Morning Joe - War with Iran nears its eighth month

Episode Date: September 22, 2026

September 22, 2026: 7 am — War with Iran nears its eighth month 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.

A few minutes before the top of the hour, a foggy look at the Capitol this morning. David Drucker, you write in your recent piece for Bloomberg that House Republicans have a bulwark against a blue wave. Tell us what that is. Well, it's the map, Mika. You know, years and years of accelerated gerrymandering by both parties. Plus, the mid-decade redistricting, which is unusual and almost never happened, spearheaded by President Trump and the Republicans, this election cycle has led to a map of competitive house seats that's under 30. The number's roughly 28 or so.

It means that there are roughly 28 districts where Republicans are either running for re-election or it's Republican held, and it's an open seat that voted for President Harris, voted for former Vice President Kamala Harris, or President Trump narrowly in 2024, or voted for President Trump narrowly in 2024, or voted for President Trump in 2024, but, you know, by only a few points. All right. So these are the most likely to flip in a midterm election where the president's job approval rating is underwater.

And, of course, the president's job approval rating is not just under water. It's drowning. And every indicator that we look at today as early voting and absentee voting is about to start has the Republicans in real deep trouble. But unlike 2006, a Democratic wave. year 2010, a Republican wave year, 2018, where Democrats won 41 seats, flipped 41 seats to win a big victory in the House, President Trump's first midterm election. There are just fewer seats that are likely to flip, no matter how bad the environment is, because we have a lot of safe seats on both sides. And so that's the

bulwark. It doesn't mean that Republicans can hold on, although it's given them some hope that they can hold on. But it does mean that whatever majority Democrats win this fall, if they win it, and they're on track to win it, there's a chance that it won't necessarily be a big governing majority, that we could see the kind of flip we did in 2022, where Republicans capture the House, but by only a handful of seats, and we've seen how that has gone for them over the past four years or so. But at least enough for Democrats to look into this administration and probably slow down the President of the United States. David Drucker of the dispatch, Bloomberg opinion. David, thank you as well. As we hit the top of the hour here, Maryland leaders are

introducing a new artificial intelligence framework amid the absence of comprehensive federal AI regulation. The state's plan calls for stronger safeguards and human oversight, worker training, and additional protections for children. Joining us now, the Democratic Governor of Maryland Westmore. He's a combat veteran who served in Afghanistan with the Army's 82nd Airborne Division. Governor, always great to see you. So this feels like such a big problem, so hard. Number one, for people to understand in some ways, but number two, for regulators to get their arms around, we've heard these godfathers of the AI movement say, please slow us down before it's too late. How are you beginning to do that in your state? And I think the concerns are

real. And I think people are nervous and we just can't wait for Congress to come back to work in order for us to actually have some guardrails. That in the state of Maryland, we believe that our people should be in control of this, not the robots and not waiting for Washington to be able to lead on this. And so we've put together guardrails that really enforces our privacy, enforces our rights, and also make sure that we are going to be protected. And so there's three guardrails that we have laid out. You know, the first is ensuring that our infrastructure can be protected and our pocketbooks can be protected from this growth within AI. The second is that our unions have to be at the table in this, and our workers have to be at the table. And that includes investment in training, but also making sure that this technology is there to augment us and not there to replace us.

And the third piece, and this is very personal for me, it's protecting our kids. It's knowing that there is addictive technologies and addictive algorithms that we've got to protect from. It's these deep fakes that we've got to protect from. And our children have got to be protected throughout this whole time. So we want Marylanders to be in control of what's happening right now. So, Governor, one of the things that people worry about, they look at the United States Congress and they see a group of people who don't really grasp the issue, or perhaps they're a generation older than this issue is, and it's so urgent.

So how are you ensuring in Maryland that you've got the right people making these decisions and then enforcing them as well? Well, you're absolutely right. And I think that's part of the reason that we've seen why they've been so slow in terms of actually putting together these guardrails. You know, we are actually planning on working with everybody, working with the people, working with the technology companies, working with other states. You know, I serve as the chair of the National Governors Association. And I can tell you, this is not just a Democratic governor's issue.

And so we will be going and saying that governors have got to have a role in this. And I think governors actually have a unique place where, you know, I hear this debate about, well, we don't want to slow down because it's a fear of China. Let's be clear. My fear is not China. My fear is a technology that no human being can control. And so we've got to understand that there has to be that delegate balance of cooperation and competition. As a governor, I'm very competitive with my other governors. But I do understand there are places where we actually more, where the focus is cooperation and not competition.

The United States needs to have the same type of framework when it comes to China and other nations because we have shared interest in ensuring that we can have a time. technology that can help and benefit us, yet at the same time that those guardrails are in place. So President Trump would seem to have an opportunity to try to install some guardrails. He's meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping tomorrow next couple of days here in the United States, but it has made clear he wants no part of that, though there are some Republicans and Democrats, like you say, who suddenly are concerned guardrails needed. The president is saying full steam ahead because of the China threat, also because I think he

knows the AI industry is propping up the stock market. So what do you do if the president flat out says, look, here are the guideline. I'm instituting executive orders to make sure that there are no regulations on AI. Yeah, well, we can do executive orders to. There are state responsibilities to make sure that our people are in control. There are state responsibilities to make sure that our people are protected. And listen, you cannot do this to the absence of federal leadership. You know, that, you know, I wish we did not have a president who is walking around calling this a hoax

or saying this is all a big conspiracy theory because third. 30% of his personal portfolio is in AI companies. I also wish we had a Congress who understood their responsibility is to check the executive branch, particularly when it is an executive branch that seems to be unchecked. And at the same time, we as state executives, while we do not believe that there needs to be 50 different, you know, 50 different guidelines, we do have a responsibility as governors to be working together to ensure that our states are rowing in the right direction and putting up those guardrails, you know, in many ways regardless. of the type of language that we're hearing from the present of the United States.

There's so much at stake, and AI could end up being the issue of our time. So it's good that you're looking into guardrails, but this is going to need collective action. And let's look at the political map for a second, because there's a lot of statewide races across the country coming up, governors especially, and you're especially interested in that. How is it looking for the Democrats across the country? Well, I think it's looking good because people are energized. But I think we do have to be clear about what are they energized about? That the answer cannot just simply be people are energized because they don't like what's happening with Washington, D.C. or Donald Trump.

There has to be the alternative. And that's what we are just continuing to push, is that our job, particularly as governors, is not just to push back. Our job is to push forward and to provide a different type of alternative and a different type of leadership that people are looking for. And it's also why I'm really excited about a lot of other races and governor's races. I'm really excited about Wisconsin and David Crowley and his race there. I'm really excited about Jocelyn Benson and her race over in Michigan. I'm really excited by Amy Acton and her race over in Ohio with Aaron Ford in Nevada, with Keisha Lance Bottoms in Georgia and Jermaine Johnson in South Carolina.

We've got some really good candidates who are focusing on actually presenting a different type of future alternative that I think people are hoping for to hear in this moment. Marilyn Governor Westmore, thank you so much for coming in this morning. carrying plans with us. Thank you, Governor. Now, the big story, we've been following that massive, it had a massive impact on travelers on the East Coast. Flights are getting back to normal this morning at several major airports in the Northeast after disruptions yesterday. Hundreds of flights were canceled, delayed or diverted after a construction crew in New Jersey accidentally cut a Verizon fiber cable that provided a backup feed of key data for air traffic controllers.

More than 600 flights at Newark and 200 flights at Philadelphia were canceled. New York's LaGuardia and JFK airports, along with Boston's Logan Airport, were also impacted. At one point during the groundstop, some passengers had to disembark from planes lined up on the tarmac. Flights began resuming last night after crews made repairs to the fiber line. Still ahead on Morning Joe, we'll continue the conversation on regulating AI with Democratic Senator Mark. Mark Kelly of Arizona ahead of his speech on the Senate floor later today. He's here on set. Morning Joe.

We'll be right back. Beautiful shot of New York City. Welcome back to Morning Joe. President Trump is set to address world leaders at the United Nations this morning as the General Assembly opened amid wars, economic uncertainty, and a shifting global order. Trump is expected to focus on his administration's foreign policy record, including the war with Iran. He has also been critical of the United Nations and could renew calls for changes to the organization. Beyond his speech, Trump has a packed diplomatic schedule already meeting

with French President Emmanuel Macron last night. The two reportedly discussed Ukraine, energy security, and tensions around the Strait of Hormuz. Trump is also expected to meet with Ukrainian president for Lodomir Zelensky today. The meeting comes. as the president has criticized Ukraine for strikes on Russian oil infrastructure, saying those attacks are contributing to the volatility in global energy markets, even though the main driver is the war in Iran, obviously. Additionally, the president plans to speak with British, Japanese, Venezuelan, and Gulf leaders. So this UN General Assembly comes against that backdrop of the ongoing war with Iran.

