looked like mr. gricar. it wasn't him. >> maybe one day they will be able to unlock the secrets of that damage hard drive. for now the mystery of ray gricar's disappearance enters and so does the wait for answers. do you still hold out hope? >> always. we are going to always have a question. that is never going away. >> that's all for this edition of dateline. i am craig melvin. thank you for watching. for wat watching. good morning and welcome to this sunday edition of morning joe weekend. it was another fast-moving news week. here are some of the conversations you might have missed. the biden-harris 2024 campaign is out with a brand new ad highlighting the dire threat

donald trump poses to black america if he's reelected. >> i'm joe biden and i approve this message. >> of course i hate these es people. >> donald trump disrespecting black folk is nothing new. he inwas sued refusing to rent his apartments to black families and called for the execution of five innocent black and brown teenagers. it's why trump stood with violent white supremacists. warned of a blood bath in the next election and if he's president again vowed to be a dictator who wants revenge on his enemies. now who do you think? >> that ad first of all is accurate. i was involved in fighting him on housing discrimination and the central park five. they're not stretching the truth. that is his record. and you must remember that in all of the racial issues we've had in new york from howard beach in the 80s where black

kid was killed just for being in a white neighborhood till now, the only race sensitive case donald trump ever stood up on was to say that five black and brown young men should face the death penalty when a white woman was brutally and viciously beaten and raped and end up they didn't do it and he still wouldn't take it back. he never stood up on any other issue. he was president when george floyd happened. the biggest case in recent memory. he was president and did nothing other than say if the looting starts the shooting starts. congressman torres, and you and i have worked on many issues together. for him to come to your district. probably import some of the crowd because there's certainly not a lot for him there. i think he's using it as a problem since he's kind of cornered in to having to be in new york and can't do a lot

because he's on criminal trial. how do you see the response in your district and in the bronx' of the country? it could backfire and energize a lot of people to get angry that he's maneuvering sort of as a backdrop to him having to be in new york for his criminal trial. >> i think as far as we're concerned donald trump is nothing more than a criminal suspect facing 91 felony counts, desperately searching for a self-pardon. it's obvious to all of us his priority is not the people of the bronx. his priority is self- preservation. and i'm confident the people of the bronx are rinot going to bu the snake oil he's selling. his presidency was a catastrophe for the bronx. his mismanagement of covid left the death toll of more than 7000 in the bronx which is greater than the combined death count of pearl harbor and 9/11. instead of holding a rally he should be apologizing to the people of the bronx for the damage he's done.

>> willie. >> congressman, good morning. you've written ona new op ed titled the bronx gives a bronx cheer to donald trump. in it the congressman writes quote, the bronx is the bluest county in america. is trump so arrogant as to believe he's the one republican who can compete in the bluest congressional district? in answering that question one must be reminded of who trump is. a malignant narcissist. he once declared himself the beth president ever for african americans, even surpassing abraham lincoln. if only lincoln had read the art of the deal he tells himself the civil war would have been averted like every human tragedy that has ever been transpired by the. that is the congressman's op ed part of it in the new york daily news today. congressman, there has been some concern if you look at

polling and we will use all the caveats that we're almost six months away from election day. biden campaign believes voters will come home. we have seen in polling in this early stage some black voters. some latino voters in numbers larger than we've seen in the past for republican and numbers larger than we've seen for donald trump over the previous d couple of elections saying they're open to voting for donald trump. how much stock do you put into those numbers? >> look, we have to be careful not to treat the latino community as a monolith. george w. bush won 40% of the vote in 2020. i'm confident the bronx is going to overwhelmingly reject donald trump. based on the polling data i've seen, donald trump is so unpopular as to be raid grow active. he's even less popular than arsenic in the bronx.

aim confident the bronx is going to support joe biden. >> i wonder where this crowd is going to come from. >> when you look at the numbers for african americans, the any economy has never been better. wages never better. unemployment never better. yet still to willie's point there is a disconnect particularly among black men. i can't figure that out. try and explain as best as you can. >> look, i sense men of all races. i see it among latino men, african american men, white men, there is a bitter disillusion with the system. that transcends any particular presidency. there's a challenge of inflation which has been a global problem. we have to tell the story of the biden administration's success. we've had the fastest recovery a from covid of any major economy in the world. the president is addressing the cost of living. the bronx has among the highest rates of diabetes. capping the price of insulin is a game changer and a lifesaver.

president biden created 15 million jobs compared to 2.9 million lost under donald trump. donald trump claims he's in favor of cutting taxes. he imposed the largest tax increase in new york city in recent history. cost our state $15 billion in revenue. new yorkers are paying more in taxes and receiving fewer services because of donald trump. >> congressman, you say you need to make the argument better as to what the administration needs to do. you started to there. are there a few points that seem like the biden team is very proud of haven't broken through. for instance, the economy. you mention that. also the fact it was republicans who blocked this border bill. seems like immigration and migrants are a major issue in new york city also resinates nationally. crime has gone down in most places this year. how can they be sharpening their message? do you have that break through? polls suggest it's not. >> look, i feel like i think we

have to follow the tom souzzi model. he leaned in. he proactively owned it. i feel like that should be the template we follow on a national stage. >> don't we -- aren't we helped by looking at 2020 when the polls also said that trump was having this bump up with black men and it didn't happen. and i think again we're repeating the same mistake that yes, some black men will go there as they did in 20. but he ended up getting just about what most republicans got. i think we shouldn't get twisted with that. the other thing i want to ask you, congressman, it has been c suggested to me we don't know the makeup of his jury in this hush money trial. maybe there's some blacks and latinos in the jury, maybe this thing tonight is really about

his lawyer saying we need to soften up some people in the jury that may look at you as racist bigoted. he could be campaigning to a jury. >> if donald trump did not have a criminal trial in new york city he would never be caught dead in the bronx. the only place in the bronx where donald trump has any place being is bronx criminal court. >> we have lots more to get to this hour. morning joe weekend continues after a short break. i love to give back to the community. i offer what i can when i can. i started noticing my memory was slipping. i saw a prevagen commercial and i did some research on it. i started taking prevagen about three years ago. i feel clearer in my thoughts, my memory has improved and generally just more on point. prevagen. at stores everywhere without a prescription. frizz. dryness. breakage.

