Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ) joins Morning Joe’s Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski and Mike Barnicle to talk about his experience working with President Barack Obama in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy in 2012, as the panel discussed President Donald Trump’s visit to Texas following the devastation of this week’s Tropical Storm Harvey. “You’ve lived through it. You’ve presided over it….You’re still going through the recovery process in New Jersey and the enormous cost of it. But in the middle of it, the reaction to it, you have a president arriving in Texas. You had a president arriving in New Jersey and there’s an infamous picture that you paid a political price for, some would argue, of you and Barack Obama. Tell us about Barack Obama arriving in New Jersey and dealing with the people of New Jersey,” Barnicle asks. Hear Christie’s response about the complicated politics involved at the time. “I’d do it again,” he said of his dealings with President Obama. “It’s what you’re paid to do.”
As the Morning Joe panel discusses President Donald Trump’s visit to storm-ravaged Texas and his promises of federal aid for the destruction of Tropical Storm Harvey, senior contributor Mike Barnicle says of POTUS: “He showed up. And that’s in and of itself something for people to cling to in these desperate times in Texas. Events like this, this hurricane, national tragedies like this, there’s usually three stages: There’s the reaction to it, there’s the rescue phase — which we’re still in the middle of — and then, most importantly, the recovery stage. The recovery stage is going to be political, it’s going to be enormously costly, it’s going to have a reaction to things like the potential of a government shutdown….That’s going to be when we’re going to find out is the President capable of strong leadership because he going to have to make choices. Is he going to have to stick with the wall spending? Or is he going say, ‘let’s ignore the wall for right now — we have got to get Texas back up on its feet?’”
While the Morning Joe panel talks about Defense Secretary James Mattis freezing President Donald Trump’s transgender military ban, senior contributor Mike Barnicle asks of POTUS: “At one level, a study of the Trump presidency so far, you have to go back to the fallback position and ask yourself: Does he really care about this?” Listen to more of the discussion here about Mattis largely leaving in tact the Obama-era policy on transgender military service members until he can receive input from an expert panel about whether to move ahead with President Trump’s ban that would prevent transgender people from serving in the U.S. military.
“We should point out — to be fair about all of this — that everyone I have spoken to either down there in Texas or in Washington has remarked upon the remarkable job that FEMA is doing here in terms of leading this effort and the remarkable coordination between state and local officials in Texas — in dealing with this the relentless nature of what they’re dealing with — has been a job extraordinarily well done so far,” comments Morning Joe senior contributor Mike Barnicle as the panel discusses the government’s handling of the deadly crisis in Texas brought about by Tropical Storm Harvey. Listen to more of the discussion here with Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski, Barnicle and Carol Lee, National Political Reporter for NBC News.
“The presidency certainly has a learning curve to it. It’s something that certainly Donald Trump is unused to knowing anything about — the Presidency. But human nature doesn’t need a learning curve, the idea of empathy doesn’t need a learning curve. You either have it internally, instinctively, or you don’t have it. And I don’t think there’s anyone in America or very few people in America watching these scenes who are not stunned by the scope and the relentless nature of this tragedy — and the staff work that was lacking. That’s what struck me yesterday about the President’s inability to mention death and the suffering that’s going on. The staff work concerning Sgt. Steve Perez, 61 years of age, two days after his 61st birthday, drowns. A police officer that the President wasn’t told about….The whole day was kind of stunning in his inability….” says Morning Joe senior contributor Mike Barnicle as the panel talks about President Donald Trump’s visit to Texas in the wake of Tropical Storm Harvey’s devastation. Listen to more of the discussion here.
Republican political strategist Mike Murphy joined Morning Joe’s Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski and Mike Barnicle to talk about the problems facing the Republican Party under President Donald Trump. “When you talk to ordinary people, you get the sense that they feel there’s a character gap in the Republican party,” suggests Barnicle. Hear Murphy’s response and why he says the Republican Party should “wake up and deal with this or we’re going to lose the franchise.” Watch the conversation here.
“If you check the timing of all of these stories, the commingling of them and look at the calendar, clearly, it was a marketing exercise, a branding exercise. His candidacy at the beginning — they did not think that they were going to win the presidency because he was more interested in his business assets and promoting them in Russia….The principal focus of the Mueller special prosecutor’s team right now is indeed Russia and one of the keys is General Flynn and his role in pulling together the administration prior to the inauguration. And it has to do with the sanctions imposed on Russia, and if they can tilt Flynn, if they can flip him, the President indeed will be under oath and it will not be law school. It won’t be like a deposition. It will be professionals really grilling down,” explains Morning Joe senior contributor Mike Barnicle during a discussion of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election and possible collusion with the Trump campaign, following news that a top executive from Trump’s real estate company emailed Vladimir Putin’s personal spokesman during the presidential campaign to ask for help advancing a stalled Trump Tower development project in Moscow. Listen to more of the conversation with Morning Joe’s Joe Scarborough and MSNBC senior political analyst Mark Halperin.
“Rescuers within hours were in that nursing home rescuing people. It didn’t matter who they were — it didn’t matter their income, their race, their religion. They were rescued by other Americans, and this is who we are — coming together,” explains Morning Joe senior contributor Mike Barnicle during a conversation with Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough about the heroic rescue effort happening in Houston due to the epic floods caused by Tropical Storm Harvey. Listen to more of the discussion here.
“The Phoenix New Times, they’ve covered Joe Arpaio for 20 years. They had a chronology – a list – of outrageous incidents involving Sheriff Arpaio’s tenure. Half of the things on the list are absolutely shocking, shocking. He was running a concentration camp. That’s basically what he was doing,” says Morning Joe senior contributor Mike Barnicle as the Morning Joe panel talks about President Donald Trump’s controversial pardon of former Maricopa County, Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio. Listen to what some GOP lawmakers are saying about President Trump’s pardon of Arpaio here.
“The President, unfortunately, is so self-involved that clearly he can’t see one aspect of his job – and that’s to lead the nation in times of crisis….He’s tweeting out book recommendations in the middle of this epic flood,” comments Morning Joe senior contributor Mike Barnicle as the panel talks about President Donald Trump’s tweets and messaging during Tropical Storm Harvey, which has ravaged large portions of Texas and its residents. Listen to more of the discussion here with Morning Joe hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski.
Morning Joe veteran columnist Mike Barnicle asks: Is President Donald Trump’s controversial pardon of former Sheriff Joe Arpaio a sign of what’s to come as he exercises his power of pardon? Hear what Axios national political reporter Jonathan Swan and The Washington Post White House Bureau Chief Philip Rucker have to say about what this might mean going forward and for the Russia investigation.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott tells Morning Joe’s veteran columnist Mike Barnicle that the massive floods created by Tropical Storm Harvey have created the need for more boats and high-water vehicles, access to food and water, blankets and medical care, and temporary housing for the thousands upon thousands of residents that have been displaced by the torrential weather plaguing the state.
During a Morning Joe interview with Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo about the ongoing rescue efforts there due to the massive floods created by Tropical Storm Harvey, veteran columnist Mike Barnicle asks: “Chief, given the sprawl of the urban area of Houston, and the size of your force, and the condition of roadways and flooding — talk a bit about the degree of difficulty in the logistics that you’re encountering now – logistics of rescue operations.” Hear Acevedo’s response: “We feel their pain. I have had officers with tears in their eyes frustrated that they couldn’t do more, more quickly.” Listen in on more of the conversation here.
As the Morning Joe panelists share their “final thoughts” of the morning, veteran columnist Mike Barnicle says: “The American story is now being told not by the President of the United States, but by the American military, by prominent business people, by public people who are willing to stand up and speak about what this country is all about.” Hear also from The Washington Post’s Eugene Robinson, NBC News’ Kasie Hunt and Morning Joe’s Willie Geist, Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough here.