Now, nearly eight months old, a spokesperson for Iran's, paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said yesterday, the war is not over, warning Tehran would change its weapons, military tactics, and targets if the conflict with the United States escalates, writing, we will certainly change the geography of the war. Our targets will no longer necessarily be the same as before. Meanwhile, the stalemate over the Strait of Hormuz continues, with British military saying yesterday, tanker was struck by an unknown projectile as it headed into the key waterway. As the fighting continues to escalate between Saudi Arabia in Iran-back Houthi rebels in Yemen, U.N. agencies reported hundreds of people

have been killed and wounded and more than 130,000 people displaced by the renewed fighting there. Let's bring into the conversation. Democratic Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona. He's a member of both the intelligence and armed services committees and serve as a captain in the United States Navy. MS now contributor Mike Barnacle joins the table as well. Guys, good morning. Senator, great to have you with us here in New York. Let's start in Iran. Obviously, now eight months old, which is a war that we were told at the beginning, it was going to include regime change, the end of the nuclear program, the destruction of the Iranian military, would take four to six weeks.

Eight months in from where you're sitting, where are we, and how does this end? Well, the president stuck at this point, and this is what happens when you get into this kind of conflict without a strategic goal, without a plan, without a timeline, and ultimately without an exit strategy. So that's what happened. If you go back to February, initially he was talking about regime change, two to three days. When that didn't happen, he moved on to enriched uranium, which was supposedly obliterated last summer. That wasn't the case. Since they didn't have a plan, what unfolded, especially over the first month or a couple months, was Pete Hegseth just deciding, let's just drop as many munitions on as many targets as

possible. He went straight to camera talking about setting new records. So excited about it. We bombed 10,000 things. And then weeks later, we set a new record 12,000, 14,000 targets. No wonder there is a munitions issue. I mean, as I see it, the president has, you know, three main options. He could, he could just leave and leave them with the straight of Hormuz. Certainly unacceptable from my perspective, and I think, you know, most of the American people, he can escalate, which is usually how when you go to war against another country, air power is a component of it. It's always guys like Donald Trump that think you can just drop a bomb on something, and that solves all your problems. You know, I flew 39 combat missions in the first Gulf War. The air campaign of that war and

most conflicts is to set the conditions for a ground war. He doesn't want to escalate. And I get it. I don't want him to escalate either in this situation. His third option is to negotiate a real deal with the Iranians, which he's going to have a hard time doing because he's the one that tore up the JCPOA, the Iran deal in 2018. And I imagine the Iranians are going to want something better than the thing that Donald Trump tore up. The other problem he has is he has his son-in-law. negotiating this with the Iranians. I mean, what is the likelihood that the best person in our country to negotiate a deal with the Iranians just happens to be your son-in-law? Certainly not the case. Or a person to negotiate the end of a war in Ukraine while doing business with the Russians.

Same situation. We have professionals who have experience at this. He should fire the son-in-law, fire Steve Wickoff, put somebody in there who knows how to do this. What's your best explanation for why Defense Secretary Heggs still has his job, given the way this war has gone. I'm sure privately, Republicans that you work with and are friends with and know, and even ones you're not friends with, grumble and grouse about the way this war has gone, the fact that exactly that what you just said, dump as many bombs as you can at once, take an iPad to the president, show him stuff blowing up and say, let's do more of that. That's not a plan. Why does he still have his job? Well, I think there's one thing Pete Hagsett is very, very good at.

And that is kissing Donald Trump's ass. So that's what keeps you in these positions. And deflecting blame to others and propping up the president. And, you know, Donald Trump being the narcissist that he is, he appreciates that. I have called for Pete Higg said to be fired multiple times. He is now being impeached by Tom Massey in the House of Representatives. We'll see what happens with that when we get back. Mike Johnson, let everybody go because he didn't want to deal with this.

I think he may think that, you know, maybe the votes are there. It's been somewhat interesting for me to watch this. One of the articles of impeachment is about Pete Hegseth violating my First Amendment rights. But what I think is really interesting is six of the eight articles is because Pete Hegseth followed Donald Trump's illegal order. if he would have listened to the video that myself and five of my colleagues made last year at the end of last year, he wouldn't find himself in this position. Right, right. And Massey's introduced the articles. Just globally and locally, what are the dangers now in play because of this ongoing war with Iran? What are the potentials now that we have to get our arms around? Well, I mean, it's additional strikes on infrastructure in the region.

