off of the ballot.

And that's why this is occurring. It's not the false allegations, though, that have brought us to where we are. It's the fact that they are being used by the political establishment to put structural pressure on us. We live in a political system that is not built for normal people. It is a system that is built structurally to make sure that movements like ours cannot flourish. That if they begin to succeed, they can be crushed. We are suspending campaign operations.

This is incredibly difficult because, I know that some will think it's an admission of guilt, and it most certainly is not. We're not doing it because of the allegations. We're doing it because of the structures that are being taken away from us by those in power. Okay. All right. Well, Maine has less than three weeks to find a new nominee. State law requires nominees be selected by the fourth Monday in July.

Plotner addressed the replacement process in his announcement. warning that Washington Democrats should not get a say in this. What comes next needs to come from the people. Needs to come from the people of Maine. Needs to come from the voters who on June 9th, at a strength of over 150,000, the largest number in the history of Maine primaries, said no to this kind of politics.

I'm not trying to dictate to anyone who it should be or how we get there, but I will say this. It needs to be open, transparent, and democratic. People in D.C. need to stay in D.C. So, Willie, a couple things. First of all, he denied these charges as clearly and as strongly as you can deny these charges. Got to say, it's fascinating that there are people in the media, people that we know, are just summarily calling him a rapist now. For Republicans listening, this is something that Meek and I also said about Brett Kavanaugh,

saying that people would come on this network and call Brett Kavanaugh a sexual harasser or a rapist without any due process at all. Perhaps they needed to take a deep breath. That said, regardless of how this was going to play out, the Democratic Party said, we're not going to support you. They weren't going to fund him. So he had no pathway forward. I just want to say, Willie, I mean, Republicans that are spending their time on Fox News and social media.

Oh, yeah. Outraged that Democrats would support, dare support a candidate who was accused of sexual impropriety, even when that candidate vehemently deny that, that is beyond hypocritical. That is just sheer force. This is even beyond South Park levels of force. What I am reading on X, what I am reading in social media, what I am seeing on TV after the past decade.

And by the way, if you want to talk about morally challenged candidates, you don't have to look at the White House. You don't have to look at Republicans bowing and scraping for the past decade. Just look at Texas. Look at who Republicans are behind. Is there trying to suggest that Tala Rico is gay? Well, look at Paxson. He's not.

I mean, the hypocrisy for, you know, Republicans should just really just shut up. They really should just shut up if they're going to be critical of Democrats for supporting a morally challenged candidate. who has been accused of doing things that are morally challenged. It is so hypocritical, Willie, and they should just leave this to the Democrats to clean up their own house. Yeah, you've had prominent Republicans, including the former Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy, coming out and saying, Republicans walk away from candidates with troubling past that include sexual allegations of sexual assault. I mean, come on. I guess they're just hoping that people have such short memories or too dumb to remember or,

see in front of them what's happening. So you're totally right about that. They've surrendered the moral high ground a long time ago. So we'll thank them to have a seat in this conversation. But the larger question here, Jackie Alamania, as we listen to Graham Platner, defiantly in that statement yesterday, saying, these allegations are false, but I cannot move forward because the rug has been pulled out from under me, despite the fact that won 72% of the primary vote, despite the fact that Maine Democrats, with all these other allegations, said they still wanted me to be the nominee. I can't go forward because people in Washington. Let's say, for example, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, led by Chuck Schumer

and Kirsten-Jillibrand, said, we're not funding your campaign. We're not giving you voter data. We're not going to help you at all. He's saying, I can't move forward. I want to move forward, but I cannot. So now the question will be, how much say does he have in this convention for next two and a half weeks that Maine Democrats are scrambling to put together to find a new candidate, how much say will he have or his movement have in who the candidate is? He believes it should look like someone like him in his progressive values. Yeah, and last night was the most public display that we have seen since the political article came out about this allegation of sexual assault of Graham Platner trying to exert some leverage here and have a say

