Mike Barnicle

“The interesting thing about polls right now—and it’s the only interesting thing—is that it’s like taking a picture of a sunset, each poll. There’s going to be another sunset tomorrow. Things change. Nobody is paying attention really—other than people like us—to a future election a year away. The interesting aspect of the election, I would submit, is that we have one political party, the Republican Party, seriously interested, seemingly from top to bottom, in marching this country backward. Their principal interest is in taking things away from people—things that people have grown used to living with,” says veteran columnist Mike Barnicle during this Morning Joe conversation about the unreliable nature of political polls.

“We live in a country with no patience, no patience whatsoever. A country that has a diminishing memory of anything that happened further back than a week ago….We live in a TikTok nation where people get their news in about 20, 25 seconds on their phone. So, here’s their day: They get up in the morning, man or woman, going to work. They need gas. The last thing that Americans do together because, there’s no full-service gas stations anymore, is take the pump, put it in the side of the car, lean against the car, and watch those numbers flash by, say ‘wow.’ So, a month ago, they would fill up for 70 bucks and now they’re doing 20 bucks at a time to save money. Then they go to the grocery store. You see the price of eggs? ‘Wow.’ They put the eggs; they pay; they leave the grocery store. They go home. They get home at the end of the workday. They make out a check or Zelle their credit card payment, credit card interest rates have gone up. ‘Wow, I’m getting hammered all day long.’ The phone rings. And it’s a pollster. ‘How do you feel about the country?’ ‘It’s terrible, it’s terrible.’ It’s human nature, is what it is. It’s not political so much as it is cultural and economic,” says Barnicle about the state of the American economy in this Morning Joe conversation with Joe Scarborough, Willie Geist and Donny Deutsch.

Watch this Morning Joe conversation with Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski, Mike Barnicle and Commentary editor John Podhoretz about why antisemitism does not erode and is surging on college campuses and around the globe in the wake of the October 7 massacre in Israel. “This disease—and antisemitism is a disease—why does it linger, recede, erupt and always the focus is always on the Jews? Why?” asks Barnicle. Hear Podhoretz’s response here.

Tune in for this Morning Joe conversation between veteran columnist Mike Barnicle and The New York Times chief White House correspondent Peter Baker about “the turmoil, the trouble, the minute-by-minute focus” of the enormity of the job of the presidency, following President Joe Biden having been briefed on the massacre in Lewiston, Maine, last night during a State Dinner for the Prime Minister of Australia.

Morning Joe’s Mika Brzezinski and Mike Barnicle play for viewers and discuss the emotional words of Sacramento Kings head coach Mike Brown after the team’s win last night over the Utah Jazz, when he wanted to talk about the horrendous breaking news of the mass murder in Lewiston, Maine, instead of basketball. “It’s a sad day. It’s a sad day for our country. It’s a sad day in this world,” the coach said. “And, until we decide to do something about it, the powers that be, this is going to keep happening. And our kids are not going to be able to enjoy what our kids are about because we don’t know how to fix a problem that’s right in front of us.” Adds Barnicle: “Lewiston, Maine, population 37,000, and we sit here, this great country of ours, greatest country in the history of the world, and we can do nothing about this continually happening week after week after week here in the United States of America.” Join the conversation here.

Tune in for this Morning Joe conversation between veteran New England columnist Mike Barnicle and NBC News senior law enforcement analyst Cedric Alexander about the extensive manhunt that is underway for a Maine native who killed at least 16 people and wounded dozens more in a rampage at a restaurant and a bowling alley in Lewiston and the importance of residents staying safe while keeping their eyes and ears open and reporting anything that might help in “finding, tracking, and capturing” the gunman.

“The media spotlight has fallen off of Ukraine lately with the focus being clearly, and responsibly, on the Middle East and what’s going on there; but in Ukraine, winter is fast approaching. It is still a very hot war, and it’s a war between two nations, Russia and Ukraine—in which one nation, Russia, has a deep, deep bench of people, of soldiers, that they can keep sending to the front. Ukraine, less so. What are the prospects for a long winter war?,” asks Morning Joe’s Mike Barnicle of National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby. Hear Kirby’s response as to the perils of the months to come but also why Ukraine is well positioned with the help of its allies.

Watch this Morning Joe conversation with Joe Scarborough, Mike Barnicle and Washington Post columnist David Ignatius about the possibility of the United States engaging in a military operation in the Middle East. “What happens when inevitably, sadly, the first American is killed in action through Iranian missile shots or whatever in Iraq or Syria, what happens when the phone rings in Amman, Riyadh and the United Arab Emirates and the President of the United States is on the other end of the line and he says, ‘boys, we’ve had enough. We’re going to saddle up here.’ What happens then?” asks Barnicle. Hear Ignatius’ response here.

Watch this Morning Joe conversation with Joe Scarborough, Richard Haass and Mike Barnicle as they discuss with The Washington Post’s Jacqueline Alemany the ongoing “chaos” inside the House of Representatives as now eight Republicans are vying for the speakership after almost three weeks without a leader in the House. How does this “chaos” impact America’s reputation abroad? Join the conversation.