You know, Iranians responding to, you know, whatever we do, it's the fact that it's hard to get, you know, any oil through the Strait of Hormuz. This has been a on and off ongoing problem, you know, for decades with threats. But finally, it has come to the point where the Iranians just, you know, shut us down and prices are skyrocketing. the president isn't dealing with that. The American people are having a really hard time affording their lives. I've got constituents I hear from who can't afford to feed their children. They've been kicked off their health care coverage. Their kids are no longer getting food benefits, snap benefits,

so the president could give a big tax cut to the wealthiest Americans. And he's focused on the wrong things. He's focused on ballrooms and reflecting pools and arches. now, not focused on the needs of the American people. I think the guy is completely checked out from even trying to do the job. You're in the Armed Services Committee. Over the course of the last year or so, multiple members of the military have been forced into put into forced retirement. What impact has that had on the morale of the department and the capabilities of the American military? Well, I think it's affected both. I hear.

from people inside the building, so inside the Pentagon, but also, you know, rank and file troops. It's, unless you're one of these folks that are still very supportive of the president and you've voted for him and you're enthusiastic about him and what you're doing, which I don't sense as the majority of the military anymore, it's a challenging environment to be in. You have a Secretary of Defense that is trying to change the culture. This is a guy who runs around on the stage yelling about killing people in maximum lethality and testosterone. U.S. military doesn't need more testosterone. It needs better leadership at this point. The consequences of firing all these admirals and generals is we're losing a portion, a good portion of a generation of great leadership. General Chris Donahue.

I mean, Donahue, CQ Brown, Lisa Frenchetti. Randy George and others just sent off into retirement, fired, essentially. I mean, fired for not being sufficiently loyal or looking out for troops or trying to, you know, maybe they elevated or promoted a person of color. And then they lose their careers over this. These are people that have decades, 30, 35 years of experience. experience at the top of their career, people we need to ensure our national security. And now my sense is he's looking for people who are loyal to him, the Secretary of Defense,

and the president. And that's not anything I've seen in my 25 years in the United States Navy. We were all always evaluated on our ability to do the job regardless of politics. You know, we were an apolitical military, as we should. should be. Our loyalty was always to the Constitution, not an individual. And this administration is trying to change that. And it's going to take a lot of time and effort to recover from this. It's not going to be somebody walks in there and snaps their fingers and it's all fixed. So this has been an incredibly challenging time for the department. And I mean, the first step here is get rid of a Secretary of Defense

who clearly has no idea what he's doing. So, Senator, arguably the number one topic of conversation across the country, especially these last two weeks, is AI. You know, President Trump has made clear he does not want to see any sort of regulations put forth on the industry, even though some tech leaders are warming

about potentially the end of humanity. Later today, you're going to be delivering a speech on the subject on the Senate floor. Preview for us what you're going to say and what you'd like to see President Trump say in his meetings with Xi Jinping this week on the subject. Well, first of all, I think, you know, leadership is about being able to look ahead and see what the problems are. And even if there is, you know, some resistance out there from doing something and taking certain actions, often you see that within industry.

In this case, you have CEOs of AI companies asking us to step up and do this. You know, I often think about the risk of AI similar to the risk of flying a complicated machine like a space shuttle, which I flew four times. And you have to evaluate what is the likelihood of something catastrophic happening? When it's high likelihood and it's catastrophic, you have to act very quickly. But you also want to address the issues that are maybe unlikely, but also catastrophic. And I don't think we want to put ourselves in a position where we're five years down the road, and we're going to be wishing we did something, you know, earlier because some of the stuff is going to be hard to fix if we get further down the road.

On the, what I'm going to be talking about today on the floor of the Senate is a little bit about how do you, how do you, you know, see the signal through the noise? Like, how do you really figure out what's going on here? And then with regards to the impact this is going to have on the economy, on jobs, on people's lives. We've got to set up a system now to try to deal with the potential of significant unemployment.

There are estimates that say, we're going to have 12 million people lose their jobs over the next 10 years or by the end of this decade, even less than that. 12 million people. So I have a plan that I'm going to introduce this legislation on Thursday.

I'm going to talk about it today. It's going to raise some revenue from the industry through a few different ways. to support increased unemployment benefits, but also job training, helping people with maybe if they want to start a business after they lose their jobs, a program which provides service to work.

So we actually have a plan in place that we can implement to try to mitigate the effects that this could have on the American people. We'll look forward to hearing more about that. Democratic Senator Mark Kelly of our, Arizona. Thank you very much for coming on this morning. Appreciate it. And still ahead on Morning Joe, oh boy, Willie. Ari's here. He's here. As one of Hollywood's most accomplished deal makers, Ari Emanuel is usually

paid to speak for his A-List clients, but now he's speaking for himself with a new memoir looking back on the successes and setbacks that have defined his career. He joins us straight ahead on Morning Joe. I call your office. I don't get a call back. Then I turn on the TV and I see you sitting next to Vin Diesel. So what the hell is that? I told Emily to call you.

