clearly changed, further evidence, the political report which assesses the state of play, in the last few minutes, three changes. arizona, nevada, georgia, all previously categorized as leaning republican. now, all three toss-ups. >> yeah. the map has completely changed. before, joe biden's only path to winning was winning the blue wall states. there was really no hope to do anything else. now, she could potentially lose a michigan. she could potentially lose a wisconsin and still pick up enough states elsewhere to win. it completely changes the dynamic. now, they have the resources to be able to play in a lot of those states. the amount of money they're raising, they're not only going to arizona, nevada, georgia. they could go to north carolina and more places where republicans need to be on defense. it's a very different election now. >> she'll be in michigan today and heads out west to the battlegrounds. msnbc political analyst brendan buck, thank you for joining us this morning. thanks to all of you for getting up "way too early" with us on

this thursday morning. "morning joe" starts right now. so this is a fight to make real the problem of america for every person in our nation. also, i'll tell ya, and i promise you, our campaign is going to reach out to everyone, from red states, from blue states, from the heartland to the coast. we are running a campaign on behalf of all americans. and when elected, we will govern on behalf of all americans. [ applause ] because coach walz and i know, and we're clear about this, unlike the other side, we work for you. we work for you, the american people, and we will always fight for you. for your family, for your freedoms, and for your future. >> vice president kamala harris speaking at yet another packed

rally. thousands of people stepped up to watch her. one of two stops on the campaign trail yesterday in key battleground states. it comes as donald trump has been relatively quiet on the trail, hunkered down at mar-a-lago, and complaining about the vice president's surge in the polls. we'll go through all of that in just a moment. and we will fact-check the trump campaign's attack of minnesota governor tim walz regarding his military service. also ahead, what was supposed to be an eight-day mission for two astronauts could now extend into the next year. we'll explain why they're stuck on the international space station. that's a long time. good morning. welcome to "morning joe." it is thursday, august 8th. joe is traveling this morning. willie will join us later with an update at the olympics in paris. with us, we have the host of "way too early," white house bureau chief at "politico," jonathan lemire. msnbc contributor and author of the book "how the right lost its

mind," charlie sykes. congressional investigations reporter for "the washington post," jackie alemany is with us this morning. and"politico" and co-author for "the playbook," eugene daniels is with us, as well. good to have you all this morning. vice president kamala harris and her running mate, minnesota governor tim walz, spent their first full day together on the campaign trail with two stops in the midwest. the pair visited eau claire, wisconsin, yesterday, looking to build more momentum for the new democratic ticket. there was plenty of enthusiasm for harris and walz. look at this line. this says everything you need to know. standing in the sun, waiting for a chance to get to a kamala harris/tim walz rally. 12,000 people packed the outdoor rally despite warm temperatures, which governor walz acknowledged when he spoke to the crowd.

meanwhile, the vice president again drew a clear contrast between their campaign and the republican ticket. >> and a real special thank you to everybody here. looking out across, look, you're busy people. you have things to do. it's a summer day. you had to walk 2 miles. i had nothing to do with that, by the way, nothing. [ laughter ] but you came here for one beautiful, simple reason. you love this country and this democracy. >> and understand in this fight, as tim walz likes to point out, we are joyful warriors. joyful warriors. [ applause ] because we know that while fighting for a brighter future may be hard work, hard work is good work. hard work is good work. and so we will continue to fight

for affordable housing, for affordable health care, affordable child care, and paid leave. [ applause ] we believe in a future where we lower the cost of living for america's families so that they have a chance, not just to get by, but to get ahead. >> so then it was on to michigan after that event in wisconsin. vice president harris and governor walz spoke to a fired up crowd in detroit, michigan, last night. the campaign says it was forced to change venues to an airport hanger after receiving 47,000 ticket requests to the event. according to the campaign, 15,000 attended, making it one of their largest rallies yet. >> unlike donald trump, i will always put the middle class and

working families first. because coach walz and i know the middle class built this great country of ours, and when the middle class is strong, america is strong. the man has openly vowed, if re-elected, that he will be a dictator on day one. think about what that means. when he said that he will even, quote, terminate the constitution of the united states. [ crowd booing ] because let us be very clear, someone who suggests we should terminate the constitution of the united states should never again stand behind the seal of the president of the united states. never again. >> i don't know if we can find some video of the crowds there,

but, charlie sykes, i'd like to go to you. yesterday on this show, you said, hmm, i think it'll be interesting to see what happens in michigan and wisconsin. so what do you think about what is happening in michigan and wisconsin, especially at rallies like this where you have people showing up in the heat, showing up because they just met tim walz and they want to get more, and they are just meeting kamala harris as a candidate, but they're showing up for her in droves. i'll just say, personal anecdote, i know some republican women who worked in government for republican candidates and politicians who are showing up at one of these rallies, who are going to travel across the country to be there for kamala harris and tim walz. >> yeah. >> what do you make of it? is it a sugar high, or is something happening here? >> well, it may be a sugar high, but something is definitely happening here. you know, you always try to sift out the wishful thinking from

what is actually happening, and that's actually happening. eau claire, wisconsin, is a, i would say, you know, 52%, 53% biden area surrounded by a sea of red. that's a big crowd to turn out in wisconsin. but you're seeing this around the country, and i think it is an indication of the fact that here's a party that hasn't had these kinds of big rallies, hasn't had this kind of enthusiasm, and it is really generating a lot of activism that you don't see. i was talking to some democrats yesterday here in wisconsin, and they're seeing this up and down the ballot. it's not just the presidential race. these people are being activated. again, just remember where we were three weeks ago. the mood of the democratic party compared to this is really extraordinary. that turnout in wisconsin is important. of course, this is the theory of the case, right, for tim walz, that he will have this kind of appeal, not just in minnesota

but in rural areas like eau claire, wisconsin, in michigan, and at least that's playing out in the short term. the contrast between what you're seeing there on the screen and the fact that -- where is donald trump? donald trump is not on the campaign trail. you have jd vance doing this sort of pathetic, weird stalking thing. this is rather extraordinary split screen. the non-trump campaign versus these kinds of enthusiastic rallies. >> right. we're going to get to the awkward stalking the plane moment in just a minute. i'm just curious, jonathan lemire, of course, joe doesn't like it when i do this, but i do watch a lot of the right, whether it's fox news or newsmax or pod casts. i want to hear what the reaction is on the right.

and what i found interesting is that it's extremely mixed and extremely vitriolic and extremely loud, but not all the same stories. almost as if there's a grasping going on. i could be overstating it, but it is everything from talking about his walk, talking about his appearance, trying to spread disinformation about his story, but very loud, very -- there's almost like a manic reaction, a scramble to figure out what's wrong with this guy. then you, like, cut to a picture of tim walz, and he's on the shotgun with his daughter at the minnesota state fair or, you know, surrounded by kids. he doesn't have, i don't know, does this look like a cruel, mean guy? does this look like the boogeyman? last time i checked, he's a pretty popular guy who is now garnering crowds of 10, 12, 14,000 along with kamala harris.

