i think -- put it this way, the last three weeks have been filled with drama and histrionics. my perception of it is, considering what happened, it actually wasn't as dramatic as it should have been or could have been. rarely do you see people with political power give it up willingly. the presidency invites people who have immense egos to run for it. those who win have even bigger egos. the idea that joe biden would sort of say, yeah, i had a bad debate performance, i'll pass the torch, is farcical. this ended up being a painful process, but it could only be a painful process. by the end of the day, i think it was an amazing thing to witness. also, incredible he willingly did this and it ended this way. >> yeah. now, we have reset the 204 campaign in a remarkable fashion. we, of course, will cover it every step of the way. managing editor at the

"bulwark," sam stein, we appreciate you joining us this morning. thanks to all of you for getting up "way too early" on this historic monday morning. "morning joe" starts right now. >> joe biden has been one of the most consequential presidents in american history. he has put people over politics and patriotism over personal position. this is another heroic act in a long running series of heroic acts by joe biden on behalf of the american people. from the moment he was first elected back in 1972 to the united states senate. >> house minority leader hakeem jeffries yesterday praising president biden's political career following the president's decision to withdraw from the race. biden made the announcement in a letter posted to his social media accounts yesterday afternoon, writing in part, "i believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and

to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as president for the remainder of my term." shortly after this announcement, president biden endorsed vice president kamala harris to take his place this november and called on democrats to come together to defeat donald trump. willie. >> where does this go from here? although president biden did endorse vice president harris to replace him at the top of the ticket, the democratic nomination technically doesn't automatically transfer to the vice president. a spokesperson for the democratic national committee said last night it is now the committee's responsibility to implement a framework to select a new nominee which will be open, transparent, fair, and orderly. the dnc rules committee will hold a public meeting wednesday afternoon, streaming on the dnc's youtube channel. the co-chairs promised the process will be comprehensive, fair, and expeditious. exactly when democrats will

choose a nominee unclear this morning. it is unclear if the parody will move forward with the virtual roll call scheduled for the first week of august, a move made to avoid a ballot deadline in ohio but since has been resolved. the party does unite behind harris, which it appears to be doing this morning. it could decide to formally nominate her through the virtual vote before august 7th. the convention is set to begin on august the 19th. what happens to biden's delegates? the only requirement for delegates under current convention rules is to, quote, in all good conscience, reflect the sentiments of those who elected him. since biden left the race, delegates are free to support whoever they choose. the president does not have to release his delegates. pause there, joe. >> yeah. >> the delegates are part of this. >> i think it was good at the top of the show. i think we should read all the subsections of the democratic national committee's charterment and, alex, could we go on? i don't think anybody wants reactions. >> executive decision, you cut

it off. >> thank you. >> but let's talk about how extraordinary this is. we'll talk about technicaliies in a moment. it came, joe, talking to people inside the campaign, and john is reporting this morning, that president biden received information, received polling, heard about the donors drying up, money was stopping. >> right. >> he got hard data from a couple people he really trusts on the innermost two, three people who told him, this doesn't look good for you or your legacy. >> we'll go through specifics, but why don't we show americans some of the headlines. start with "the new york times." "biden bows out." just extraordinary. a late reversal upends the race for the white house as president endorses harris to lead the ticket. >> here's "the wall street journal." if you can pop that up there, guys, push in a little bit. "biden drops out, endorses

harris." of course, you have the tabloids in new york city. "joe's out." "new york post" writing simply, "the end," for joe biden. >> yeah. so there had been some talk for quite some time. on friday, mark halperin broke news, actually on x. he laid out what was going to be coming on sunday. there still was a lot of confusion, though, as you said, inside of the campaign. >> yeah. >> there was growing anger inside of the campaign. john, we talked about this. growing anger inside of the campaign. we'll just say it, anger at steve and mike and people in the white house who love joe biden believed they weren't giving the straight story to joe biden. that changed friday night.

that changed. ricc ricchetti was going to deliver the bad news this weekend. >> rehoboth beach, the president still battling covid, isolating at his family home, summoning his two closest aides, they were there in 2016, 2019 when he decided to jump into the campaign. they are his closest advisors. they presented him saturday morning with new information. as we reported, exclusively, new battleground state polls that show the president down in all seven battlegrounds. also, support really slipping in places that democrats have won now for cycles. virginia, new mexico, colorado, all of those now in jeopardy. >> by the way, let's say this, too, and i think everybody needs to understand this. it wasn't just the debate performance that was causing concerns. i'll have you get back to that in one second.

really quickly, john heilemann, joe biden was already starting to slip in minnesota, in new hampshire, in virginia. a lot of these states that weren't swing states even before the debate. that was causing uneasiness in biden world. >> new mexico, new jersey. new jersey, donald trump was within a point or two. yeah, as you say, quickly, this information that biden got on saturday was new to biden. it was not new to others. some of the polling had been around for several days. one of the frustrations that people like nancy pelosi had was that joe biden was not getting this information. he was being shielded from it. at one point, summoning mike donnellin on the phone saying, mr. president, let's talk about the polls. finally, the information -- all of this is recent information, obviously. it was new to joe biden to be presented with things that hakeem jeffries, chuck schumer,

barack obama, nancy pelosi were acquainted with and knew the numbers. >> to be really clear here, jonathan, i'll let you finish up on this, to be clear, ricchetti and donnellin bloved biden. they heard him counted out time and time again. the family heard the democratic establishment absolutely shit on joe biden time and time and time again. what did he do? he always exceeded expectations. he became president of the united states, as we all remember in 2020. the entire democratic establishment mocking him, saying he wasn't good enough, he wasn't up to it. you can understand why they said again, come on, rocky, one more fight, you can do it. >> the first lady and president's son, hunter, firmly behind his decision to stay in the race. as of saturday morning, president biden was intending to

stay in the race. he talked to his closest aides as the day went on, summoned the family, and made the decision to bow out because of those polls, because the fundraising dramatically drying up, and because so many democratic lawmakers had spoken out against him. now, some of the heavyweights, schumer, pelosi, jeffries, had done so privately, fears in the biden camp that was about to change. if the president had stayed in the race as the week went on, those leaders, namely pelosi, were going to go public with the polling, with their concerns, with a call for the president to bow out. doing so yesterday was a face-saving move. the president and his family wanted to save his reputation and choose his own terms of exiting. >> all reporting we had throughout the weekend was that monday was going to be brutal for the president. yesterday seemed to be the best time for him to get out. so that's the reporting about what happened this weekend. mika, i'd love, first, to get your reaction. you obviously have strongly

supported joe biden and still believe he would have been the best chance to beat donald trump because he's the only one who has done it before. curious what your thoughts are this morning. >> well, obviously, on many levels, i'm really sad. joe biden is a patriot. i love him, his family, and i love what he's done for the country. he had authenticity and touch. whether you saw it or not, everything about him, even sometimes the stutter and the bumbling was part of the touch, part of the empathic, very loving, very clear-eyed touch that he had, that allowed him and enabled him to be an effective president. all that turned against him after the debate for all the reasons we discussed. he would say, no time to complain about it. let's move on. it is go time. democrats really have a moment

of momentum here, and my hope is that they grab it and run with it. get unified. get organized. get coordinated. no more infighting. donald trump is not easy to beat. he is not easy to beat, and anyone who thinks he is is in 2016 when they're laughing at the concept. you can see how quickly they tried to steal the unity narrative. i've heard from inside republican circles and right-wing media that the hate campaign against kamala harris has begun. you'll notice they purposefully pronounce her name wrong. they say kamala. they do it all the time. it is on purpose. but the talk is to start that hate campaign and get it going and start it churning. my hope is that major democrats and major republicans from the obamas to the bush family to military leaders get behind the democracy ticket and we move on.

throughout the show today, we'll see, willie, if leading democrats are going to get on board with kamala harris. we'll be hearing from some for the first time and seeing if there are some endorsements this morning. willie. >> there have been many of them, a groundswell yesterday in the minutes, actually, in the hours, certainly, after president biden's announcement of support for kamala harris. not official endorsements from the leadership. they want to do it in a more formal way. nancy pelosi, chuck schumer, even former president obama. reverend sharpton is with us, as well. we talked to you last week. you had just spoken to president biden who said he was all in. he was in it to win it. we had the campaign chair, jen o'malley dylan on this show last time, friday morning, adamant that president biden was staying in the race. citing battleground polls, things the rest of us weren't seeing. it shows how closely held this

was and how late it was made. many of the leaders even of the campaign, outside of steve ricchetti and donnellin, didn't know until minutes before this went public on twitter. i'm curious for your reaction on the announcement and the prospects for vice president harris. we've seen a ton money, $50 million raised since the announcement in less than 24 hours. there has, in this moment, a lot of democratic enthusiasm for the vice president. >> well, let me start with the second part first. when i got home last night from the studio, vice president kamala harris called me. the one thing i think i took away from the fact that she was planning on what her next step would be is she was being level headed about this. she really did not know until the last minute, because she and i were in new orleans at the essence festival a few weeks ago, and she was telling

everybody to stick with biden. she was loyal. this was unexpected to her until the last few hours. but she also was very clear she's running against someone who does not fight by the rules. this is going to be a street fight. she understands it. in many ways, joe biden is a gentleman compared to trump. trump went after obama, saying he wasn't even a american. imagine the misogynist and racist stuff he'll come with at harris. i think she's prepared for that. a week ago, i talked to president biden and was saying, it all costs, we must protect his legacy and what he began. because it's not finished in terms of voting rights, women rights, other things. he was dug in. he was going to fight to the end. maybe it was his commitment to those principles to say, in order to maintain that and preserve that, i'll step back. i think the country, republican

and democrat, owes him a real, real, real applause. because i think he showed that he has commitments bigger than himself, which is rare in politics. what he did took real courage, and what he did for this country, he should have everyone's gratitude. >> absolutely. >> you mentioned donald trump, mika. donald trump has been melting down on social media in the 12 hours. clearly, his preferred candidate was president biden. clearly, their game plan was geared toward president biden. now, they're having to pivot a little bit, as well. let's bring in jon meacham. jon, you have a new piece up, the rogers chair in the american presidency at vanderbilt university, a new piece for "new york times".com, posted, "joe biden my friend and an american hero." interested in your take as a friend of joe biden, as an occasional adviser to joe biden, and also as a historian, where this sits in american history.

>> we're commemorating self-sacrifice by a man of great grace and a president of great consequence. understandably, we're talking about what happens now. that's what america does, a democracy does, and it's at risk. it is vital, as mika said, we stand for the constitution, the rule of law, and the kind of decency and dignity president biden embodied. but let's take that moment and recognize that the president of the united states just did something that is counterintauty counterintuitive to human nature and a politician. there was a senator from my state who said the only true cure for political ambition is embalming fluid. here, you have someone who did assess reality. as he often says, he respects

fate. the arc of his life had immense achievement and immense tragedy. when people like me look back, we'll look at someone who stepped into the breach in 2020, defended democracy. you know, when you think about it, in many ways, the biden presidency began on january 6th, 2021. it was a moment where, remember how eerie the capitol was once the protesters, rioters were gone? he stood in the strangely quiet front to step into a moment in which democracy itself was under the greatest siege it'd been since fdr had been there in 1933. before that, since abraham lincoln had been there, both of them on the other side of the

capitol in 1861. that's not overly grand. that is nothyperbolic, as president biden would say. it is a cold-eyed assessment of the reality of the history of the moment. president biden stepped in and bent history in what i would argue, and i think most of the folks here would agree, is a very american -- you can disagree with the policy details, disagree with the emp emphasis here or there, but, by god, the american consensus in which we actually recognize and respect each other fundmentally, and are together enough to try to make this a more perfect union, we are a more perfect union because of president biden. i think history is going to laud him for it, and i hope the president does, as well. >> you can read jon's column in "the times." this is part of what he says. "mr. biden has spent a lifetime trying to do right by the nation, and he did so in the

most epic of ways when he chose to end his campaign for re-election. his decision is one of the most remarkable acts of leadership in our history. an act of self-sacrifice that places him in the company of george washington, who also stepped away from the presidency. to put something ahead of one's immediate desires to give rather than to take is perhaps the most difficult thing for any human being to do. and mr. biden has done just that. to be clear, mr. biden is my friend. it has been a privilege to help him when i can. not because i am a democrat. i belong to neither party and voted for both democrats and republicans, but because i believe to him to be a defender of the constitution and a public servant of honor and grace at a time when extreme forces threaten the nation." those extreme forces that threaten the nation, john heilemann, people who supported

joe biden and will go for the nomination, does it seem to be , or do we believe others will be running against her? >> there is a large question floating around about joe manchin, the only person who has come out and asserted that he -- not asserted on the record, but there's reports he is actively asking around about the possibility of reregistering as a democrat and taking on vice president harris. i think, and someone will check me at this hour, most of the leading potential challengers to kamala harris have been -- have now endorsed her. i think it's the case that governor whitmer has not affirmatively endorsed her. if that's wrong, tell me. last night, she put out a statement on joe biden but had not definitively said she was

not planning to run. people around her prior to this said she had no intention of running again. if you think about it, you have the governor of california, the governor of pennsylvania, most of the people who people thought might be in an open contested convention scenario in this hunt, they've declaimed interest. when you saw that, the sort of incredible overflowing of enthusiasm for the vice president yesterday, in public, the fast cascade of endorsements among -- across the party, it may very well be, joe. there are some questions, to go back to the beginning of the show when we were talking about what the process is still going to be, there is this question, do they go ahead with the virtual roll call vote or have a competition, which may not be much of a competition, but have some kind of a process to make it not seem like an anointment or coronation? do we want to throw this open

and let delegates vote on the floor in an open scenario after some number of potential town hall meetings or debates. >> right. >> it depends on who decides who wants to run. >> we have to see, rev, if anybody is going to step up and run. right now, kamala has, the vice president has overwhelming support. i think every state chair has come out and already endorsed her. you look at all the money that's being raised. talk to the campaign last night, the same campaign that, two weeks ago, was in despair. now saying that there's just -- it is electric inside. money is flowing in. people calling in, how can we be part of the convention, of the campaign? there's real energy in there, and it'll be hard for anybody, i think, to step in front of that speeding train. >> i've learned you don't take granted for granted. we're less than 24 hours since

this all started. we don't know whether someone will try to disturb the process or not. i did a "new york times" piece saying kamala harris is the logical person to continue with the biden administration, what they were doing in many areas. >> right. >> but we do not know until we know. that's the kind of person i talked to last night on the phone with kamala harris. because there are people plotting, as well as the trump forces plotting. i'm glad we have a grown-up now in kamala harris that's saying, let's go carefully. yes, everything looks good, but we're not even 24 hours after we knew biden was out. >> right. >> we don't know what a manchin will do. we don't know what some others will be that will be disruptive. we need to figure it out because we may end up in disarray and need a healer to come in. we don't know. the patient is not out of the hospital. >> right. >> it's not been announced that the party is recovered.