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progressive candidates had a tough night in oregon's democratic primary on tuesday. the deep blue city of portland elected centrist democrats over their more progressive challengers in several key races. voters opted for a mainstream democrat state representative janelle bynum over her progressive rival as the party seeks to take back the seat a

republican flipped during the midterms. in the safely democratic third district sheila jayapal lost her congressional primary bid to oregon state representative maxine dexter. and district attorney mike schmidt lost his reelection bid to nathan vasquez. vasquez ran a tough on crime campaign that was critical of the portland area's progressive poll sis. joe, your thoughts. >> it's about time. it's about time. the people of portland have been living in a hellscape over the past four, five years. they've experimented with every whacked out progressive theory, including the legalization of hard drugs which has led to a

massive spike in drug overdoses. rev, as you've said a lot of these as you say woke left wing latte liberals, especially in oregon if you look what's happened in oregon, rev, they use the murder of george floyd to make the lives of the truly disadvantaged even more disadvantaged by talking about defunding the police, taking police officers out of some of the most dangerous parts of town, encouraging anarchy. the scenes out of portland, unbelievable. i've got friends there who have be small business owners. no friends of donald trump who yet talk about the chaos of the city how small business owners have fled. portland's become a shelf itself because in large part

because of these radical, radical policies. >> no, i think that the vote in portland showed something. that is first of all how do we define progressive. it's not progress to allow crime to go unaddressed. it's not progress for people to have their communities burned down. i mean ritchie torres has had tow resle with that. if you really woke you wake up and get something done. woke doesn't mean you just do anything and call it a movement. i think that what is happening here is people are defining that progressive means we want to see change moving forward. not have a squalor in a situation that is not tenable for us to live in. we're not looking for worse conditions in the name of we're on the left. we're looking for better conditions no matter what you label it as. >> so congressman, your

thoughts on this. >> looks i've been a critic of defund the police. anyone who advocates for the defunding of the police is out of touch with reality and should not be taken seriously. it's worth noting president biden rejected that movement decisively. he refuses to see the issue of public safety to the republicans. one of the greatest challenges to public safety is donald trump's supreme court which has struck down gun safety laws in new york, which has led to more guns in the bronx, not less. more gun violence in the bronx, not less. we have to proactively own the issue of public safety. >> gene, i want to ask you. here's an example of people bending over backwards for the far left. joe biden has done that in certain instances. do you think anyone realizes the election is going to be won in the center. we did a story about nikki haley and her 20% of voters. those voters are not living on

that far left. the biden campaign needs to realize there's a big chunk of that middle there. >> i think that's exactly where the biden campaign is. i think the biden campaign leans more in my opinion leans more to the center. i think that's what joe biden does. i guess i'm not entirely down with the premise that biden has gone way far to the left. i think he's very mindful pretty much constantly of not going that far. he has to try to keep his party together and there's a strong progressive wing of his party in congress and out in the country and he wants to address that too. i have a question for

congressman torres which is aside from playing defense, what should president biden be doing? i think you talked about, you know, border security and the economy and other issues on which republicans are attacking. president biden has ways to play defense there. how should he be playing offense? and what should he be saying about the future he envisions that gives people hope and gives people frankly a reason to go out and vote in november? >> look, he should tell the story of his record. president biden has had the most productively bipartisan presidency in recent history when you consider the american rescue plan which led to the strongest recovery of any major economy. the chips act. historic bipartisan investments.

gun safety legislation. veterans healthcare. he has a long list of achievements and that's a story that needs to be more powerfully told. >> coming up, donald trump is flip-flopping on yet another issue. this time it's about potential restrictions to birth control. we'll tell you what he's saying now when morning joe weekend returns. what if you could go from this to this. with just one step tresemmé silk serum. time for the ultimate humidity test. weightlessly smooth hair your turn. new tresemmé keratin smooth collection. these days everyone is staring at screens, scanning the news, and watching their spending. good vision is more important than ever,

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contraception. all forms of contraception, including the plan b that you have. i can see why you're doing it. we have doctors in mexico shipping morning after pills to women in the united states because they are legal in mexico and they're trying to help out women in the united states. mitch, how much pushback do you think this gets politically in louisiana? louisiana obviously a red state. how much is it galvanizing people? >> a lot. it proves the case that president biden has made that he trusts the women of america to make decisions about the reproductive health to them and donald trump wants to return it to the states, which is the same legal argument they used to let slavery hang around for a long period of time. because it's going back to the states as a consequence of donald trump appointing three supreme court justices states like idaho, ohio, texas, and

now louisiana have gotten as restrictive as they can. they're making it harder for women. these are not just to treat abortion but to treat miscarriages. the case in ohio where they passed a law that allowed since they're monitoring women's pregnancies now the police to search her toilet to figure out whether she had a miscarriage or not. that's what's coming if donald trump gets elected president. he's the reason it happened. he's the reason the supreme court justices were appointed and he's the reason these states are doing this. >> it's hard to imagine it's a political plus even in a socially conservative solidly red state like louisiana to go after means of contraception. >> i think that's true. you also saw this with ivf in florida. as soon as people started saying what it really meant to leave it to the states people started backing up going oh we didn't really mean that. the bottom line is who has the responsibility of making the choice? the president trusts women. donald trump evidently trusts legislators more than women. i think the american people are

clearly on the side of the president and the vice president's view here. >> i mean this is where biden should. >> hammer it home. >> yes. >> seems to me this is one of the reasons you all push so hard for the debates and boxed donald trump in i think quite masterfully into agreeing at least right now to play by joe biden's rules. i think we'll see at least one debate. everybody's said yes to two, but i don't trust donald trump to show up. issues like these he'll have to speak about. i see what his post on the social site said, but i also heard what he said on stage. >> abortion has been a powerful political issue for democrats ever since roe v. wade was overturned. we see in another set of swing state polls that donald trump is ahead. why is that? >> well actually the polls are moving in our direction fairly quickly. really the only one that matters is the one on election day. i think it's because people have selective amnesia. that's what am pains are about.