She didn't call. She f***ed up. My Blackberry was broken. Wait a second. I called her, okay? She gave you that message and you never called me back. Okay, I was going to go to the game with you. I told Emily that we were going to be late.

Okay? I went to go talk to Vin. He's doing the whole, he's got an 18-wheeler with equipment and going crazy. They're making power shakes. I don't know. You got the fucking crazy glasses on. I don't know what's happening. I told Emily to call you.

What language are you talking? You thought you're going to... Is this an excuse? I don't even know what you're talking about. No, it is exactly what happened. What happened? I still don't know. You're talking Chinese.

What language are you talking Chinese? Oh, my God. That was a scene from the classic HBO drama Entourage, showing Hollywood super agent Ari Gold locked in a battle with client Larry David. Our next guest, Ari, Ari Emanuel, is the real-life inspiration behind that iconic character. He's out today with a new memoir titled Roll the Calls, chronicling the ups and downs on his journey to the very top of show business.

And Ari joins us now on the set. Joe. Ari, I mean, I shared. I mean, you. Joe, Joe, between the two of you, I just want to set some brown rules. Okay. Okay. So there are hundreds of F-coms in this book.

Do it. I don't, from either of you, want to hear one. on this segment. I promise. You know, when Larry David was doing that scene, he came off afterwards and he said, you know, I think he's better than you. And I think he is actually. I was just going to say for people that have never heard you two talk, it's very lifelike. I mean, you and you and Larry have called me before and I've had to hang up halfway through the conversation because I was like, somebody may be recording this and I don't want to go to

You know, it's very interesting, Ari. So one of my children asked me last night, he told me you're coming on the show. They said, hey, so this entourage thing, I've watched it. Is that how he is now? He said, well, you know, to me, he's calmed down. I said, if anybody screams and throws phones in our relationship, it's usually me. But your memoir actually reflects how you see rage is a great motivator. First of all, I've got to have you explain that.

But secondly, have I read you wrong despite the fact you call me 80 times a day talking politics and Cubs baseball? Is rage now in your rearview mirror? No, no, no, no. Other than like with maybe you still scream and throw things? Here's what I would say. Somebody told me, you know, when you're on the field, you have to be on the field. When you're off the field, you have to be off the field. And my lovely wife has taught me that when I'm off the field, I have to.

on the field, I still, I'm very combative and I'm still going for it. But I do have that balance now. And she has given me that balance. So that's a good thing. But it's odd. You know, I think that that balance is good. And maybe that's with age and feeling a little bit more confident about myself. So, yeah.

But I still have aggressive. Yeah. Well. So so. Not aggressive enough. when you're negotiating for us, but you're okay. I'm joking. So talk about, I want people who see you, who know the image.

I want to know about what we know about you, how you started as a kid, how you were the baby, how you were dyslexic, how you were constantly overshadowed, how nobody thought you could ever read, nobody ever thought you could start an agency, nobody ever thought any of you. Talk about the through line there and how did you push down. every one of those walls? Well, here's what I would say to you. This book is for two groups of people, parents that have dyslexic kids, and this is kind of like how my mom got me through it. I put my kids through this course called Linda Moot Bell, which my brother Zeke did to his daughter, and he talked to me about that, and all the things that at the time I would have cut off

my left arm to not have dyslexia. But my mom, a name, me to go through the hardships as hard as that is for a parent, but it gives you endurance, an emotional endurance as a parent. And then for people starting out in business, I think it gives them a roadmap that you can have agency, you can declare what you want, and you can go for it. And I think I never had a plan B. I only had a plan A. And this gives, I think, kids, some roadmap about how one person does it. And also, I'm a rider-dye guy with my clients, with my friends. I hope it comes across in the book. But you also have to be a rider-die-guy guy for yourself. And that says, I have to have agency. I have to say what I want. And I have to go

for it. I wouldn't do everything I did if I was a kid. But it's okay to be aggressive. It's okay to stand up for your opinions. It's okay to kind of be responsible for your actions. And I make a lot of mistakes. There's no straight path to success. And I think I point them out in here. But if you go for it, I think you can have a meaningful, fulfilled life, not just a life of pleasure, which I think people are after. And I think hopefully that's what the book comes across. So, all right, people see you now.

They see the character on Entourage. And that's almost the cartoon version of who you are. And they see this Hollywood icon. At times. Yes. At times. Right. Sometimes it's very real.