>> right. >> the party is out of intensive care, but it's not at discharge. [ laughter ] let's wait and see. >> two notes, mika. senator manchin will be our guest on this show a short time from now, with, i think, every major elected official in america. we have an incredible show lined up. >> we have. >> also to jon's question, governor whitmer of michigan hasn't endorsed harris, but said she wouldn't get in the race if biden dropped out. she was on a harris for president call offering support last night. put that in, as well. >> we have david plouffe, historians michael beschloss, senator klobuchar, elizabeth warren, as you mentioned. let's bring in symone sanders townsend, adviser to kamala harris.

the republican freakout has begun. as joe pointed out yesterday when this broke, the republican reaction to this, and i've been sort of following and digging into it through contacts i have, and it is very real. it is a hate campaign against who they call kamala harris. they are freaking out, melting down. i can't think of the other words. but you see this very strong reaction which shows something has moved the meter. perhaps donald trump himself may not be happy about the concept of kamala harris. i've been watching all night long, videos of her in senate hearings, grilling bill barr. supreme court nominees. man, can she prosecute, can she grill republicans, can she drive

the point home when she's in that mode. can she get the support, the delegates? can she prosecute the case against donald trump? >> mika, the grilling, the former staff, we like to refer to it as putting someone on the witness stand. she knows how to do that quite well from her previous life as a prosecutor. before we talk about the vice president, i've also had the privilege to work for the president. i worked on his last campaign. deputy assistant to the president in the white house, in addition to serving the vice president. joe biden is a remarkable man. he is selfless and, frankly, what he did yesterday, very few elected officials in this country would be willing to do. just the way in which it was handled. joe biden is a better person than me. let me just say that. when it comes to the vice president, there was not a more loyal person, frankly, throughout this entire process to the president.

ricchetti, donilon, anyone than vice president kamala harris. this dynamic which i think eventually will be set up, because i do think she'll eventually be the nominee. in the statement she put out yesterday, you saw her say she plans to earn and win this nomination. by my count, 153 house democrats endorsed her yesterday, by the end of the day, 32 senate democrats, 12 of the 23 democratic governors in the country, sciu, aft, two of the largest unions for complete state delegations, south carolina, tennessee to name at least two. that is working to earn the nomination. reverend sharpton said he got a call. that's shoring up the support. in the immediate aftermath, the vice president was on the phone all day long yesterday, asking people for their support. not just expecting to get it. yes, other folks may decide to throw their hat in the ring, if

you will, in this nominating process, which, frankly would be well within their rights, they'd have to write to the dnc, saying they want to enter the race, they have to sign the form. i worked for bernie sanders, and he signed the form to be in the democratic primary. then they'd have to get at least 300 signatures. a good candidate would get about 600 from 50 states of dnc members, delegates to the convention. i think that the biden/harris campaign had 3,900 delegates. i don't think it'll be a problem for the vice president to get 300 to 600. i think she is well poised to lock up this nomination. then comes the part of winning -- campaigning and hopefully, you know, for the democrats' sake and democracy, winning against donald trump. this is not going to be an easy race. i think the last point i'll make, much has been made about the president's age and how, you know, maybe the race was so

close because voters were concerned about joe biden's age. i would argue that the race was always going to be close. it was close in 2020. it is going to be close this time. i do think that the people around the vice president and the biden campaign and now the harris campaign especially realize that. >> you know, i think symone is exactly right. this race was going to be close in the end. we're a 46/46 nation. when everybody was melting down and freaking out, i still believed this race, in the end, would tighten up because it always does. it was going to be a close race. i expect this to be a close race, too, whether it was the vice president or somebody else running. we are divided as a nation right now. fascinating, fascinating times. to put it in perspective, let's bring in historian doris kearns goodwin.

i'd love to get your thoughts on this. this does not happen much. you don't have somebody that is on their way to get a party's nomination, that stops. the two years that come to mind, 1952 when harry truman decided not to run. 1968, famously, lbj. the difference, though, in those two cases and this case is in '52 and '68, you had both the incumbent president and their wives saying, for different reasons, wanted to get back to independence and had enough. truman was exhausted, as well. in '68, both lady bird and lbj were concerned with his health. as you know, certainly better than anybody else. but in '24, it was much different this year because you actually had joe and jill biden still believing they could beat

donald trump. certainly, in their eyes, could do their part to save democracy for another four years. >> you're so right. i lived with these presidents for half a century, it seems. the hardest thing to do is relinquish power. the really hardest thing is not to go for a second term. they all felt, as abraham lincoln said, a second term is the endorsement of the first and they want to finish the job. that was something joe biden kept saying over and over again. what was particularly hard for him, i think, was he'd come back before from difficult situations. at first, i think in the three weeks, there was a feeling, and the family felt it, too, we can come back from this. we've done it before. yet, somehow, age and health is something that it's not a matter of will. it's not a matter of hard work. it's much more difficult to come back. when lyndon johnson faced a similar situation, it is different, as you said. partly what happened to him, the offensive at the end of january

changed the contours of the vietnam war. he knew the time to wind it down had come. he feared if he called for a halt and negotiations, it wouldn't work as a candidate. nobody knew he was making the decision. even lady bird herself, closest to him, knew it had been tacked onto the end of the speech about the war, he was going to withdraw from the presidency, but no one knew if he'd say it. several times before, he'd almost withdrawn from races in the last minute and came back to go forward. she watched him all day. she was looking at the clock ticking. she saw the kind of composure in his face. teddy white, the reporter, had seen him five days before when he looked so filled with tension. his voice was so soft, he could hardly hear it. when white saw him on the screen, before he made his withdrawal statement, white was sitting with my husband in new hampshire, he said, something is up. i can tell. his face looks composed. imagine the tensions released

for joe biden. relief was the major thing lyndon johnson felt. he had tensions for days and days, should i make this decision? he was feeling like people were against him. 36% approval. 57% disapproval. then he makes that decision, and i think this will happen for joe, as well, relief for making the decision, all the countering motions during the betrayal, sense of defiance, he's done it. it'll be seen as an act of patriotism, as was lyndon johnson's, seen as a personal sacrifice. joe, unlike johnson, knows he's already made his mark on history. he was 14th in terms of presidential rankings on the last poll. top third. johnson would take years before the country realized how high he'd come in the presidential rankings. i think this will be a moment of relief. we'll see a different joe than we've seen the last couple weeks. >> doris, good morning. i'm curious for your thoughts about historically what comes

next? not just on the personal level for this president who makes the decision to step away but for the country. democrats have been in despair since the debate 3 1/2 weeks ago. deeply concerned about the prospect of another trump administration and not confident, according to polls and anecdotal interactions we've had with people that joe biden could beat donald trump. now, it's since about 1:46 yesterday afternoon, you've seen this wave of enthusiasm from democrats, gratitude for president biden, excitement for vice president harris. it'll be a tough climb to beat donald trump. money is pouring in. what does history tell us may happen from here politically? >> well, certainly, what happened with lyndon johnson's withdrawal, euphoria hit the capitol. there was a feeling that nobody could change without him making this decision. there was hope in the future. i think that's what we're going to -- >> looks like we are frozen. doris is frozen.

we'll go to our other presidential historian. we always have one in the relief. bring in meacham. lefty-lefty, bring in meacham. >> you've graded down. you're trading down, my friend. >> no, no, no. you know joe biden well. it is fascinating. you know him well as an independent, somebody who votes for both democrats and republicans. talk about why this decision was all the harder for him. he did believe, as you've written in the book and as he said time and again, the soul of america itself was on the line in this race. it wasn't anything he wanted to trust to anybody else. he believed when nobody else could beat donald trump and nobody thought he could beat

donald trump, he knew he could do it then. he still felt like he could do it this time, as well. again, unlike lbj in '68, unlike truman in '52, they all knew, they sensed the political winds were coming and would knock their house down. not so for joe biden. how much harder did that make this decision for him? >> i think it was incredibly difficult. his whole life was operatic victory and terribly tragic, almost unimaginable, accept it was all too imaginable because it was reality, tragedy. remember, he almost left the senate before he took his chair. 29 years old, wins a seat in the united states senate, the terrible tragedy, death of his wife and daughter, near death of hunter and beau, and he thinks about not going to washington. yet, he endured, as he likes to say. he found purpose in the pain.

so before he turned 30, he is someone who had had a cataclysmic event that had -- that was a personal event, that had political implications, right? he has spent his life at this nexus where the personal and political were always divinely intertwined -- or doris and i would have to find something else to do -- in a vivid, tangible way. metaphorically, he's left for dead again and again and again. '88, the implosion of that campaign. 2008, i think, you know, he got -- i'm not sure he got any votes, actually. i think he was out before any votes were cast. then, suddenly, he becomes vice president. '16, beau dies the year before.

president obama and others convince him -- though president obama disputes that, but there we are -- convinces him not to seek the presidency against hillary. the story was over, right? the biden institute went up. he went to penn to hold fort. that was the story. then charlottesville happens. i totally credit him on that, that he saw something that reminded him of the worst elements of the 20th century. one thing to remember about, i think, about how he former president trump, is that he genuinely believes that this man represents the worst of the american character. there is a biden vision of america where lincoln's better

angels end up prevailing at the very last minute, after we've exhausted every other possibility. then there is a trumpian vision of the world where everything is in decline, everything is terrible, and it requires a strong man to do it. that is an elemental difference. it is an elemental distinction between visions of the country. he wanted to fight for his vision. >> all right. presidential historian jon meacham, as always, we're so grateful. thank you for being with us this morning. >> thank you. >> john heilemann, as we talk about how, time and again, joe biden's career was almost over, i can't help but go back and think about richard ben cramer writing about joe biden. so many beautiful things about his '88 campaign which ended very early. it was a terrible campaign, a flawed campaign. at one point, when he was -- he

was speaking, after a speech, his head was splitting so hard, hurting so hard, he had to run outside and literally stick his head in the snow to try to dull the pain. of course, that was because he was about to have an aneurysm. time and again, he had a political collapse and then a rebirth. he always asked, after the '88 campaign, he could never -- he could never figure out why it ended the way it ended. he believed that it was god's will, that one day he'd be president of the united states. that happened in '87, '88. his life, of course, saved famously with that operation. but it would be another generation before he fulfilled

that dream, against all odds, i must say, after iowa and new hampshire, fulfilled that dream and became president of the united states. again, shows -- it just outlines a remarkable political life he has had all these years. >> i like being able to correct jon meacham occasionally. there were votes cast for joe biden in 2008. he competed in the iowa caucuses and dropped out a day or two afterwards because he'd done so poorly. >> it was like 2%. >> yes. it is important in this context because, after '88, he thought about running in 2000. he thought about running in 2004. >> right. >> he kept thinking that he had a presidential run in him. then he ran in 2008. he made a comment on literally the first day of his campaign about barack obama that was seen as being condescending. it sort of blew up his campaign literally in one day in the new

york observer. that was the end. the donors said, we're not going to be with joe biden. it was a going nowhere campaign from the first. that obama chose him to be vice president and he then served obama with such an older white man serving a young african-american man which gave him great credibility with black voters, who would come back to boost him when he ultimately ran in 2020. it's all an extraordinary political life. yet, i think it is right to say that if you think about what the meaning of yesterday was, the above the fold on joe biden's obituary one day will now be that he -- a couple lines. the first will be that in the first real authoritarian threat to the united states, joe biden stood up to it in 2020. then in 2024, faced with it again, made the courageous decision that he was not the -- he didn't have what it took in

the end to beat it back and made the self-sacrificing decision. those are the -- will now be the political headlines. one act where he beat back authoritarianism and another where he yielded to have the democratic party have a chance to beat back the second attempt at authoritarianism. i think those are going to be the headlines for him. that's why yesterday's decision was, i think, the right one. >> right. >> and one that will be remembered kindly by history. >> well, again, how one is doing in the public opinion polls when they leave office is not how history looks at them 20, 30, 50, 100 years from now. rev, harry truman left with 22% approval rating. almost every historian believes him to be a near great for all he did with nato, truman document, containment, starting the cold war, beating back soviet authoritarianism. george h.w. bush, another

one-term president who will be seen, if not already, as a near great president because of what he did when the soviet union collapsed, when the wall fell. the way he bound europe together. he will be seen that way. as will joe biden, who will be seen, i think, by most historians as the person who beat back authoritarianism by running in 2000 and did his part by stepping down in 2004. like cincinnatus, leaving power voluntarily and going home. >> no doubt about it. i remember as a teenager, we were marching against the war in vietnam. lbj, lyndon johnson, was the enemy. looking back now at history, lyndon johnson was one of the greatest presidents for the things i believed in and for the country that ever existed. i think that is why i pointed out in my piece that joe biden deserves credit now.

when you look at the fact that we're sitting here this morning with the leading candidate, according to the polls, a convicted felon, and one that has been found to have sexually molested a woman, i mean, if he does not try to get out of the debates, and you know donald trump and i both come from new york and brooklyn. we'd call him a punk in the streets. i don't think he wants to debate kamala harris. >> you think he'll be afraid to debate? >> he is a political coward, no doubt about it. >> really? >> i think if his friend was promoting the bout, don king, it would be the prosecutor versus the felon. that's how you would promote it. [ laughter ] she should open up -- >> i'd watch that. >> don king the promoter. >> his intro at the convention. >> oh, yeah. >> don should promote the debate the felon versus the prosecutor. she should open up by saying, i'd like to first ask my opponent, did he get permission

from his parole officer to be at the debate this evening. >> i'll tell ya what, somebody page don king. we have a packed show this morning, mika. packed show. it's only the beginning. >> yes, we do. congressman jim clyburn, who played a key role in helping joe biden win the white house, endorsed kamala harris. >> i would watch that debate. >> he is our guest this morning. along with several other democrats who are throwing their support behind the vice president, including senators amy klobuchar and elizabeth warren. plus, two governors whose names have been mentioned as possible running mates, andy beshear of kentucky and roy cooper of north carolina will both be our guests this morning. along with many more. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. started disrupting my day. td felt embarrassing. i felt like disconnecting. i asked my doctor about treating my td, and learned about ingrezza. ♪ ingrezza ♪

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♪♪ there is a shot of capitol hill where washington is in shock this morning. an earthquake, a tornado, a tsunami of change. i don't know, what should we say? >> those are all good. >> all right. i will tell you, there's some republicans in there freaking out. i mean, you know, here's the thing, like, if the other side is freaking out and going crazy, you know you've got them where you want them. democrats have to be feeling pretty good this morning. i had heard from inside the trump campaign for some time

right now that the one thing donald trump feared was not having joe biden. >> yeah. >> you talk about boxing. >> yeah. >> he was used to going against biden, right? what have they done? they switched it up. it'll be a southpaw now. rocky is a southpaw. don't go too close! that was my best, folks. for children scared this morning, go back and see "rocky." this was the one thing that sort of had him melting down. most people say that over the last month, he's been more serene than usual, the trial. the one thing that got to him was the idea he might not be running against biden. that's all he's been focused on since 2020. now you're hearing mike johnson, all these other people freaking. this is illegal. you can't do this. you can't decide at a convention who your nominee is going to be! you cannot. you cannot let the delegates

decide. well, yeah, you can. you can decide at the convention who your -- it is one of the stupidest things i've ever heard in my life. but, again, the fact they're freaking out so much has to excite a democratic party that was really at its lowest ebb of any party i've seen since, let's see watergate. >> the entire theory of the case from the trump campaign, and it is literally on signs, is strength versus weakness. donald trump is strong. he survived an assassination attempt. joe biden is old and weak, the argument goes. >> right. >> that's off the table. you have kamala harris, the vice president of the united states, who presents -- i mean, you talk to democrats last night, sort of imagining, again, that debate on june 27th, what it would have been like if kamala harris had been standing there. >> right. >> the softballs that were coming across the plate, the lies donald trump was telling. >> right. >> what she would have done with those. now, will do if there is another debate again. >> age becomes an issue now. what is he, 20 years older?

>> almost. >> he is now officially, now that joe biden is out of the race, he is the oldest major party nominee, and has shown many signs of mental slippage. you'd think at this point, with joe biden out of the race, we could focus on clearly and cleanly, on another elderly gentleman who may be unfit for the job. if the standards apply to joe biden are now applying to donald trump -- >> he's 20 years older. >> yes. >> almost 20, yeah. >> almost 20 years older. that's, i think, one of the reasons why -- >> contrast. >> -- republicans are melting down. suddenly, he's the old guy in the race by a long shot. >> yeah. they tried for the unity message, which worked for how many days at the convention, 4 1/2 or something like that? then the back half of donald trump's speech that night on thursday completely ended that. if you want to watch another speech, his event on saturday.

>> oh, boy. >> all the way back to the old trump. >> was he really? >> this was on saturday, right? he's completely freaked out about what may be coming down the pike. there was no sign of this alleged new donald trump, which none of us bought, of course. no sense of unity. he was the old donald trump on saturday. >> he was exactly the old donald trump. and we are seeing a meltdown on truth social in the last 24 hours. you know, suggesting he might back out of the debate, suggesting that, actually, joe biden will today wake up and decide he wants to be the nominee. that's trump nonsense, but it underscores what we have been hearing. tom alberta had a piece for the "atlantic," it was all around one man, joe biden. they'll be able to pivot. but trump himself wanted this rematch. trump himself told confidants he couldn't believe how well the debate went and was eager to do

it again to pummel biden further. that's gone. it's not, kamala harris noted, a prosecutor. she was in the senate effectively grilling members of the trump administration who were testifying. that is something that does worry republicans. we're seeing a new narrative and burst of enthusiasm reflected in the fundraising. >> in case you were outside enjoying time with your loved ones this weekend, we watched the donald trump rally so you didn't have to. here is a sampling of the insult fest. >> as you're seeing, the democratic party is not the party of democracy. they're really the enemies of democracy. the stupid president that we have. stupid. he is a stupid person. this stupid person, low iq, he is a low iq individual, take his iq. i guarantee, it is in the low 50s or 60s. from crooked joe biden and i call her laughing kamala. you ever watch her laugh? she's crazy. you can tell a lot by a laugh.

she's crazy. she's nuts. she's not as crazy as nancy pelosi. crazy nancy. >> so that was donald trump at a rally the other night. not his best work in terms of his insults and also just low energy, and on his brain, kamala harris. >> it's like the bite of it all, you know? well, you know, it's -- that cuts completely, rev, against what we heard, which was there's going to be a new and improved donald trump. he's not going to be insulting people. there you heard him calling the president of the united states stupid, dumb. i mean, just on and on. again, i just -- i guess i'm so old. i'm so old. i grew up in a world where that did nothing but hurt you with voters. i've got to believe that's why,

even after the debate, he was still tied basically with biden. maybe one or two points ahead of biden, just because all those insults offend enough people, it keeps him at 46%, 47%. >> and it shows he has no content. to stand there calling people names, saying the vice president is crazy, i mean, where is the content? where's the beef, as they used to say? >> where is the vision for america? that's the thing, where are you taking us in the future instead of insulting us for things that happened in the past? >> he chose a vice president whose claim to fame was that he was leading in the senate against dei, and he is against women's right to choose. now, they have a candidate who is the personification of both, women's rights and diversity. kamala harris is their worst nightmare.