we can remind everybody what donald trump said. when the economy was crashing. americans were standing in food lines when there was an active insurrection in play. people will remember that. right now they're worried about their families, getting back and forth to school. they are going to know that donald trump was really bad for america. >> mike has a question for you. mike. >> mitch, this question of what the louisiana legislature did yesterday criminalizing abortion pills it raises the issue of the millions of families in this country with children living on the margins. and the idea that the louisiana legislature largely republican obviously and the republican party in general seems opposed at every turn child tax credit bills and everything like that from helping the living children today and families of the living children today.

st giving more emphasis on the unborn than they do to people living on the margins. what do you do with that? >> you talk about in a very aggressive way. in louisiana one of the first things our newly elected governor did was reject money that the biden administration wanted to send so that kids could have lunch at schools during the summer. other thing they did was restricted somebody's ability to get benefits when they were unemployed. this idea that they want to talk about life in the womb but they don't want to talk about life after a kid. this has been present the entire time. that hypocrisy. not being able to create that is right there in the center. people in the country are going to see that. on top of that, i think women in america and most people in america are going to see what the states are doing now because donald trump permitted them to do that and say that is not who we are as americans. >> we'll see it play out in real time. women suffering, dealing with just impossible decisions.

us having the greatest healthcare in the world and not being able to give it to the women who need it. that's where we're going to be. ridiculous. that's where we are and we're going to watch women going through this now. >> but here's the point the president has made. if the supreme court didn't think women had power, i think women in america are going to show folks what their power really looks like. it's clearly at risk and it's at risk in real time and they're seeing their rights being taken away. this is the first time in 50 year as fundamental right has been taken away. the arc of the more universe bends toward justice. donald trump said i want to take you back to the civil war with the lost cause. i want to take you back to where women did not have rights. i don't think we're going to go there. >> mitch, thank you very much for coming on this morning. simone sanders townsend, good to see you. up next, is america dictator proof? that conversation is next. at c.

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we want to show you two very contrasting messages from two former presidents on the topic of dictatorships. take a look. >> we will not be intimidated by the threats of dictators. that they will regard as a breach of international law. or as an act of war our aid to

the democracies which dare to resist their aggression. they will not wait for an act of war on our part. they did not wait for norway or belgium or the netherlands to commit an act of war. >> you're promising america tonight you would never abuse power as retribution against anybody. >> except for day one. >> except for -- >> he's going crazy. except for day one. >> meaning? >> i want to close the border and i want to drill, drill, drill. >> that's not -- that's not retribution. i got -- >> i'm going to be -- you know, he keeps. we love this guy. he says you're not going to be a dictator. no, no, no, other than day one. >> okay. so what you saw first was 1941

former president franklin delano roosevelt standing up to dictators during world war ii and donald trump just last year vowing to be a dictator himself for a day if he returns to the white house. >> it's a long day. >> it's been a long day. joining us now u.s. editor for the economist. the magazine's latest issue takes a look at the strength of democracy here at home with a cover story entitled and it will be my first question. is america dictator proof? john. what's the answer? >> hi, mika. i'm sorry, i feel like i'm not going to cheer you up after those poll numbers that were getting you down earlier. there are a couple of ways to look at this. there's one way which is to look at donald trump and this whole debate which frankly he started when he made those remarks i think it was last year about being a dictator on

day one. we all go round in circles trying to figure out, look at what he did when he was in office last time around, look at some of the things he said. there are debates, good debates about what he'd really do. there's another way to look at that question which is to depersonalize it and take trump out of the picture and say if america were to elect somebody who were malign and competent and i have questions over whether donald trump is competent enough to pull this off. were that to happen how strong are the checks and balances. there there's mixed news, i've got to say. there's some really substantial checks on presidential authority if you look at how kick tar toreships have functioned elsewhere, often military coups involved. that's impossible in america, i think. america's military is one of the strongest institutions in in the country with deeply embedded democratic norms. you look at some of the former checks on the presidency and

one of the things we've learned since 2016 is they just don't work. impeachment is one of the biggest checks written into the constitution as a restraint on tyranny and we've had ample proof over the past few years that that just doesn't work. if you look down the list there are a whole bunch of emergency powers that the president has which somebody who is really determined i think could exercise to subvert important democratic norms in quite a worrying way. i'm not saying that trump is going to do this, but i think somebody could. >> in terms of restraints upon the presidency or restraints upon a candidate running for president who happened to have sat in the oval office for four years, what would restraints or what would the restraints do to someone who for instance just yesterday, donald trump just yesterday more than suggested that the department of justice under president biden had

authorized use of lethal force to maybe take a shot at donald trump. maybe try an assassination attempt on donald trump. what do we do about a candidate like that? what kind of restraints would work against someone clearly not within the bounds of any restraint? >> well, so then i think we you have to look at what he did when he was in office. this is a question that journalists like me tied ousts up in knots trying to figure out. look back at some of the memoirs people who served in his cabinet. mark esper writes about donald trump asking if it was possible for him to give an order to shoot people in the leg, shoot protesters in the leg in 2020. and he was told no, no, you can't do that. then we get into a question of well how serious was that? is that a thing he really would have done or is it like the remarks you guys were talking about earlier on contraception where he says a thing and it's not quite clear how serious he

is. in terms of restraint in the case like that, i think those norms around the american military are hugely important. i spoke to a bunch of people who served in senior positions in the trump administration and they pointed out to me that one of them said the dod is in the no a rush to operate against american citizens. those checks are important. the striking thing is if you look through the constitution, look through the law, it's a lot of those things that aren't written down. norms around doj independence. norms around how the military would behave in time of crisis. those are the things that are the real guarantees rather than the stuff written down. if you ask most americans when they're taught the constitution is the guarantee and i think that might be a bit too comforting. >> i think one of the things that trump caught all of us is that democracy is partly laws and partly norms and traditions and if you have a candidate willing to ignore those norms and traditions then the