so which is it, jonathan lemire? >> certainly, right now, republicans are straining for any sort of coherent attack lines on the new democratic ticket, on vice president kamala harris, on governor walz. i mean, they're debuting a few more which we'll see if they have traction or not, including calling into question some parts of governor walz's military service. but right now, this is a remarkable rollout for the democrats, in sharp contrast to the shaky rollout that jd vance has had so far since he was added to the ticket. the cook political report, which has a pretty good read on polling and handling of things, moved arizona, nevada, georgia. all three had been leaning republican. now in the toss-up category, which shows harris moved between 2 and 5 points in those states, showing how tight this race has become. >> wow. >> eugene daniels, you know, we saw there in wisconsin the appeal of this ticket. you know, sort of out in more suburban rural areas. that's where tim walz is going to spend a lot of time. the vice president and her

running mate were also in detroit last night. you were in detroit, at the rally. she drew a big crowd there, as well, which is key. there were so many democrats in the last few months when president biden was atop the ticket, worried he couldn't turn out cities, young voters, voters of color. you have to run up margins in the big cities to win the battleground states. for one night, harris proved while the draw. give your takeaways from what you saw. >> yeah, 15,000 people in kind of an airport is not how i'd think of kamala harris and 2019. it's people looking for, and i talked to folks yesterday who were hot and people were falling out, needing water, who stayed there for hours waiting to get a glimpse. it is something we've never seen. they see her as a solution to a problem they have. for a long time, democrats felt

like they have no chance in a lot of these states, including michigan, that they were losing their grip on the possibility of winning later in november. they were losing the ability to beat donald trump. so what you're hearing and seeing from folks is this excitement that, like, we're back on the board, right? that is how democrats are feeling right now. and they see vice president harris and now tim walz as a new beginning to something, and they have not a lot of time. i will say, vice president harris herself has been very clear with her team. talked to a bunch of staff in the hotel, as you can see here in detroit. the thing they keep saying is that she has brought up over and over and over again to remind her team to not get obsessed with the sugar high. we reported this in "politico" a couple weeks back. she's continued to say that. she said in this stump speech, you know, we're the underdog. she is very cognisant of 2016, when democrats felt like they had it in the bag and folks didn't turn out to vote. she is telling everybody,

including the folks at the rallies, the folks behind closed doors, don't get used to this sugar high. you have to get out and do the work. we are the underdogs. because she can see how excited a candidate could get with all of these rallies, then at the end of the day, maybe it doesn't turn itself into an actual win in november. >> mm-hmm. >> it is, you know, like i said, i've been covering her the entire time, and the idea that vice president harris would have 15,000 people in an airport hangar in michigan is just, like, kind of head spinning for those of us who have been paying a lot of attention. also, same thing for president biden, right? president biden's biggest events were 2,000, 3,000 people. those pale in serious comparison, including the folks in wisconsin who walked for miles, literally 2 miles, including our colleague, elena schneider there covering it, had to walk for 2 miles to get to the event. people have been doing that here, there, and we're going to

arizona later today for her event tomorrow. it seems like the campaign says there's a lot. there's thousands and thousands of people ready to do the same thing. the swing of this rollout of tim walz and this ticket has gone really well for vice president harris and her team right now. >> i completely agree. kamala harris, of all people, would know, especially as a woman, we know never to get confident and to keep the work going. but if you look at that crowd, if i could just point out some contrasts here, donald trump says people in the crowd should get punched, reporters should get punched, you know, screams things about people who need to get dragged out. we will have kamala harris' response to protesters in just a moment. by the way, jackie alemany, let's see. people like getting so

overheated in audiences and needing water, you know where that happens? at adele concerts, taylor swift concerts. you get them on instagram. adele is like, "stop, stop, please, let's get this person some water." tim walz literally did that yesterday because somebody needed water. it was trending as this incredible moment. i don't know what's going on, but people are very excited about this ticket. and this ticket knows it needs to keep working. the harris campaign is booked and busy, visiting swing states this weekend. there's another contrast. former president trump's schedule seems kind of empty. he spent the last couple of days in dark mar-a-lago, posting pictures with a podcaster. today, the vice president will hold another campaign event in michigan before traveling to phoenix for a rally there tomorrow. harris then heads to las vegas for a campaign event on saturday.

meanwhile, trump's campaign, the website lists one event for his sup -- i feel like i need a sad trombone. a rally tomorrow in boseman, montana. not a swing state but -- multiple sources tell "the washington post" trump has grown increasingly upset about harris' surging poll numbers and media coverage since replacing biden on the ticket. complaining relentlessly and asking friends about how his campaign is performing. it's unfair, he is a victim, that i beat him, and now i have to beat her, too, trump told an ally in a phone call last weekend. according to the paper, trump's campaign has found itself publicly struggling to manage the daily news cycle as excitement around harris has swelled along with her campaign activity. it has left people close to the campaign wondering why trump and his team seemed ill prepared, given that they had privately

speculated for weeks after biden's disastrous june 27th debate performance that harris was going to be the nominee. "the post" also reports that outside allies are telling trump he does not have a significant ground game in key battleground states and to spend more on digital advertising, saying he's being pummelled online. for its part, the campaign remains confident that he will win decisively in november. so, jackie, the schedules say everything you need to know about donald trump and jd vance versus kamala and tim. >> yeah, mika, the contrast couldn't be more dramatic and jarring right now. some incredible reporting you read from my colleagues about the dark hole that trump finds himself in weeks after a convention where a lot of republicans thought they had

locked this up and there was really no world in which joe biden would do the hard thing and pass the torch to kamala harris, and there wouldn't have been a seamless transition that we've seen now. even with some of the disappointments that republicans were trying to set up this week, trying to make this leap that, you know, kamala harris picking tim walz over someone like josh shapiro, who republicans claimed they were far more terrified of having him as her running mate. even that attack has fallen flat, as you've seen. we've all seen tim walz helping kamala harris put together these adele-esque concerts. again, very stark contrast to these grievance fests we've seen so far. you have jd vance with a boss who has not even been able to give him really anything more than statements of endorsement.

after a slew of inflammatory and offensive comments about harris, it didn't matter that jd vance was his vp pick at the end of the day because the vp pick doesn't matter. this is a campaign clearly struggling. you have his allies on the record, lindsey graham saying the president really needs to sort of get his -- the former president needs to get his act together here. meanwhile, you see walz and harris forging ahead and running this, what everyone is calling and what is apparent, whether you're a republican or democrat, this joy, this campaign of infectious and dynamic joy that we're seeing. >> all right. coming up on "morning joe," the trump campaign and allies of the former president are attacking tim walz for his military record. we'll have a fact-check of that ahead. also this morning, outgoing

senator debbie stabenow of michigan joins us after speaking at the packed rally for kamala harris in detroit last night. you're watching "morning joe." we're back in 90 seconds. oh, can we get somebody to help? somebody is hot. >> help her. >> somebody is hot. can we get somebody to help? you okay? drink some water, folks. it is hot out. somebody help. thank you. can we get water? thank you, all, for helping. grateful. thank you. [ applause ] thank you, all. take care of one another on one. this is why we gather. look, it is hot. it's hot. i'll come again, they have folks here. we'll make sure we're okay, but i have to tell you all again, in

all seriousness, to come and gather like this to talk about our freedoms, the ability to talk about what could be good. i have to say, this idea of caring for our neighbor, kindness, and a hand up when somebody needs it, or just the sense that people go through things and to be able to be there when they need it, that's who we are. it's not about mocking. it's not name callings. zooming] ♪ [window slamming] woman: [gasps] [dog barking] ♪ woman: [screams] ♪ [explosion] [explosion] ♪ [lock clicks shut]