>> yes. >> can i -- >> when she walks in, she represents everything that trump and vance stand against. you couldn't have a better match. >> i'll get to mika in one second. first, just around this table, i never really got a good answer. i've never got a good answer in my own mind figuring this out. i can usually figure some things out in politics. not all. but i've never figured out the jd vance pick. it strikes me as one of the dumbest picks ever. it adds nothing. it accentuates his weaknesses. accentuates his weaknesses on abortion. accentuates his weaknesses on women. that's not a small issue if you go back and look at voting patterns over the past two, three years. i would say it's sort of the biggest political earthquake as far as an issue goes since prop 13 in 1978 in california. i mean, it's changed the landscape of american politics

certainly among swing voters. why get somebody that doubles down in that area? >> i think i have an answer for you that will make sense to you. the conviction is this race is going to be close. >> right. >> donald trump and his team's core conviction is it is not going to be close. they came into the convention, and for a long time, donald trump was thinking a much safer caretaker kind of pick. that's why doug burgum was in the race, marco rubio, people who were very safe. by the time they got -- he made his decision at the last minute, from all the reporting we can tell. started to shift toward the notion of a legacy pick in the last month or so before the republican convention, but he finally made his decision after the assassination attempt. by that time, within the trump campaign, there is a view they're headed for a landslide. they thought that before the debate. they thought donald trump was on his way to winning 320 electoral votes. this is what they told tim alberta before the debate. after the debate and

assassination attempt, i sat in a room with tony abrizio in milwaukee, the trump pollster. he said, we stopped counting the paths we have to 270 electoral votes when we got to 25. they are thinking, convinced they'll win 330 electoral votes, a landslide. i'm not saying that correct, but if you believe that, you don't care about -- you're making your vice presidential pick not on the basis of a close race but on the basis of we're about to change american politics. i'm going to put someone who i think will be the heir to maga. >> right. >> that is what the calculation was, i think. and, yes, it was the total doubling down pick, not a pick for a close race. >> well, let's hope that, you know, for their own sake, it turns out better for them, mika, than dukakis who was 17 points ahead

in this stage in 1988. >> yeah. on your point about jd vance, the transportation secretary, pete buttigieg, had an interesting take, and we'll show you that. but the kinder, gentler trump just spoke softly at the convention, but it was still celebrating mass deportations. it was still cruel. it was still full of lies. it's just so interesting how confident the republicans were at the convention. at the same time, now that joe biden, who many thought was too old, unfit for the campaign, the same lens, whether it was reason writers, thought writers, the focus needs to be put back on donald trump. he is the old one now, and many would argue he has been unfit since day one of his first

presidency. if you use that same lens, you will find a man mentally unfit every day, who doesn't make sense every day. when he does make sense, he sounds like a white nationalist. when he does make sense, he seems to be in love with vladimir putin. when he does make sense, he calls the convicted criminals who rioted at the capitol, defecated all over the capitol, tried to kill the vice president and nancy pelosi, the people who are convicted and in prison, he calls them hostages and says he will pardon them. obviously, he's a man who tried to steal a free and fair election. so, symone, how does the lens, the same lens in all fairness, get put back on donald trump? the lens that was used on joe biden when he had moments where he seemed a little less than clear. >> i think across the board, not obviously here, this proverbial table we are at, but across the board, people have to get

serious about donald trump and jd vance. i mean, this whole -- i don't understand how they sold this new tone mess post the assassination attempt. >> yeah, what a joke. >> donald trump has been clear, exactly, about who he is. he's never minced words about who he is, what he believes, and how he rolls. so the idea that -- i mean, after you saw ron johnson on the stage during the republican national convention, kari lake literally pointing up to the press saying -- targeting the press in her convention speech, i don't think that was in the prompter, that there was going to be some new tone? i didn't understand. then we got to donald trump. literally, halfway through the speech when he decided to go off the teleprompter, when he started shouting out people's names, that's what he does at a trump rally. america witnessed a trump rally in primetime last week. i'm so glad they were able to see it. but people have to vigorously cover the trump/vance campaign.

you have to take donald trump at his word, what he is saying he will do. sometimes his words are slurred, okay? we need to ask why. >> mm-hmm. symone sanders townsend, thank you for being on this morning. four minutes past the top of the hour. president biden made the announcement to drop out of the race in a letter posted to his social media accounts yesterday afternoon, writing in part, i believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as president for the remainder of my term. shortly after that announcement, president biden endorsed vice president kamala harris to take his place this november, and called on democrats to come together to defeat donald trump. within hours of president biden dropping out of the race, harris began fundraising for her own campaign. after thanking the president for his service to the country, she

wrote, "i will do everything in my power to unite the democratic party and unite our nation to defeat donald trump and his extreme project 2025 agenda." donors came out in droves. a spokesperson for the harris campaign says since biden endorsed his vice president yesterday afternoon, they have received $49.6 million in grassroots donations. and vice president kamala harris received a groundswell of support from democratic lawmakers yesterday following her endorsement from president biden. currently, 32 senators, 153 house democrats, and 10 governors have publicly supported her candidacy. that is a majority of democrats in congress and nearly half of the country's democratic governors. she also has support from the vast majority of state democratic parties. former president bill clinton and former secretary of state

hillary clinton also quickly endorsed kamala harris yesterday. joe, the important names that i think a lot of people are still waiting to hear from on many levels would be former president barack obama, his wife michelle, and also, i think, republican former presidents and military leaders. we're still waiting to hear from governor andy beshear and others whose names were put out there as potential picks to be nominees, whether or not they'll get on board with kamala harris. some of those people will be on the show this morning. >> i think nancy pelosi, as well. i'm sure it's all being paced out so it doesn't look like an inside job. it might take a couple of days for everything to come together. let's just look really quickly at some of the headlines here. this is "the new york times" talking about joe biden getting out of the race. saying it is time for democrats to come together and beat donald

trump. "the daily news" simply saying, "joe's out." many others. willie, curious your thoughts on joe biden deciding to step back, and whether it's vice president harris or somebody else, but letting somebody else take a run at defeating donald trump. >> it was inevitable and extraordinary how quickly it happened in the end. since the debate, this was coming, building. members of congress trickling out, members saying he needed to step aside. the chorus became louder. nancy pelosi talking to jonathan lemire on our show couple weeks ago, saying he needs to open up the space for others to criticize his staying in the race. this happened, though, on friday morning, we had the head of the campaign, jen o'malley dylan on this show, adamant he was in it to win it, looking at

battleground polls. then saturday, the president was meeting with his closest advisors. john, it was his closest of advisors. not the full inner circle of his campaign. hearing some polling, not only losing the battleground states, we're worried about places like new mexico, new jersey, states we never had to worry about before. i think reality hit joe biden saturday night. posts this letter about 1:46 yesterday. i think about a minute or two after telling his campaign. >> yeah, it was the first time the campaign had done polling on some of the battleground states in several weeks, and red alarms as to how much slippage they'd seen. the president was trailing in the known battleground states and giving up ground in traditionally blue states like virginia, colorado, new mexico, and the rest. two closest aids, ricchetti and donilon, noting how the fundraising dried up, noting how

many democrats had called for him to step aside. more, including the biggest names like pelosi, preparing to go public with concern in the days ahead. the president met with his wife, son hunter, and realized the situation was untenable. this was a man who sought the presidency perhaps longer than anyone else in american history. for decades, went for the oval office. defeated donald trump in 2020 and now decided to relinquish it, supporting his vice president. we've seen a reburst of enthusiasm for democrats, including kamala harris raising $50 million in the not even 24 hours since biden's decision. >> remarkable number. as you go through the weekend, i think it was -- i think it was thursday late afternoon, mark halperin reported they were expecting a sunday exit from the race. several other things. you were also -- you were doing reporting especially about the

ricchetti meeting. i had heard thursday night there was real anger, again, just laying it out there, letting people know, there was real anger inside the campaign at ricchetti and donilon, two of joe biden's closest advisors. the anger was focused on the fact that they weren't giving joe biden the truth. i got a call late thursday night saying ricchetti was getting the information together and was going to present it. you then the next day, i believe it was friday or maybe saturday, told me that your reporting showed that riccheti was, in fact, going in to show joe biden the bad news. again, people in the campaign thought he had been unnecessarily sheltered from for far too long. that probably was the difference. ricchetti and donilon going in,

the two people who had seen joe biden come back time and time again, going in and saying, not this time, boss. >> the two advisors who had been with him the longest. was there with him when he decided not to run in 2016. there with him when he decided to run for the 2020 race. two men who love him and are deeply protective of his legacy, believe he will be regarded as a first tier president. yes, there had been some in the campaign, some even in the inner circle, other democrats who felt like the president was not getting an honest assessment of where things stood. yes, as of friday night and saturday morning, president biden telling aides he wanted to get back on the campaign trail. stops slated for georgia and texas. he wanted to meet with prime minister netanyahu this week, not deal with this. the first lady off to paris later in the week for the olympics. there was real panic among some democrats that this was going to drag out another week or two. then this meeting happens on saturday. with a clear-eyed assessment from ricchetti and donilon to the president about where things stood. that was sort of the final, for him, the final decision point he

needed to come to the conclusion this race simply wasn't winnable. >> quickly, joe, the enthusiasm that flipped like that in the moments after the announcement was made, which is democrats were deflated. everybody watching this show knows it. they know how they felt if you support democrats. they were deflates after the debate and have been for several weeks, worried that joe biden was going to stick it out and maybe lose. like a light switch went on, they said, okay, we appreciate the service of this president. we think he has been a great president, great senator, great american. he did something heroic, goes the argument. now, game is on. we're back in the game, is the way democrats feel this morning. >> mika, you and i have been talking to contacts across the campaign and the white house, and the last few weeks have been nothing short of bleak. >> brutal. >> the money is dried up. support is dried up. it was impossible even to put the convention together in a way that was going to be compelling.

we talked to the same sources last night. they said it was like a bolt of electricity that shot through the entire campaign. money was flooding in. they couldn't -- they basically, you know, needed air traffic controllers to direct all the calls for the people who wanted nothing to do with the convention a week ago, who are now begging to be a part of it, to get on that stage, to introduce people, to be -- i must say, like willie said, a light switch. by the way, these are the same people -- who things can be true at the same time. >> yes, thank you. >> these were the people crying about the departure of joe biden, the man they love, and also energized by the fact that their base is so excited by kamala harris. >> well, there are people also who were really upset about what was happening to joe biden, the infighting, sort of the back --

you know, it was really painful. it was a really, really painful time for democrats. also for anybody worried about the future of this country and worried about this democracy. here we go. you could see it in a matter of moments, just talking to people close to the situation, talking to people on the campaign, just talking to people, you know, walking down the street. there was an excitement that has been injected back into this campaign. joining the conversation, we have msnbc contributor mike barnicle. nbc news and msnbc political analyst, former u.s. senator claire mccaskill. president obama's 2008 campaign manager and white house senior adviser david plouffe. author and nbc news presidential historian michael beschloss. author and columnist, political

analyst. what will it take to get this side of the race focused, and can kamala harris prosecute the case against donald trump? >> i think so, mika. it'll be a challenge operationally and organizationally. kamala harris has to introduce herself to the nation. she is the sitting vice president, but she's got to start from the basics of her biography, her time as a prosecutor, things she accomplished in the senate. the things she believes in and what she fights for. then, obviously, stand up the compelling contrast that needs to be in place to defeat donald trump. obviously, having the energized party behind you helps a great deal. financially, of course. in terms of turnout and the volunteers to produce the turnout. what we've seen throughout the last month or so is a huge delta between democratic senate candidates and the presidential campaign. that's not going to disappear overnight. i think kamala harris probably gives us the best opportunity to close that. if that happens, you know, that

puts this race right back into dead heat territory. you know, donald trump wants to run around states like new york and minnesota, god love him, but it'll come down to these core states. as we've seen historically, go from off broadway to broadway. show she's been vice president, you're now on broadway. the spotlights are intense. a lot of people don't survive them. i think for me, i look at where is this race in a couple weeks? if she's been able to survive, you know, her initial core message, which we haven't heard yet over than the statement, we'll hear her first interviews. we'll see how she uses social media. i'm excited about that. i think she's got the ability to tap into people where they get information. with awe due respect to "morning joe" and this great network, people who decide this election, you know, are hearing their information almost exclusively outside of it. i'm excited about that. we should not underestimate the challenge here. >> wait a second. >> very encouraging. >> hold on, david. wait a second. are you saying we did not elect

donald trump? >> i thought -- >> that's what we've heard, is we helped him win the republican nomination in 2016. >> yeah. >> my response always was, if you think people who voted for him watch this show, you have another thing coming. david, i want to put you on the spot here, and i'm being serious. i'm on the phone all weekend. i asked a lot of people, if it is the vice president, what does the vice president have to do to win? i heard from one person after another person after another person, she needs to get david plouffe inside on the campaign. for the same reason you just said. this is not plug and play. >> yup. >> this is like going from maybe you're a great quarterback at usc, maybe you're drafted first, maybe you've got what it takes, but that first snap in the nfl when you're behind center for

the bears -- well, i remember talking to emmitt smith. he said, "man, i thought i knew what getting hit was like in college. then i went to the pros. that first hit, you just walk around in a daze for about 30 seconds, going, was i in a car crash?" here, from everything i understand, it's like that when you run for president of the united states. you need people. we'll just say, you need a nick saban type around to help out. would you consider and would other people that have been through this consider being part of the short campaign to help kamala harris or whomever beat donald trump? >> well, joe, i think all of us on this panel probably spent more time on the phone in the last few days than we have in ak to people, former colleagues, even people outside of politics

and in the private sector, and there is interest in doing whatever is required. right now, there are reports the existing campaign leadership will stay in place, which is great. all of us who want to see kamala harris elected president and not donald trump to the white house will do whatever we can, giving advice or other efforts. we have to let this shake ot. i will say this, maybe this gets in the weeds but it is important. there is the outside game, which is what is the first interview, what's the first video you're going to record, what is the message? are you going to travel to what states and when? then the inside game, how are you putting together a campaign to win? you had jen o'malley dillon on the program friday. she was representing the world as she knew it then. it changed dramatically sunday. nobody better on the planet. >> jen is great. >> knows how to get to 270 electoral votes. >> yeah. >> good news, there are plenty

of people willing to do it burks but everybody has to understand the challenge. i've been impressed by kamala's interviews the last few weeks. she's a prosecutor. he's a criminal. i like the matchup. listen, let's not forget, the biggest issue in this campaign was joe biden's age. if donald trump gets elected, he'll be older than joe biden on inauguration day. this guy is showing serious signs of unfitness, yes, in terms of character and the positions he holds, but in terms of his decline. he is really, really having trouble reading the teleprompter. he -- obviously, the rnc speech was bad in tone, but he couldn't follow instructions there. this should give us great pause. i'm excited about this. i think the trump campaign doesn't seem like they were as prepared for this switch as perhaps they might have been. they seem like they're kind of grasping. i guess they're talking about plastic straws and whatnot, not a compelling message. >> yeah. by the way, i'm so glad you brought up jen o'malley dillon. first of all, she's a great

campaign manager. she did a great job in 2020. for those saying, what was she doing friday? she was being loyal. she was giving the president of the united states space, loyal to the end, head down. jen o'malley dillon, man, i can't tell you how much respect people have for her her doing just that. that is a class act. i know joe biden is grateful for jen o'malley dillon. we as american should be, too. yeah, rev, i mean, if we are talking -- i've heard you say something like that, that you're going from off broadway to broadway the second you're running for president of the united states. you need jen o'malley dillon, david plouffe, if you need somebody to stand on a table and scream at the top of their lungs, maybe go to japan.

