Entries from May 2019
Muhammad Ali: “He belongs to the world”

Hear from Hana Ali, daughter of the legendary boxer and activist Muhammad Ali, who joined Morning Joe’s Mika Brzezinski and Mike Barnicle to share intimate details from her new book “At Home with Muhammad Ali: A Memoir of Love, Loss and Forgiveness.” “You had many, many hours of spending quiet, reflective time with your father. Talk about who he really was in his essence,” asks Barnicle. Only on MSNBC.

Republicans’ abortion “nightmare”

“It seems that the President of the United States wakes each and every day, and confronts the day with the idea of dividing: Taking an issue and using it to divide people. This issue…gets to the core of who we are: Who lives, who dies, your children, everything….And people feel that they’re licensed, they’re entitled to try and do the same thing in state legislatures—in Alabama, in Georgia, throughout the country,” comments Morning Joe’s Mike Barnicle during a panel discussion with Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski and Susan Del Percio about how President Donald Trump has inspired the current movement to ban abortions at the state level and the “nightmare” situation it has created for Republican candidates going forward. Join the conversation here.

US/Iran: Growing tensions

Listen in as the Morning Joe panel discusses the escalating tensions between the U.S. and Iran as lawmakers on Capitol Hill, including Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), demand an adequate briefing by the Trump Administration about the growing threat posed by Iran. Join the conversation here with Morning Joe’s Willie Geist, Mike Barnicle, Jeremy Bash and Washington Post associate editor David Ignatius. Only on MSNBC.

Senate setbacks

“Where is the United States Senate?” asks Morning Joe’s Mike Barnicle of Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) in relation to the Senate’s attempts to put together new legislation for the Authorization for Use of Military Force as the tensions between the U.S. and Iran escalate and while the Trump Administration is reportedly mulling a plan to send up to 120,000 troops to the Middle East to deal with the situation. Listen to Coons’ explanation about the internal turmoil plaguing the Senate. Only on MSNBC.

The difference two weeks can make

“People should be really annoyed at this: When it says the House sends a letter to the Attorney General demanding to know what he’s doing with the ACA, and he’s been given two weeks to respond, okay. If you have a preexisting condition and you have to go to an emergency room—you, yourself or with one of your children—you don’t get two weeks to respond. Your entire income, your entire family’s future could be gone in one moment in an emergency room, and we give these clowns two weeks to respond to the potential destruction of an act that has saved hundreds of lives,” comments Morning Joe veteran columnist Mike Barnicle during a conversation with Mika Brzezinski and Eugene Robinson about House committee chairs having demanded information from the Department of Justice—within two weeks—on the decision to revert its position on the Affordable Care Act, now holding it as unconstitutional. Listen in here.

US v. China

Hear Morning Joe’s veteran columnist and contributor Mike Barnicle, President of the Council of Foreign Relations Richard Haass, and Wendy Sherman, former Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs discuss the impact of President Donald Trump’s escalating trade war between the US and China, which is causing the market to slide. Only on MSNBC.

US / Iran tensions rising

Listen in as the Morning Joe panel discusses the possibility and impact of rising oil prices in the US as a result of the escalating tensions with Iran and the Trump Administration’s consideration of a plan to send up to 120,000 troops to the Middle East. “There are so many elements of danger, potential danger…we could spend the whole three hours discussing it,” says veteran columnist Mike Barnicle during a conversation with CNBC senior national correspondent Brian Sullivan and the Washington Post’s Eugene Robinson.

POTUS paid no taxes

Morning Joe’s Joe Scarborough, Willie Geist and Mike Barnicle discuss President Donald Trump’s response on Twitter to the New York Times report that shows he reported over $1 billion in business losses from 1985 to 1994—financial losses so steep that he did not pay income taxes for eight years. “There’s one thing buried in this story…that will put a chill on all of his big rallies, and it is this: He pays no taxes. He pays no taxes. Try that out when you’re at a big rally.” Hear more of the conversation only on MSNBC.

McConnell: Hypocrisy Hall of Fame

“In the annals of hypocrisy, Mitch McConnell is in the Hall of Fame, and he’s been there for quite some time,” said veteran columnist Mike Barnicle during the Morning Joe conversation about Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and his response to proof of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Listen to more of the conversation here with Barnicle and Joe Scarborough.