They see this fully formed kind of Hollywood icon, but I'm curious for people watching as you talk about this journey, how the professional journey started for it. What was the first deal? What was the thing that lit you up and made you want to do this? Well, first, I started out delivering packages in the mailroom, really. I mean, I started here in New York with working for a guy by name Robbie Lans and Bob Dova. But I started out in the mail room when it happened in Hollywood, making 15 cents a mile. and driving all over L.A. It was great learning. And then I became an assistant, and from an assistant became an agent.

And then I realized I got hit by a car walking across the street. And you know, when you're in your 30s, you think there you've got so much time and it's all in front of you and you're healthy. And then I got hit by a car, I said, you know, life's not a dress rehearsal. And then I realized I wanted to do this for myself.

And I wanted to kind of, in my offense, family, there was Zeke, the smart one, Rom the artist, and then the third one. And I wanted to get my own identity. And so that moment gave me the impetus to say, you know, it's not a dress rehearsal, go for it. And then I looked at the environment and said, you know, things were going to expand in the movie and television business, and there's a place for another agency. And so then I just went for with three great partners, David Greenblatt, Rick Rosen and Tom Strickler. and we just went for it. And anybody that tried to get in our way, you know, I was, even though we were small, you know, fries,

I was willing to take on the fight. And that has continued. You know, there's a couple of really revealing incidents and examples of your life in this book, and you can't stop turning the pages in the book, by the way, but the one I want you to talk about has to do with the lunchroom, the lunchroom tray,

Use of the word retard. Oh. Well, I was in special ed. Yeah. In high school. And we were in the cafeteria and then the football team came in. And one of the kids, it was, you know, he was of special needs. And being dyslexic, you know you're not stupid.

You just have a different way to kind of the circuits work in the left side of your brain. And one of the football players was making fun of this kid. And as I said, I don't mind defending people. And my mother gave me great agency there and taught us well. And I asked him to stop. And he didn't. It hit the third rail for me. I took the lunch tray, smash it over.

And down to the principal's office, mom shows up. And she defended me. You know, it wasn't what she wanted to do. But I wasn't going to let somebody bully somebody just because they're different. And that's what my mom and dad taught us. And I am a ride or die guy, and I was going to ride or die with that kid because I was in his class. Yeah. No, I know. I like to make fun of Ari for being a walking F-bomb, but actually, you're a very beautiful person. And that's a great story. So I want to ask you, I'm just very curious your point of view about AI in the industry,

and if people want it. And, you know, because I feel like there's almost a bad reaction. When I feel it, when I see something that's made by AI, I immediately move along. Is it the future? Well, here's what I say, let me just, because I'll take it from the perspective of the movie and television business. Yeah.

I think there's great things to come from AI in the movie and television business. There is going to be some dislocation because, you know, below the line, there's going to be some, but you've seen movies that have come up that have done really, really well with AI. I think Steve Jobs said, you know, humans are very slow walkers, but when they get on a bicycle, their legs propel them very fast. And I think AI is in the movie business going to propel us very fast. It's going to save a lot of costs. I think there's going to be more movies and television shows made. I think that's a good thing. I also think because of AI, good, better, and different, we're going to be, I started a new company called Mari.

we're going to be down to four-day work weeks, maybe three-day work weeks, and we're going to have a lot more time. That's going to be a lot more time for live events, whether it be sports, music, events that I've started my company with. And I think that the cost savings, there's going to be a lot more movies and television being made. Maybe a TV show will have instead of 12 writers, you'll have eight writers. But there's going to be more of it made at a better price. And I think that's good for the movie business and the television business. So I'm actually positive about AI. Everybody here, politicians, my brother, can talk about kind of the guardrails that we need to put on it.

But for the movie intelligence business and kind of society in general, I think there's going to be more time on our hands. There's going to be more need for entertainment. And that covers a very wide kind of palette of what entertainment is. And I think that's a good thing. So, Ari, you're a political guy. We would talk about this political moment. I think you're misrepresenting me. There's a middle brother.

No, we know him. We were cycling through all the three. You know, you've certainly met, you meet with Democrats. What's the right approach right now? Because the party is having a real debate with itself about progressism, being a moderate. Are there things to work with President Trump about? Yes, you have.