you need everybody here for this three-month run. >> no doubt about it. first of all, we're trying to preserve some real things that was done. that's what i wrote about in "the times" this morning. but you're running against a guy that is not going to be your orthodox opponent. yes, jen o'malley is great and should be there, but we needed david plouffe. when i was a kid, i was blessed to be around muhammad ali. no matter how much black power talked, he kept dundee in the corner. i said, champ, you talk this stuff about black power. why do you keep angelo dundee? he said, i learned from you how to rap, but i need to know how to punch. they ran against people questioning barack obama's birth. that's the kind of race you'll get. this is an ugly, venomous

opponent. only a trainer that knows how to fight a guy that is not orthodox going to be able to help. this is not going to be an orthodox race. i talked last night to the vice president. she's sober minded, very much of a grown-up. she understands this is not some boxing match, three-minute rounds with the referee. this is going to be a street fight. donald trump knows no other way. plouffe is an expert at getting the clutch man in if we need it. >> the draft plouffe movement picking up steam on "morning joe." >> i'm serious. >> i know. >> i can't believe of all the people i talked to, they talked about how great jen o'malley dillon was. they said also, they need david plouffe in there. >> who are the best people? all hands on deck. >> all hands on deck. >> jonathan, you're writing about the process from here. there has been a real falling in line behind kamala harris. nancy pelosi, chuck schumer, president obama have not gone as far as endorsing her yet, but that may be sort of a matter of

time, giving some space there. what is your sense of what happens from here? >> first of all, people shouldn't take much from the obamas not endorsing. >> yeah. >> barack obama, for many years now, has had a clear position. he doesn't get involved in primaries. he doesn't endorse until there is a nominee, whether for senate or president. that's just the way he rolls. he will come in with great timing and be kind of the symbol of the democratic party coming together, which it will do. now, whether there is some kind of town meeting with joe manchin or another possible rival remains to be seen. marianne williamson isn't going to cut it. she won't get into a town hall even though she wants to. if joe manchin wants to run, and he certainly has the ego for it, it could be that kamala harris has to make a joint appearance. it won't really be a debate, but some kind of joint appearance

with joe manchin. i think that would be possibly a very good thing for kamala harris. she said yesterday that she needs to earn this nomination. she's very conscious of the fact that she doesn't want to be seen as having been handed it on a silver platter. >> does she want somebody to -- >> i think she does. i mean, that's how i read her statement yesterday. >> while we're talking about boxing metaphors, kind of like those stiffs that ali would fight every friday night on cbs? >> exactly. that's what she wants. the palucas. >> allen the princeton boxing champ went out like this, and ali would sit and talk. you were too young to remember that, but you remember, rev. >> yes. >> every friday night it seemed on cbs, they'd have these guys coming out. they would just, like, palucas or whatever, and then jimmy young showed up. that was a fight. >> this is an important point. >> yeah. >> she gets stronger if she beats joe manchin.

she has another way to introduce herself to the voters with high ratings. everybody would tune in to watch it. that could be a very good thing for her moing forward. what people, i think, don't fully understand is that when you reach a certain level in american politics, you can always be reborn. even donald trump had a chance at his convention. he blew it, but he had a chance to be reborn as a unifier. if people have doubts about kamala harris, and there are plenty of democrats who do -- >> go back to '88, george h.w. bush. one of the greatest turn of races i've seen. he was called a wimp. he was called, you know -- dowd said every woman's first husband. he was just, you know, mocked and ridiculed, couldn't speak well. he basically said at the convention, yeah, i can't speak well, but i hear when the quiet people talk. >> right. >> turned that around and came

back from a ples of this. in 1932, convention in chicago, franklin roosevelt didn't win until the fourth ballot. why? he was derided as a lightweight. >> right. >> the press on him was so much worse than it is on kamala harris. he was called feather duster roosevelt. all the big pundits, they were against him. he came in, gave a great acceptance speech, and took it from there. john f. kennedy, what is this funny accent? he is a catholic? in '28, we were creamed. he'll be a bad nominee. nixon is going to win. 1960, kennedy comes in, is reborn. >> right. >> you can do that in politics. i think kamala harris is up to that. i think she's going to be a very strong candidate. if you judge by the reaction, the flailing of the gop. >> they're upset. >> i mean, this idea of coverup,

there is zero votes in that. that's like the worst possible response they could come up with. >> really, really strong negative reaction from the republicans, seeming to freak out about this. all of a sudden, talking about the laws in a respectful way, but interesting. i don't want to underestimate how hard it will be for any candidate, any team to run against donald trump. this is a man who does not play by the rules. we've seen that. we know who he is. we've experienced it all. mike barnicle, i just can't unsee what david plouffe said, which i thought was really strong. that is that kamala harris is a prosecutor. she served as attorney general, as well, in california. trump is a criminal. a convicted felon, found liable of sexual abuse, found liable of massive fraud, found liable of of defamation, accused of many different crimes.

you have a prosecutor and a criminal. seems like an interesting matchup. >> well, as usual, david plouffe put his finger on something critical in the upcoming campaign between kamala harris and the former president trump. she is a prosecutor. forget she's vice president. she should forget she was attorney general of california. she was a skilled prosecutor at a local level. she is confronting the guy who has already been found guilty of rape. he's been guilty of a million scams in new york city. he's a fraud. he commits perjury, if you were in court, every single day of his life. a prosecutor can take that man on. a prosecutor can defeat that man. kamala harris should be the prosecutor in the campaign going forward. could i just say one thing about joe biden, please, mika? >> yes. >> joe biden is an amazingly normal human being. amazingly normal. he is president of the united

states. what we saw yesterday was a man rise up out of the ashes of the attacks that have been heaped upon him for two to three weeks. >> mm-hmm. >> he was being called, you know, selfish. he was being called perhaps the ruination of the democratic party. yet, here's a man of tremendous humility, pride, dignity, courage. he has known both sadness, sorrow, and success, all of it within his own lifetime. he's lost children. he's lost elections. he stood up and made this decision himself, a decision for history that will stand in history, and can only boost his observations that he is among our greatest presidents ever. >> mike, you have been a friend of joe biden's for a very long time. you've known he's run for president for a very long time. he is a guy that the democratic establishment has mocked and

ridiculed endlessly, ceaselessly, and, yet, as you say -- and, by the way, same thing with harry truman. go back and see what people said about harry truman when he was running. i mean, fdr's own chief of staff when fdr decided to pick harry truman, said truman, who the hell is that? he was mocked and ridiculed. all the great writers at the time were saying he was a joke. yet, harry truman in his historian's book, and we'll ask michael beschloss this later, seen as a near great president. i suspect we'll hear the same. doesn't matter what the noise machine is on the trump right. i suspect we'll hear the same about joe biden when historians start ranking him after having his entire term behind him, five, ten years from now. >> you know, joe, we've already seen this morning on this program, at the top of this

hour, the trump toolkit. we see it each and every time he appears in public. we saw clips of the classic toolkit filled with racism, hate. calling people fools, incompetent, clowns. that's the toolkit donald trump will use this fall. the tool book for the democrats, in part, ought to be joe biden's treat people with respect, dignity, empathy, for the lives they lead, might be hurting paycheck to paycheck culture of ours. joe biden has it all. he has all of the characteristics you want in a president of the united states, as does kamala harris. there are so many joe biden stories to prove what a genuine human being he is. i won't get into them, but i have known him a long time. i'll tell you this much, there's one quality in him that you

can't compare with anybody else in the republican at the top of the ticket, neither trump nor vance. joe biden, decency. match that, donald. >> character on display again yesterday. joining us in studio, amy klobuchar. she serves on the judiciary and rules committee. thanks for coming on set. >> thank you, willie. great to be on. >> i'm interested in your take on the president's dedecision. you now support vice president harris. what is your view on how this went down and the future with harris at the top of the ticket? >> first of all, president biden took the honorable path. a path that i don't think people expected to happen on a sunday afternoon. he did it for the right reason, for all the reasons that mike and joe were just discussing. that is, he's someone that has governed with integrity, with

conviction. i can speak personally to his empathy. i ran against him for president for an entire year. up on that debate stage where he'd have maybe not as good a moment, he'd turn to me and said, "you won that one, kid. he always put people first. that's what he did. that's the kind of president he's been. in terms of bringing back the rule of law, making sure we have strength in nato, the work he's done on pharmaceutical prices and the like. then it's not just about his legacy. what he did yesterday was also about the future. he is putting himself out there, doing what politicians never do, and saying, this isn't the moment. i'll give it to someone else. i'll pass the torch to my vice president kamala harris. i'm really excited. i was in the airport last night in minnesota -- well, all the flights were delayed, so i was there a long time. there was just a -- you could actually feel the excitement. whether it was the workers behind the counters or whether

it was people just walking down the gate areas. i just think that you're going to see new excitement. you see it with the $50 million already raised. she's going to bring and breathe life into this campaign. i can't wait, like al said, for the debate. >> senator, let's talk about the campaign to come. vice president harris seems to be a study in contrast. her aides are already putting out the difference in age between herself and donald trump. she's nearly 20 years his junior. the idea of the law and order. you know, we have vice president harris, former prosecutor. donald trump, convicted felon. of course, this even more so put puts abortion rights at the centers of the campaign. >> she'll bring the receipts. she's been on the world stage. she'll have a unique ability as a former prosecutor and fierce competitor to prosecute his selfishness, his past, his role in all of this. it is going to be, i think, something like you've never seen before. you also look at the fact, and i

was in those judiciary committee hearings, it was kamala harris cross-examining the nominees that became the justices that overturned roe v. wade, that put us in the place we are, where people from the prairies of kansas to kentucky hills all the way to the virginia legislative races are saying, hey, enough is enough. they're turning out in droves to say, we're preserving freedom. women should be able to make their decisions about their health care, not politicians. kamala harris will be looking at donald trump, who said he was proudly the person who overturned roe v. wade. she, the prosecutor, will be able to talk about what he's done, all his felony indictments, in a way you've never seen before. then she'll be able to talk of the economic record. i think it is going to be a matchup like no other. >> senator klobuchar, right on the last point you made about re versus wade, the supreme court, president biden made a point to say that the next

president will probably appoint two more supreme court justices. under this supreme court, three of those nominated by donald trump. if it gets to five, if he, being trump, gets to appoint two more, we lost just now roe versus wade, affirmative action, some parts of voting rights. how important is it for kamala harris, who fought on the right side, in my opinion, of all the issues, women's right to choose, voting rights, affirmative action, dei, how important is it for her to make clear we're talking about permanent damage here if the supreme court gets stacked further? >> it's everything. the chevron decision that they just made, where they overturned a precedent that justice scalia supported, that's how far right they've gotten. she'll be able to make that connection in a straightforward way of those decisions and how they've impacted people in their everyday lives, particularly when it comes to voting rights and people's right to be able to

have their voices heard in a democracy. she's going to be able to be saying it right against donald trump, the guy that, you know, calls the secretary of state in georgia and begs him to give him the exact number of votes he needs to win, which is pure fraud, pure corruption. that's what you'll see on the debate stage. >> all right. senator, thank you so much for being with us. >> thank you, great to be on. >> great day to be on. >> a lot of excitement. i've never seen anything like it. game on. >> game on. >> thanks, senator. >> so they say. senator amy klobuchar, thank you so much. mika, back to you. well, i want to go to claire. claire, i'm sure you want to share your thoughts on joe biden, but i'm also curious, as a former senator and a former prosecutor yourself, your thoughts on former senator and former prosecutor kamala harris. especially not just prosecuting the case against trump, which there is a long list of issues, of criminality and bigotry, racism, white nationalism that i

think, personally, she could handle and prosecute quite well. but we are at a time where women are suffering the fate of a trump presidency and the supreme court justices that he put in losing 50 years of rigrights. right now, women across america who need abortion health care are suffering. we have seen story after story of women being told to bleed out in parking lots or to give birth to unviable fetuses and become sterilized. all because of the impact of a trump presidency. how do you think this former senator and former prosecutor would manage a presidential campaign against someone like donald trump? >> well, she's going to be terrific. what you saw yesterday was excitement, but it was really tempered, mika. the excitement was tempered by an overwhelming sense of

gratitude, respect for a selfless patriot. you look at donald trump. he is the walking definition of selfish. you look at joe biden. he is the walking definition of selflessness. and putting his country before everything else. he always has in his entire career. so there was a lot of support that poured out for kamala harris yesterday. but it is going to just build because with every day that passes, and with the blessing and the push by joe biden, kamala harris is going to be the second woman nominated for president by the democratic party. she's got a special set of skills that suit her for this moment. we've talked about her being a prosecutor. keep in mind, you know, let me just say this about kamala, she

has toughened up. i'm not going to lie to you. in the first year or so of her vice presidency, i think it was difficult for her. she had a lot of hate directed toward her by people without really a good reason. oh, i just don't like her. well, what is that? what is that? she has overcome and overperformed and been underestimated at every turn of her career. now, she's got an open field. she is going to go to town, especially on the subject you mentioned. we have a man who proudly overturned 50 years of important freedoms for american women. >> yes. >> we have a man who entered the republican convention to a song called "it's a man's world." we have a vice president -- now, think about this, we have a vice president who, in the last few months, voted against on the senate floor protection for

families in america that want to use ivf. he voted against protecting contraception. protecting contraception! he voted no! so this is a moment where kamala harris can do what she does best. she can take her case to the united states. i just hope america gives her a chance and get to know her before you decide, oh, i don't like her laugh or some stupid nonsense like that. >> right. >> look at who she is as a person and how she well she'll be able to lead our country. >> hey, claire, real quickly, i'm curious what your opinion is. should she run against other people? would that help her if she had some reps running against other people, or should this just be a nomination by am acclimation?

>> well, anybody can run. anybody can get 300 signatures. >> what do you think is best? >> i don't think it is something we can game out. i think this is going to happen organically. i actually think that there's going to be such a movement -- and god love joe manchin. i mean, talk about a man in search of relevance. bless his heart. >> well, you knew that was coming. bless his heart. >> bless his heart. >> god bless. southern woman, yeah. >> i don't know that a town hall with joe manchin would be particularly illuminating. i mean, i think she'd do a very good job. i don't have any problem with that, if joe manchin wants to do it. but i think this is going to be so overwhelming and happen so quickly, i think she's going to be the nominee in about ten minutes. >> all right. claire, thank you so much. greatly appreciate you being on. michael beschloss, so much history to talk about here. we could talk about truman getting out in '52. lbj getting out in '68.

2024 has just history not repeating itself or rhyming here. here a president and his wife who wanted to stay, but it just wasn't in the cards. >> sure. no, that's right. as you know well, joe, truman got out in march of that year. johnson got out in march of that year. here we are in july. the convention is in about a month. this is something that we have not seen in modern times. but even more than that, you know, let's look at two historical moments that are almost bookends for the biden presidency. january 6th, you know, this is a president, president biden, who loves democracy, i think will be honored and revered and beloved and have a large place in american history because he did so much to save democracy. two bookends. january 6th, donald trump lost the election but tried to steal

a second term as president by inspiring that insurrection at the capitol, violated the law, could have trounced our democracy and fractured it if he had succeeded. then in comes joe biden, preserves nato, huge legislative record, speaks about democracy throughout that presidency. then in the end, the toughest thing for a politician, i think you and mika mentioned this both earlier, you know, george washington in 1795 said, if democracy is going to work, political leaders have to leave power even if they can have more. therefore, i'm retiring to mount vernon. joe biden is doing exactly the same thing. he could have dug in this week and said, "well, i've got those delegates, and i'll fight it out. maybe at the convention, things will change. maybe i'll win. if i don't, tough luck." instead, he said, "the stakes for democracy are so great this year. donald trump could make this

into a dictatorship, steal all of our rights. i am going to do the toughest thing a politician perhaps can do, which is to walk away from power." >> you know, we grew up hearing about how george washington did that. also, michael, about cincinnatus. >> right. >> the roman leader who was given power, and after he made sure rome was safe once again, went back and gave up that power and went back to his farm. there is, obviously, a legend to that that's lived 2,000 years. we're talking 200 years later about george washington. i don't know how long we'll talk about joe biden doing this. but it is -- we can say, at the very least, it is radically different than what donald trump did after losing an election in 2020. >> exactly the opposite.