in tapping his replacement. I think the thing that he's going to run into, the problem that he's going to run into is, one, this obvious deadline. But two, it's also the lack of institutional support from not the establishment, but his own Mainers, his own supporters. I mean, we've had a bunch of reporters who have been on the ground in Maine over the last few weeks. Kevin Fry has been there all week who are hearing that four voters, they have sort of crossed the Rubicon here. This has been sort of one infraction to many,

with this obviously being the most serious of a lot of these. allegations. But as we walked through yesterday from the allegations, from the stories about his Nazi tattoo to all of these Reddit posts, to then allegations of infidelity, sexing to now this sexual assault allegation, there is a trust deficit that has emerged amongst voters. It might not have appeared in the polling just yet, but I'm not sure that Graham Platner has as much leverage as he thinks he does. And in the process, he is making, again, not just establishment Democrats, but other Democrats even angrier because he is poisoning the well going forward. He is not necessarily setting up his replacement for success. It's just funny because for that list that

Jackie just made, I mean, for some Republicans, that's just a Tuesday. But whatever, you know, there are so many hypocrisies here that we could go through, but that's not constructive. I'm curious, Cathy Kay, what's your gut on how this went down, especially as it pertains to the media and the Democratic Party? Look, it's really interesting, Mika. I know I've told you my son is living in Rockland, Maine at the moment, and I've been talking to him about he's been to see Graham Platner campaign. He's been excited about his campaign. And I've been talking to him on and off during the course of the last few weeks. I was up there with him a week ago. And he represents, I think, the view of many kind of younger Mainers who are saying,

this is the Democratic Party establishment's fault. And they are kind of blaming Washington for these stories. Now, whether this has taken it one step further than that will be interesting to see. Do we start seeing all of those platinum signs that are all over kind of the more liberal areas of Maine? Do they start to come down now? There had been polls showing that he was weak in support with working class

main voters, that's more than he was with college-educated main voters. But it's interesting the degree to which Platner himself and many of his followers are saying this is a story that has come out of Washington and we don't know that we trust Washington so we don't know that we trust the story. Now as Jackie says, you can run through that list. I mean, there are now multiple allegations and I think we have always thought when there is a pattern,

you take these things more seriously than when there is just one allegation. But for many people who've supported Platner, I think they are still thinking this is about the Democratic Party. And that's why they liked Platner in the first place because he wasn't out of Washington and he didn't represent the establishment. Coming up, the age of reading is over. Fewer Americans are picking up books these days and it's impacting everything from politics to the economy. We'll talk about life in a post-literate world when Morning Joe comes right back. The war with Iran has stepped up again. The United States, again, launching strikes across Iran last night, just hours after President Trump said he believed the ceasefire is over. U.S. Central Command says it hit 90 targets, including missile and drone sites near the Strait of Hormuz, in an effort to further degrade Iran's ability to threaten shipping in that key waterway.

Iranian state media and the IRGC also reported strikes on bridges in the country, which would be the first attacks of its kind from the United States. United States since April, Iran's health ministry says the two days of U.S. strikes now have killed at least 14 people and wounded dozens more. President Trump called yesterday strikes retribution for Iran's attacks on commercial vessels. Warning on social media, if it happens again, it will get much worse. Iran hit back attacking U.S. bases in Kuwait and Bahrain for a second night with the country's parliamentary speaker and top negotiator issuing the warning to U.S., quote, if you strike, you'll get hit. As tensions and rhetoric ramp up again,

President Trump was asked yesterday why his opinion of Iran's leaders seem to have changed. Last month, you said Iranian leaders were very rational people, nice people to deal with, strong people, smart people. Today you said they were scum, sick people

and being led by sick people. What changed and do you think I got to know. I've said that about a lot. Now, when you say rational, I think they're much more rational than level one, level two. Level one is gone. Level one is gone.