democracy gets put under threat. the trump campaign talks about under this provision of schedule f it's called taking a whole group of civil servants who are nonpolitical and making them effectively political appointees which could change america's democracy not just for this presidency but presumably for years to come. do you think we hear that the trump campaign is more organized and efficient and has more of a plan. do you think it is up to the task of doing something like that and how much of a threat would that be to democracy? >> it's definitely more organized than was the case prior to 2016. i mean i'm sure you've spoke ton lots of people i've spoken to in maga-aligned think tanks. their plans there are quite well developed. that said the federal bureaucracy is a huge beast. we talk to people who have served in the white house, served in the administration getting it to do anything is

quite tough. there are, you know, 25,000 odd lawyers in the federal government. so a trump administration could come in really well organized with a really good -- well not good but a determined, thorough plan and i think it would struggle to get all of these things done. i deferent think the federal bureaucracy. i don't think you can wave a wand and make this stuff happen. you can undermind some really important norms and do a lot of stuff. you need to sort of calibrate your degree of alarmism. if you look way back, i think george washington had a staff of four when he was president. the federal bureaucracy has grown a huge amount over the course of the 20th century. was interesting though clips of fdr that we were watching earlier. fdr did serve three terms; right? which is something donald trump was sort of teasing us about the other day. but the existence of that

federal bureaucracy now which isn't written into the constitution is an important check. i don't think you can sweep it away on day one. >> no, not day one. it is fascinating. george washington only had four people working for him and of course two of those were employed just to separate jefferson and hamilton. so really he was working effectively with two people. u.s. editor for the economist, thank you so much. >> coming up, legendary singer and song writer alicia keys is our guest on her tony-no, ma'am nominated broadway show. nomina. (thinking: eddie, no frasier, frank... frank?) fred! how are you?! fred... fuel up to 7 brain health indicators, including your memory. join the neuriva brain health challenge. summer's on its way... and wayfair's big memorial day clearance is here now! including your memory. it's the talk of the town. right now through may 28th, get up to 70% off everything home.

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♪me and my live on the 42nd floor right in the heart of the neighborhood some people know as hell's kitchen ♪ ♪♪ when you hit that ground floor.

piano. always piano. are you teaching me to play piano right now? >> in the fates of great resistance, yes. [ music ] >> once you get through these doors it's like all of new york city is singing to you. ♪ this girl is on fire ♪♪ >> that is a look at the new smash hit broadway musical hell's kitchen with songs composed and arranged by grammy winning artist alicia keys. it's a fictional story inspired by the life experiences of the legendary new yorker. the show now has earned 13, say that again, 13 tony nominations. including for best musical. the 16 time grammy award winning artist joins us now. in addition to writing the lyrics and the music for hell's kitchen she serves as a producer on the show. good morning, alicia. congratulations. >> thank you so much. >> when i interviewed you about a month ago i told you after

seeing the show i had a feeling about this one. a little different than some other shows i've seen. to see it acknowledged with 13 tony nominations, what does that feel like after all the work you've put in? >> it's been 13 years creating this show and it's been such a work of passion and love. when the whole 13 nominations hit it felt kind of serendipitous in regards to the time and energy and the spirit of the show. and so i mean, i couldn't even believe it, to be honest. of course i love the show. i know it's special. but you just never know how it's going to all go. for it to receive that level of recognition, man, i feel so grateful. we feel so grateful. >> you said you put so much work on it. some people say alicia comes in, puts her name on it. no. >> not this time. not any time. not any time. >> more than a decade. i remember asking you so do you come to any previews? i come to all the previews.

>> all of them. >> i sit up there and i find one little light that isn't quite right or the monitor doesn't sound right on one side of me. your hands were really. >> all the way in this. myself and the book writer have been at this for 13 years and we literally sat together from the beginning and talked about the arc of the show, the characters, what does it mean, what are we trying to say. each step and each piece has been so close to -- it's a child to me. i often say it's my first child. egypt is 13 and this is 13 but this happened before egypt. so it does take that nurturing and that real care to develop it and to grow it. i feel like we've had that time to really make it the best it can be. when you see how people are relating to the story and it relates to their life, you know, each individual comes to me and says this is my life. this is my story. that's what we really want from it. >> one of the things i think people who are going to see it should understand is -- the

easy thing is just play the hits, everybody sings along. you recomposed effectively, if that's a word, all of your biggest songs and what i loved about it was they would just sneak into the dialogue a little bit. every song you made fit into the scene. that's a big lift to almost rewrite your catalog. >> you know, that's so beautiful. there are those songs that have been recomposed to really fit into the story. and the story line. so that the arc of the story is continuing to evolve with the songs. it doesn't just kind of go insert song here. it's like how does this song tell the story and propel the story forward. so so much the book and the lyrics and the music go so much together to really bring you to the emotional highs that you're going to get to. and then there's also new music that i wrote for this piece. it's been so exciting to really do that. to put in the newness, as well as songs that might be familiar but do them in a new way that relate to the moment you're in

when you're watching. >> let's listen to one of those original songs written for the show. it is sung by allie the main character. here it is. [ music ] [ music ] [ music ]

>> i mean. measuring ik, we're having a dance party in the studio. i bet you're dancing there too. >> i was. it's so incredible. my gosh, it's electric. alicia. >> thank you. >> congratulations. it was so great to see you at the convention last month with rev al. you said something to the audience that really resinates with my women's mr. the form know your value. the secret sauce is making sure that powerful women are uplifted that we're all at the table. i'm curious what advice would today's 43-year-old alicia keys give to 17-year-old alicia or the teen who is the lead in hell's kitchen? >> yeah, i mean the advice that i would give to a young person

really looking for their way and trying to find who they are is really the best advice i could give is that you actually know who you are. you really are clear who you are. i think the world makes us think we don't know who we are. the world makes us think we're not good enough to stand on our own ideas and concepts. so that's something that i would share and looking back even in my teen years i did, i doubted everything. i thought other people knew more than i did. but they don't. you know you so continue on your vision, follow your heart, your spirit and of course you're going to learn, but you know you. i think that's the most important thing. >> that's so -- it is. did you always have drive and confidence? i'm curious with all your career pivots from music, acting, writing, books, taking on multiple business ventures and broadway, i've learned that we have a much longer runway than we ever at least when i was a girl imagined. did you always see that runway?

>> i mean of course i feel like i feel like i did have the sense that things were possible. you know? i didn't always feel super confident how i was going to get there or that i had everything that it took. but i did have the feeling that things were possible. and i think that comes back to my mother taking me to broadway plays when i was a kid. seeing worlds imagined. being exposed to culture in new york city. i think these are things that allowed me to know there's a variety of ways you can express yourself. there's options. that's what i love about hell's kitchen. it shows us there's no limit to who we can become. that's why the tag line remember where dreams begin is for all of us. remember where you have no limits. you feel that. >> you must be so proud of this cast. they're so in sync. it's electric. they are brilliant. >> thank you. >> as a producer, how much of a

role did you play in every detail including choosing the cast? and of course composing the music. >> this cast is stunning. there's no doubt about it. they are phenomenal. not only are they incredible actors and dancers, but they can blow the whole entire roof off of your brain. like you can't even believe how you feel when you're hearing them sing. that's so spectacular. i was the bane in the casting agent's side. i was like let's really push for them to be everything they can possibly be. now when you see them on stage i mean, they're incredible. they're some of the greatest performers i've ever beared witness to, period. >> if you haven't seen it, you've got to go see it. it's a joyful experience on broadway. it's called hell's kitchen playing now at the shubert theater in new york. writer, producer, all around super star alicia keys. great to see you. >> so good to see you.

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good sunday morning. welcome back to a second half of morning joe weekend. here are more of the week's top stories you would not want to miss. we will start with the political report out with the

new look at the 2024 race. the issues that matter most to likely swing state voters. in a new survey, donald trump has a lead within the margin of error in arizona, georgia, michigan, nevada, north carolina, and pennsylvania. he and president joe biden are tied in wisconsin. swing state voters say the economy is the issue that matters most of them. their own cost of living being the best way to measure it. they say they are more worried about biden setting economic policy than about trump setting abortion policy. and biden's age is seen as more of a concern than trump's temperament and legal issues. break this down for us if you could. >> thank you. you for having me.

we looked at voters in all of those important battleground states because we know those of the states that will ultimately decide the next president and sometimes politics is complicated and sometimes it is not. in this case, it is that it is not all that complicated. voters are frustrated and really disillusioned about the cost of things. it is driving how they think about politics right now. it is the lens through which they are viewing the election and that helps donald trump a lot, not just because i think donald trump would be better on the economy, but they do believe that the president himself has more power over controlling inflation and prices than the president actually has. 60% of voters in this poll think that president biden himself does have control over how much stuff costs. and, they don't think that he is doing a particularly good job of it. when asked how they think

donald trump would handle issues i controlling the cost of living, 56% think he would do a good job and only 40% said that of biden. that is where the race sits right now. it is one thing that struck we have seen in the past, that candidates who are seen as maybe not as strong on the economy ultimately win an election like barack obama in 2012. but to be losing by this margin, that is unsustainable at this point for an incumbent. >> these numbers are eyebrow racing. most of them are a couple but the economy, that is with the election is about. it looks like, for this poll, president biden would be in trouble even though his team would argue, look at the job

we've done since covid. look how we have repaired things. how much of this is trump amnesia were people are deluding themselves into the get was better and how much is simply inflation, which angers people and there is not much a present can do. >> people hate inflation. the idea that something you bought is now significantly higher is -- voters hate that. but i'm curious, with the mouth -- methodology if i could throw to amy, what is the methodology on the pole and how was it conducted and also can you tell us more about the information? >> this was conducted by two polling firms. gs strategies and bsg one. one is a republican firm and the other democratic firm. online panels and web to text. this is way you can try to get as many voters in your sample that you can get through basically through the web and through texts. i think if you look through the car crosstabs and you start to notice that how many undecideds are sitting there that are

potentially still able to be one over by biden and the question is, what are the issues that are going to motivate them? as you pointed out, trump is ahead in every single one of these states. the one that stands out to me the most is nevada, where he is close to 50% there. in the other states he's basically hitting his 2020 levels so to me it is not as much that trump is surging, it is that biden is sagging and the question is, can he get those voters back? if so, i don't know if he gets them back on talking about trump as an existential threat. he has to talk about the ways in which donald trump's answer to the economy is not going to solve their problems. >> another takeaway from the

polling of these swing state voters, which is where the election will be won or lost. the voters of say they're more worried about biden setting economic policy than about trump setting abortion policy and if anyone thinks that it cannot get worse, it can. the birth control, plan b. all of these things are on the line. >> i would definitely love to see how it breaks down on gender lines because women are more likely to turn out in elections. this is one place where the smaller polls, you can seek it gets off. discounts with the actual turnout factor is. it is not to discount this. we've been hearing for a while that there have been focus groups. my colleague has been looking at what is happening with the undecided. when you look at the arizona,

there are some interesting things relative to the ballot initiatives which has the possible to change the turnout factors. democrats benefit from turnout. biden cannot seem to get any win under his sales in the economy. no one believes in. we heard steve earlier just the basic wrong information people have about the state of the economy. it is remarkable. biden came to this late. he's trying to campaign now but they haven't really talked about it. american continue to think the republicans, matter who they are, are better on the economy, which is factually wrong, but i don't know how you keep arguing that. >> it is a great question. 50% of americans think unemployment is at record highs and it is at 50 year lows. when they think were in a recession and the economy is the strongest in the world. you could throw your hands out or figure out how to get the message across. that is what they have to do. i am curious. i would love to get your insight on the issue of

abortion in this sense. before the 2022 election, abortion was polling at 4%, 6% in a lot of poles. listen to podcasts that would mock and ridicule joe biden for talking about abortion, and democracy. everybody, there was a the old man, he doesn't understand. i was on the phone, actually with mark halperin early election evening of 2022 and he called me and he says, help me. what is going on with this abortion number? it is at 33% in some of these exit polls as the most important issue and we were trying to figure it out. with a just pulling democrats? it ended up being the defining issue of that race and ended up being the defining issue of the wisconsin supreme court case. we can go through all of it. trying to figure out the disconnect.

six months out, three months out, people are like, abortion doesn't matter, and when they go to the polls, it seems to be the top issue. can help sort through that? >> i will and i think they are great questions that you're raising about this, which is why this is a nice starting point for us. it is not the ending point. i think one reaction to what happened in 2022 is of the people most motivated to actually go out and vote are the kinds of people that traditionally now are voting for democrats. in fact, lauren asked a question about how women are breaking down of the question about abortion versus the economy. the one group of voters that said donald trump's position on abortion was more important -- more worrisome to them than biden on the economy were

college-educated women. that group of voters clearly is influential in 2022. i think for team biden, what they need is for other voters besides that group. voters who did not show up in 2022 but plan on showing up in 2024. how are they viewing that issue? that is a group we will be watching very closely, especially the closer we get to this election. the other thing that was eye- opening about the poll is that it is not the voters do not think that donald trump will be more restrictive on the issue. majority thought that if donald trump is president, there would be the potential for a national ban on abortion. the stakes are in front of them. the question is, when do they start to come in. >> we have more to get to this hour. morning joe weekend continues after a short break.

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the biden/harris campaign is out with a new ad, recruiting robert de niro to argue the case. for midnight tweets to drinking bleach, to tear guessing citizens and staging a photo op. we knew trump was out of control when he was president, then he lost the 2020 election and snapped, desperately trying to hold onto power, he is running again, this time threatening to be a dictator and terminate the constitution. trump wants revenge. and he will stop at nothing to get it. joining us now is the senior spokesperson for the biden/harris 2020 -- 2024 election campaign. when you get robert de niro voicing an ad like that, here the biden campaign was some of the it messages before.

what difference does it make in terms of swing voters and donors, having a celebrity voice as like that? >> it is important because it does breakthrough. robert de niro, two time academy award winner. he's from new york. he epitomized the ultimate ability to draw contests -- contrast with another new yorker. as bad as a truck presidency was in the first go around, it will be worse in the second go around. he has made it clear that he wants to rule like a dictator. he has made it clear that if he loses the election there will be a bloodbath. he has made it clear that he is going to use a second term not to fight for the american people but to seek political revenge on his political enemies. want to make sure the market people truly understand the contrast and what is at stake and you will see a lot more

contrast like this coming from us in the closing 5 1/2 months until the election. >> thank you for joining us from wilmington. i want to ask what the idea of trump amnesia. some in the biden world have grown frustrated that so many americans simply don't really remember what it was like under donald trump. the rosy picture of the trump economy and forgot some of the chaos. this ad is meant as a reminder. how do you break through the fog when people don't want to think about times during covid and the door to the glut the hard moments and they're looking through it through a film? >> there are couple ways that we want to make sure the american people are reminded how dangerous he is. related the infrastructure that donald trump's campaign is not laying. we spent millions of dollars on hiring staff and opening up offices and running ads in keep

battleground states. that will continue. donald trump basically doesn't have a footprint in these states. the infrastructure will make a huge difference in not only postelection but making sure voters understand what is at stake. secondly, our campaign chair issued a memo laying out between now and june 27, the first debate in atlanta, the road to atlanta, what the rollback gust roadmap is. drawing the contest between them. that president biden has been fighting for the market people during his first term as president but will continue to fight for the american people. lowering drug costs, creating more jobs and getting a lot of the manufacturing jobs as part of his first four economic bills of working to lower prices for american families. that is what he is fighting for. donald trump is trying to seek political retribution. we will keep drawing the contrast. is a biden is excited for the

june 27 debate. he has a lot of questions for donald trump. why did you put on three supreme court justices? why are you using this time to try to seek political revenge? what are you trying to get out of a second term? he is looking forward to that conversation and debate. we are looking forward to making sure the american people truly understand what is at stake in this election. >> what about abortion? yesterday, the leak louisiana legislature passed legislation that would criminalize abortion medication. there are a lot of issues to go after trump on. we have gone through a litany in the 92nd that you have been on. a lot of people think maybe the campaign is relying too much on abortion as an issue. where do you think about abortion rights and how it fits into the campaign?

>> let's take a step back. we worked on hillary clinton's campaign and we knew that there was always a possibility that donald trump won, and the reproductive rights would be taken away. thematically that they would not allow roe to stand. i do not think we could talk enough about this. let's look at what just happened in louisiana. women can be locked -- locked up in prison for 10 years to protect their own reproductive health. we want to make sure that not only did the american people understand what is at stake but other issues.

president biden has been taken his economic message to the road. he was in wisconsin talk about the tens of thousands of jobs he's created since he has been there. donald trump, broken promises, that he would create jobs in racing and never came to fruition. will talk with the other issues but i don't think you can talk enough about women's reproductive rights. i looked to my college girlfriends as my barometer in terms of what is breaking through and what the concerns are about. the vote every election cycle but they do not always tune in until the next few months. they have been talking about the concerns about losing roe and losing reproductive rights. the daughters having potentially less rights than they had. before nnamdi egwuonwu was . it is truly frightening what is at stake and we need to make sure that the american people understand the contrast and understand what is at stake. >> senior spokesperson for the biden/harris 2024 reelection campaign. up next, president joe biden calls out his opponent for posting a video featuring the words, "unified reich" to

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this looked in the words "unified reich". the good news is trump wants to bring the country together and the bad news is the country is germany in 1933. >> even contempt that by confederate statues were like, you should take it back down. it has got to come down. >> that is not a dog whistle, that is a whistle made of dog. now maga means make america germany around 1938. >> that is what it is. former president donald trump shared on his truth social account that referred to a

"unified reich" of around possible the limits if he were to win in november. he said it was not an official campaign video and blaming a staffer for reposting it. it remained up on social media account for 19 hours before being taken down. it is worth noting that trump has previously said that the only people permitted to post on his accounts himself and sr. adviser dan scavino, who worked at his golf club in briarcliff. >> both president biden and vice president kamala harris reacted to the video. >> what is next for america? >> this is on his account?