>> yeah, talk about how history will remember these two men. >> well, in joe biden's case, as someone who, you know, he gave those great speeches on democracy and, as you know, joe, when you hear a political leader give a speech, you always wonder how much he really means it. well, if anyone had any question, and i never did, joe biden demonstrated in the last 24 hours that he's willing to give up a half century plus political career in order to try to save this democracy. not everyone would do that. >> mm-hmm, mm-hmm. michael beschloss, thank you so much. joe, to your point that you were making with claire, i don't think there is time for reps. >> yeah. >> you know, i get what claire was saying about kamala harris, but she also pointed out beautifully that this moment is made for her. she needs to prosecute it. sometimes you have to move forward at 100 miles per hour. what is it you say to do when

you're going 100 miles an hour? barrel through. we don't have time. how many days until the election? a short number. >> not a lot. >> 100. >> we have got a number of big guests this morning. congressman jim clyburn, a key ally of president biden, is our guest. plus, senators elizabeth warren and the aforementioned joe manchin will also join the conversation. you're watching "morning joe." we will be right back. le are trb n books from public schools and public libraries. yes, libraries. we all have a first amendment right to read and learn different viewpoints. that's why every book belongs on the shelf. yet book banning in the u.s. is worse than i've ever seen. it's people in power who want to control everything. well, i say no to censorship. and i say yes to freedom of speech and expression.

if you do too, please join us in supporting the american civil liberties union today. for over 100 years, the aclu has fought for your rights and mine. including the right to read all manner of books. so please call or go online to myaclu.org. for just $19 a month, only $0.63 a day. you can become a guardian of liberty and help protect all the rights promised to us by the u.s. constitution. make no mistake, this move to ban books is a coordinated attack on students right to learn. this is a clear violation of free speech. that's why the aclu is working to fight against censorship in all its forms. it is so important now more than ever. so please call or go to myaclu.org and become an aclu guardian of liberty,

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dave's company just scored so please, call or, go online to the comcast business 5-year price lock guarantee. high five! high five! -i'm in a call... it's 5 years of reliable, gig speed internet... five years of advanced security... five years of a great rate that won't change. yep, dave's feeling it. but it's only for a limited time. five years? -five years? introducing the comcast business 5-year price lock guarantee. powering 5 years of savings. powering possibilities. welcome back. top republicans have responded to the news of president biden exiting the 2024 race. speaker mike johnson wrote in a statement, quote, having invalidated the votes of more than 14 million americans who selected joe biden to be the democrat nominee for president, the self-proclaimed party of democracy has proven exactly the

opposite. speaker johnson also wrote, democrats will quote, face legal challenges in trying to remove biden from the top of the ticket. joining us now, professor of constitutional law and director of the election law program at the ohio state university, edward foley. and ed, thank you very much for being on the show this morning. first, what do you make of the speaker's comments? is that possible? can they do that? is there a legitimate challenge there? >> well, there are two separate issues. first is the party's right to control its nomination process. and then, second is the question of state laws that govern the deadlines for getting on the plat. on the first point, which is what i think the speaker was addressing, there's absolutely no basis to challenge the way the party chooses its own nominee. the supreme court has been clear about that, the constitutional law is clear, the party can choose its own method of how to

pick its nominee. >> okay, so how does this play out? given that there is time, legally, to do this, correct? >> yes, well, that's where we get to the second point about the state law deadlines. it's complicated, because each state has its own deadlines, and some of the states have deadlines the same week as the party's convention, as early as tuesday of that week, august 20th. now, ultimately, i don't think there would be any difficulty getting the ticket on the ballot one way or the other, but it would be beneficial not to miss those state law deadlines. >> so mr. foley, some republicans have suggested that the harris campaign, now the harris campaign needs to return all of the money that was raised by the biden campaign, almost a $100 million war chest sitting there, we know $50 million more were raised just overnight since

that happened. what's your take on how that money can be transferred or not? >> yeah, i think it's -- the better view of the relevant rules of campaign finance law wouldn't mean that vice president harris, being already on the ticket, gets to control that same money. this is an unprecedented event, but there's no reason to read the rules as to exclude her from that money. and when you think about our whole constitutional framework for running presidential elections, it's the concept of the ticket. there are running mates. this goes back to the 12th amendment of the constitution. so i think the better view of the law is that the money should flow seamlessly to her, as -- if she becomes the top of the ticket. >> so she should get the money and shouldn't have a problem getting on the ballot. thank you, constitutional law and director of the election law professor. and joining us on set is the mayor of new york city, eric

adams. mr. mayor, always great to have you at the table. your reaction to the news yesterday? first, the decision, the act undertaken by president biden, and also your enthusiasm or your hopes for vice president harris at the top of the ticket? >> first, and i'm just so happy, so many people acknowledge the level of patriotism that came from our president. it is very challenging when you are moving to the next step, you believe, and all of a sudden you have to make the decision to relinquish that. it shows a great level of patriotism, a person that's gone through so much trials and tribulations throughout his life. he's once again showing us how he's the average joe. and i was proud, as long as he was in the race, i made it clear i was riding with biden, because i believe he navigated us out of this. i'm looking forward to moving towards the convention, seeing the vice president harris becoming the nominee in 2020.

i endorsed her in an entire primary field. i'm clear, everybody knows why i'm about public safety and she was very clear on the campaign trail. i think that she's the voice that the party needs right now, that we're hemorrhaging african-americans, we're hemorrhaging hispanic voters, we're hemorrhaging those working class people, who don't realize that the democratic party has a good product. we have to have a clear message on getting that product out there. >> two issues on that, one is, as you said, both you and vice president harris come out of a black community, but that we're pioneers in moving toward law and order, or inside dealing with law enforcement in a corrective way. talk about how important it is that you have someone with that background, when we're dealing with having to deal with police reform and fighting against criminality at the same time. having that background, if she

were to be the president. and secondly, how you've had to deal with, as other major mayors, particularly black mayors, the migrant crisis, and how you feel feel that president harris would be better than bringing back a donald trump into the white house on that issue. >> let me be real clear, leadership. she understands it. she's in the position of looking over the border issue. so she understands some of the things that she needs to do. i think the key is what you just stated, rev. the democratic party, they have basically went after assault rifles. they went after some of the criminal aspects in the communities of color in general, but the country -- the communities of color in general, the country in general, but specifically the communities of color. and those communities are pro-public safety. and we could have the best of public safety and justice. and i think having a presidential candidate that is going to be forceful with her

prosecutorial background, with her law enforcement background, i think is the right message right now, because some of the reasons we're losing many people in these communities, working class communities, is because they don't believe we are connecting with those real issues with them, affordable housing, affordability, in the country, dealing with securing our border, all of these important issues. >> mayor adams, you just went through some of the issues, so let's take a moment and talk about the intangibles. the democratic party is one, pretty bereft and deft of the portion of the debate. are you sensing a burst of enthusiasm? you were out talking to new yorkers last night and this morning. it's obviously one of the deepest blue cities in the nation. are you seeing a ground swell of optimism flout party? >> i see the vp as the racehorse that we've just got to let the reins go. let her naturally -- i saw her on the debate stages during the 2020, and i would sit back and

say, wow, let her be her. you know, and i thought claire said something that's important, when you hear the critique of her, it's about, i don't like the way she laughs or does this or does that. let's stop the silliness. these are real issues. and allow her to do what she does well. she can articulate these issues, she could sell her case, and i think you're going to see that enthusiasm. you're going to see the real vp harris move up to the level of president harris. and that's a step that you do, when you're placing these positions. the person i am now was not the person i was as president, you know? you move into these very important positions. and i think she's ready for it. >> let me ask you, mr. mayor. we talked about public safety. how is new york city doing on crime and homelessness and on the migrant crisis? >> i think the analysis is clear, decrease in homicide, decrease in shootings, the away system, we have the lowest record of robberies on our

subway system in the history of the city. we witnessed for the last few months a substantial decrease of over 4 million riders on our system, an average of five felonies a day. we had a steady decrease after that bump in january. and when you look at almost the 17,000 guns we've removed off out of streets, everything from removal illegal dope -- mopeds. we're seeing a city that went from a 40% increase in crime from january 1st, 2022, to we're seeing a decrease in these major crime areas. >> what about homelessness? and when you talk about homelessness, i'm talking specifically about mentally ill people on the street, because when we talk to tourists and i talk to another when i was flying into new york last night, they were saying, how dangerous new york was. they said, no, crime is down. they tell stories about people approaching them. there are two things here, you've got crime and then you've

got homelessness. and you have people that are out on the street who are mentally ill, that will go up and charge people. two different things, but at the same time, a lot of people visiting the city don't feel as safe as, say, they did in '19. so i know you're fighting hard to find the shelter, to find the treatment for the homeless. but there's still a ways to go there, isn't there? >> without a doubt. when you look at the fact that doing an analysis of other cities, you don't see the encampments, the tents -- >> and why is that? >> i'm clear, that's not the city we want to live in. >> but you go to washington, d.c. and see tents all over the place. you go to los angeles, it's crazy. you go to san francisco, which has gotten better. san francisco has gotten better over the last six months. let's not even talk about portland. it's crazy, crazy! why do other cities allow these encampments that are not only

unsafe for tourists and others, but are unsafe for those people in the encampments. unsanitary. >> well said. and that's why we push with the involuntary removal, because we were clear if a person does not realize they need care, it's inhumane to allow them to stay in that condition. and january, february, the first year of my administration, i sent a message out to the team, we are not going to walk by people, we're not going to have city where people are sitting along highways, under underpasses and train stations. the message was clear. >> there's nothing humane about that. rev and i have talked about that all the time. it's inhumane that you don't let people sleep on grates when it's zero degrees. it's insanity that some left-wing radicals that letting the mentally ill sleep on sidewalks is humane. >> and they sued us, but look at our cities, it doesn't exist. and this is what tourists have

the perception of, severe mental health illness, if you don't start removing and giving people the care they deserve, that's going to be a representation of your city. and then we have recidivism. the person who shot john dylan, he was arrested 20 times. and each time you see these repeated offenders, it hurts us a lot, and random acts of violence. but when you look at this city, we're the safest big city in america. >> no doubt about it. one final question, you talk about recidivism, are you finally getting the cooperation you need from albany, from city council, from others about this sort of resolving door that was created on the bell issue? >> we should doing so much more, particularly discovery, and attorneys that understand this, they know what discovery is doing, but bill clinton once said to me that i live by -- no one elected you to define a problem, they elected you to solve the problem. i'm solving the problem. the city is not coming back, the

city is back. >> mr. mayor, thank you so much for being with us. greatly appreciate it. mika? >> all right! in a moment, we'll speak with democratic governors andy bashir of kentucky and roy cooper of north carolina amid speculation they're on the list of potential running mates for kamala harris. but first, one of president joe biden's closest allies, congressman jim clyburn is endorsing kamala harris for the democratic nomination. in a statement, clyburn, who played a crucial role in president biden's 2020 victory, thanked the president for his years of service. and for more on that, congressman clyburn joins us now. thank you so much for coming on "morning joe" this morning, sir. congressman, if you could talk, i'm sure you would like to say a few word about your friend, joe biden, and then take us forward. tell us why you believe kamala harris can prosecute the case

against donald trump. >> well, thank you very much for having me, mika. you know, joe biden i've nope known for a long, long time. we started developing a relationship over our efforts to really make brown versus board of education work. we talked about the similarities in our state, south carolina and delaware were two of the five states that gave us brown v board of education. and we learned a lot about each other, about our states, our constituents, and we started developing ways to go about addressing those issues. i found in him to be one of the most selfless public servants i'd ever dealt with. a real patriot, when it comes to what this country is all about

and one who understood government almost vicariously. you could talk to him about an issue, he could give you a proposed resolution that seemed almost effortless. and so, i think all of this about him not being able to serve out his term is craziness. there's a big difference in running the government and running the campaign. joe biden was not up to what it took to respond to sound bites when you're trying to solve problems around the world, he is a great problem solver. and i believe he will go down in history as one of the best and most consequential presidents we've ever had. you mentioned harry truman this morning, i used to teach him --

very often, i would go into the oval office and he would have these big pictures of kennedy and other people and there was a little bust of harry truman. i would always say to him, i think truman needs to be much more prominent in this office. because if you really think about it, your route to the presidency and you as a public servant, you are much more akin to harry truman than any of the other previous presidents. so i was glad to see the last time we had lunch with him, we were in the little lunchroom there off of the oval office, and he had this big portrait of harry truman in there. i'm taking credit for that, whether it deserve it or not. >> i love it. i love it. let me ask you about vice president harris. i know you're endorsing her. we talked about earlier, joe biden and a book called "what it

takes." richard ben cramer's book about what it takes to be president of the united states. why do you think kamala harris has what it takes to be the next president of the united states. >> you know, i watched kamala during the 2020 primary. i knew her. i went out to california during an event when she was running for attorney general of california. and i've been following her ever since. when she came to south carolina in that primary, she was a fierce debater. in fact, when i finished this book that i'm currently working on, in the epilogue of this book is going to be an incidence that took place after that debate when she absolutely floored joe biden, with one little comment that i had a hard time trying to help overcome.

and we did. we were able to respond to that. and i'm going to write about that. she can debate! i will look forward to seeing her on the stage in the debate. she knows what debating is all about, and she is well equipped to prosecute, i want to emphasize, to prosecute the case against donald trump. he has lost to all the prosecutors he's gone up against thus far. he's going to lose going up against this one. >> congressman clyburn, as you know, i was there the day you turned the campaign around for joe biden, in charleston, south carolina, you and he came to one of our national action network ministers breakfast. and you told me, i'm going to endorse him, and that endorsement really turned him around. but more important than the politics, the things that

president biden with your help and with what vice president harris has done around the last three and a half years, around inflation reduction, around infrastructure rebuilding, around voting rights, executive order. these things are at threat of being eradicated, if not overturned, if donald trump is elected. talk to our viewers about how this is really a real showdown election between what way this country is going to go in terms of women's rights, civil rights, voting rights and kamala harris has been a co-pilot in fighting in what you and i would call the right direction to be taken by this country. >> this president rescued this economy. he did so with a rescue act.

he repaired what this country is all about, demonstrating that with his infrastructure bill. not just roads and bridges and water and sewage and getting rid of lead pipe, but putting broadband internet into homes all over america. here in south carolina, we're going to build out 100% by this time next year, because of joe biden. but on top of all of that, son, if you've got your health, you can really function properly. well, he tackled health care in a way that nobody else had. people focused on the rising price of food, yes. but he countered that, he couldn't do anything about the grocery prices, but he could do something about the pharmaceutical prices. and he drove down the price of pharmaceuticals in a way that no president has ever done. and once again, when harry truman left the presidency, he said the one thing he regretted

was not being able to deliver universal health care for everybody. joe biden took up that mantle, passed through barack obama with the affordable care act, and looked what he did, starting in january. $2000 a year would be the max people would be paying for pharmaceuticals, no matter if the medicine cost $10,000 a month. he has done what is necessary to put a ceiling on the cost of insulin. my late wife was paying $600 a month for her insulin, being a four-shot-a-day diabetic. now, today, the top is $35 a month. if you take it in silos, it's one thing. if you take it all together, not being able to control grocery prices over here, but i can do something about medicine over here. and that was a net benefit to

every family across america. joe biden has done it for the individuals, he has done it for the families, and he's done it for the communities all across this country. and look at what we're doing with the internet to pay that out. >> congressman jim clyburn of south carolina, one of the most part. >> and joining us now is the democratic governor of state of kentucky, andy bashear. thanks for being with us. secondly, do you endorse kamala harris at the top of the ticket? >> well, thank you for having me this morning. i want to thank president biden for being a phenomenal president. he led us out of a pandemic faster than we have ever seen. he showed up in kentucky after natural disasters and has helped us rebuild.

he's helped us build the best economy in our history, building the two largest battery plants on planet earth, the cleanest, greenest recycled paper mill we've ever seen, creating jobs all over kentucky, and creating the funding to run internet access to every home and every business. his decision, i know, was hard. but it's going to secure his legacy, that i believe historians are going to say was a great presidency. with that, i'm excited to fully endorse vice president harris for the next president of the united states. >> now, the vice president is smart and strong, which will make her a good president, but she's also kind, and has empathy, which can make her a great president. and the contrast between her and those running on the other side couldn't be clearer. as a prosecutor, as an attorney general like i used to be, she prosecuted rapists, domestic

abusers, stood for victims and put away those abusers. now look at the other side, where j.d. vance calls pregnancy arising from rape "inconvenient." no, it's just plain wrong. he suggests that women should stay in abusive relationships. now, listen, a domestic abuser isn't a man, he's a monster. and no one should support anyone having to stay in those relationships. the vice president is ready. she has my full endorsement. i'm going to do everything i can to support her. >> some news this morning here. full endorsement from government bashear of vice president kamala harris at the top of the ticket. as you know very well, governor, because of your record of being elected and re-elected in the state of kentucky, which donald trump won in 2020 by about 26 points, people are very interested in you and your future in politics. has anyone reached out to you from the new harris campaign about the potential for being

the vice presidential candidate, her running mate? >> well, i don't know how that process is going to work. it's flattering to be a part of it. you know, i take it as a compliment, though, to what we've done in kentucky. and what we've done in kentucky is what we need to do in this country. it's to move beyond the partisanship, the constant arguing, get beyond neighbors yelling at other neighbors, just because of the box they checked, when they registered to vote. we need to turn the temperature down and recognize that the most important things to our families, like a good job, health care, safe infrastructure, public safety, public education, none of those are partisan at all. and if we work hard every single day, to make progress in those areas, we help all of our citizens, not just democrats, not just republicans. and this country has gotten to a boiling point, where we just have to move past it. we've got to move to something better. we've got to get back to being

americans, and not members of a political party. i believe that this -- that the vice president will win this election. she will move us in that direction, and that's why i'm very excited to provide my full endorsement to her. >> and so, governor, would you then be open to the possibility of being a running mate to vice president harris? >> let me first say, i love my job. i love serving the people of kentucky. the only way i would consider something other than this current job is if i believed i could further help my people and to help this country. i also think, whether i'm asked for that or not, that it's important to be out there, contrasting the vice president and those that she is running against. i believe her record is one of standing up for people, is fighting for the american people. and the record on the other side is just fighting for themselves. >> so as vice president, you

undoubtedly would be able to help your own people, so are you at least open to the possibility of being a running mate to vice president harris? >> well, i think if somebody calls you on that, what you do is at least listen. and i want the american people to know what a kentucian is and what they look like, because let me just tell you that j.d. vance ain't from here. the nerve that he has to call the people of kentucky, of eastern kentucky "lazy." listen, these are the hard-working coal miners that powered the industrial revolution, that creatd the strongest middle class that the world has ever seen, that powered us through two world wars. we should be thanking them, not calling them lazy. so today was an opportunity to both support the vice president, but also to stand up for my people. nobody calls us names, especially those that have worked hard for the betterment of this country. >> so, governor, you have been able to win election there in a state that overwhelmingly went

