Continuing the Morning Joe conversation with Human Rights Foundation Chairman and chess champion Garry Kasparov, who has a new masterclass on chess, veteran columnist Mike Barnicle asks: “If America takes that masterclass, how do we go after Russia’s weakness, their economy?” Hear Kasparov’s response about strategy being the biggest advantage of democracy over dictatorship.
“Putin has used the instruments of his government to diminish democracy’s role in the world, diminish America’s role in the world. He has successfully sowed chaos in the American political system, the American political structure. How do we defend against that?” asks veteran columnist Mike Barnicle of Human Rights Foundation Chairman Garry Kasparov, who joins the Morning Joe panel to talk about Russian President Vladimir Putin as the “merchant of doubts”. Listen to Kasparov’s response here about Putin’s opportunistic approach to disturb the balance of the status quo.
“Mrs. Simonds, could you give us a thumbnail description of your district, the district that you ran in, in ’15 and then the district that you won this year? And what do you attribute the energy, the source of energy, in terms of voter turnout for you this year?” asks veteran columnist Mike Barnicle of Democrat Shelly Simonds, who won a seat in the Virginia House of Delegates after defeating Republican incumbent David Yancey by one vote to represent the town of Newport News. Listen to Simonds’ response here about the number of voters under the age of 40 she saw on Election Day this year.
“Look, Obama’s first year, first two years, we were digging ourselves, Noah, out of the worst economic situation since the depression,” says veteran columnist Mike Barnicle to Commentary associate editor Noah Rothman as the Morning Joe panel talks about the status of the American economy under President Donald Trump compared to former President Barack Obama. Listen to the conversation here with Rothman and Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough and Willie Geist.
“The exhaustion factor in all of this: The level of exhaustion that this presidency, that this Congress, that this political system has brought to all of us and especially to ordinary people. The DACA debate…is just one more level of dysfunction brought to the American people each and every day. Bill Belichick tells all of his football players, ‘just do your job.’ We have 535 people in Washington. Many of them who do not know how to do their job…to come up with sensible solutions for everyday problems….Can’t get that done? Get out, get out. That’s where we are,” says veteran columnist Mike Barnicle as the Morning Joe panel talks about a Washington Post report that indicates Democrats are backing away from a pledge to force a vote on DACA, angering activists but likely preventing a government shutdown at a critical moment in spending negotiations with Republicans and President Donald J. Trump. Listen in on the discussion here.
“We’re going to find out about the impact of this tax bill within a fairly reasonable period of time….What’s going to happen to the money that corporations make? Are they going to hire more people? Or, more importantly, over the next six months to a year, if you’re out there, you’re making $75,000, $90,000, you’ve got a couple of kids. Are you going to see an immediate impact, a change in your life due to this tax cut in your paycheck that you get every week or every two weeks?” asks veteran columnist Mike Barnicle as the Morning Joe panel talks about the GOP tax reform bill. Listen to more of the discussion here.
“The other aspect of this bill that is really threatening to the way laws are passed, the way this country survives and prospers, is the increased and continuing polarization that surrounded this bill and the idea that one particular party, the Republican Party, went out of its way to remove 13 million people from the health rolls, and are proud of it, and the fact that there were no real hearings on the bill, no real communication back and forth between Republicans and Democrats on a generation altering tax bill. It’s really a continuation of a system that has to be improved. It has to be addressed or else we’re going to be in even bigger trouble than we are in today,” explains veteran columnist Mike Barnicle as the Morning Joe panel talks about the GOP tax reform, which will add up to $1.5 trillion to America’s debt. Listen to more of the discussion here.
“This is a never-ending investigation. (The President’s lawyers) are not going to go in there later this week and ask for and get from (Special Counsel Robert) Mueller’s team the idea that this investigation is going to end quickly,” says veteran columnist Mike Barnicle as the Morning Joe panel talks about an upcoming meeting between White House lawyers and special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s office and an NBC News report showing the FBI last year warned then-Presidential candidate Donald Trump that foreign adversaries, including Russia, would likely try to spy on and infiltrate his campaign. Listen to more of the discussion here with NBC’s Joe Scarborough, Willie Geist and Carol Lee.
Tune in as Morning Joe veteran columnist Mike Barnicle asks Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX) about the GOP tax plan and who in his district stands to win and who stands to lose. “What would lead you to believe from recent history, past history, from today, from reality, that this sudden boon to so many corporations, to hedge funds, to private equity funds as contained in this tax bill, (means) that they’re going to turn around and start hiring people?” Listen to Brady’s response here.
During the Morning Joe review of President Donald Trump’s speech on national security strategy, veteran columnist Mike Barnicle comments: “One line, specifically, I found to be upsetting in talking about past administrations and therefore past presidents: ‘They lost their belief in American greatness’.” Hear the panelists reaction to Trump’s speech and what he won’t learn from his predecessors.
“Congressman, the President has hailed this tax bill as one of the great achievements of the 21st century. It’s going to change lives, change middle class lives. So, let’s go to Oklahoma City and you tell me who does better under this tax bill: Chesapeake Energy, Continental Resources, both companies housed in Oklahoma City, or a family of four making about $75,000 a year. Who does better?” asks veteran columnist Mike Barnicle of Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK) during a conversation about the GOP tax plan. Listen to Cole’s optimistic response here. Only on MSNBC.
“The level of exhaustion, and petulance, and numbness in this presidency, on an everyday basis, is incredible,” explains veteran columnist Mike Barnicle during a discussion about President Donald Trump’s relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin and a Washington Post report that Trump considered rescinding the nomination of Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch because he didn’t like something Gorsuch said. Listen in on the conversation here.
“We all know the bitter truth surrounding what happened to Al (Franken). I think we all know it. And it has less to do with due process and more to do with Alabama. That’s it. They had to get him off the scene. They had to get him to resign in order to continue to continue to assault, legitimately so, the complete nut case running for the United States Senate as a Republican in Alabama,” explains veteran columnist Mike Barnicle as the Morning Joe panel compares the lack of due process for Sen. Al Franken (D-MN), who resigned after being accused of sexual harassment, and Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore, who has been accused of sexual misconduct with underage girls. Listen to more of the conversation here and the regret some Democrats are expressing over pushing Franken to resign.
Tune in to the Morning Joe discussion about the national conversation around sexual harassment, due process and the way forward with Mika Brzezinski, Carol Lee, Joe Scarborough and Mike Barnicle. “We are having a national discussion about it, and hopefully, improvements will come quickly. They’re long overdue,’ says Barnicle. Hear more about the call for a way to separate the “Harvey Weinsteins” from the “Glenn Thrushes.” On MSNBC.
“I would urge people to look up the definition of ‘coup.’ It’s the violent overthrow of an existing government, and that word is being loosely bandied about by people who ought to know better,” says veteran columnist Mike Barnicle as he weighs in on President Donald Trump’s allies feverishly attacking special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe while the Morning Joe panelists share their final thoughts. Listen in on the conversation about the potentially dangerous comparisons being made between the FBI and the KGB.
Morning Joe’s Joe Scarborough, Mike Barnicle and Steve Rattner look ahead to President Donald Trump’s unveiling of his administration’s national security strategy and how he might handle mentioning the dismantling of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which Trump did early in his presidency and Rattner says was one of the “worst” policy decisions ever. Hear more about the U.S.’s economic and national security here.
During the Morning Joe conversation about the lack of historical precedent for the upcoming vote on the $1.5 trillion GOP tax bill, veteran columnist Mike Barnicle says: “This is the most far-reaching tax legislation in over 30 years. It’s a generational change in terms of what is going to happen to people down the road because of this tax bill being passed. The Ranking Member of the House Ways and Means Committee, Richie Neal, got this bill – this tax bill – to look at for the first time one hour before it was introduced. And I would ask our financial expert, Rattner, how many public hearings do you recall being held on this far-reaching piece of legislation?” Hear more of the discussion here.
While the Morning Joe panel talks about the possibility of President Donald Trump pardoning his former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who has pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about conversations with Russia’s ambassador to the US, veteran columnist Mike Barnicle explains: “If he accepts the pardon, my understanding is it ruptures his deal – his signed deal – with the prosecutor Robert Mueller, which would then put his son in jeopardy.” Listen to more of the conversation here about Flynn.
The hardest job in this country is being poor, and tax bills like this ensure that poverty for many, many people is going to be both a life sentence and a death sentence. And we ignore it,” says veteran columnist Mike Barnicle as the Morning Joe panel talks about the GOP tax plan. Listen to more of the discussion here.
“Here’s where the Republicans really get crushed. The front page of the Financial Times headline reads: ‘US companies set for big profit windfall from tax overhaul.’ Young people out there working, suburban families struggling to make ends meet, they know, and they’re going to find out, that the tax cut that they get is pretty much meaningless in terms of their everyday lives. But they also know the reality: That the big companies that they work for, the conglomerates that they work for, the companies’ profits are going to soar,” comments veteran columnist Mike Barnicle as the Morning Joe panel talks about the GOP tax plan and the ways in which the Republican Party is alienating voters. Listen to more of the discussion here.