Jonathan Lemire and Mike Barnicle talk with Capitol police officer Harry Dunn who joins Morning Joe to discuss his new book “Standing My Ground: A Capitol Police Officer’s Fight for Accountability and Good Trouble After January 6th,” his stirring memoir about the truth of the January 6th attack on the Capitol. “Harry, we are now nearly three years from that day, as you describe it, ‘that day.’ You’re still going to work nearly every day as a Capitol police officer. Do you carry any baggage from that day when crowds come into the Capitol these days? Your daughter, who was 11 then, is now a little older; she called you that day in the middle of everything. How does this rumble around in your mind?” asks Barnicle. Hear Dunn’s response about the traumatic event that made the U.S. Capitol a crime scene on one of the darkest days in American history and how still, he’s not deterred from being able to do his job.

Morning Joe’s veteran columnist Mike Barnicle speaks with Eliot Cohen, the Robert E. Osgood Professor at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies and The Atlantic contributing writer, about “the inability among some university presidents to distinguish between what is a terrorist and who is a militant. The fact that we continue to claim that Hamas is after Israelis, when Hamas really is after Jews, to be specifically clear; and…coverage of the hospital bombing that almost immediately…was blamed on the Israelis,” explains Barnicle. Hear Cohen’s response about the moral and legal distinctions “against barbarism.”

Morning Joe’s Joe Scarborough, Jonathan Lemire and Mike Barnicle talk about the Texas Rangers mashing their way to the World Series in Houston, soundly defeating the Houston Astros 11-4 after piling on eight runs in the first four innings. “Yesterday was a key example of (manager Bruce) Bochy’s importance to the Rangers, Jonathan. In that he goes out and he hooks Max Scherzer off that mound in the third inning. And Scherzer, you could tell, was disturbed about being taken out; but you’re not going to fool with Bruce Bochy,” says Barnicle about the three-time World Series-winning manager who came out of retirement to manage the Rangers.

Please join with Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski and the Morning Joe family to celebrate the “legendary” Mike Barnicle on this special birthday! Share in the memories and well wishes for “one of the greatest columnists of the twentieth century” on his big day. Responds Mike: “At this stage of my life, if I wake up every day, it’s a special day.” Join the celebration here.

Veteran columnist Mike Barnicle speaks with State Department spokesman Matt Miller about Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s communication with leaders of other Middle Eastern countries since Hamas launched a terrorist attack on Israel, where the death toll has topped 1,200, including 22 Americans. Miller said the “really brutal” attack “shocked the world” with a “depravity not seen since ISIS.” Watch the segment here.

Tune in for this Morning Joe conversation with Willie Geist, Mike Barnicle and Mika Brzezinski as they discuss President Joe Biden’s public, forceful condemnation of Hamas’ actions as terrorism and his vow to stand with Israel after Hamas’ brutal and deadly weekend massacre on Israel during which Hamas fighters stormed into Israeli towns, killing hundreds and abducting many others. “We saw the President of the United States give perhaps the strongest, firmest outline of who he is—who we are as a nation—in this troubled world that you’re ever going to hear from a president….This was an act of terrorism, an act of barbarism, that we saw over the weekend,” said Barnicle. Watch the segment here.

Tune in for this Morning Joe conversation with Joe Scarborough, Jonathan Lemire, Richard Haass and Mike Barnicle as they discuss President Joe Biden’s reelection strategy and message after Biden in a speech in Arizona called his once-and-perhaps-future opponent Donald Trump a direct threat to American democracy in the most forceful condemnation of the former president and the MAGA movement he has delivered since he took office.

Listen in on this Morning Joe conversation with Willie Geist, Jen Palmieri, Jonathan Lemire and Mike Barnicle as they discuss former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson writing in an upcoming memoir that Rudy Giuliani groped her backstage while former President Donald Trump rallied supporters to push back against the election certification on Jan. 6, 2021. “This is just one more glaring example of the depth of decadence and danger involved in this (Trump) administration from the (former) president himself on down to the people around him….How many members of the Republican Party have been narcoticized by this behavior over the years, have just gotten so used to it, so familiar with it, that they regard none of it as outrageous or the depth of danger involved in this,” says Barnicle.

Morning Joe’s Willie Geist and Mike Barnicle sit down with Richard Haass, president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations, to discuss the faction within the Republican Party that is against American funding of Ukraine’s war against Russia, following Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky having urged a global front against Russian aggression in a dramatic speech delivered during the UN General Assembly. “It used to be that the Republican Party specifically, Democrats as well, but the Republican Party specifically, would be saying, ‘yes, yes; go get Russia. We’re behind you 100 percent’? Yet now the fracture within the Republican Party leads to a very real possibility that there will be a shutdown or diminution of funding for Ukraine to continue this war,” asks Barnicle. Hear Haass’ response about the shift in the Republican Party on issues of national security and U.S. leadership on the world stage.

Watch this Morning Joe conversation between veteran columnist Mike Barnicle and veteran U.S. Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD) about the Republican Party and the current GOP infighting in the House of Representatives over spending bills that threatens a government shutdown. “Have you ever seen a moment in your lifetime in Congress when a specific portion of one political party, a specific portion of the Republican Party, seemingly has been devoted to destroying government?” asks Barnicle.

ICYMI: Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton joined Morning Joe to discuss her return to the classroom, as along with Keren Yarhi-Milo, dean of Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, she will be teaching global decision-making and starting an Institute of Global Politics at Columbia University. Watch her conversation with veteran columnist Mike Barnicle about the need to model respectful disagreement and find “at least a sliver” of common ground with people with different points of view. “These elections coming up in 2024 could not be more important for freedom, for democracy and for the rule of law,” says Clinton. Watch the segment here.