for donald trump. so with that in mind, what should some of the messages be from the democratic ticket going forward? whether you're on it or not, as it tries to paint this contrast with donald trump? >> well, what we've got to do is have a message for everyone. what we see from former president trump are division. and trying to rile one group up against others. my faith tells me that's wrong. the golen rule says we love our neighbor as ourself and everyone is our neighbor. how about a unifying message that can bring people together and move us past this boiling point in our country? how about we focus on the things that matter most to people when they wake up in the morning. when people wake up in the morning, they're thinking about their job, and whether they make enough money to support their people. they're thinking about their next doctor's appointment, for themselves, their parents, their kids. they're thinking about the roads and bridges they're going to drive on that day, they're thinking about public safety and

their community and they're thinking about the school they're dropping their kid off at. that's what most people worry about. and if we can't satisfy that, they don't get to whatever the issue of the day is in washington, d.c. you know, the message ought to be, i'm in this to build a better life for everyone, not just democrats, not just republicans. i run as a proud democrat, but the moment i became attorney general and governor win took that hat off and everybodied every single citizen of my commonwealth. and that's why in re-election, i was re-elected by 5 percentage points, being a democrat in kentucky. that's like 30 anywhere else, but i think it's just people saw who i am and how hard i was trying. and that whether you voted for me or not, i wanted to make your life better. now, that's what we need to hear from our candidates, and that's what vice president harris can do. people want to get back to normalcy. they want to be able to wake up in the morning and check the news, but not have to worry about what crazy thing happened

the other day or what crazy thing somebody said. they want to be able to put their kids in front of the tv and not worry about what a form president will say and the language that he'll use. that's who we are as an american people. and that's what we want to get back to. >> i think you're making a great point in your endorsement of kamala harris, and i want to ask you more about that. you said earlier and i thought it was very interesting, we need to get back to becoming americans. and to your point, what has become partisan in the past few years or since trump became president since he served, is democracy. the concept of democracy. trump republicans ignore so much, and they spew out a lot of disinformation. and all of it is working against our democratic values. so who do you hope in this

election? is it really about democrat and republican, or is it about democracy? who do you hope will step up and support the democratic nominee, and you hope it will be kamala harris. is it important in this moment to cross the aisle, even, to really make this about the future of our democracy, as we know it. whether it be george w. bush or military leaders along with the obamas and the clintons, how much, governor, is at stake in this election? >> well, a lot is at stake. and it's always important to cross the aisle, because those are our neighbors, those are our friends, and we can't let ourselves become so divided, because we checked a box that said "d" or "r," when all of us are unique. we're made up of the experiences of our lives, and we have different views, even if we're the member of a same party. and so we've got to make sure that we have that dialogue, and we've got to give people the

ability, the permission to vote for whoever they think is going to be the best candidate. you know, partisanship is now everywhere. from the car you drive to the beer you drink, you're supposed to pick a side. and we can't continue that. and that's why i think that the vice president can give a compelling message about being better. for me, that's certainly about my faith, and it's about living my faith and caring about absolutely everyone. so this election, especially with the contrast of such a divisive figure like former president trump, who spews anger, that we can create a contrast that hopefully not only wins this election, but moves us past all of this craziness we've been living in. i want a better world for my kids. i want better government for my kids. i want a congress that works, but i certainly want a president that they can sit in front of the tv and watch.

and whether i agree or disagree with what they're talking about, i know they'll do it in a respectful way. >> yeah, i think it's a good point that you want to be able to put your kids in front of the tv and not be worried about what's going to come out of the president's mouth. democratic kentucky governor, andy bashear, you really crystalized it. thank you for coming on the show. still ahead on "morning joe," another name being tossed around as possible running mate for kamala harris, north carolina governor roy cooper will be our guest. but first, independent senator joe manchin of west virginia is our guest amid speculation he might wade into the 2024 presidential race. you're watching "morning joe." we're back in 90 seconds. watch" we're back in 90 seconds

your loved ones are getting older, and they need your support. care.com is here to help. it's an easy way to find background-checked senior caregivers in your area. and some piece of mind. see why millions of families have trusted care. go to care.com now. welcome back. let's bring in rodgers chair of the american president, historian jon meacham. he occasional advises president biden on historical matters and major speeches. jon has a new piece in "the new york times" out just this morning entitled, "joe biden, my friend and american hero ". jon, good morning. interested in your take as a friend of joe biden, an occasional adviser to joe biden, but also as a historian of where this sits in american history. >> we're commemorating here a remarkable act of political

sacrifice, self-sacrifice, by a man of great grace, and a president of great consequence. and understandably, we're talking about what happens now, was that's what the republic does. that's what the democracy does. it's an gronk thing. it's at risk, and it's vital, as mika said, we stand for the constitution, the rule of law. and the kind of decency and dignity that president biden embodied. but let's take that moment and recognize that the president of the united states just did something that is counterintuitive to human nature, and particularly counterintuitive to the human nature of a politician. there was an old tennessee senator from my state, who said that the only true cure for political ambition is embalming fluid. so what you have here is someone who did assess reality. as he often says, he respects fate.

one would, given his life, the arc of his life, which is punctuated by great achievement and great tragedy. and so this is a president who men people like me look pack, we're going to look at someone who stepped into the breach in 2020, who defended democracy. you know, when you think about it, in many ways, the biden presidency began on january 6th, 2021. and it was a moment where, remember how eerily empty the capitol was once the protesters, the rioters, the insurrectionists were gone? he stood in that sort of strangely still and quiet west front to step into a moment that -- in which democracy itself was wonder the greatest siege it had been since fdr had been there in 1933, and before that, since abraham lincoln had been there on the other side of the capitol, in 1861.

and that's not overly grand. that's not hyperbolic, as president biden would say. it is, i think, a cold eye assessment of the reality of the history of the moment. and president biden stepped in and he bent history in what i would argue, and most of the folks here would agree, is a very american -- you can disagree with the policy details. you can disagree with the emphasis here or there, but by god, the american consensus in which we actually recognize and respect each other, fundamentally, and are together enough to try to make this a more perfect union, we are a more perfect union because of president biden. and i think history is going to laud him for it, and i think the president does, as well. coming up, could joe manchin challenge vice president kamala harris for the democratic nomination?

the independent senator is our guest straight ahead on "morning joe." our guest straight ahead on "morning joe.

coming up, senator elizabeth warren is standing by. she calls the president's decision to step aside a, quote, profound gift that shouldn't be squandered. the massachusetts democrat joins our conversation, just ahead on "morning joe." head on "morning joe." kids love summer , but parents? well... care.com makes it easy to find background checked childcare that fits your summer schedule. from long term to short notice. give yourself a break this summer. go to care.com now. wealth-changing question -- are you keeping as much of your investment gains as possible? high taxes can erode returns quickly, so you need a tax-optimized portfolio. at creative planning, our money managers and specialists

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a live look at new york city for you at 38 past the hour. joining us now, independent senator, joe manchin of west virginia. senator, thank you so much for coming on this morning. >> good to be with you, mika. >> i would like to ask you, what would it take, what do you think

is needed for the democratic nominee to beat donald trump? there seems to be some conflicting news out there. are you looking to challenge kamala harris for the nomination? >> no, no, i'm not intending to run for any political office, and i made that very clear, i'm retiring. but i'm going to be involved and i like to have a voice. and i think i speak for the majority of americans who are in the middle like me, 51% of us are registered to participate and vote, but we're independents. only 23% of the base is a democrat and 25% republican. and unless you can talk and understand where we're coming from, we want to see all-inclusive. i was hoping that with the decision that president biden made that there would be a primary, that we could find out where the cream of crop of the new generation. and i was hoping for that, mika. and you've had a few of them on, which i know roy cooper, andy bashear, josh shapiro and gretchen and mr. pritzker and all of these -- all good people.

it would have been great to see what their thoughts were and i think it would have strengthened kamala, if she hadn't have come out on top, she would be strengthened. joe biden came out of a very contentious primary in 2020, but he was the only one who said, i can bring people together because i've done it for 35 years in the senate, i know how to work on both sides. he was the centrist moderate. and guess what, he won. so we'll see what happens. >> the one thing i'll say, i'll just kind of debate with you a little bit. none of those people that you mentioned have been part of a winning presidential administration that has beat trump. and wouldn't it be strange if joe biden overlooked his own vice president, part of an historic administration that has had more legislative accomplishments than any president in modern history. do you believe kamala harris has the skills and the ability to prosecute the case against donald trump? >> if it's only about donald

trump and trying to demonize him even more, and they have nothing else to go on, that's not a good winning -- i don't think it's a winning solution. i really don't. >> what do you mean "demonizing"? >> well, i'm just saying, we know who donald trump is. he basically confirmed who he was at the end of the convention. and he does not basically, the orderly transfer of power, the election, he has not basically recognized the insurrection. he's threatened concerns over are we going to support ukraine or not. the and the rule of law, the judiciary. those concerns are still there, but people know that and they know what they're getting there. what they don't know is through a contested primary, which i was hoping, there would be some form of a mini primary. some people do it very successfully in a short period of time. and only in america, mika, do you have the next election start the day after the last election. so i think it was all doable, but they made a decision not to.

and it's going to be hard to find out where, you know, where things have changed. and you're saying -- they were voting for joe biden. it's the top of the ticket. it's not the vp. the vp helps, okay? but it's the top of the ticket they were voting for. and i was part of every one of those pieces of legislation, bipartisan legislation. and i was also very much involved in the i.r.a., in writing all of the energy portion of that. so i know what it takes for these pieces of policy that can work and should work. we're producing more energy than ever before in the history of our country, but the administration doesn't talk about that. i haven't heard kamala talk about it. and we've done some great things, but it's a balanced approach. and if you're not accepting a balance, then you're going a problem. >> senator, good morning, good to have you back on the show. you mentioned governor bashear and governor shapiro in the last couple of days as people who you would like to see at the top of the ticket, as you just said, yesterday, governor shapiro endorsed kamala harris, just a few minutes ago on this show,

governor bashear of kentucky endorsed vice president harris at the top of the ticket. so now you are saying you are not running and your preferred choices have endorsed kamala harris. will you endorse vice president harris? >> well, i'll see what her platform is and her positions. i want to see where she lands on that, which is rational. and since we're not going to have any type of a primary process, i don't fault these very accomplished governors and people that have been considering and maybe now are being considered as a vp. you know, that's new generation. they didn't want to commit suicide by jumping out when everybody was moving in that direction. but i think when you talk to nancy pelosi and you think about barack obama, who thinks that that would strengthen by having a process, an open process, we have a primary and then cohese around who the strongest person was, would that a way? that could have helped kamala. >> senator manchin, you famously at times did not always agree with president biden during the last three and a half years, but

would you give us your assessment, please, as to what you think his legacy will be as president, which includes his decision yesterday to step away from the race? >> well, let me speak, and i said this with a heavy heart yesterday, my goodness, this is a good man and he's been a friend for a long time and we've been able to agree and disagree. and i always say this, when he sees me, and he goes, hey, joe, how's it going, i know it's okay, and when he says, hey, joe, what's up, i know we have a little bit of a challenge we have to get through. that's what i love about him. he's pretty special along those lines. he made the right decision for himself, for his family, and most importantly for our country. and i think he has a chance, and i've said this before, he has a chance now to spend 100% of his time trying to get peace in the middle east, trying to basically solidify ukraine's position to be -- to win freedom. and also, to be able to show the rest of the world how the

superpower transfers their power in an orderly, dignified, compassionate way. i think he has -- it could be unbelievable, his legacy. and i only hope the best for him. >> independent senator joe manchin of west virginia, thank you very much for being on this morning. >> well, let's thank all of you for the process and make sure that we have a robust process, if possible. >> all right. thank you, sir, very much. coming up, the governor of north carolina, roy cooper, is our guest. we'll talk about his endorsement of kamala harris and her campaign to defeat donald trump in november. that conversation is just ahead on "morning joe." that conversation is just ahead on "morning joe.

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welcome back. it is ten minutes before the top of the hour. we are getting close to the fourth hour of "morning joe," but still well into the third hour. a little bit of news here and there. sources in the biden campaign are telling me that money is flowing in big time to the campaign, and that the hope is this might be the biggest fundraising day ever for the campaign. so the news, of course, taking new meaning in terms of donations and money coming in and financing. sources close to the vice president say that kamala harris spoke at length with kentucky governor andy beshear, and he confirmed that. joining us now, another potential talked-about running mate, governor cooper, thank you very much for coming on the show

this morning. we understand you had a conversation as well with the vice president yesterday. how did that go? >> it went great. we talked about winning this race. and, you know, if you want a nominee who can put donald trump's destruction of roe v. wade at center stage, if you want a nominee who actually prosecuted criminals like donald trump, and if you want a nominee who can put trump's age and fitness in the forefront, kamala harris is the person. we talked about north carolina. she's excited to win this thing, and i am, too. this is a bottom-up kind of thing. i've been hearing you guys talking about all of the people at the top who have been endorsing her. when you look at the small dollar donations that have come in, when you see six states of delegates who have met and have endorsed her to get that many democrats in a room to agree on something, this is a bottom-up and a top-down.

and i think kamala harris soon is going to be in a position where she can really take off, and i'm excited about it and feel confident that she can win this presidency, because she has to. >> so the excitement is certainly showing itself up in dollars and cents. i'm getting examples of what the campaign on the fundraising side is receiving, messages like, what a big day with vpk as the candidate. we would like to contribute a million dollars. what's the best way to do that? a republican from texas wants to donate for the first time, things like that. so as her running mate, that's the big question, if kamala harris officially becomes the nominee, then the big question is, who will be her running mate. a lot of people are talking about you, governor. if she asks you to be her running mate, will you accept? >> well, i appreciate people talking about me, but i think

the focus right now needs to be on her this week. and she needs to concentrate on making sure she secures this nomination and gets the campaign ready to go. >> willie? >> governor, would you be open to that conversation, though? would you be open to the conversation if the vice president and the harris campaign asked? >> so i think it's important that we do keep the focus on her this week. the vice presidential conversation needs to occur later. i want to make sure that kamala harris wins. i'm going to work for her all over this country and do what i can to make sure we stop donald trump. that's what i'm concentrating on right now. >> governor, could we talk about the state of north carolina? there have been some concerns that perhaps with joe biden at the top of the ticket north carolina was slipping away. do you think this changes that

dynamic inside the state of north carolina? >> i most certainly do. i've seen immediate excitement here. i need to step back one minute and say that i had a conversation with president biden yesterday afternoon, told him that he had cemented his legacy among the greatest of presidents. and i think he had two of his amazing character traits working side by side, they normally do, fighting through adversity and doing the right thing. and 99% of the time plus fighting through adversity is doing the right thing. and i think just over a period of time he just decided that, you know, this time doing the right thing means not doing that. and that was hard for him, but i respect it and admire it. and now, with kamala harris in this race, i've known her a long time, she came to charlotte on the dobbs anniversary and gave a

passionate speech to a packed rally regarding women's reproductive freedom. you could tell the excitement in the room. she's going to bring that excitement to the people that we need to bring to the polls, the young people, women, suburban women who can vote either republican or democratic. and i'm really excited that not only can she win north carolina, but she could help us with these other important races in our state, like josh stein's race, and mo green running for our superintendent of public construction in north carolina for our public schools. we have extreme republican candidates on the other side who fit just with donald trump, they're all maga, and north carolina, that's not who we are. so i'm excited that this november we get a chance to prove that. >> so, governor, you've made it

clear that the vice president is your choice to represent the democrats. what do you think will be some of her strongest arguments? how is she uniquely, perhaps, positioned to prosecute a case against donald trump? >> well, because she's a prosecutor, number one. and i think that when you compare her prosecuting criminals like donald trump, that's going to be powerful. she is relatively young and strong and vigorous, donald trump is old and forgetful, and she's going to be able to make that contrast. she also has credentials of serving as attorney general, protecting consumers. she is the protector of consumers, while donald trump is the con man. there's so many ways that vice president harris can show that she can be president of this country. she's been to 20 countries.