>> i care about you. >> in this moment. in this moment, extremists are trying to divide our nation. and we see them as they encourage xenophobia and hate. yes to the former president of the united states, who praises dictators, who said they're very fine people on both sides in charlottesville, let's not forget, took to social media and highlighted language from nazi germany. this kind of rhetoric is not surprising coming from the former president and it is appalling and we got to tell him who we are. >> mike barnicle and katty kay are still with us. and we have susan page and cohost of msnbc's "the

weekend.". and national co-chair mitch landrieu. we heard the president and vice president responding. i know that it is a fine balance to respond to everything that comes from trump world. and for the biden campaign to do so, it must be a huge challenge but to me it seems like something like this is worth noting. they are going to say, you are just getting triggered. we took it down and yet we have a track record of this former president and how a lot of what he says happens. >> some very wise person says that when someone tells you who you are, you should believe them.

one of the reasons this is important to highlight is because this is part of a large pattern that has been with us since donald trump has unfortunately been with us. the election will be about a choice. about a guy who gets up every day fighting for the american people and believes that diversity is a strength and wants to build an economy from the bottom up and middle out and cares make it the work done or someone who believes america should be left to a few people and everyone else should be on the side and his rich friends should benefit. this statement that the ex- president made is part of a pattern. he was in favor of keeping up the confederate monuments. he talked about back in the day when he said something about david duke. he talked about in charlottesville, the both sides to that issue. this is the tip of the hat to white supremacy and white nationalism which is an important part of the ex- president's base. which shows you what he will do. he will be a dictator for the day and wants to make sure that as the president, he would have

seal team six to shoot clinical appointments. donald trump cannot hide behind it. nobody message with his social media. >> people become so overwhelmed that they tune out. stand back and standby. january 6 hostages. the list goes on. celebrating violence. celebrating what happened and laughing what happened to paul pelosi. you could spend the entire day going to the list of things that is frightening about a second trump term. then there is this set of americans out there who are not just not exhausted by it but they don't remember trump's presidency the way it happen. >> the impact gets less the more often they are said. but you have worked in campaigns and sometimes things

happen in campaigns the you do not intend to have been. people screw up. do the get as possible that there was a deliberate decision to use the words to spotlight the words "unified reich" which has such residence with nazi germany. >> it continues happen everywhere he goes. he is like linus with a blanket. they continue to have this constant threat that actually sends the clear message that he wants to send that i want to be for certain kinds of people and not others. when he says something like people are "vermin" or that. it's a chosen word. >> who says reich? >> it's not my vocabulary. >> do you think the biden campaign is responding in kind effectively? are people hearing it? >> the campaign chairman is sitting right next to me. i think the response yesterday was absolutely warranted to

your point. there are people out there who will say the biden campaign talks too much about donald trump and i do not think they are paying attention. the biden campaign does not talk about donald trump a lot. there picked and chosen when to highlight him. i would say that he has said so many things and is doing so many destructive things that more is warranted. he spoke to the nra this weekend and lots of attention was paid to his comments about the current president. president biden and the electric chair. there was a lot more he said and did and so, it is like were donald trump's concern for the american people is to hear no evil and see no evil. there's a balance they have to make because the election for people across the country is about the future. talk about housing and the work on infrastructure and what that means for folks and what you

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the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our public debates, raising the integrity of our public officials. it measures neither our wit nor our courage, neither our wisdom, nor our learning. neither our compassion, nor our compassion for the country. it is that which makes life worthwhile and tells us everything about america, except why we are proud that we are american. that was robert f kennedy during a presidential campaign speech in 1968. rejecting the use of gross national product to measure american's economic health. joining us now is the editor at large tom rodgers. his latest piece was co- authored with his son who is a

physician-scientist which is entitled step aside gdp, it is time for life or lifestyle improvement factor. what is this concept? >> my son came up with the concept. he is a physician-scientist and has an economics degree from harvard and we talk about healthcare and the health of the economy. what we have lost a here along the way, even though bobby kennedy was talking about a lot of nonmaterial things in life that gdp does not measure, we have lost the connection between economic growth and lifestyle improvement. things that really make life more enjoyable so we came up with this notion of a lifetime improvement factor. a way of measuring what makes life worthwhile. there are a lot of things that people spend money on that really are maintenance expenses in life that you have to spend

on rent, on tuition, medical expenses, childcare, home insurance and car insurance a bunch of things that generate economic activity from consumer spending, but they are not to things that enhance one's lifestyle. what we are trying to do is isolate those things that enhance people's lifestyle where they feel that the life is been improved in terms of being able to have fun and enjoy it. travel, vacations, being at live sports and concerts. the kind of things that you would say, if i can spend more on that, i am enjoying life. that does not measure a bunch of nonmaterial things that none of these economic measures like gdp or the consumer price index capture, but we think it is time to figure out how we can meaningfully assess if people

feel that their life has improved. >> tom, i don't want to use polarized to describe america today because it is overused but in this unsettled country today, a country seemingly with amnesia. that cannot remember january 6 and what happened on january 6. a country that has the attention span a little short of the staff of my fingers. how do we go about getting that done? convincing people that you do not need the extra coat that you bought today. do something more worthwhile that will make you happier. how do we go about doing that? >> it is really something i think both democrats and republicans could find interesting for their own purposes. democrats, of course, always think that the aggregate measures don't really get at whether lowering -- lower