POTUS: Losses totalled $1.17 billion

Listen in as the Morning Joe panel discusses a New York Times report based on newly obtained tax information reveals that from 1985 to 1994 President Donald Trump reporter over $1 billion in business losses, making him the among the largest individual, taxpaying losers of money at the time. “You could read any biography that’s ever been written about Donald Trump, and it wouldn’t come close to a portrayal of him as an individual better than this forensic autopsy of his money, his lack of money,” say veteran columnist Mike Barnicle about the New York Times investigation into President Trump’s taxes. Join the conversation here with Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski and New York Times reporter Susanne Craig, who broke the story with Russ Buettner.

The US economy and income disparity

The Morning Joe panel discusses the U.S. economy in the Trump era, the debate between capitalism and socialism, and why income inequality will be a pivotal issue for every candidate in the 2020 presidential race. “We have these wonderful reports about the economy booming…(but) there are still large pockets of the economy in this country where people haven’t received a percentage increase in wages…in 10, 15, 20 years,” explains veteran columnist Mike Barnicle. Listen in to the conversation about the perils of income and wealth inequality with Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski and Andy Serwer, editor in chief of Yahoo Finance. Only on MSNBC.

“Electability” key to 2020

Listen in as the Morning Joe panel discusses the key to 2020 for the Democrats, and that is the “electability” of the candidate who will square off against President Donald Trump. “It’s like a crime thing….They’re looking at a lineup. Joe’s got a very familiar face, but he’s got one thing that nobody else has in that field—he’s handcuffed to Barack Obama, and that puts a smile and a sense that we can win this thing…on a lot of Democrats’ faces,” says veteran columnist Mike Barnicle as the conversation revolves around the crowded Democratic race. Hear more of the conversation now.

Kentucky Derby controversy

Listen in on the Morning Joe conversation with Joe Scarborough, Mike Lupica and Mike Barnicle as they review and discuss the shocking and controversial decision to overturn Maximum Security’s win at the 145th Kentucky Derby, where stewards disqualified Maximum Security for impeding progress around the turn for the home stretch. “A DQ in Kentucky could be different than a DQ in New York or Massachusetts….There’s no national rule governing horse racing,” says Barnicle. Join the conversation here.

Mueller’s Report has legs

While Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough and veteran columnist Mike Barnicle talk about House Speaker Nancy Pelosi accusing Attorney General William Barr of committing a crime by lying to Congress about special counsel Robert Mueller’s report and Mueller’s issues with how Barr characterized the special counsel’s findings, Barnicle explains: “Instead of just sitting back and saying, ‘Okay the thing is over,’ and responding with candid truth, the attorney general chose to, as you indicated and as many have indicated, as Nancy Pelosi just indicated, he lied— repeatedly. He’s going to keep this story going. This story is not going to go away for a long time now.” Listen to more of the conversation here. Only on MSNBC.

We need more from our public leaders

Chuck Rosenberg, former U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, joins Morning Joe’s Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski and Mike Barnicle to talk about Robert Mueller’s complaint that Attorney General William Barr’s four-page memo to Congress describing the principal conclusions of the Mueller investigation into President Donald Trump “did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance” of the report. Rosenberg concludes: “We need more from our public leaders. We need more from the Department of Justice—and that’s painful.” Hear more of the conversation now.

William Barr: He is not alone

“What is it about Donald Trump that causes these people to lose their minds and lose their souls?” asks veteran columnist Mike Barnicle as the Morning Joe panel discusses Attorney General William Barr’s controversial and contentious testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, where he stumbled to answer questions on whether President Donald Trump or anyone in the White House directed him to investigate certain individuals. Listen to more of the conversation here.

Defending the Constitution or the President?

Listen in as Morning Joe’s Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski and Mike Barnicle discuss Attorney General William Barr’s controversial testimony in a contentious Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, where he answered questions on special counsel Robert Mueller’s report and was accused of protecting President Donald Trump at the country’s expense. “We had a sitting attorney general of the United States who clearly had not even read the full Mueller report. He had not looked at the underlying evidence within the Mueller report. He went out of his way to disparage members of the Federal Bureau of Investigation who work for this country to protect this country. He went out of his way to damage and disparage Bob Mueller and his effort, and…really at the end of the day, he made Jeff Sessions look like Justice Brandeis,” said Barnicle. Hear more of the discussion here.