“You know, Mayor Pugh, the Civil War ended in 1865. One hundred years later in August of 1965, Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act in America – 100 years. And the statues now are coming down in specific cities: Baltimore, Charlottesville. But it strikes me, and I’m wondering if it strikes you, that it’s an amazing indictment of how we do not teach American history – what really happened in this country – to grammar school students, high school students, college students, and American adults. We don’t teach our own history,” comments Morning Joe senior contributor Mike Barnicle to Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh during a conversation about the lack of knowledge and understanding of Americans of their own country’s history. Listen to Pugh’s thoughts about how moving the country forward requires a focus on equality and inclusiveness.
During the Morning Joe panel discussion about President Donald Trump lashing out at Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) on Twitter for criticizing POTUS’ remarks on the race-related violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, veteran columnist Mike Barnicle explains two things: “Angela Merkel is the leader of the West now. She is the strongest leader of the West. And Trump’s tweet against Lindsey Graham indicates again his insecurity and resentment about the election — that he lost the popular vote.” Hear more of the discussion from MSNBC.
As the Morning Joe panel talks about the fallout after President Donald Trump’s remarks in response to the race-related violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, veteran columnist Mike Barnicle asks rhetorically: “What is the one open wound throughout American history? Race. So, what is the job of the President, any president? Is it to help soothe that wound, heal that wound or to poke it, and prod it, and open it even wider?” Listen in on the conversation here.
“In these darkest hours of these truly dark days, America comes out like the sunshine comes up every morning. It comes out from the pulpit of that church yesterday where a victim’s mother speaks as eloquently and as meaningfully as she did about the death of her daughter — something I don’t think any of us can really comprehend as parents. It comes out when members of the American military issue statements in support of what this country is all about: Equality, lack of prejudice. America comes out when you see the business council saying: `This is just a bit too much for us.’ And they issue statements. It does not come out, unfortunately, in the words of the President of the United States. But the optimism about…the brightness of America (and) we’ve seen it displayed in the past 24 hours. It’s stronger and more powerful than anything that Donald Trump has said thus far,” explains Morning Joe veteran columnist Mike Barnicle as the panel talks about the aftermath of the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, following the memorial service for Heather Heyer, the woman run down and killed by a Dodge Challenger with a neo-Nazi at the wheel. Watch highlights of the memorial and conversation here.
“Donald Trump yesterday refuted what he said on Monday because he felt forced to make that statement on Monday and he resented having to make that statement on Monday because it made him look weak. But Donald Trump is a strong man, and he’s going to stick to his beliefs. So, he stood up there yesterday and spoke from his own sense of inner strength. That’s what he gave the country: Enormous division, enormous ability for the right wing, Nazis, Ku Klux Klan people to say: “Yeah he’s my guy’,” said Morning Joe veteran columnist Mike Barnicle. “And the Republican legislators and Republican donors — forget them. This is about three things that all begin with C: Character, Courage and Country. It’s not about politics now. It’s about the country. Every president we’ve had, has been by definition of being a human being, has had flaws. No president has ever had flaws that so divide the country that we live in. It’s our country — not his.” Listen to more of the discussion here about the fallout from President Donald Trump’s impromptu news conference in New York where he blamed the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, on both sides of the conflict, equating the white supremacists on one side with the “alt-left” on the other side.
“This is a side show in a sense, the American Nazi party – the Nazis – in the streets in Charlottesville. Donald Trump is the deal: He gives them voice, he gives them strength, he gives them spine. He’s their President,” says Morning Joe senior contributor Mike Barnicle as the panel talks about white supremacists cheering President Donald Trump’s impromptu New York news conference, during which POTUS blamed the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, on both sides of the conflict, equating the white supremacists on one side with the “alt-left” on the other side. Listen to more of the discussion here about how POTUS has empowered Neo-Nazis and white supremacists with his words.