This is level three. I think they are more rational, but based on their actions over the last week or two, they're not doing a service to the people. And I think more than anything else is I got to know them. And I'm not sure I want to make a deal with them. We can play games, but I'm not sure I want to make a deal. I just finish the job. Join us now, decorated combat veteran, former commander,

of U.S. Army Europe, retired Army Lieutenant General Mark Hurtling. He is an MS now military analyst general. Great to have you with us, as always. So that flimsy memorandum of understanding has proven to be quite that flimsy over the last couple of weeks and now seems to have fallen apart. No negotiations. President Trump suggesting yesterday that Jared Kushner and Steve Whitkoff should just come home. It's a waste of time, he says, to talk to the Iranians, who he's now calling scum. What do you make of these new attacks by the United States and the attacks from Iran, which, again, go to American bases and threaten neighbors and allies of the United States in the Gulf. Well, Willie, it gets back to the point you made at the very beginning that it is not a ceasefire.

It is a memorandum of understanding to start discussions. And there haven't been a whole lot of meat put on that bone of that agenda of the memorandum of understanding. So when ships started moving through the straight again, which Iran said they wanted to talk about during the meetings that would be held as a result of the memorandum of understanding, they were violating what Iran believes is their territory. So it is just, you know, when the president says we're just going to bring people home, and when he again says, hey, these people are scum and we don't want to deal with them, it's only digging the whole deeper.

All wars end in some type of diplomatic measure. And if you don't have the capability to talk and give it. something accomplished, military force is not going to provide any kind of relief from the kinds of issues we've been seeing over the last four months or so. Coming up, it's been more than 10 years since the last episode of Mad Men. But now actors John Slatery and John Hamm are teaming up once again. Their new comedy hits theaters tomorrow and we'll get a preview straight ahead on Morning Joe.

I had a celebrity free pass thing with my fiance, but he took it literally. So now I need to have sex with John Hamm to even out the score and save my relationship. He did the D-N-now you got to do the do. Yes. Gail needs to do the nasty with Mr. John Hamm, ASAP. I am so, so sorry that we got you fired. That's part of the trailer for the new comedy, Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass. In it, the film's main character, Gail, is convinced that the only way that she can save her relationship with her

Beyonce is by sleeping with her own celebrity pass, the actor John Hamm. Joining us now, one of the stars of the new movie, Emmy Award nominee actor John Slattery, who plays himself in the film. John, great to see you. So this is a real, a real stretch for you this performance. Yeah, yeah, it was a really stuck my neck out playing myself. Although, actually, ironically, it was sort of the wildest departure that I've taken in a while playing my myself. So I want to talk about some of the mechanics of the film, which is hilarious in a second. But in all seriousness, as you a role like this, you're like, well, I'm playing myself, but like an exaggerated version thereof. What choices do you make? Say, okay, what parts

of me am I keeping? What parts of me am I going to trade away? Well, it was all in the script when I read it. It's ridiculous and funny and weird. And it was really more a matter of how committed everybody was to the various bits. And that was apparent right away. Everybody was 100% in. So you just kind of dive in and let David Wayne, who's a great filmmaker, decide what's too much and what isn't. There weren't too many instances where it was too much. So talk to us about the origins of this. I mean, the, there's a little, the cult sketch comedy troupe, the state, which used to be on MTV back in the 90s. Yeah. You know, has laid some of the groundwork here. But talk to us about how you got involved and why you decided to say yes.

I'd work with those guys in Wet Hot American Summer, the TV show. And John Hamm texted me. I was in Europe shooting, and it was the middle of the night. And he said, David Wayne wrote a script. There's a funny part. I'm going to do it. You should too. And I read it.

I was up jet lagged, and I read it. And I was in immediately. It's so nutty and smart and silly that I was a fan already. of those guys, so I was in immediately. So obviously part of the joke here is that you and John Hamm worked together for years on Mad Men, and I know he's a friend. So talk to us about, for those who were just learning about this film, explain the John Slattery character role, how you get involved.

So they have to find John Hamm, as for the reasons you just stated. And they don't really have any leads, and they come to my house because I worked with John Hamm and I know it. but it turns out he hasn't returned my text in pages and I really don't know where he lives. No, that's not true. No. No. So I kind of jump in and we try to track down Ham.

So on that, we have a clip showing exactly that search for John Hamm, but you run into a bit of a Roblock. No, you know. Can I help you? Hi, we're here to see John Hamm. Do you have an appointment? No, but I'm John. Slattery. Yeah, I know.

Right. Hey. Respect to the work, bro. I really appreciate it. Oh, thank you, man. Thank you. All you have a good day. Wait.

