Entries from Jul 2020
Is more help on the way?

ICYMI: Listen in on this Morning Joe conversation between veteran columnist Mike Barnicle and U.S. Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD) about the need for the HEROES Act, a federal stimulus bill currently stalled in the Senate that would help Americans who are struggling to pay their rent or mortgage and face eviction or foreclosure amid the COVID-19 crisis.

COVID-19 not yet seen as important

Morning Joe veteran columnist and Dr. Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, discuss the fact that a more assertive set of specific guidelines from the CDC would make a significant difference in lowering the COVID-19 infection rate. Osterholm asserts that moral leadership across government and the health care field is needed to convince Americans that they must take COVID-19 seriously and distance as well as wear masks to slow the infection rate or “the next year is going to be one ongoing tragedy.” Watch the conversation here.

Maryland Governor talks protests

Gov. Larry Hogan (R-MD) joins Morning Joe contributor Mike Barnicle to talk about the peaceful protests in his state following the “senseless murder of George Floyd,” a police killing that has brought to the forefront the long overdue need to address the underlying racism that plagues our country. Watch their discussion here.

How to get America back on track

Rep. Max Rose (D-NY) talks with Morning Joe contributor Mike Barnicle about the sentiment within New York’s 11th congressional district, which includes Staten Island and parts of southern Brooklyn, regarding the possibility of evictions from homes and schools not reopening in the fall amid the coronavirus outbreak in America. Listen to Rose’s urgent plea for federal investments in communities, in infrastructure and in making sure people are not evicted from their homes. “We have to win this thing.”

Coronavirus continues to wreak devastation

Watch this Morning Joe conversation between Willie Geist and Mike Barnicle about President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence pressuring schools to fully reopen this fall amid the coronavirus outbreak and continual spike across America and the fact that some hospitals in Massachusetts, New York and New Jersey along with other states have suffered a lack of personal protection equipment for doctors and nurses. “That’s an incredible portrait of incompetence,” says Barnicle about the lack of PPE equipment available for frontline workers.

Baseball: “The season is jump ball right now”

Morning Joe’s Willie Geist and Mike Barnicle talk baseball and the viability of a 2020 MLB season amid the coronavirus pandemic, following MLB teams being forced to cancel practices after failing to receive COVID-19 testing results, players contracting the virus and more. “I think the season is jump ball right now,” says Barnicle.
Join the conversation here.

Racism impacts all of us

Morning Joe veteran columnist Mike Barnicle and author Anand Giridharadas discuss some of what has to happen to eradicate the original sin of racism in this country and how it impacts each and every one of us. We will never be whole as a people if we don’t deal with the stain of race, says Giridharadas. Watch their conversation here.

How do schools reopen?

Morning Joe veteran columnist Mike Barnicle and former CDC acting director Dr. Richard Besser, a parent and pediatrician, discuss what precautions would have to happen before daycare centers and schools can reopen this fall amid the coronavirus pandemic and what measures would be necessary once the operations are up and running to protect students, teachers and families.

The Disunited States of America

Watch this Morning Joe conversation with Willie Geist, Mike Barnicle and former RNC chairman Michael Steele as they discuss Barnicle’s latest op-ed for the Daily Beast titled “An Independence Day Wish for the Disunited States of America,” which examines the divisiveness propagated by President Donald J. Trump, most recently during his Fourth of July speeches at Mount Rushmore and the White House, and implores each of us to “think and remember not so much who we are but who we really want to be.” Join the conversation here and read the column: https://bit.ly/2Z1SVVn

How to “Begin Again” the conversation about race in America

Watch this Morning Joe conversation with veteran columnist Mike Barnicle, “Begin Again” author and professor Eddie Glaude Jr. and professor Cornel West about confronting racism in America today and how we as individuals must understand, not try to erase, the deep contradictions at the heart of this country so we can move forward rather than stand in the way of substantive change.

What happens when benefits run out?

Morning Joe veteran columnist Mike Barnicle talks with Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) about the plight of American families whose home rental and job assistance benefits are scheduled to run out later this month while the Senate’s two-week recess after the July 4th holiday means they won’t be back in session until July 20. “What’s the plan to help millions American families?” asks Barnicle. Hear what Schumer has to say about his colleagues in the Senate and how he plans to work to secure meaningful financial assistance for Americans in need.

More on Russia v. the U.S.

“Why the hell is the President of the United States puckering up to (Russian President Vladimir) Putin when he ought to be sticking up for America?” asks U.S. Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY), member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, during a Morning Joe conversation with contributor Mike Barnicle about whether House Republicans believe the New York Times and Washington Post’s reports that reveal Russia has paid bounties to Taliban-linked fighters to kill U.S. troops and coalition forces in Afghanistan as President Donald J. Trump calls the reporting a hoax. Watch the conversation here.

Russia’s war on the U.S.

“Russia declared war on the United States of America nearly four years ago when they decided to attack our electoral system. They are still declaring war on America, except this time they are paying hundreds and thousands of dollars to the Taliban in Afghanistan – our enemy – to kill our Marines, our soldiers, our people, our young men. That’s going on in front of us,” said Morning Joe veteran columnist and contributor Mike Barnicle during this discussion with Joe Scarborough about President Donald J. Trump’s refusal to confront and deal with bombshell reports of Russia paying bounties to Taliban-linked fighters to kill U.S. troops and coalition forces in Afghanistan. Join the conversation here.

COVID-19 spike across the nation

Morning Joe’s Joe Scarborough and Mike Barnicle discuss President Donald J. Trump’s mismanagement of the coronavirus pandemic as cases of COVID-19 continue to spike across the nation with infection rates up in most states. “I feel terrible for anyone who contracts the virus. But there’s another virus that the whole country is dealing with on a daily basis—and it’s the virus of Donald Trump’s incompetence, his personality and his lack of character in terms of leading this critical, critical medical emergency that we’re still in the middle of,” says Barnicle about Trump in light of his continuing to tell Americans that the virus is going to disappear, that it’s under control. You can watch the conversation here.

Latest presidential polling shows Biden ahead

Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough and veteran columnist and contributor Mike Barnicle discuss the latest polls showing President Donald Trump continuing to “bleed out politically” as presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden has pulled ahead. “The Republican Senate, with the safety, the comfort of six-year terms know what’s going on at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. They know there’s no leadership there,” says Barnicle about how some GOP senators currently view Trump and his reelection bid. See the new polling numbers here.

America under siege

Watch this Morning Joe conversation with Joe Scarborough and Mike Barnicle as they weigh in on the speculations surrounding the cognitive abilities of President Donald Trump, presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani while the coronavirus outbreak continues to surge in America, unemployment checks are about to run out, and the Trump Administration remains under pressure to explain how much the White House knew about allegations that Russia offered the Taliban bounties to kill U.S. troops.

POTUS: “He hasn’t protected us. He hasn’t defended us”

“You can take everything that’s happened in the Trump Administration thus far, and especially over the last six months, and neatly sum it up with one phrase, I think – `dereliction of duty’,” says Morning Joe contributor Mike Barnicle during a conversation with host Joe Scarborough about President Donald Trump’s shortcomings throughout his tenure in office, including his mismanagement of the coronavirus outbreak in America. “When Donald Trump stood on the podium in front of the capitol on January 20th, 2017, he took an oath, and the oath was to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. He has done neither—he hasn’t protected us. He hasn’t defended us.” Watch more of the conversation here.