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you've been criticized of being angry sometimes. what makes you smile? what makes you happy? >> i smile at a lot of things, including bogus questions from the media, man. look, if you watch a full speech that i give, i'm actually having a good time out here and enjoying this. look, sometimes you have to take the good with the bad. right now, i am angry about what kamala harris has done to this country and done to the american southern border. i think that most people in our country, they can be happy-go-lucky sometimes, they can enjoy things sometimes, and they can turn on the news and recognize that what's going on in this country is a disgrace. president trump, in particular, has the best sense of humor of anybody i've ever seen in american politics. he loves to joke. he loves to tell -- he loves to make fun of everybody that's out there, and i think you have to do that from time to time. but he's also a guy who is very frustrated with what kamala harris has done to this country. both of those things can be true. i think most americans can joke around but also be pissed off by

the direction of this country. >> jd vance says donald trump's sense of humor is evident because, quote, he loves to make fun of everybody that's out there. seems mean, doesn't it? senator vance, meanwhile, attempted to confront vice president kamala harris after the two landed on the same wisconsin airport tarmac at the same time. cameras captured vance walking toward harris' plane. when asked afterwards what he was doing, he told reporters that he wanted to speak to harris, adding that hopefully air force two would be his soon. >> i just wanted to check out my future plane, but i also wanted to say hello to the vice president and ask her why kamala harris refuses, why does she refuse to answer questions from the media. i also thought that the press gaggle following her might get lonely. i have enough respect for you

all, for the american people, to answer some questions. i thought her reporters might benefit from that, as well. >> charlie, i'm -- i -- yeah. it just seems so rookie. i'm thinking, you know, i mean, i don't like the name calling thing. i think it is mean when trump does that with people. he's always, like, little marco or whatever. >> yeah. >> but i've got to tell ya, jv vance kind of fits right here. your thoughts? >> who thought this was a good idea? i mean, really, to put the vice presidential candidate on this weird stalking routine. and that gimmick was lame with hair on it. it was just embarrassing. >> awkward. >> yeah, it was cringe. it was awkward. in part, because as we were talking before, the split screen between this enthusiastic, happy warrior campaign, and then there is jd vance who bumbles easy

questions about, what makes you smile? he couldn't even come up with something that made him sound like an authentic human being. later, he was asked by a wisconsin reporter, you know, in wisconsin, i want to have beer with you. he bumbled that. it's like he can't even bring himself to say something just, you know, normal about all of this. now, i know you'll do a fact-check, but i also think, look, i mean, i have been critical of jd vance in the past, and i have a list of words i'm not going to use on the air to describe some of the things that he is doing, including his decision to attack tim walz on his military experience. jd vance has shown himself willing to do things that would be beneath the dignity of most politicians in america, on both the right and the left. he is willing to say things to engage in the kinds of below the belt, unfair, dishonest, vile

attacks that i think most politicians, i think, would say, you know what? let somebody else do that. or that's really not where we want to go in this campaign. but with donald trump, you know, sitting in splendid isolation down in mar-a-lago, what have they got? they have jd vance. they have decided to go as dark and ugly as possible, and, of course, with the added dollop of cringe that jd vance always brings to these things. >> yeah. that's the thing. i think it probably bothers donald trump that he is willing to say these things, that's good, but he doesn't execute. it comes out very cringey, awkward, unfortunately for him. when he is lying, when he is willing to push concepts that are, you know, trump-esque, i think it must be hard. must be hard for somebody who wrote "hillbilly elegy" to find

himself at this point in his life. here's senator vance accusing governor walz of retiring from the minnesota national guard in 2005 in order to avoid being deployed to iraq. take a look at this. >> you know what really bothers me about tim walz? as a marine who served this country in uniform, when the united states of america asked me to go to iraq to serve my country, i did it. i did when they asked me, and i did it honorably. i'm proud of that service. when tim walz was asked by his country to go to iraq, he dropped out of the army and allowed his unit to go without him. what bothers me about tim walz is the stolen valor garbage. >> in a moment, a fact-check. first, msnbc's chris hayes on walz's record and why he left the guard. >> among the tiny fraction of americans who enlist, a much smaller share make a career of it, serving 20 years or more with multiple, multiple

deployments. only a tiny fraction of those fought to stay in the service after being disabled on the job. one of them is minnesota governor tim walz. an enlisted soldier in the national guard nearly a quarter of a century. journey began on the nebraska farm as soon as he was eligible to join. >> my father served during the korean war. the day after i turned 17, he took me down to an army national guard recruiter. i raised my hand and signed up. >> that was in 1981. ronald reagan was president. now, walz continued to serve for the next 24 years. under four commanders in chief, he spent most of the time as an artillery soldier, and it took a toll on his hearing. 2002, after 20 years, he qualified for retirement. a medical board considered discharging him because of his hearing impairment. instead, he convinced them to let him complete his final enlistment, beginning after

9/11. walz achieved the highest rank, command sergeant major. rather than to stay in and complete the schooling for that rank, walz retired in 2005 at the rank of master sergeant. party says because he wanted to speak freely about political injustice, specifically the iraq war. the following year, he was one of more than 60 anti-war veterans running for congress, the fighting dems. including jim webb, patrick murphy, and tammy duckworth. >> i spent 24 years in the army national guard. i spent the better part of two decades as a public schoolteacher. i'm a small business owner, a father, and a husband. i intend to come to washington to provide authentic leadership and truly represent the people of my district and the people of the united states. >> walz's experience in the armed forces is an atypical one for most americans, particularly politicians at the national level. there is literally no one like him. now, walz is running with kamala harris against donald trump and jd vance.

perhaps not that surprisingly, republicans are trying to swift boat walz, denigraing his service, the way they did with john kerry. saying he stole valor, left the army to avoid going to iraq. it is a playbook republicans used against walz when he ran for governor of minnesota, and it failed then because they're lies. it turns out when voters hear about the quarter century walz spent as assistant soldier, the time he spent since then fighting for iraq veterans to get the benefits they deserve, they don't see what republicans do. it's a rare politicians who can cut through the b.s. rather than adding to it. >> here are the facts according to minnesota public radio. a medical board considered dismissing walz in 2002 due to hearing problems he developed while working with high-powered weapons during his more than two decades in the national guard. at that point, a guardsman who served under walz says he was already openly discussing

retiring in order to run for congress. records show that in january of 2005, he did, indeed, take that step and filed a statement of candidacy with the federal election commission. two months later, walz acknowledged in a campaign statement that there were talks about units potentially being deployed but wrote, quote, "i do not yet know if my artillery unit will be part of this mobilization." in may of that year, documents show he officially retired from the military, meaning he likely had to inform the national guard of his plans many months earlier. in july of 2005, six months after walz declared his intent to run for congress, his former battalion received a mobilization alert. then the following month, the order to deploy. vance also accused walz yesterday of lying about his rank of command sergeant major. but in a statement, the national guard says the governor did,

indeed, reach that level. though he, quote, retired as a master sergeant for benefit purposes because he did not complete additional coursework at the u.s. army sergeants major academy. jonathan lemire, again, different people do different types of service, and jd vance is going after tim walz and lining it with untruths. but also, i feel like a service member denigrating another service member for his service is just, i don't know, i'm not sure how that's going to play. that may go in the jv vance category, as well. we'll see. >> governor walz devoted two decades of his life to military service. as you correctly note, jd vance served, as well. both men should be praised for doing this. >> right. >> this shouldn't be some sort of attack line. yes, we're expecting to hear more from the harris campaign, clearing up discrepancies. but the overall argument as you

laid out in the fact-check, and our colleague chris hayes did last night, it doesn't hold water, the idea of stolen valor, that he bailed on his unit to avoid combat employment. these are attacks that don't seem particularly honest, and it is unclear whether they will resonate. charlie sykes, i think it is a couple other things that need to be noted here. first of all, this just shows how the trump team has really struggled to come up with any effective attack lines against vice president harris and now, in early days, her running mate. they're seizing upon this. it is not too surprising, one of the top trump aides, he was the architect of the swift boat attacks against john kerry back in 2004. this is a familiar playbook with him. many of those factually inaccurate. and we should leave no conversation about political candidates' military service without noting that donald trump repeatedly dodged military service because he claimed he had bone spurs. later when asked what foot they

were in, couldn't remember. >> i was going to say bone spurs. i'm not a veteran myself, but one of the things i did in the before times was to raise money to send world war ii veterans to their memorial in washington, d.c. one of the points that we often made with the veterans was that all of their service was honorable. wherever they were, whether it was radar operators or whether they were, you know, in supplies. this is what i think is so beneath jd vance here. to go after someone like tim walz who served for 24 years and was disabled in his service, while jd vance -- and, again, we should thank him for his service, but he was not in combat either. he's kind of a pension for attacking other members of the service.

a while back, he was attacking general mccaffrey. it seems to be a thing for jd vance. you know, it's the dishonesty of all this. reaching back into the swift boat playbook to go after someone like tim walz who spent more than two decades serving his country. the timeline you lay out is very clear. people retire all the time from the military. this is not that radical. people in the military understand this. particularly when you have made a career of it. i just think the attacks, the attacks are potentially potent, but they are so fundamentally dishonest. i do hope, and i was listening to your discussion with brendan buck in the last hour, the harris campaign has to take this seriously. you know, things like stolen valor can resonate. this is one of the things that the conservative media is very

effective at getting out there, to push out. i think that they do need to engage it. they do need to push back. but i also think that they need to go on the offensive about this. a presidential ticket headed by donald trump who used bone spurs to avoid service in vietnam, the fact that a donald trump-led ticket would once again attack a member of the military who had served, you know, i couldn't help but think of his attacks on john mccain. i couldn't help but think about the reports in "the atlantic" about the way he had den good dayed -- denigrated service members when he was president of the united states. this is not something they should take lightly, and they shouldn't be overly defensive about it. if there are discrepancies, clear those discrepancies up. this is honorable service, and there is just something particularly loathsome about jd

vance's decision to go after tim walz on this particular issue. >> well, i mean, it's just part of a bigger picture of a campaign and a former presidency of donald trump that feass on dishonesty and disinformation. and they do that to deflect from a record where the cruelty, the violence, the antidemocratic values, the disrespect for our constitution, is the entire point. that's who they are, and that's what they want to distract from by trying to tear these positive, joyful, energetic people down. to an extent, kamala harris and tim walz are riding a high right now, and probably the strategy is just, eugene daniels, just keep moving forward in that way. make sure they deflect the disinformation, what comes their way, but embrace the joy, which you see them doing. it's not just -- i mean, look at these crowds.

it's like there's just something happening. you can't deny it. when you have to move to an airport hangar and then that's not even big enough, you are on to something here. not just with your vp pick but with your entire campaign. there has been a burst of energy, an enthusiasm. you have people waiting out in the hot sun. that anecdotal evidence, donald trump himself depends on for his own sense of value. his very first event, inaugural event when he was elected president, he had to lie about his crowd size. crowd size is very important to donald trump. so crowd size will be very scary to the trump campaign moving forward, and it doesn't look like these crowds are getting smaller. the other thing that's growing, eugene daniels, is fundraising. i mean, kamala harris in her first day on the trail broke

records, and it seems like the numbers keep coming in. >> yeah. that joyful aspect of this, and even how they may respond or not to the accusations about tim walz's military record, it is in line with the joyful aspect of how they're running this campaign, which is not to get bogged down in the attacks coming on them. you can even think about when, on the nabj stage, donald trump said that, wrongly, that kamala harris all of a sudden became black, which is not a thing. i've been black my whole life. you can't pop up and be black. that was something that when you asked the campaign, all she said, her team said, you know, that's what we expect from him, and they moved on, right? they're trying not to get bogged down in kind of the back and forth on things that, for them, they feel like are silly or more of the same they've seen. on the money that's coming in, $36 million, more than $36 million in the first 24 hours of

announcing tim walz, that's wild amounts of money, right? you think of the hundreds of millions of dollars that have piled into their coffers since vice president harris, not even after she became the official nominee, but before when she was at the top of the ticket, that number for them gives them the capability of playing in states that maybe democrats didn't think they could play in, right? we're going to arizona. she's going to nevada. what they're saying to people is, oh, no, the map for them is open, much more open than they thought before. now they can take all of this excitement, all these crowds, and more importantly, take this money and pay people to knock on doors, do ads over and over on television in some of these rural areas that democrats have struggled in. do online advertising in different ways. that's how this campaign is thinking about using all this money. they don't want to get too excited about how much money it is, but the ability to go out

and make their message known to more people than they probably thought they were going to be able to is really fascinating. you know, if you talk to folks behind the scenes about what they thought they were going to be able to to when it was president biden on the ticket, this amount of money wasn't coming in. the big money donors and small money donors kind of stopped june 27th when they had the disastrous debate. giving money, that's changed. it's also a huge dynamic that the trump campaign is going to have to figure out how to teal with. a campaign with a lot of excitement and big crowds and, more importantly, a lot of money. >> eugene daniels, thank you very much. charlie sykes, thank you, as well. great to have you both on this morning. coming up on "morning joe," we'll have the highlights from another golden day for team usa at the summer olympics. plus, willie geist joins us live from paris. "morning joe" will be right back. there's an old saying in politics, what can swing

undecided voters in a place like wisconsin is whether you seem like somebody they'd like to have a beer with. >> yeah. >> why would people in wisconsin want to have a beer with you? [ laughter ] >> well, i guess they -- they'd want to have a beer with me because i actually do like to drink beer. were you worried the wedding would be too much? nahhhh... (inner monologue) another destination wedding?? we just got back from her sister's in napa. who gets married in napa? my daughter. who gets married someplace more expensive? my other daughter. cancun! jamaica!! why can't they use my backyard!! with empower, we get all of our financial questions answered. so we don't have to worry. can we get out of here? i thought you'd never ask. join 18 million americans and take control of your financial future with a real time dashboard and real life conversations. empower. what's next.

lyles will need a good leg here. can he deliver? with a real time dashboard and real life conversations. here comes the pass! look at this kid! coming in tight on the line. team usa, what a run! it's gold for team usa. noah lyles with another gold medal. in case there was any doubt, who was the breakout star of these world championships.

beautiful, live shot of paris. gorgeous day there. it was another day of historic wins for team usa there in france. let's get to the highlights. american sprinter quincy hall claimed gold in the men's 400 meter finals. he entered the last 100 meters well out of medal position but overtook the field to win by 0.04 of a second. what a comeback. meanwhile, in his debut at the olympics, kenneth rooks surged forward in the homestretch of the men's 3,000 meter steeplechase to earn silver. and katie moon added to the medal count in track and field, clearing nearly 16 feet, right there, for silver in the women's pole vault. for the second time in two days, an american woman has secured

wrestling gold. 30-year-old sarah hillenbrandt winning the fourth ever wrestling gold for the u.s. until yesterday, no two american female wrestlers had ever won gold at a single olympics. meanwhile, hampton morris became the first u.s. man in 40 years to win an olympic weightlifting medal, as he took bronze in the 61 kilogram final. the 20-year-old morris is also the youngest male u.s. weight lifter to win a medal since all the way back in 1956. and on the final day of olympic skateboarding events in paris, american tom shar earned silver in the park final. in the team competition, cyclist kristin faulkner earned her second medal of the paris games as she and three other american women rode to the first ever u.s. victory in team pursuit. in a return to the artistic swimming competition for the first time since 2008, and after

three spectacular routines over three days, the u.s. team was back on the podium for the first time since 2004, taking silver for its third ever olympic medal in the event. and the u.s. women's basketball team extended its olympic streak to 59 games yesterday. 59 straight wins. they beat nigeria, 88-74, to advance to the semifinals. now, just two victories away from a historic eighth straight gold medal. the united states remains atop the olympic field in all medal categories. a sizable lead in total medals. our margin, though, for the gold, just two right now over china. let's now bring in willie geist live from paris. willie, i thought i was hoping to see you participate in the artistic swimming competition. maybe in los angeles four years from now. but it is sad that the olympics are, frankly, starting to wind

down, but still a lot of great story lines. >> just barely. didn't make weight or talent for artistic swimming this time around, but high hopes for 2028. winding down. this is the last time i'll see you from this position in france, here in paris with the arc detriomphe. eiffel tower over there. headed home to you guys soon. the united states women's basketball team is a juggernaut. we saw it again last night. a'ja wilson, best player in the world, wnba mvp, another double-double for her. as john said, a 59th consecutive victory. the last time u.s. women's basketball lost in the olympics was in the semifinals of the 1992 barcelona games against the unified soviet team. meanwhile, on the track, that run by quincy hall, 400 meters, an incredible comeback for the gold medal there. weaving through traffic, first on the outside, improbable, then turned to the inside, found a

lane to win gold. a great win for him in the 400 meters. he thanked his community college in california after the race for teaching him the grit he needed to get the win. artistic swimming, it's the talk of the games. the american team did what they called an underwater moon walk to a little michael jackson music. the women winning the silver medal, their first medal in 20 years. if you haven't seen the video, check it out online. they're inverted underwater and moon walking with their feet across the top. there's a still picture of it. kind of incredible. by the way, this is not your mother or father's synchronized swimming. there are gymnastics throws out of the water. it's a fun event. the women of the united states took home silver. no medal for the first time ever in beach volleyball for the united states. the final men's pairing lost last night in the quarterfinals. both women's teams also have been knocked out. the other men's team knocked

out. there will be for the first time in olympic history no men's beach volleyball or women's beach volleyball medal for the united states. looking ahead today, it's about two things. noah lyles going for gold in the 200 meter. he won the 100 by 0.005 of a second. the great sydney mclaughlin, new jersey native, defending her gold medal in the 400 meter hurdles. she's also the world record holder. also, tonight in primetime on the court, the men's basketball team in the semifinals playing to get into the gold medal game. first, they've got to get through a friendly face. that is nikola jokic, the joker. the three-time nba mvp of serbia. the united states beat them about a week ago, serbia, in the pool round by 26 points. they're not letting their guard down. jokic is that good. final note to you, joe -- or to john and mika, today is the 32nd anniversary of the original

dream team, the 1992 dream team winning the gold medal in barcelona that changed, of course, the olympic basketball, that changed international basketball, brought the game to the world. they beat croatia by 32 points to win gold. they won their games by an average of 43 points. notably, mika, they never called a time-out during the tournament. there just wasn't much to discuss. back to you, mika. >> wow. willie geist reporting from paris. it's always great to see you, willie. thank you so much for your coverage. still ahead, american gymnast jordan chiles will be live in studio following her epic performance at the paris olympics. we'll show you the routine where she earned her first individual medal. also ahead, democratic senator debbie stabenow of michigan will join us with her take on governor tim walz and how he will play out with midwest voters. "morning joe" will be right back. customizes car insurance,

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just before the top of the hour, a live look at the white house. a rainy, dreary day in washington. so the test flight of boeing's starliner spacecraft was supposed to be a short mission. more than 60 days later, the two veteran nasa astronauts who piloted it are still stuck in space. nbc news senior aviation correspondent tom costello has

the latest on when they could return to earth. >> reporter: now on day 63 of what was supposed to be a ten-day mission, nasa astronauts butch wilmore and suni williams may remain until february. >> they may come home with crew 9. >> reporter: it's set to launch late september, returning next year. for months, nasa insisted wilmore and williams are not stuck in space. years behind schedule, boeing's troubled star liner launched on a test flight in early june, but star liner has remained docked to the space station with mission managers divided over whether it's safe to bring wilmore and williams home. ground teams are still trying to troubleshoot star liner's helium leaks and engine thruster problems. star liner needs the thrusters for a safe return. now, nasa could bring star liner home autonomously, without a crew. williams and wilmore, both nasa

veterans, insisted they're not worried. >> i have a real good feeling in my heart that this spacecraft will bring us home, no problem. >> reporter: in a statement, boeing says it still believes in starliner's capability and its flight rationale. if nasa decides to change the mission, they'll take actions for an uncrewed return. >> failure is not on option. that's why we're staying here now. >> reporter: a ten-day mission that could turn into eight months. >> eight months. nbc's tom costello with that report. we will be following that. turning back to politics at the top of the hour. the harris/walz campaign is making a key play in michigan and wisconsin, part of the so-called blue wall. the campaign yesterday revealed it now has 50 field offices in michigan and 48 in wisconsin. yesterday's campaign stops in two states marked harris' fifth trip to michigan this year and her sixth visit to wisconsin.

