Entries from Jan 2020
Bloomberg Comes to the Super Bowl

Morning Joe’s Mika Brzezinski and Willie Geist are joined by Adrienne Elrod and Mike Barnicle to discuss presidential candidate and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s serious, issue-oriented Super Bowl ad, which his campaign says will air just after halftime. “This ad is fine. It’s factual. It gets the job done in terms of what Mike Bloomberg stands for. But the oddity of the placement strikes me a little,” says Barnicle. Join the conversation here.

POTUS Impeachment Trial: Kelly Supports Bolton

Listen in as the Morning Joe panel discusses what’s next in the Senate impeachment trial of President Donald Trump after former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly lent his support to former National Security Adviser John Bolton’s reported claim that President Trump overtly sought to condition Ukrainian aid on the Kiev government’s willingness to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter. Join the conversation here.

Senators Riding POTUS “Coattails”

“The narrative is very compelling, and at the end of the day people understand two things: Trials with no evidence and no witnesses is a bag job. That’s part of what they’re carrying to the country in Colorado, in Iowa, in North Carolina, Thom Tillis. That’s a tough task to carry to voters, unless you’re willing to cop to the truth: ‘I’m also in the satchel. I am in the bag to the President.’ Try explaining that to your voters in a town hall meeting,” says Morning Joe contributor Mike Barnicle during a conversation with Joe Scarborough about Senate Republicans clinging to President Donald Trump’s “coattails” during the Senate impeachment trial of President Trump.

Trump’s Lack of Accountability

Listen in on this Morning Joe conversation with Joe Scarborough and Mike Barnicle as they discuss the “overall ignorance” of President Donald Trump and the lack of accountability for what he says, a day after Trump announced he is open to cutting Medicare and other entitlement programs. Join the conversation here.

Day One of the Senate Impeachment Trial

Listen in on this Morning Joe conversation with Joe Scarborough, Willie Geist, Jonathan Lemire and Mike Barnicle as they recap and discuss day one of the Senate impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, where House impeachment managers and White House counsel engaged in a marathon debate over rules for the impeachment trial that dragged past midnight and Chief Justice John Roberts scolded both sides for their lack of decorum after a spat between impeachment manager Rep. Jerry Nadler and White House counsel Pat Cipollone, who is leading President Trump’s defense. “It’s so blatant and repeated not only by Pat Cipollone but nearly the entire crew of defense of the President’s defense team: Blatant lies, blatant half-truths, mistruths just uttered in front of the Chief Justice of the United States. It’s going to have an impact. There’s going to be pay back here at some point,” says Barnicle. Join the conversation here.

New insights into Ukraine

“The thing that’s most on trial is the United States Senate. How can these senators who seemingly are on the fence or in Donald Trump’s pocket hear evidence such as this and continue the charade that nothing happened?” asks Morning Joe contributor Mike Barnicle of BBC World News America Washington anchor Katty Kay during a conversation about Republican senators’ stance in light of MSNBC host Rachel Maddow’s bombshell interview with Lev Parnas, in which the former Rudy Giuliani colleague offered damning insight into the ongoing investigation concerning the Trump administration’s dealings with Ukraine. Listen to Kay’s response here.

MLB Shakeup

“In the long run Major League Baseball did the right thing by inserting itself and trying to clear up this advanced analytics, technology hurricane that has overtaken Major League Baseball in the last ten years. In the scheme of things that we talk about normally here each and every day this is not a huge story, but in its essence it’s a sad story….Alex Cora is a terrific guy, he owned up to it, he basically resigned and now we have to watch out for Carlos Beltran with the New York Mets because he was in on it as well. So, we’ll see what happens there,” says Morning Joe contributor Mike Barnicle during a conversation with Joe Scarborough, Jonathan Lemire and Willie Geist about Cora, who parted ways with the Red Sox this week after having been linked to two sign-stealing schemes when he was the Houston Astros’ bench coach in 2017, and Beltran, the new manager for the New York Mets, whose named also appeared in the MLB’s report on the Astros’ cheating scandal. Join the conversation here.

Politics: It’s a People Business

“Politics is still a people business. And guess what, Mike Bloomberg has a ton of money. Tom Steyer has a ton of money. People like Joe Biden. They see him in New Hampshire. They see him in Iowa in small forums, and people – it’s a people business,” says Morning Joe contributor Mike Barnicle about Democratic presidential hopefuls Michael Bloomberg, Tom Steyer and Joe Biden during a conversation with Joe Scarborough and Axios’ Jim Vandehei about the phenomenon of money in American politics.

New Hampshire Primary: One month away

Listen in on this Morning Joe conversation with Willie Geist, Guy Cecil and Mike Barnicle as they discuss the recent Monmouth University poll on the New Hampshire Democratic primary that shows presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg leading the field in the state with 20 percent while presidential candidates Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren are all within five percentage points. “I’ve been up in New Hampshire several times in the past six weeks. It’s extremely volatile. It’s still the four of them, jump ball. Who knows what’s going to happen?” comments Barnicle. Join the conversation here.

Trump’s costly and timely golf games

“We’ve done some quick math around the table here…and the President of the United States has played more rounds of golf than the top three PGA winners last year and his green fees average out to about $1.2 million a round,” says Morning Joe contributor Mike Barnicle during a conversation with Joe Scarborough, Willie Geist and Yamiche Alcindor about President Donald Trump’s golf habit and expenses as he travels to his resorts to play the game that he was so critical of President Barack Obama for playing. Join the conversation here.

Risks of cyberattacks by Iran

Morning Joe contributor Mike Barnicle and Sen. Angus King (I-ME) discuss U.S. cybersecurity concerns after Iran fired more than a dozen ballistic missiles at two Iraqi bases housing U.S. troops in retaliation for the U.S. airstrike that killed Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani. “How concerned are you about things like power grids, our ATM systems here in America, our water systems and cyber attacks?” asks Barnicle. Hear King’s response.

Congress briefed on Iranian killing

Listen in as Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) tells Morning Joe contributor Mike Barnicle details of the Senate’s 75-minute classified briefing by the Trump Administration about their rationale for striking a foreign government without prior notification to Congress, an “exceptional” six days after the killing of Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani.