As the Morning Joe panel discusses reports that three White House staffers helped House Intelligence Committee chair Devin Nunes (R-CA) obtain politically useful information for President Donald Trump, veteran columnist Mike Barnicle comments: “The Nunes piece is going to get even more interesting and more baffling than it is now.” Listen to more of the conversation on the story that three White House staffers — identified by The Washington Post, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal — were involved in the handling of intelligence files that were shared with the Nunes and showed that Trump campaign officials were swept up in U.S. surveillance of foreign nationals.
“You have adults running the Senate Intelligence Committee Investigation. That’s the big difference between them and the House,” says Morning Joe veteran columnist Mike Barnicle as the panel discusses the testimony from the Senate Intelligence Committee’s first hearing into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Listen to former FBI agent Clinton Watts in response to questions by Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) explain how Russia has actively attempted and succeeded in influencing President Donald Trump.
Bringing back a Morning Joe segment called “Why We Love John McCain,” the panel weighs in on the latest tell-like-it-is moment for the Arizona Republican, who last week on MSNBC’s For the Record with Greta insulted North Korean President Kim Jong Un by calling him a “crazy fat kid.” Explains Barnicle: “That’s why he’s always been a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize– you know, speaking frankly to the world. We love John McCain. And in an odd, predictable way, I think he’s in the midst of his finest hours as a public servant. He is taking on the Trump Administration whenever he perceives them as going in the wrong direction. He’s speaking out, and he is being John McCain.” Tune in for more of the conversation, including McCain’s responses to North Korea, and host Joe Scarborough’s agreement with Barnicle’s assessment.
While the Morning Joe panel discusses the multi-front war President Trump faces on his major initiatives, most notably the now indefinitely blocked travel ban, veteran columnist Mike Barnicle explains: “Forum shopping has been going on through several administrations, not just this one. I think what differentiates this one is that initially this began with a couple of guys, who — ostensibly work for the White House, work for President Donald J. Trump — sat down on the weekend after the Inauguration and on a paper napkin, perhaps, outlined a tough immigration policy. And that got this thing thrown off the tracks, followed by the constant refrain of Russia, followed by the constant Tweets that get the President in hot water. And now what surfaces really at the core of all of this is the competence of the White House staff.” Listen to the conversation among Barnicle, Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough and NBC News senior political analyst Mark Halperin here.
“Mark’s focus group was truly reflective of what you hear out in the country, with people saying: ‘ Hey, pump the brakes. The guy hasn’t been president for 70 days.’ They are not as worried as we get sitting here every day talking about these epic issues, like Russia and the House and Senate investigations. But it all leads to the fundamental question beneath Donald Trump, basically a non-ideological guy, basically a Democrat before he assumes office as President of the United States. How did he manage to sit there by himself and allow people like Steve Bannon strip him of his identity?” asks Morning Joe veteran columnist Mike Barnicle during a panel discussion based around footage from NBC senior political analyst Mark Halperin’s “The Circus” series on Showtime, which features Halperin going to Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire to hear views on President Trump and the current political landscape. Watch the segment here.
In his latest column for The Daily Beast, veteran journalist Mike Barnicle tells the story of Harry K. Tye, a U.S. Marine finally buried this week at Arlington National Cemetery after he was killed in a war – 74 years ago.
“On the night that Pfc. Harry Tye was buried, the President of the United States gathered more than a few Senators and their spouses at The White House for a reception. He was gracious and brief in his welcome and told them, in part: ‘We are doing really well in Iraq. Our soldiers are fighting and fighting like never before and the results are very good so I just wanted to let everyone know. …Our soldiers are fighting and fighting like never before…’
History is now a casualty too….” Read Barnicle’s whole column here.
“Who can go into the President of the United States, who can walk into the Oval and say: ‘Mr. President you’re wrong?’ Even if you had a Jim Baker walking into the office, you have to have someone who is receptive to hearing that kind of counsel, and I don’t think – it appears – that the President of the United States is receptive,” said Morning Joe’s veteran columnist Mike Barnicle during a conversation among the show’s co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski about White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer and his credibility and stability. Hear more of the conversation and Barnicle’s idea on another way the media might cover the White House press briefings.
While the Morning Joe panel discusses how longtime Washington insiders, particularly Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), are dealing with President Donald Trump and his administration, senior contributor Mike Barnicle says: “They are so insulted by the level of incompetence that they’ve dealt with — that they’re dealt every day from the White House staff. They’re living in a state of shock.” Listen to more of the conversation with Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough on Sen. McConnell and Washington’s establishment here.
While the Morning Joe panel questions the stability and competence of White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, following Spicer’s recent lashing out against reporter April Ryan, Washington bureau chief for American Urban Radio Networks, in a heated press briefing exchange, veteran columnist Mike Barnicle explains: “There is a part of me that has great sympathy for (Spicer) because he’s got in an audience of one that he is dealing with: the President of the United States, but he clearly does not have the temperament to be Press Secretary.” Listen in the conversation among Morning Joe hosts Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski, Barnicle and MSNBC’s Steve Kornacki about Spicer’s abusive and condescending behavior.
“David, we keep hearing that there’s another issue, at least in speaking with members of Congress on both sides of the aisle. An umbrella issue hanging over all of this: And it is competence. The competence of this young administration. Sixty five, Sixty six days into the Administration — everything they’ve touched thus far has had a level of incompetence to it, including intel,” comments Morning Joe veteran columnist Mike Barnicle in conversation with The Washington Post columnist David Ignatius about President Donald Trump’s low approval ratings and the need to reboot on a number of issues. Listen in to the discussion here.