No, Henry, come back. Wait. Ow! Ow! Ow! I'm going to do a hell of a lot worse than that if you're going to march all that out of here. We can see you do your own stunts there.

We shot that, I don't know, we must have done that 150 times. The next day you spend. And then they just trying to figure out how many slams is too many. I think you found the right number. You spend the next day in the emergency room is the sad post script to that. Talk to us about the rest of the cast, beyond John Hamm. It's this historical ensemble. Great. The great Zoe Deutsch sort of anchors the whole thing as Gail.

Ham, of course. There's a bunch of surprise cameos that I can't give away. Ken Marino, who wrote the movie, plays a paparazzi photographer, Ben Wong. It's a great group. It's a lot of the people from the state, Joel, Trulio, Mathers, Zickl, like a bunch of people that they've worked with for years. There's Joe. So, yeah, they try to incorporate as many of their alumni as they can and a few of us newbies.

So you've obviously had an incredible career, a diverse one. I just actually just saw Nuremberg that day. You're great in that. Thanks. But what is it? So talk to us about the burden but also opportunity to be so associated with an iconic character like Roger Sterling. You know, people would say, oh, well, it's not mad. men, but I feel like we really told that story well. It was about 10 years of my life. I think my son

was six when we started and 16 when we finished. And it was just a great experience that I'm, you know, I'll always treasure. Well, this is, this one here is a fun role, a movie opening in theaters tomorrow, Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass. See it in the theaters. And it'll be, as John points out, a nice break from so much of the angst in the world right now. Way to forget your trouble. You laugh for a couple hours. Emmy Award nominated actor, John Slattery. Thank you very much.

Great to see you. Thank you. And we'll be right back with more Morning Joe. Everything that you just described, all of these incredible accomplishments, they take a lot of reading. Do you have any time to read for fun these days? So I end up reading mostly newspapers. I usually read stories about myself. Well, with so much going on in the world, it's really kind of you to take a moment to read.

That was President Trump telling second lady to advance about his selective reading habits during her story time series at the White House last week. Not a surprise there, which is President Trump's favorite subject. He apparently isn't alone, though, in his avoidance of books. For the Atlantic's August issue cover story, just out. It's titled, The Age of Reading is Over. And staff writer Rose Horwich argues, we're living in a post-literate world where fewer and fewer adults read books of any kind, and she examines the impact that has on society. Rose-Jorkewarm. joins us now. Also with us for the discussion is contributing opinion writer for the New York Times and prolific reader, Molly Jong Fast. My thanks to you both for being here. Congratulations on this

piece. I will just say it's incredibly depressing. So first, what made you decide that this is the right moment to talk about the lack of reading in our society? So this is a topic that I've been following for a few years. And, you know, I think it's the availability of evidence now. You know, we know that the share of Americans who read a book of any kind or an article on any given day has declined by 40% over the past two decades. And so it was really just the preponderance of evidence that made me want to write this now. And it's about causes for our, explain a few. Obviously, most, I would say, the device in my hand is probably, you know, the offender number one. Yes. I talk a lot about the device in your hand. And so it's really, you know, the rise of alternative

forms of media. You know, we saw first television, then, you know, streaming platforms, internet, and now with smartphones, they just crowd out the time to read and also make it so that, you know, it's really hard to focus on any one thing. You know, I know in my own life when I'm trying to read a book, but have my phone next to me, I am not my most focused. What is that latest information? So, Rose, in your article, you argue that the decline of reading is not just a change in

personal habit. It represents a broader shift. shift in how culture is created and shared. And you write in part this. Cultural and economic power tends to flow to people who are skilled using the most popular communications technology. Today, those people are streamers, podcasters, and influencers. Books used to be an essential source of knowledge, memory, wisdom, and morality. They were written by older generations and passed down to the young in a vertical transmission of culture. Now, information moves horizontally from young person to young person. This dynamic makes figures such as Mr. Beast, the guardians of

American culture. The decline of reading didn't turn the world upside down. It turned the world sideways. And Molly, it's a great piece and a great point. And the article also makes the argument that, you know, reading had to be learned. You know, we didn't just, you know, humans, millennia ago, did not just have the knowledge. It took time and skill and practice. And therefore, reach some sort of enlightenment, and that's not at risk. Yeah, I'm curious what sort of the, because we know that there's a, there's a, the literacy numbers for people who are graduating from high school are, are spectacularly low. Can you talk about how that factors into this?

Yes, so we've definitely seen that, you know, reading scores are going down for fourth and eighth graders, that for adults, oh, and, and, 30% of Americans cannot, you know, paraphrase or inferences from a multi-page text. But I argue in the piece that it's not that we're illiterate so much as that we're post-literate. Like, we might be reading more than ever with texts and emails and social media, but, you know, people can't focus on a book. And so you feel like the focus is what prevents us from making better decisions. and absorbing the information?

That was when my reporting showed that it was partially a substitution of time and then partially just, you know, you have the less you read, the less kind of background knowledge you have to aid in comprehension, the less, you know, the less you're kind of practiced

at just persisting through something. And we know that two decades ago, the average attention span on a screen was two and a half minutes, and now five years ago, it was 47 seconds. There's so much that we're at risk of losing because of this. It's a really important piece.

Please read it. The new issue of The Atlantic is out. Now it's the cover story. Staff writer at the magazine. Rose Horwich, thank you. We appreciate you being here. And still ahead here on Morning Joe. A federal judge says that President Trump must still paywriter E.

E.G. and Carroll for the 2023 sexual assault and defamation case will bring you the reason behind the judge's new ruling when Morning Joe comes right back. Welcome back. A federal judge has ordered that writer E. Jean Carroll must receive the $5 million she was awarded by a jury in her 2023 sexual assault and defamation case against President Trump. The judge wrote that Trump had been, quote, stalling this case for years, adding that it was time for him to pay the judgment. Now, the funds have already been deposited with the court, but Trump's legal team filed notice yesterday that they will appeal the judge's order. Additionally, the Supreme Court rejected Trump's appeal in the case just last week. Trump's attorneys have since filed a request for a rehearing with the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, Trump says he'll ask the Supreme Court to

rehear a case challenging his executive order on birthright citizenship. In a social media post yesterday, Trump said he will ask for the rehearing immediately, adding, this miscarriage of justice will destroy America if they don't change their absolutely insane decision. It was just two weeks ago when the court rejected Trump's push to restrict birthright citizenship in the U.S. ruling that his executive order violated the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Under Supreme Court rules, parties have 25 days to challenge a decision, though rehearings have rarely been granted. And lastly, a federal appeals court has denied the Kennedy Center's board to temporarily restore President Trump's name to the building, while it appeals are ruling that, found the name change illegal in the first place.

The three-judge panel said the board failed to show it would suffer irreparable harm if Trump's name remains off the venue during the appeal. In a statement, Democratic Congresswoman Joyce Bady of Ohio, who filed the lawsuit to remove Trump's name from the Kennedy Center, wrote in part, now it is time for the Trump administration to accept this, comply with the law, and take the tarps down. Trump 0 for 3 in those court rulings. And our last minute, though, I want to go back to our top story of the day, which is the fallout from Maine.

Graham Platner announcing last night that he will be suspending his bid. Yeah, you know, what I think this is such a lesson is that we saw a consultants really parachute into Maine and pick a candidate that they felt was their best candidate when, in fact, there were a lot of really good Maine candidates. And what I think is really important is what's happening right now, which is the main Democrat. Party is really trying to do as transparent a process as possible with four main voters. And I think that the lesson here is that political consultants parachuting in to a state that already has a lot of good Democrats is probably not a good solution when it comes to picking candidates. Also, perhaps a lesson learned from what happened in 2024 during the brace for the presidency.

We should also note after a, it was a painful day off. The World Cup is back. As of today, we're in the quarterfinals, France versus Morocco this afternoon kicks off that round. That does it for us this morning. We will, of course, see you tomorrow morning at 6 a.m. Eastern for more morning, Joe. Money, power, politics with Stephanie Ruhl will be up next here on MS now after a short final break.