trump narrowly won both states in 2016 while president biden flipped the pair in 2020. trump last visited michigan in late july after the republican national convention. joining us now, the national co-chair for the harris/walz campaign, mitch landrieu. there's a lot of joy, a lot of optimism out of the box. a lot of attacks coming from the trump side. what's the campaign's strategy to stay on track, and geographically, what's the plan? >> first of all, thank you so much for having me this morning. as you know, you saw the vice president and tim walz in pennsylvania. you saw them in michigan, in wisconsin. what you also saw were thousands and thousands of people coming to see them. what has changed in the last 19 days is a lot of energy. obviously, the fundraising numbers are through the roof. over $300 million. of course, a huge number of

volunteers. nothing really beats organization and hard work. as you noted, the number of times she's been to michigan and wisconsin and, of course, pennsylvania. we also have been for a year organizing for this very moment. we know, and we still believe, this is a very, very, very close race. you know what hasn't changed? donald trump. donald trump is still a convicted felon. he is still a sexual abuser. he is still unfit for the presidency. he is really grabbing for straws right now and trying to find a way to make kamala harris and tim walz look bad. they're having a hard time doing it. >> on the fronts of criminality, on being liability for sexual abuse, liable for fraud, convicted in the new york case, i guess a convicted felon, how much of a line does the harris/walz team want to draw on that on stage? i noticed the crowd usually starts chanting, "lock him up," then the candidates say, whoa,

whoa, slow down. >> yeah. >> how do you define what is true about donald trump without then engaging in kind of drumming up behavior that perhaps we don't want to see on the campaign trail? >> well, i think the vice president did that yesterday. she told the crowd that's fine, but that's what the courts are for. we believe in law and order and the separation of powers and courts doing what they're supposed to do, ensuring nobody is above the law. however, the only jury that matters, the only people that will keep donald trump out of the oval office are the folks out there today. they have to go vote. this is going to be a very close election, make no mistake about it. we're thrilled with the energy, with the money, thrilled with the volunteers, because this is a fight for the future of america. the vice president has spoken to this eloquently, with great joy, great enthusiasm. this race was about anarchy versus democracy. now, it's about young v old. it's the future versus the past. do you want to live in a way

that brings people up or pushes people down? donald trump's character is where it needs to be, and people can't forget all the things that happened to him and whether he is fit for office. he has a vice presidential candidate not right, not ready, and he is not real. i put tim walz and kamala harris against those guys any day of the week. >> you mentioned the moment yesterday. i think it is worth taking a look at. she talks about some of the issues that will go to the courts versus the ultimate decision being made. take a look. >> as attorney general, i held the big wall street banks accountable for fraud. well, donald trump was just found guilty of fraud. 34 counts, to be exact. [ crowd chanting "lock him up" ]

>> hold on, hold on. here's the thing, the courts are going to handle that. we going to beat him in november. >> jackie alemany, you know, we watched that, and we'll probably see again donald trump vowing to pardon criminals, especially those who rioted at our country's capitol and vandalized it and injured people and, you know, there were people who lost their lives. it was a horrific day. yet, the former president is vowing to set them free and calls them hostages. there, again, is another contrast. >> yeah. and mr. mayor, thanks for your time this morning. we sort of skirted some of the negatives about the trump and jd vance campaign so far because

this week for democrats has been, not to overuse this word, such a joyful one. but i'm wondering how much behind the scenes has there been thought and discussions about how to potentially handle a redo of 2020, where we're seeing the presidential nominee who lost the campaign challenge the results and start a coup at the u.s. capitol on january 6th? is that something you guys are already -- that lawyers on the campaign are already trying to come up with some sort of strategy towards? >> first of all, the vice president can handle this without much help. she's going to remind people that when donald trump was president, this country was in chaos. everything donald trump turns to dirt. he turned father against son, mother against daughter. it was a terrible time. we went through one of the most incredible economic declines. of course, we had chaos with the way he handled covid because he

asked people to drink bleach. she and president biden had to pull everybody out of that and put us in the position we are in now. we have a clear contrast between the past and the future, about whether you want to go dark, which is everything donald trump does, or whether or not you want to have a future that's full of hope, optimism, and joy, i think is a great word. you can see this in tim walz. you can see it in the vice president. i think you'd agree with me that her presentations for the last 20 days have really been nothing but spectacular. and i think she handled the crowd, the most important thing, with great judgment and wisdom. listen, i have the character to be the president of the united states, so, yes, donald trump's team, every time he said something about a democrat, they yelled "lock him up," but what she said yesterday, we believe in a nation of laws where nobody is above the law. let the court system take care of that. i'm going to beat donald trump on election day. what you need to do is go out and vote to make sure he never gets within 100 feet of the oval office ever again. >> national co-chair for the harris/walz campaign, mitch

landrieu, thank you for coming on this morning. >> thanks for having me. >> good to have you. the trump campaign has tried to go after governor tim walz's response to the riots in minneapolis in the aftermath of the 2020 murder of george floyd. but despite that criticism, then president trump said he was, quote, very happy with governor walz's handling of the situation at the time. he said it in real time. trump posted this photo on social media yesterday with the text, "tim walz let minnesota burn. kamala harris becamed out the ones who lit the matches." hours later, audio surfaced of a phone call between then president trump and u.s. governors on june 1st of 2020, in which trump praises walz for his response to the riots and his activation of the national guard. take a listen to this. >> i know governor walz is on the phone and we spoke.

and i fully agree with the way he handled it the last couple of days. so the best example, i alluded to it a couple of seconds ago, is minneapolis. it was incredible what happened in the state of minnesota. two days, three days later, i spoke to the governor. the governor is, i think, on the call, and he's an excellent guy. and all of a sudden -- and i said, you've got to use the national guard in big numbers. they didn't at first. then they did. and i'll tell you that -- i don't know what it was. it was governor -- it was the third night, fourth night. those guys walked through that stuff like it was butter. they walked right through, and you haven't had any problems since. >> the audio was obtained by abc news but has not been confirmed by nbc news yet. for the record, then president trump did not publicly call for the national guard to be activated until may 29th, 2020,

the day after walz activated the national guard. the trump campaign issued a statement to nbc news reading in part, quote, "in this daily briefing phone call with governors, president trump acknowledged governor walz for finally taking action to deploy the national guard, to end the violence in the city." let's bring in senior political columnist for "politico," jonathan martin. j-mart, i think the walz/harris campaign was preparing for this. there was a lot of discussion about bringing in the national guard, but as you can see, donald trump is on the record as praising him. i wonder if that sort of makes their criticism a little flat. >> well, it's a strong pushback from governor walz when you have audio tape of the president praising you for what he's now criticiing you for. that's straightforward. i vividly recall those conference calls with governors, mika, from that summer of 2020.

some of that audio got out in real time. we reported some of it. those conversations very much did happen with trump. look, this is classic trump. when people are next to him, in front of him, in the room with him, he typically is lavishing praise. he wants to be their buddy, and he wants them to like him. like, that is classic trump. that's how he operates. obviously, down the road, when it is politically aadvantageous he wants to say something different. this is sort of standard issue donald trump. the challenge here, mika, is he is on tape. this is the challenge with trump. whenever he is on tape saying stuff, it is harder for him to walk it back. he'll try to walk anything back or claim he didn't say something. he can't now because, obviously, there's audio of that. >> j-mart, let's talk about your newest piece which you co-authored. reviving an interview you did with governor walz a few years back while you were reporting

out your book. the headline is right there, "it brought armed people to my house," walz talking about people being targeted by trump. we live in an era now of escalating political rhetoric and political violence, as was on display a few weeks ago. tell us more about those conversations. >> alex and i interviewed governor walz for our book. this was around labor day of 2021. it was so striking and memorable, that conversation, precisely because the headline you put up there, jonathan, that january 6th, we all remember that as happening in the u.s. capitol and the awful events taking place in the capitol. what's less known but important for history is that governors around the country, and governors managing state capitals, had escalated security threats and sometimes were scared for their security and family's security. this was a national chain of events, frankly. governor walz told us he was