income or middle income people and how they are prospering. we see today in polls that most people think the economy is not in good shape, which is hard to understand, because we have gdp growth and low on improvement unemployment. people think their personal financial situation is better than that. >> how do you explain that? upwards of 70% of people in the country when asked how are you doing, they say i'm doing okay. how do you think the country is doing? the country is terrible. >> one of the things is that we do not have a measure to get at that. why do people think that life has improved for the comes of the things they can enjoy. it is a measure out there that we ask people what their sentiment is but we do not actually measure it and they lifestyle improvement factor would very much get at that. republicans who are always looking to figure out some way

to critique the state of the economy, because have to live with the inconvenient truth that under democrats, the economy has been better. this is true of obama versus bush 2. i think both sides of the aisle could benefit from their own purposes having a measure like this to gets it what it is people feel has enhance their life. worldly talking about material things that can be measured. the kind of thing that we are pointing to like greater happiness that could come from any number of things that you cannot measure materially. we are not trying to put at. we do think when it comes to material consumption, there is a way to assess and measure if people really have a basis for thinking their life has improved, versus being overwhelmed with the cost of what is maintenance expenses. >> we have more to get to this

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donald trump is trying to fund raise off a false accusation that suggests that president biden authorized his assassination during a search of his mar-a-lago estate in palm beach, florida. he sent out an email to members on his mailing list with this subject line. biden's doj was authorized to shoot me. trump and his allies have pointed to a recently unsealed court filing that describes a policy statement outlining the standard operating procedure by which it is authorized to use deadly force when a search warrant is executed. it was not unique to the fbi

search of the mar-a-lago property and it is actually intended to limit the use of deadly force. attorney general merrick garland called trump's allegation extremely dangerous. >> that allegation is false and it is extremely dangerous. the document that is being referred to in the allegation is a justice department standard policy limiting the use of force. as the fbi advises, it is part of a standard operations plan for searches and in fact, it is even used in the consensual search of president biden's home. >> the attorney general makes a good point that president biden's home, the same standard. you worked in government, you are familiar with these things and this seems like a dangerous accusation. we are used to donald trump saying things that are inflammatory but this seems to have potential for real

problems. >>-the most dangerous thing about it is that it means streams or normalizes political violence. what this is part of is a larger message with the supporters. if he can say the president was prepared to kill him, as's -- preposterous as it is, it allows his supporters to go out and use force on support of his cause. that is what is so pernicious about it. that political violent is permitted and it has entered the american mainstream. that is what is truly dangerous. >> the criminal justice system is full of boilerplate language. we cut and paste trump documents all the time. this can be something that is already on a form or it can be something that is highlighted, cut and pasted into another document. this is part of the doj's justice manual. this is what they use in language all the time. i am so accustomed to seeing this boilerplate language that my

eye usually skips right over it. this is not something that is unusual. it is something that appears, as merrick garland said, as standard language, this not to be interpreted as an authorization to use deadly force, special because it is so standardized. it is a kind of thing that nobody would have noticed, but trump seized on it. whether you are in federal or state criminal court. forms are such a part of daily life that usually wind up referring them by the numbers, even by the form itself. in federal court it is a 302 or state court, it could be something else. criminal justice is a world of forms. >> what is not unusual is the incendiary claim made by trumpist being amplified by his sycophants and supporters. there talk about this assassination plot against the former president. a new hbo docuseries

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it details a case of real estate robert durst. will answer questions people been asking for decades. >> as it aired, we spoke after

every episode. he was very nervous and i thought to myself, he is going to run. that was part of the trailer for the hit hbo series entitled "the jinx" part two following the groundbreaking first season. it has returned to offer more insight into the enablers of the convicted murderer and billionaire real estate air robert durst who at the end of the last season, seemed to confess to murder on a hot mic following his apparent confession, he was convicted of murder in september 2021 and died in prison a few months later at the age of 78. joining us now is the emmy award-winning director of "the jinx" and it is good to have you on the show. you are a fan. >> the first season was

breathtaking we loved it. the end where he said he is caught on audio saying it all. we remembered where we were when we watched it. tell us about part two. what story are you trying to tell? >> strangely, he was arrested the day before the final episode of "the jinx" and that happened because we had already shown the evidence to law enforcement two years earlier once we have the evidence in hand and it was not really a coordinated effort, but they knew that the show would come out and they knew that he had made plans to go to cuba and cuba does not have an extradition treaty with the u.s. so they were sure that this extremely rich suspect was going to disappear if they did not arrest him. so this picks up when that happens. he is not arrested in part one because he had to watch it and that is what drove him to go on the run and then law enforcement goes and finds him. >> without giving away too much of part two, could he have succeeded as long as he did in

covering up his involvement until you have got him on tape, had you not had a lot of enablers and how involved, how would you say the enablers became almost like co- conspirators to what he got away with? >> when we were making parts one and even before that, i made a film about robert durst were robert gosling -- ryan gosling plays a part of robert durst, how to kill people over 30 years and get away with it? it takes a village. let's pull the camera back in part two and terry to understand who helped him, why they helped him. it is not as simple. you see in the current politics, when we see what is going on with lots of decent people out there helping other people do things that are maybe

not so decent, they say, i am a good person and i am really providing the guardrails and you saw that with robert durst. people said i understood there were some problems there but if i thought he was really capable of murder, i never would have helped him, but in fact, they did know he was capable of murder. >> as you said, it focuses not just on his time in prison but on the people who work complicit for decades. in helping him get away with murder. what inspired you to do part two beyond the obsession that people have with part one? >> i was watching and my partner and i were texting while these preliminary witnesses were coming to court in los angeles. when you are prosecuted you think someone is a witness and they may either die because they are in poor health, or they might be under threat,

that you can bring them an early. we had a preview to a lot of people who had been part of bob's life and coming into court and having to explain themselves. as we were watching, we were texting each other and said, i do not think i would say this, but does this make you feel like we need to explore these people? that is how we started making part two and we sent people to court and started filming what was happening and we had been collecting information on this story for 20 years, so it was natural to be interested in it. >> that is all the time we have this memorial day weekend. keep it right here on msnbc . good morning. it is sunday, may 26. i'm alicia menendez. with symone sanders townsend and michael steele. overnight, donald trump food and heckled at the libe