Are there things to, or is it simply to, you know, be in a standard opposition and everything? How do you gauge this particular moment? Well, here's what I would say. It's like kids in school that don't want people giving lectures that they disagree with. I don't want to live in an echo chamber. I don't want to live in a cult. I want to live in a society. And in a society, even if you disagree with somebody, you have to get,

sometimes you just don't get in a room with somebody because they do something so egregious. You have to get on the other side and you have to have a conversation. My brother just wrote, my eldest brother, Zieg, just wrote an essay on how AI is going to be beneficial for the medical profession. and somebody screamed at him and talked to him. And they had a conversation at our dinner table, conversations were screaming matches. And my brother learned a little bit what he said, and I think the other side,

the other gentleman learned a little bit about my brother's opinion. And I think they moved. That's, I think, what a society should be. This sense that, you know, we can't talk to the other side, even if we completely disagree with him, we find it obnoxious what they're saying. That's not the place I want to be in my life. And I talked recently to the president about the tax rebate for film and television in the United States.

And I expressed my opinion. He called me about it. That's a good thing. There's places we can come together, and that's the place I want to live. Now, I don't think, if we're talking about DSA, DSA wants to beat Democrats. Democrats want to rebeat Republicans. They shouldn't be part of the party. It's okay.

you want to represent those things, go to your side, have your own caucus, have your own, have your own, you know, your own party. Democrats want to beat Republicans and they have a point of view. It's okay for us to come together and have that conversation because that's where the society is. And that's where I sit. Interesting. Joe. All right. The new memoir, roll the calls to New York Times. Let's see here. New York Times says it staccato, profane, and vindictive. Emmanuel evokes Homer's prequel the Elliot whose first word is rage. Come on, baby. A manifesto. Let's hear it. Come on, the manifesto for rage.

How fascinating. And Mika, I mean, listen, Mika likes you very much. Mika loves you. I've never heard of really compliment you out loud. But she did the day. Well, listen, we got together us. There was a little tough at the beginning. Meekha called me and she played the kind of middle ground and then I represented you. So I guess rage worked.

The two of you were the biggest challenge of my life. You know, the thing is, the rage in that call was actually screaming, Mika screaming at you and then you screaming back. And I think you all hung up on each other two or three times. And then next thing I know, it all works out. Here we are. Just like you said. Yeah. All right. Roll the calls.

Thank you very much, everybody. Sorry. Thanks for giving a clean. It's great to see you. Coming up, Democratic Governor, Andy Bashir of Kentucky is out with a new book, detailing how he says we can fix our nation. He joins us. Next on morning, Joe.

Just about 10 minutes before the top of the hour, live look at Houston for you this morning. Former President George W. Bush and Senator John Cornyn, two top Republicans from Texas are rallying behind the party's Senate nominees. except for the one running in their own state, Ken Paxton. According to the New York Times, Senator Cornyn hosted a fundraiser last night in Dallas, with President Bush listed as a special guest. The Times notes the fundraiser benefited a new joint committee supporting the Senate candidates defending Republican-held seats in Maine, Ohio, Alaska, and Iowa,

as well as the nominees looking to flip seats in Michigan and New Hampshire. Paxton, who defeated Senator Corny in a costly and bitter primary, was not included. His campaign declined to comment on the fundraiser. And later today, former Vice President Kamala Harris will campaign with the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Michigan, Dr. Abdul El-S. Ayyed. Harris endorsed to El-Said after his contentious Democratic primary. She will sit with the nominee for a discussion on maternal health and infant death disparities among black women.

Today's event will be Harris' first push into the midterms as she decides whether she will launch a third presidential campaign in 2028. And no connection at all to 2020. Speaking up. But joining us now, the Democratic governor of Kentucky, Andy Bashir, he's out today with a new book titled, Go and Do Likewise, How We Heal a Broken Country.

Governor, it's great to see you. We'll take offline our conversation about Bill Marin Angel in the 1996 Vanderbilt Commodore. We were there. We were there. We were there. The book is fascinating about healing a broken country. And I think people, Democrats, particularly, are fascinated by you because you have been so successful and popular and elected and reelected in a state that most people view as pretty red. So when you explain it to people who aren't from Kentucky, how you've been governing, how you've remained popular, how you got reelected as a Democrat there, what do you tell them? Well, I tell them it's three parts. The first is I stand up for all my convictions.

I've vetoed every anti-LGBQ Plus bill, anti-choice bills, anti-diversity bills. But I spend 80% of my time on things that matter to 100% of the people of my state. And that's a good job where you can afford the things your family needs. It's being able to see a doctor in your own community, safe roads and bridges, good public schools, and public safety. The second thing I try to do, and I talk about it in the book, is talk like a normal human being. all of the advocacy speak that has crept into our language has taken the passion out of both wanting to help people, but also recognizing the pain that people have been feeling. If someone's lost a loved one to addiction, substance use disorder doesn't come close to capturing that emotion.