concerned for his son's safety that day. it sort of shows just how close we came, frankly, to facing even worse political violence that day. we put some of that in our book. "this will not pass," which you can buy today on amazon.com. a lot was not in the book, so we posted a long q&a on "politico" yesterday that folks can read. during her remarks last night in detroit, vice president harris was interrupted by a handful of pro-palestinian protesters. let's take a look now at how she responded. >> [ crowd chanting ] >> it's all good. it's all good. i'm here because we believe in

democracy. everyone's voice matters, but i am speaking now. i am speaking now. you know what? if you want donald trump to win, then say that. otherwise, i'm speaking. >> okay. i didn't see that coming. pretty good. joining us now, democratic senator debbie stabenow of michigan who spoke at the detroit rally last night. that's a dicey moment. how do you think she handled it? >> well, first of all, mika, it's always great to be with you. i have to say, it was so impressive. i mean, i was behind the stage with tim walz at the time, a group of us, and we were watching on screen. we couldn't hear exactly what was being said by folks in the crowd, but we heard her respond and say people had the right to speak. then we heard something else, and when she did that, the look on her face was priceless, actually. i turned to tim walz and said, you don't want to ever do anything to cause that face.

we were just all, like, wow. what a powerful, powerful moment. not easy when you're standing in front of over 15,000 people and something like that happens, but i thought she was magnificent. >> senator, so what the protesters were shouting at the vice president, because it is tough to hear on the audio, "you can't hide. you're committing genocide." we know the vice president in her rhetoric has condemned some of the civilian casualties there in gaza. but it's clear, the war in the middle east has dogged this white house, and there are certainly expectations that there will be significant protests, perhaps, at the convention in chicago in just two weeks time. how concerned are you this could be a real issue, particularly in your home state ofmichigan, which features a large muslim-american, arab-american population, and many of those

people are deeply pained by what's happening in gaza? >> that's an important question. frankly, we're all pained. we are all pained about the loss of life. the hostages need to come home. there needs to be a cease-fire and a peace agreement, which is what president biden and vice president harris are working towards. we need to be respectful of everyone. what has been happening is absolutely horrible, no question about it. i think the vice president has reflected that in her comments over and over. i will also say, though, that there were many of us that spoke, a number of us spoke as elected officials who all share the same general feeling about bringing the hostages home, cease-fire, you know, certainly supporting israel's self-defense and, you know, against hamas. at the same time, standing up against the loss of life, palestinian loss of life. the only time that this happened at all, the disruption at all,

was at a moment that she was speaking in. not for me, not for the governor, not for anyone else. it was not a general theme is what i'm saying. because the larger group, i mean, everyone supporting our ticket and wants them to win. even when the group spoke up, which they have every right to do, they were overwhelmed by people saying, "we don't want to go back. we don't want to go back." basically supporting her. so it's very important, but it's only one piece of michigan, the complexity of michigan. you know, this was the sixth time she came back to the state just this year, which is amazing. and i do have to just get in, if you want to make an entrance, do it on air force two. i have never seen an entrance like that before.

it was masterful. the crowd really went wild. >> hey, senator. i want to pivot a little bit to your personal story and where you are in your career right now. you are retiring from the senate where the median age is almost 66 years old. congresswoman elissa slotkin is running to replace you. few weeks ago, slotkin mentioned on a call with donors you were doing a radical thing, by passing the torch. joe biden shortly thereafter followed your path. i'm wondering, you know, if you can talk a little bit about that decision-making process, and whether you have any advice to some of your fellow colleagues in the senate about whether they should do the same? >> well, first, i'll say i'm so proud of elissa slotkin, who is going to win, hold my seat, which is exciting. she won by 75% in her contested

primary. i'm very excited for that. for me, i just think it is very important to really know when to pass the torch. both for personal reasons, it was important to me. my mom is 98. you know, i've got grandkids i want to spend more time with. i also think we're at a time where we need new ideas and we need new energy. i think that what the president did was very, very courageous. i think it is important to be able to make those decisions. the president called me the day after he had made that decision and said, you and i are both retiring the end of the year. we're going to hold hands and run through the tape. we'd be better off with each of us taking a look at that and making that kind of decision. >> senator debbie stabenow of michigan, thank you very much for coming on the show this morning. >> pleasure. >> we appreciate it.

all right. take care. as kamala harris and tim walz hit the campaign trail in full force, their opponent at the top of the gop ticket, donald trump, has been noticeably absent. the republican presidential nominee has just one rally scheduled for this week in the deep red state of montana. it is going to take place tomorrow, the though there is a competitive senate race there. in his absence, trump's running mate, jd vance, has been traveling the country, trying to rebound after a somewhat bumpy start to his time on the national ticket. joining us now, politics reporter for "semaphore," shelby talcott, who spoke about the state of the race. it's featured in her latest piece online now. shelby, set the scene for this conversation. what did you learn about the candidate?

>> thanks for having me. this was sort of at the end of a very long day of travel. jd vance obviously trailing the vice president, heading to michigan and wisconsin for what were effectively press conferences. he argued throughout the day that the vice president needs to take more questions from the press. he also talked a lot about immigration, crime, the economy, and those sort of are the big things that the trump campaign is trying to focus on when it comes to going after the harris/walz ticket. he also spoke to me about the new running mate. he argued that, you know, this narrative that tim walz is this midwestern guy is not going to hit with voters who are more concerned about -- who are less concerned about style over substance. and that, you know, the overall pro-family vibes that we have heard so much from democrats on walz is also not going to fly.

>> shelby, jonathan martin here. now are you? >> good. how are you? >> good. hey, a question for you on the body language. when you were asking senator vance about trump's nicknames for vice president harris, when you were talking to him about, you know, trump's claims about her racial identity, what was vance's body language like? you know, was he comfortable talking about that, or was he acting like he'd rather be staring a laser through his shoes as you asked him those questions? >> you know, i will say he did seem fairly comfortable. he seemed eager to talk to the press. i believe that is in part because the trump campaign is trying to push out this argument that, hey, they're willing to go talk to the press. they're willing to speak on x, y, z issues. jd vance is a decent communicator. he answered questions on the tarmac. he answered questions about, you

know, this new nickname that donald trump has for the vice president. he answered questions to me about some of his own controversies, including that "washington post" report that came out yesterday about him speaking to charles johnson. he seemed willing to answer those questions, albeit, of course, these are, you know, not questions he necessarily wants to answer, but he did seem fairly comfortable, i would say, with answering them. >> all right. politics reporter for "semaphore," shelby talcott. thank you. j-mart, i want to close the block with you. three months until election day. a lot of moment. it's only been a couple days, though. anything can happen. >> yeah. >> i'm curious what your thoughts are in terms of ways in which the trump campaign could change the momentum, could try and change the game. i feel like the stakes in a debate are becoming more and

more possible here. >> yeah. >> because they need a moment. >> yes. >> that was the moment, i think, that turned things in their direction, but now everything looks really different. >> yeah, i think you're right. trump needs the debate, mika, more than kamala harris does. i think that's why you're going to see him agree to a debate, fox or not. i'm not sure we'll have more than one, but i think we'll have one. trump obviously believes that when kamala harris is off the teleprompter, she's off script, she won't be as effective. i think that obviously could be trump's golden opportunity. i think we also saw last night, mika, the first illustration of the tenuousness, frankly, of the democratic coalition. she's in michigan. there's this repeated protest about the palestinians. obviously, she responded like she did, which delighted the crowd and delighted a lot of her supporters, but it's not going to delight some of the arab-american voters in

michigan. i think can she hold that coalition together? it is so precarious for the next 85 days. trump obviously will try to do everything he can to upset that coalition. >> senior political columnist for "politico," jonathan martin, thank you, as always, for being on the show this morning. coming up on "morning joe," a look at some of the other stories making headlines this morning. including falling mortgage rates and the race to refinance. also ahead, we'll be joined by the democratic candidate looking to unseat gop senator josh hawley of missouri this november. marine veteran lucas kunce is standing by and joins us next. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. g of finding psoriasis can't filter out the real you. so go ahead, live unfiltered with the one and only sotyktu, a once-daily pill for moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, and the chance at clear or almost clear skin. it's like the feeling of finding you're so ready