As the Morning Joe panel unpacks the ongoing controversy and demands for recusal of House Intelligence Committee chair Devin Nunes (R-CA), senior contributor Mike Barnicle comments: “The House investigation is over. One of the questions that ought to be answered is: Who signed (Nunes) into the White House. You’ve got to be signed in. You can’t just walk onto the grounds of the White House.” Listen to more of the discussion here with hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski and contributors Nicholas Confessore from The New York Times and Eddie Glaude Jr., chair of Princeton’s Department of African American Studies.
“Joe, it’s a tsunami of events, almost unparalleled–certainly in recent American political history. When you get the Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee Devin Nunes (R-CA), doing what he did, which is tantamount to a prosecutor in a capital murder case, leaning over, and telling his co-counsel: ‘Hey, I’ve just got to go across the hall and talk to the defendant. I have a couple of tips that might help him out.’ It’s just staggering, beyond belief,” says Morning Joe senior contributor Mike Barnicle as he and host Joe Scarborough weigh in on Nunes’ defense of President Donald J. Trump’s unsupported wiretap allegations against former President Barack Obama. Listen in on ht the conversation here.
“How do you get people to stay home in places like southern Ohio, western Pennsylvania, northern Kentucky?” asks Morning Joe senior contributor Mike Barnicle of bestselling author J.D. Vance, whose book “Hillbilly Elegy” examines poverty and economic malaise among America’s white working class. Vance has just joined forces with Revolution LLC, the D.C.-based investment firm founded by AOL co-founder Steve Case. The two will work together to grow investments in startups outside the Silicon Valley and New York City tech bubbles, which received the bulk of VC funding.
The Morning Joe panel reacts to President Donald J. Trump’s speech at the National Republican Congressional Committee March Dinner, in which he suggests that most people don’t know that President Abraham Lincoln was a Republican. “Someone should really build a memorial to Lincoln after hearing that. I never knew that,” says Mike Barnicle, sarcastically. Listen to President Trump’s comments about Lincoln here and go along for the ride with Morning Joe’s Joe Scarborough and Willie Geist.
In his latest column for The Daily Beast, Mike Barnicle pays tribute to legendary New York City columnist Jimmy Breslin, who died Friday at the age of 88. “He stood for the vulnerable and used the voice contained in his talent to call out the political people and anyone else who abused or ignored the poor, the disenfranchised, anyone living on life’s margins and judged by their zip code, their needs or their lack of income.” Read the column in its entirety here.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/03/20/jimmy-breslin-the-people-s-champion.html
As the Morning Joe conversation continue about the impact of New York City newspaper columnist Jimmy Breslin, who died Friday at age 88, veteran columnist Mike Barnicle says: “A century from now, historians will look at Jimmy Breslin’s columns to get a handle of what life was like in the mid to late 20th century, early 21st century. Dan Barry’s obit in The New York Times was so spectacular. One line sums everything up about Jimmy’s writings and how he changed column writing in newspaper, and it is that Breslin inspired every emotion but indifference….He was a magical, magical writer. I cannot say enough about him.” Tune in here for more from Barnicle and The Washington Post’s columnist David Ignatius on Breslin and the late rock ’n roll great Chuck Berry.
As the Morning Joe panel memorialize the late, great columnist Jimmy Breslin and rock ’n roll pioneer Chuck Berry, veteran columnist and MSNBC regular Mike Barnicle contributes about Breslin’s style of reporting: “You have to witness things visually and then report them in the newspaper the next day. It’s sadly true, that art and that technique, that’s disappearing in newspapers today.” Listen in on the conversation here with Morning Joe’s Joe Scarborough and The Washington Post’s Eugene Robinson.
Live from Newton, Mass., Morning Joe’s Mike Barnicle talks with host Mika Brzezinski about the legacy of legendary New York City newspaper columnist Jimmy Breslin, who died Friday at age 88. “He was a columnist for the ages,” says Barnicle, a veteran newspaper columnist. “There was never one like him before, and there will never be another one like him again, and that’s not really hyperbole. What Jimmy Breslin did for American newspapers was miraculous. It was like reading a fine novel in about 900 words. The electricity of the thought. His reporting was remarkable and his writing skill was incredible.” Listen in for much more from Barnicle on Breslin: “A man of many emotions….He was what life is all about: A huge roller coaster of emotions.”
During a Morning Joe discussion of President Donald Trump’s first budget proposal, branding and marketing expert Donny Deutsch recalls a comment that veteran columnist and Morning Joe regular Mike Barnicle made during Trump’s run for the White House. “Mike Barnicle, during the campaign, said: ‘One thing about this President-elect is there doesn’t seem to be any empathy there.’ And there is no empathy in this budget. On top of idiocy, there is no soul in there,” says Deutsch. “This president only bets on the present day. I don’t think this guy gives a damn what he leaves in his wake.” Hear more of the conversation and co-host Joe Scarborough’s opinion on the budget proposal, which he tweeted from his vacation.
During the Morning Joe discussion with Congressmen Will Hurd (R-TX) and Beto O’Rourke (D-TX) about their bipartisan road trip from Texas to Congress, veteran columnist Mike Barnicle asks them about their music choices during the 36-hour drive, much of it live-streamed on Facebook and Periscope. “Guys, let’s get down to the nitty gritty. A long car trip, the two of you in the car together. Let’s get to the playlist, you know the music. Who picked it? Were there any fights about it?” asks Barnicle. Hear from the Congressmen about the playlist created by O’Rourke, a singer and guitarist in the band Foss before his life in politics. What songs made the cut, what didn’t? Find out here.