she's met with over 150 leaders. she gets credit for the fact that i've been able to go out and talk with people who actually now have high-speed internet who didn't before because of the bipartisan infrastructure plan. she can take credit for the money that's going to replace the bridge in wilmington, north carolina, that's a lifeline to the southeastern part of our state. she gets credit for the woman who came up to me in tears who was so excited that they were finally going to get a new water system and she didn't have to fight through so many boil water days. people who have been excited to get medicaid expansion in north carolina. donald trump wants to take that health care card right out of their hands. kamala harris has helped to defend people's right to health care, she knows it's important. donald trump wants an america where it's easier to get an assault weapon than it is to get health care. so we need to bring all of these issues to the forefront. i believe she is the person to

do it. she has really been hitting her stride over the last couple of years. she's ready to run this race. >> north carolina governor roy cooper, thank you very much for being on the show this morning. we really appreciate it. take care. >> absolutely. still ahead, we'll be joined by one of the many u.s. senators who have publicly supported vice president kamala harris, senator elizabeth warren of massachusetts is our guest. keep it right here on "morning joe." our fourth hour is straight ahead. t another

senator, but can't get another father. >> wow. more than 50 years ago, joe biden promised to put the interests of others ahead of his own. that was back in 1973, when then senator biden famously took his oath of office by the bedside of his two sons, beau and hunter, who had just survived a car crash that killed his wife and baby daughter. fast forward to today, and president biden is again putting his own ambitions aside for what he believes is in the best interest of the country, no matter how we got here, endorsing his vice president and uniting democrats to defeat donald trump in november. welcome to the fourth hour of "morning joe." it is 6:00 a.m. on the west coast, 9:00 a.m. in the east. and, joe, it is quite touching to look back at joe biden's life, and now he has served his

family and his country. >> a remarkable life, remarkable for the service, for the sacrifice, at times it's like he sacrificed just about everything, continued forward with his head down, with the support of his family all along. and, you know, it's triumph, tragedy, triumph, tragedy time and time again that has defined joe biden. it's defined him personally and it's defined him professionally, and, sadly, so often those lines blur together where political triumph and personal tragedy would align. and, willie, that's happened again this year, it's happened over the past four years, it's happened over the past 40 years for joe biden. but yesterday he made the decision that very few make, and

that is to give up the ultimate power, give up the most powerful position, not only in america, but in the world, and step aside. >> and this will be the end of his long political career, so you've been ending his life in politics, and it has been a life in politics and giving up the job he always dreamed of having, which he attained and prevented donald trump from staying in the office for a second term. he did all that. so this was not easy. that's why speaker pelosi and others wanted to give him time and space. there was all that minute-to-minute reporting about who was doing what, saying what. she wasn't explicitly coming out and saying he should get out of the race because she knew in the fullness of time it would prevail upon him that the poll numbers that some of his advisers presented him saturday showed it's not going well in the battleground states, the money is drying up, i don't think we can do this. the people he trusts the most were telling him that and he

made that decision. not easy at all for him to step aside, but he has done that now, he has fully endorsed kamala harris, his vice president, who said she is honored to receive president biden's endorsement. we've seen a flood of support for her, including just this morning from a couple of governors on this show. nbc news senior washington correspondent hallie jackson has more on that, and then nbc's kristen welker takes a look at what comes next for the democratic party with less than a month to go now for the convention. >> reporter: new widespread reaction this morning to president biden's decision to withdraw from the 2024 race. >> i think he's one of the best public servants we ever produced. >> reporter: all of it coming after the president's stunning statement sunday, in which he wrote, in part, while it has been my intention to seek re-election, i believe it is in the best interest of my party and country for me to stand down and focus solely on fulfilling my duties as president for the remainder of my term. a short time later, endorsing

vice president kamala harris to take the top of the ticket. >> i know he will play a central role in the campaign this fall to make sure that donald trump is not returned to the white house. >> reporter: the decision coming as president biden was home in delaware still recovering from covid. according to multiple sources, the president spent the weekend reflecting on his path forward and considering polling he was presented described by one person as bleak. he spoke with harris multiple times sunday before his announcement, according to a person familiar with the conversations, calling senior advisers at 1:45 p.m. and releasing his letter publicly just one minute later. the first lady, according to an aide, supportive of whatever road he chose, with the president's son, hunter, saying, i'm so lucky every night i get to tell him i love him and to thank him. i ask all americans to join me in doing the same. more than 30 elected democrats have publicly called on the president to step aside, after that debate performance in late june, widely panned as disastrous. >> if we finally beat

medicare -- >> reporter: the president's tone since then defiant. >> i'm only three years older than trump, number one. and number two, my mental acuity has been pretty damn good. >> reporter: but the political reality appearing to set in, although the president four years ago argued his decades in the senate made him the best choice for the white house -- >> the reason i'm running is because of my experience. who is going to be ready on day one? >> reporter: this time around voters raised concerns about the president's age and fitness for office, with recent polling showing 65% of democrats wanted president biden to withdraw from the ticket. >> the big question for democrats today, what now? with the clock ticking toward the democratic national convention in chicago four weeks away, president biden's historic decision to stand down and endorse vice president harris could give her a critical head start against potential rivals, while vice president harris says she intends to earn and win the

nomination, republicans are relishing the battle ahead. >> the democrats are in free fall, trying to figure out who they're going to have as their candidate. >> reporter: still, harris is already picking up support from democratic heavyweights, including former president bill clinton and former secretary of state hillary clinton. >> and perhaps most significantly, many of the candidates seen as possible challengers to harris have actually now coalesced behind her. california governor gavin newsom, arizona senator mark kelly, governors josh shapiro and cooper endorsing harris yesterday. >> it will be a very tough race for everybody else because they wouldn't have the relationships with these delegates that harris has and that, of course, biden has. >> reporter: one notable holdout in the flood of endorsements for harris, former president barack obama. a source familiar with his thinking tells nbc news mr. obama will be uniquely

positioned to help unite the party once we have a nominee. and democratic leaders on capitol hill, including chuck schumer and nancy pelosi also not yet endorsing. >> we'll put on full display our agenda for the american people and do what is necessary in order to leave that convention unified. >> reporter: democratic sources tell nbc news the party will aim to pick a nominee in a virtual roll call in as soon as two weeks, to win on the first ballot vice president harris must earn a majority of the 3,900 delegates. if she fails to do so, the primary would open up to other candidates. but anyone seeking to be on the ballot would have to jump through a number of party rules, including getting a petition signed by at least 300 delegates. >> that's nbc's kristen welker and hallie jackson reporting. don't read too much into the fact that nancy pelosi and chuck

schumer haven't endorsed. >> exactly, not everybody all in one day jumping on board. i do love, though -- remind me to take none of these republicans to vegas, to sit next to me and play texas hold 'em. maybe i should play against all of them. no poker face. the fact they're freaking out and melting down. i missed the gentleman who said it, democrats are in a free fall. they're in a free fall going, whoa, i'm falling into $50 million in 12 hours, whoa! yeah, that's a free fall that every party on the planet would love to have. if that is a free fall, i would love to see what a good day looks like. $50 million. and talking to the same campaign

last night that was so depressed over the past two weeks, just energy. they said, you know, we think we're probably going to break all records for fundraising, not just for democrats, but for democrats and republicans. i talked to donors last night who were completely checked out, that said kamala harris, you know, barack obama right now, no, she's not. can she get there? maybe so. regardless, we're all in. like they are fired up and they're ready to go. >> that was the rnc cochairman who said democrats are in free fall. they're obviously not this morning, but they had been for the last three weeks since the debate. i'm talking about rank and file democrats, also the leadership saying, okay, we've turned the page now, we are back in the game. democrats are energized this

morning. they're under no illusions this is going to be easy. in fact, the polling is going to be head-to-head just like it was with joe biden. but at least there's energy, at least the money is coming back in. they feel like it's new life for the party. >> it's night and day. they feel like they have a chance again. the vice president probably heads into this a slight underdog polling to donald trump. but you're hearing democrats pay service to joe biden, giving him a claim for his career, but also this decision. biden has so often felt like he's been mistreated by his own party, particularly in the last couple of weeks. they're very pleased to hear the praise he's receiving. and now with the vice president, and it looks like -- it looks like, all indications are that she's going to be top of the ticket. we now see republicans, to joe's point, worried. the trump campaign was designed to beat joe biden. the idea of strength versus weakness. and we have said on this show for a couple of years now, if you want to know how donald trump is really thinking, you check to see what he posts on

truth social in the middle of the night. and last night he was up late posting, very upset that biden was dropping out, suggesting that he reversed his decision and also suggesting he might not do a debate with vice president harris were she to be indeed the nominee. so it is a brand new race and the money is flowing in, and we're seeing democrats for the first time in a month have hope. >> joining us at the table, special correspondent of "vanity fair," and also former aide to the george w. bush white house, and state department elise jordan and former msnbc host, chris matthews, chief white house correspondent for "the new york times" peter baker, and reporter for the washington publication "notice" jasmine wright. chris matthews, let's start with you. what do you make of what you see with a long lens of history, by the way, we haven't seen this before, obviously. what did you think yesterday when this news came down? >> well, i guess we're going to hear about the whole last three

weeks and who was talking to biden and who was giving him the poll data and what new information he got over the weekend. because clearly he was shaken by the news of it being in such poor shape. i think we're going to find out a lot about loyalty to him and the public role of so many staffers. you know, what i'm thinking about right now as a former staffer, i'm thinking about kamala harris and what she's facing the next couple of weeks. it's all exuberance today, all about fundraising. but she has to position herself clearly right now. she has a chance to say, here is who i am, i'm a daughter of an indian immigrant, a jamaican immigrant, and i went to howard. why did i identify with the african american history in this country? people want to know that information about her. i'm not a member of the squad, i'm not somebody on the hard left. i'm a prosecutor, i believe in the law, that's how i came up

from san francisco to attorney general of california to u.s. senator. i believe in the law, not just for donald trump and his criminality, but i believe in the law and i want to see it enforced in big cities. i'm not some george soros d.a. in philly. i'm the one that wants to protect you in the suburbs. so i think she has to work two ends, she's got to build up people of color, especially young people. she has to do that. that's one of her big roles opportunity-wise. she has to recognize, even before the debate, that joe biden was behind in pennsylvania. he was behind before the big debate three weeks ago. and she has to go out there and say, i'm going to talk to the people on the edge of the city, those in the suburbs trying to decide between, oh, god, i've got to vote for trump again, or i might vote for joe kennedy -- bobby kennedy, or maybe i'll go for biden. but the problem is she's a bit

to the left of biden. she's got to get out and establish herself as a credible figure for president. she has got to do the homework. these couple of weeks are going to be brutal for her in terms of the press. they're going to be digging, looking for bad stuff and good stuff. she's a target. as governor cooper just said, she's the focus for the next week at least before we pick the vp. >> it is going to be a brutal couple of weeks, it would be for anybody in this position. the most critical thing right now is getting the right staff people around her. i've been talking about the great news and the one thing people have said, she's terrible with staff, the staff turnover has been crazy since she's been in the white house. it's something the white house has been concerned about, it's something that donors are now concerned about. so she's going to be going through -- it's just a total gauntlet that none of us could ever imagine. so she needs to have a lot of people around her, the right people around her, not family members around her, but people

that have won presidential campaigns and run presidential campaigns before. molly, let me ask you, how will progressives respond to this and how will the people that joe biden wasn't able to bring home lately respond? of course people of color, as well as younger voters, we've seen some shocking numbers, so shocking that i did not believe those numbers. they're, like, donald trump is winning with the younger voter. no, he's not. you just take those polls and save them for the fall and throw them in the fire to warm you up. it's the only thing they're good for. but joe biden was not closing the deal with especially men, people of color, and also younger voters. does she help in this respect? >> yes, i think absolutely. and she can connect to voters of color, younger voters and progressives, i have to say, have been democrats' greatest partners all along.

remember, we saw aoc and bernie sanders stuck with him until the very end. they honored his sacrifice and the work that joe biden has done. but progressives really were, like, we are with the vice president, even before she announced. so i actually think she's done really well there. and what's interesting is, you know, what hurt her in the primary was that she was very centerist for a lot of the democratic base. but that actually helps her in the general. here she is, she's a sex crimes prosecutor. that was what she ran on when she became the d.a. in san francisco. so it is really interesting, and, remember, she won a primary challenge. her first race in san francisco was a primary challenge against another democrat who she had worked for. so to say she's never won a hard election is actually not true. >> jasmine, i want to ask you the same question. joe biden had trouble bringing

home younger voters in recent polls, people of color, especially men. how does kamala harris help in those areas? is there reason to believe that basically the base comes home and then she starts worrying about expanding the coalition in michigan and wisconsin and pennsylvania? >> yeah, joe, i think that's exactly right. and if you really think about it, this has been her coalition for the past months, starting the campaign back last year. that was her focus, given to her by the campaign. she would focus on coalitions of color, people of color, particularly black voters, that she would focus on women voters. we know she's been the lead messenger on abortion, and that she would focus on young people. he's had many tours since they announced she would be running in 2023, in college talking about important things like not just democracy, what, of course, the biden has wanted to talk about, but also talking things

young people care about, climate, the ability to get jobs and fair housing. then she's gone on the women's tour talking about threats to abortion and that republicans are looking to, in her own words, put in a national abortion ban. these are coalitions she is comfortable with, that she's been in front of for a lot of time and i think that's going to be her base. even i was reporting on internals last year from the campaign that showed she was actually doing better than president biden with black voters and with women voters, particularly asking the questions about abortion and asking the questions about women's rights. so i think this is a place you're going to find the vice president very comfortable because she's been doing it for a year. and then she will try to expand that base, and particularly, of course, we know that when she's thinking about who would be her vp, that's going to be another place, particularly if she looks at those swing voters, particularly those white male swing voter governors, that's going to be another place where she can help expand her base. i think those coalitions of

black voters, woman voters and young people are going to be a place where she will be comfortable because she has been doing this for the past year. >> elise, massive enthusiasm, fundraising in less than 24 hours since this all went down for kamala harris. but as i said earlier, it's not magic pixie dust. this is going to be a very difficult campaign ahead. i'm wondering how you think this changes the dynamic, first of all, the obvious point that joe biden is too old to be president, you can flip that on its head now, and donald trump will be under a microscope for his age and the way he conducts himself and his mental fitness. how else do you think this changes things? >> i know as of a couple of weeks ago there was some operative scrambling for an updated research book on kamala harris because there hadn't been anything since the last election. i just got a peek at one of them, and it's not as robust as maybe you would hope. like a lot of the tacks on her fall off after the election, and you can look, they're flailing

around right now. you have jason miller last night tweeting about plastic straws and how kamala harris opposed plastic straws, and they're trying to hang the biden -- >> really? >> yes, so if that's your most potent attack. >> from nuclear wars to plastic straws. >> exactly. they're trying to pin the lack of border security on her, they're trying to say she was in on knowing that joe biden's health was not up to speed, up to what it should be. they're really flailing around right now, and i think the fact that they haven't defined her and were so close to the election really is a problem for them. >> so, peter baker, assuming republicans are on their way to a 49-state landslide thanks to the plastic straws issue, we now have a reshaped race with vice president in. but let's talk for a moment, though, about president biden. you, of course, covered him throughout his tenure and covered so many presidents. yesterday was a day for the history books. talk to us a little more about what led biden to this decision.