Or if somebody is in recovery, they deserve credit for overcoming that very difficult challenge. But the last thing I do, and that's what the book is really about, is I try to get beyond the what, just being pro this or anti that and get to the why to actually explain to people why I'm making the decisions I make. And to me, that's my family and my faith. So let's start with the premise of the book, how we heal a broken country. Why do you believe we're broken? How did we get here? And then you can talk about the ways out of it. Well, what I see is a country that is divided, and that's not our natural state as Americans. We've been through the ringer in Kentucky. 17 federally declared weather disasters in just six and a half years. So yes, climate change is very real and we are

feeling it in our Commonwealth. I had to govern through a pandemic, a plane crash, a mass shooting that killed one of my friends. And after every one of those, you know what, Kentuckians haven't cared what party you're in, haven't cared how you worship. All they've done is look out for each other. I've seen so many people standing in front of what used to be their home or a business. And they always ask the same question. They say, where do I start? And there's always 10 people around them saying, why don't you start with us? You know, there is goodness inside of all of us where we want to love our neighbor, not view them as the enemy from within.

We just need to be reminded of that. So, Governor, you know, certainly there is 2028 speculation about you and many others. And you have said that you're head of the DGA right now, the Democratic government conversation. You're not going to make a decision until after that. But certainly, you know, we see President Trump poll numbers down to low 30s. He's worked very hard to get there. But the Democratic Party is not much better. What are some things that the National Party needs to do differently?

Because it's not enough just to say, we're not Donald Trump. How do you sell your own vision? Well, what's interesting is the Democratic Party polls like public education. You ask about public education writ large and people say, oh, it needs a lot of improvement. But you ask them about their public school and they say we love it. What we're seeing is our Democratic governors are very popular. Why? Because they're working hard.

They're creating jobs. They're expanding health care. They're doing everything that Donald Trump is not doing, trying to make life a little bit easier, a little bit better. You see Senate candidates and House candidates all across the country in places that shouldn't be competitive in very competitive races. So you see the individual Democrats polling well and running well. But what the Democratic Party needs to do is not just to be the anti-Trump party. And certainly, there's a space there for it. I mean, the tariff policy is the worst economic policy of my lifetime.

This war in Iran is the worst foreign policy of my lifetime. We have a president attacking Canada who's been our closest friend and ally for decades, if not over a century. But we've got to be a party of the American dream, of making it real again that if you work hard and play by the rules that you can get ahead, you can afford the things you need, that you can buy a house before you're 40 years old, and you can take your kids on the same vacation that your parents took you on. Right now, if people feel like that's not possible, they feel like a failure and they feel like the system is rigged. So healing a broken country, and you were just talking about politicians need to speak like normal people do.

So what do you tell a family? Healing is similar to anxiety involved. What do you tell a family, mother and a father with like three kids, ages five to 15, who are so filled with anxiety about their children's future given the current status of events in this country? What do you tell them about the future? What I tell them is we can and we should do better. On the state level, we've brought in in Kentucky more jobs at the highest wages we've ever seen. And so what I tell them is your kids are going to have an opportunity to work in Kentucky and jobs that we had never previously imagined. The average wage for a new job in Kentucky this year is $31 an hour. What kind of a job is that?

We have a lot of manufacturing jobs, which is a big part of the future, especially when we look at what AI displacement may cause, making sure that we are making the things we need in America and that we're celebrating all of our work. We're trying to create pathways in Kentucky that don't judge, that don't put a kid in one or another, but just give them options. In our career in technical education centers,

we have nursing students, robotic students, and welders, all working side by side, lifting each other up in positive ways. But we do have to make some major changes in our country. We need an aspirational investment in it. housing, a one-time major, maybe even massive investment to where people can have hope. They can see houses sprouting up all over America, but what we ought to do is tie those federal dollars to the speed at which you break ground. That'll push through regulation. It'll push through nimbism, because if there's one thing a governor never wants to do is give back federal dollars to the federal

government. All right. The new book, Go and Do Likewise, How We Heal a Broken Country is out now. Kentucky Governor Andy Bashir, thank you very much for coming on the show this morning. Thanks, Governor. Thank you. All right. Up next, we're going to get a look at a group of voters who could flip a U.S. Senate seat for Democrats for the first time in more than 30 years. Plus, we'll go through President Trump's meeting yesterday with New York City Mayor, Zoran Mamdani, amid the president's ban on journalists at the White House. Morning Joe is coming right back.