>> yeah, obviously this is the most searing political decision i think he's ever had to make, obviously. he spent three weeks being told by people he liked and respected and worked with closely that he no longer had it, that his hard ball was no longer flying at the speed it should be flying, and he ought to give up the mound. that's not an easy thing for anybody, and it's not easy for a proud man like joe biden. and he spent the last few days in isolation with covid, hacking away, really thinking about it, thinking hard about whether he should go forward or not. in the end, he was persuaded by a few things, one, polls showing that he would have a very hard time, if at all possible to win the race. secondly, that kamala harris could potentially win, she was not in fact the weak candidate that a lot of democrats had assumed. thirdly, that there could be a smooth transition, that they could manage this shift from his candidacy to her candidacy with

a minimum of chaos and mess. and ultimately i think he was persuaded that in history, you know, he will look stronger for having sacrificed personal ambition for country and his party, and particularly for the goal of keeping donald trump out. >> but it was a real up-and-down thing. as recently as saturday morning his people were being told he was full speed ahead, there was a lot of frustration, there was a lot of depression among his aides. but that day secretly he began changing his mind to get to the point where he finally made a decision with a handful of aides and family and made that surprise announcement yesterday. >> peter, let's go to the other side. reports out of donald trump's inner circle for some time that the one thing he feared, the only thing he feared, because they believe they were on their way to a landslide, would be if he wasn't facing joe biden. of course they're going to be

mocking and disrespectful of kamala harris. i am curious, though, how do they run the campaign now? what direction do they take it in now that things have changed and the disrupter has been disrupted by this? >> yeah, i think it is a disruption for them. they just spent a four-day convention just last week running against joe biden and telling the country why joe biden shouldn't be president. that's no longer operative. and i think you're right that the debate had encouraged them to think that biden was a weak candidate, and therefore easily beatable, and by the end of milwaukee, they had all but started measuring the drapes again in the oval office. there was such an extraordinary amount of confidence, one might say overconfidence, and now it's a whole new race. it doesn't mean they're intimidated by kamala harris. i don't think they are. i think they think there are a lot of avenues of attack against her and they have the advantage

of voters who may or may not be willing to accept a woman as president, as we saw in 2016, or a woman of color as president. but you're right, it's a scrambled race. what she brings to the table is an energy, a freshness. remember how much the american public was tired and sick of these two candidates, biden and trump, desperate for somebody new. she's somebody new and she can take the generational argument that's been working against the democrats and turn it on its head and remind the country that it's trump now in his late 70s and has had his own cognitive issues. >> it shifts the race so much. and you look at the polling question since 2000, do you want a rematch, and, what, 70% of americans, god, no, no, no, make it go away, on both sides. and now the democrats have provided americans with a new matchup, and we'll see how it goes. chris, i want to talk about what

you know about the most politically, and that is your home, you're a philly guy, you're a pennsylvania guy. so let's just assume for a moment that kamala brings home the base more effectively than joe biden did, whether it's progressives, whether it's younger voters, whether it's people of color, especially men who have been a bit skeptical of joe biden. let's talk about the one area that joe biden did better in, over-performed in, one of the only areas, and that was with older white people, especially in the midwest, in pennsylvania, in michigan, in wisconsin. it was the one thing that kept him close up until the very end. so what does kamala harris need to do to persuade voters in bucks county and montgomery county and delaware county and the suburbs of philly, outside

of pittsburgh, what does she need to do to bring those voters back to the democratic column? >> you know, when you go back through the history of the democratic party, starting with jack kennedy, jack kennedy, of course, and then jimmy carter and then bill clinton and barack obama and joe biden, each time they ran for president the first time, they had a harder edge than the republican party. they weren't the weak candidate, they were a strong candidate. kennedy on cuba and carter on issues. he's a southerner. you get a sense that they had a harder edge and they were appealing to a lot of voters in the suburbs especially, trying to figure it out. they see a little bit on both sides they like and they have to make a decision, and finally they do make that decision. i'm thinking about this election in november, not just now in this exuberant moment with the money coming in. in november, when people look at a woman of color, we haven't elected a woman yet, and elected

barack obama. but here is a woman, we don't know enough about her. she has to present a tougher edge -- i'm sorry, than donald trump. she's got to hit harder. he ought to be afraid of her. she's got to be tough. someone that's willing to make the law mean something for everybody and make the constitution mean something for everybody. she has to really have the strength. so i think she has to make it very clear to people she's not one of the usual squad members or somebody in the left in the progressive caucus, but someone who really wants to get the law enforced. so i think it's going to be testify. in the burbs that will help, older white men, they're saying, the first time woman of color, i have to think about it, she seems tough, i think she's real. i don't think she's one of those people on the left that i don't think highly of, but i think she's for real. i think they have to see something they don't see in everybody.

they're going to say, here is a person who is serious about the law, wants to enforce the law. we've got a law breaker out there, a guy who clearly doesn't respect the law with his behavior with other human beings. if they see that in her, it will be important for this election. >> the world has changed over the last four years. four years ago her law enforcement battleground wasn't helpful with progressives. in fact, it's something that she and democrats tried to run away from. four years later it is that very thing with crime rates that have skyrocketed over the past four years, even though they've gone down over the last year, year and a half, there's still that perception out there. i think chris is exactly right, she can talk about how, hey, right is right, wrong is wrong. you've got law breakers and you've got people that go after law breakers, and that was me in california and that's going to be me in the white house. >> there was that meme she's a cop and that was viewed as a negative back then in 2020

because of her history as the attorney general and the attorney general of california, the district attorney in san francisco, now viewed as positive. so what we've seen already this morning is the trump campaign coming after vice president harris as a radical left-winger on crime, despite the fact she's a prosecutor, and also this question of her being the immigration czar. now, the problem with that is, as many have pointed out yesterday, is that border crossings are way down in recent weeks. that's one thing. that's where we are. they were way up before, that's true. and, also, we'll say it again for the thousandth time, bipartisan legislation authored by the most republican senator in the united states congress, or one of them, anyway, senator langford, it was on the table -- >> killed. >> -- republicans walked away from it because donald trump told them to. >> you're exactly right, prosecutor, and like you just said, donald trump is the person responsible for killing the toughest border law in history.

>> they had the big solution in front of them. jasmine, you touched on this a little bit earlier, but it does feel like vice president harris found her footing when roe was struck down a couple of years ago and she became the prominent, thoughtful and strong voice for reproductive rights in this country. how does she carry that with her through this campaign now? >> yeah, i mean, when i talk about her vice presidency, i use pre roe and post, i think it gave her something to talk about in a way that was natural for her, because of those prosecutorial roots she's had. obviously immigration, when it was assigned to her in 2021, that didn't really farewell. she didn't want it, and of course now we see that. but abortion has been a guiding light for her, really centering her in the moment, allowing her to travel across the country in 2022, talking to state

legislators about what democrats message should be. the midterm election, that messaging was successful. she's taken it from there. i think this can be a galvanizing thing for the vice president as she really seeks the nomination, and if she becomes the nominee going into november. i've talked to a number of abortion right advocates over the past few years who didn't really enjoy president biden being in the office during this time because he couldn't say the word abortion. of course, vice president can. she talks about it a lot. she features people who are not just white women who have had abortions, but people of color, which really resonates across the country. i think this is going to be something that abortion advocates love, they're going to come out harder because they know she's been their champion in the white house, as well as other folks coming out and really galvanizing that movement. it's going to be a rewarding thing i think for the vice president to take on. >> there's no question, by those

even close to the vice president, she stumbled a little out of the gate in her new job but has found her voice and footing, particularly on abortion rights. she's been the party's best advocate for that. and we should note the field continues to clear. just a few moments ago, maryland governor wes moore, who was bandied about as a possible 2024 or 2028 candidate, he just offered his endorsement. at least to this point, there is no credible challenger yet for her to be the top of the ticket. >> okay, that is good to know. and, by the way, in terms of her voice on abortion, where she really found it, especially given the fall of roe, it also helps that her voice is so perfect for this moment, given that we have seen what the lack of abortion health care does to the health of a woman. and we are seeing the suffering that has been created across this country. so her voice is more important than ever on this.

jasmine wright, chris matthews, peter baker, thank you all very much for coming on this morning. coming up on "morning joe," we'll talk to cnbc's andrew ross sorkin about the business community's reaction to the major shakeup in the presidential race. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. k. have you ever considered getting a walk-in tub? well, look no further! safe step's best offer, just got better! now, when you purchase your brand new safe step walk-in tub, you'll receive a free shower package. yes, a free shower package! and if you call today, you'll also receive 15% off your entire order. now you can enjoy the best of both worlds! the therapeutic benefits of a warm, soothing bath that can help increase mobility, relieve pain, boost energy, and even improve sleep! or, if you prefer, you can take a refreshing shower.

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i know there are a lot of folks who say what's going on with silicon valley folks veering into trump world and j.d. vance, what are they thinking? silicon valley is supposed to care about climate or be pro-science and rational and normally libertarians don't like authoritarians, what's up with that? we've made it way too complicated. it's super simple. these are very rich men who have decided to back the republican

party that tends to do good things for very rich men. [ cheers and applause ] >> by the way, that's kind of what you're getting with j.d., right? so i knew a lot of people like him when i got to harvard, i found a lot of people like him who would say whatever they needed to to get ahead. and five years ago that seemed like being the anti-trump republican, so that's what he was. talked about how he was unfit, cynical, called him an opioid, which is kind of a weird thing to say about a person, but definitely a really -- [ laughter ] >> i mean, for somebody whose identity is that they're connected to appalachia, that really is the darkest thing you could possibly say about donald trump, at least in public. behind the scenes, apparently he was calling him hitler, seriously. >> well, well -- >> five years later the way he gets ahead is he's the greatest

guy since sliced bread. i watched this exact same process with someone else i got to know in the midwest, my former governor mike pence, who i watched start out as an evangelical christian who cared about family values and then get on board with a guy mixed up with a porn star, make excuses so he could have power. he got four glorious years, i guess, as vice president of the united states, and it ended on the front of the capitol with trump supporters proposing he be hanged for using the one shred of integrity he still had to stand up to an attempt to overthrow the government. so i guess maybe not as a politician, as a human being, what i'll say is i hope things work out a little better for j.d. vance. >> wow. transportation secretary pete buttigieg with his thoughts on donald trump's vice presidential pick, j.d. vance of ohio.

elise jordan, what do you make of those comments? actually very cutting, very true, and, wow, hope it doesn't end the same way for j.d. vance. great point, it didn't end well for mike pence. >> you've got to give it to mayor pete, he is a hell of a communicator. he really can get a clear, simple message across, and democrats would be smart to have him all over fox news and other conservative media throughout this political cycle. it's just depressing to think that people are that malleable, just like j.d. vance, but i really realized that trump was speaking to those people and that's why i turned so quickly. i don't know, if you have any core beliefs, how do you turn that quickly? and that's what i think that mayor pete really hit the nail on the head with. >> let's bring into the conversation the co-anchor of cnbc's squawk box, andrew ross

sorkin. good morning. this news is not even 24 hours old yet. what has been the reaction from the business community? we've talked over the last couple of weeks about how so many of those ceos, those founders, those big money guys have fallen in line to support donald trump. does this change anything now with kamala harris at the top of the ticket? >> it's very interesting, and i'm not sure it's going to change the mind of an elon musk or a mark andreessen or somebody like that. i think that ship, if you will, already left port. the question now is, does everybody else who was in the democrats' camp and in the big donor camp going to support her or not. i was on the phone with somebody last night, a very big donor, saying we're going to hold back for now, but not hold back because they don't want her to win, but in the same way we have not seen president obama or pelosi or schumer come out and

endorse her immediately with, i think, the sense that you don't want to be seen as anointing somebody rather than letting the process play itself out. there are some donors, especially the big money donors, who are also concerned if they all put their money behind her immediately, what that ultimately looks like, too. there's this sort of chicken and egg situation i think that's going to happen in the big money game. of course, she did raise something on the order of close to $50 million in less than 24 hours just yesterday. that was smaller money, if you will, or at least coming from individuals and smaller dollar amounts. the question now is, are we going to get big checks coming her way? >> the expectation is that they will. jeffrey katzenberg went to president biden and said i've got a lot of people sitting on the sidelines, i can't raise money. >> i think they will. i think it's a timing issue. i think, literally, if they look like they are getting behind her altogether right now, does it

appear as if there's not a democratic process, and i think that's -- again, that goes to the same thought process, i think you're saying, in obama land, for example. >> waiting it out to perhaps come in and offer support down the road and closer to the convention. cnbc's andrew ross sorkin, thank you so much, as always. at the top of the hour, secret service director kimberly will talk about the attempted assassination of donald trump. it comes along widespread calls for her resignation after security lapses allowed a gunman to climb onto an unsecured roof and shoot at donald trump, killing one person, injuring two others. we're getting a sense of what she will tell lawmakers ahead of her testimony now. in her opening statement she will acknowledge the failures, writing the secret service's solemn mission is to protect our nation's leaders. on july 13th, we failed. we must learn what happened and

i will move heaven and earth to ensure an incident like july 13th does not happen again, end quote for the director of the secret service. john, there are still so many questions, and so far no good answers about warnings from people on the ground, how that building was unsecured by the secret service, 130, 140 yards away, an open shot to president trump in the first place. it's going to be a tough hearing for her. >> it's hard to believe it's only been nine days since what happened in butler county and there's a lot of eyes on this. there's been calls from republicans for her to resign, they've been wanting this investigation. there's going to be a lot of tough questions here, bipartisan condemnation as to what happened there. we've since learned that the trump campaign had asked for more security in the wake of more recent threats, some from iran, per reporting, and they were denied those requests. so there's been a lot of calls for her job. we saw the director be chased by a few republican senators last week in milwaukee demanding answers. this is going to be something that should be a contentious

hearing and an agency that is going to be in the spotlight through the election and beyond. >> mika, this is an unqualified, unmitigated failure, if someone can take a shot that easily at the former president of the united states. we'll see if she has new answers at the hearing coming up in just about 15 minutes. >> we'll be covering that live. more democratic lawmakers are throwing their support behind vice president kamala harris. moments ago, senator dick durbin, the number two democrat in the senate, wrote that social media that he was proud to endorse his good friend, and let's go right to senator elizabeth warren, who joins us now with her support, which, senator, welcome back to the show. you've already expressed your support for kamala harris. i've been watching you. >> joe biden started, the clintons got on board, just moments ago we heard wes moore was on board for kamala harris, roy cooper, andy beshear broke the news on our show. i'm curious, first of all, why you think she's the one to prosecute the case against

donald trump at this moment in history, and, also, is there an argument to be made that it might be worth courting some major name, top name republicans to join in this? >> look, kamala harris is someone who can bring our party together, she can go toe-to-toe with donald trump and she can win in november. people need to know who this vice president is and how she's ready to step up and be president of the united states. i love the fact that right now she's out there working for it, as she said she would. she's calling people. but people know what kamala's characteristics are and how strong she will be in this role. she'll reach out, she'll figure out the right person for vice

president. i think it's a very exciting moment for democrats, exciting to see this race change so dramatically. >> yeah, you could really feel it, and my phone started exploding, and people went from completely depressed and incapable of getting through the day, to energized and excited that there was a focus. my feelings about joe biden, i made them very clear, but i also think it got to the point where all the talk about him leaving the race made it impossible for him to continue the race, and he did the gallant thing for this country. he put country before himself. and of course, not only just being an extremely loyal person, but this was the choice he made as the person for his vice president, it made sense that he would endorse her right away.

>> joe biden has been a transformative president, biggest climate package in the history of the world, paid for by a 15% tax on billionaire corporations. all he's done for $35 insulin and canceling student loan debt and going after junk fees. but most of all yesterday, joe biden gave our nation a lesson in patriotism. donald trump thinks about donald trump, first, last and in between. joe biden thinks about our nation and what is best for america, and he showed us that yesterday with his actions. and it's a moment of history and a moment of pride. i think for of pride i think fo americans, democrats and republicans, to watch a man say it's not about me, it is about our nation. that's what donald trump did -- that's what joe biden did, and

he has turned around and said, and i have great confidence in my vice president and want to endorse her right away. i think it's exactly the right thing. we have very proud of president biden. he's really been remarkable. >> senator warren, molly john fast here. one of the things you've done really, really well in your career and especially in the democratic primary is connect with young voters. you've done that in a way that few democrats have. what should the vice president be doing to connect with young voters? what is your secret sauce? >> you know, the vice president doesn't need my advice. she's good and she's good at this, but i'm put in mind as you ask this question about when she was then senator harris. early in the senate, we were having lunch together and

talking about what kind of things we're going to work on. what we think we can advance, it was in 2017. we immediately started talking about student loan debt and what it means for young people across this country. the two of us put together a video on dealing with student loan debt, canceling student loan debt across this country. i say that by way of saying that the kamala i know is someone who understands where people's struggles are. i first got to know her when she was attorney general in california and i was setting up the consumer financial protection bureau. kamala was not just a ferocious attorney general going after the giant banks that were trying to cheat homeowners. she was someone who understood what it felt like to be a homeowner who was about to lose their home to a bank that had

tricked them. same sort of thing we talk about student loan debt, she understands what it's like that your worst sin was to be born into a family that couldn't afford to write a check to send used to college, and yet you tried to get an education it's her ability to reach out and understand what people are struggling with and to say, as she does, i want to work on a solution. i'm ready to get in that fight on your behalf. that's the kamala harris i know, and that's the kamala harris america is going to know and elect to be our next president. >> well, you're really talking about a well-rounded candidate. as you talk about that side of her, there's also her experience with the law. you've got now the prosecutor versus the full lon. democratic senator elizabeth warren of massachusetts, thank you. >> i'm going to get that

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what about debating president trump? you think you could deliver the goods against the commander and cheese puff. >> well, jimmy, if i do debate president trump, i'm sure it will be a competitive face-off where either one of us could end up on top? >> really?

>> no. i'd wipe the floor with him. >> that's then senator kamala harris appearing on "the tonight show" when she was running in the democratic primary in september of 2019, talking about the possibility of debating donald trump which now is very real. we're getting new reporting, john, from our washington team down at nbc in the bureau there that president biden today is working on a speech that he will deliver at some point later in the week. he still is testing positive for covid, so it could be a few days before he gets to that. given what will sort of be a valedictory speech. >> in the letter released yesterday he did said he addressed the nation further in the days ahet to illuminate more about his decision. we're told why he did this biletter yesterday, he's still recovering from covid. he's still very congested, his voice is very raspy. we do not know yet if this would be a live address or some sort

of taped event. but we should hear from him i would say at some point this week. >> elise, you're leaving here for wisconsin? >> yes. it really worked out. we're going to talk to -- tomorrow in green bay, we'll talk to trump supporters, and then we'll talk to voters who didn't like either candidate. we'll get to hear what they think of the new selection on the democratic side. in madison, we'll talk to young progressives and some traditional democrats and see what they feel about what's shaking in this race. >> what timing, mika, what timing. >> we just got another endorsement from illinois governor j.d. pritzker, another person who has been named as a potential candidate for the presidency, now endorsing vice president kamala harris. that does it for us on a jam-packed news morning. ana cabrera picks up the coverage in 90 seconds.

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