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show me paris. xfinity internet customers can enjoy the ultimate entertainment experience and save on some of the biggest names in streaming, all for just $15 a month. get the fastest connection to paris with xfinity. 31 past the hour. live look at rockefeller plaza on a rainy morning in new york city. a look at other stories making headlines this morning. there is a new lawsuit connected to the deep sea catastrophe involving the titan submerible that imploded on a voyage to the "titanic "last year. five people died in the disaster. oceangate and others are accused of gross negligence for the design and operation of the sub. $15 million is being sought.

mortgage rates are at the lowest in nearly a year. new buyers and existing homeowners are racing to seize the moment. there's a surge in refinancing applications, 59% higher than the same time one year ago. and a court in china denied a woman the right to freeze her eggs because she's not married. the 36-year-old freelance writer says she lost her long-running legal battle. according to "the wall street journal," most chinese hospitals require women to provide marriage certificates for fertility treatments. the ruling could have broad implications for the country's ongoing population decline. we're going to turn back to politics now. veteran lucas kunce easily won last night's missouri democratic senate primary, beating his nearest opponent for the nomination by nearly 45 points. he will now take on incumbent

senator, republican josh hawley, who congratulated kunce on his win and immediately challenged him to a debate next week. lucas kunce joins us now. the democratic nominee for senate in missouri. congratulations, for being on the show this morning and for winning the primary. so will you debate josh hawley? >> thanks for having me. i'm really excited to be here. you know, josh hawley wants to debate at the state fair next week on a thursday morning, and we agreed to it. but, you know, the funny thing is, he doesn't want any moderators there. he didn't want news cameras, any of that stuff. you know, we got a news station that wants to host it now and moderate, and we'll be there. the question for us is, is he still the coward of january 6th or will he show up and do this thing and answer the hard questions? >> oh, tell me, first of all, you're game to debate, ready to go? >> yeah, we've signed up for four right now. in fact, we agreed to do one on fox news, his home turf. again, the guy doesn't want to

answer questions like why he stole $250,000 from missouri taxpayers by violating ethics laws. he doesn't want to answer questions about why he refuses to protect ivf and contraception. he doesn't want to answer questions about why he thinks no-fault divorces should no longer be available, and people would be stuck in dangerous marriages. but, you know, we want every missourian to be able to see the contrast between me and him, so we signed up and will keep signing up. we'll see if he shows or not. >> out on the campaign trail, what do you hear about january 6th? there's a lot of disinformation about it. it's true that donald trump wants to pardon these people. you call josh hawley the coward of january 6th. what do you mean by that? >> that's what happens when you have control freak, you know, power-hungry politicians who only care about power for themselves. the fallout for him on january 6th is when he thinks it is going to get himself some power,

he's out there raising his fist, shaking up a crowd. then the second things get real, he's skittering out the back door and running away. i'll tell you, as a marine for 13 years, who deployed to iraq and afghanistan, that type of cowardice would have gotten us court marshalled. i think we're seeing his unwilling to answer questions, the exact same guy who ran away from the crowd he incited on january 6th. missourians want to be proud of their u.s. senator, and this guy is an embarrassment. >> good morning. obviously, missouri has been a republican state the last handful of cycles. the president race just changed. vice president harris now atop the democratic ticket, no longer president biden. how has that changed things in your state, on the ground there in missouri? how has it impacted democrats and also swing and independent voters, even republicans you'd need to win to capture the senate seat? >> there's a huge amount of energy right now. couple other things we have going on in missouri is, a, my

campaign and, b, we have an abortion petition on the ballot, constitutional amendment to enshrine the right to abortion and codify roe v. wade. people are excited to protect their rights and take power from the power-hungry, control freak politicians back. one of the things that's exciting for me on my campaign, i grew up in a working class neighborhood in missouri. parents had four kids. my littlest sister had a heart condition. you know what happens to working class families when medical disasters strike. my parents went bankrupt. it was a really hard time. the reason we made it isn't because country club politicians like josh hawley were there for us. it's the people in that neighborhood who had no more money than we did passed the plate down at church for us, brought food by the house, and took care of us. i spent my life as a u.s. marine trying to pay everybody back. this run is the next step in this service. people are hungry for someone who is ready to serve others, not just themselves.

we see that energy in crowds all around the state, not just in kansas city and st. louis, but in dexter, st. john, and it's out there. people are saying it's the biggest crowd they've seen for democrats in some of the areas since 1976. we are going to win this race and take power back for everyday people, from guys like josh hawley who only care about themselves. >> lucas, we have jackie alemany from "the washington post." she has the next question. >> congrats on the big night. you're a 13-year marine veteran, deployed to iraq and afghanistan, stationed near a burn pit. you're equipped for the debate playing out on the presidential. what do you make of trump and vance's attacks on tim walz's military career? >> i haven't been paying a lot of attention to that, but these guys, all they do is attack veterans. they don't care about us. they don't understand. one of the things we see here in missouri that's going to be huge for us, in winning this

campaign, is that missouri right now doesn't have a single member of congress who is a veteran, and it shows. it shows from attacks they do on veterans. josh hawley played politics, installed the pact act, exposing us to burn pits in iraq and afghanistan. these guys don't get it, don't care about it. one of the things we talk about on the campaign trail is, next fall, don't just thank a veteran for their service. do something about it. put a veteran in congress from missouri so we can protect each other. missourians are good people, veterans helped care for me as a kid, and it'll go all the way down. >> democratic nominee for senate in missouri, lucas kunce, thank you for being on the show this morning. we appreciate it. >> thanks for having me. >> all right. coming up, we'll bring you the latest on russia's war in ukraine. an update on recovery efforts in

kyiv now one month since a deadly attack on a children's hospital there. we'll be joined by the leader of a non-profit that is working to rebuild that medical center. "morning joe" is coming right back. saw a significant improvement of their psoriasis plaques. some even saw 100% clear skin. and for those with psoriatic arthritis, taltz reduces joint pain and stiffness. don't use if you are allergic to taltz. before starting, get checked for tuberculosis. increased risk of infections and lower ability to fight them may occur. tell your doctor about infections, symptoms, or if inflammatory bowel disease symptoms develop, worsen or if you had a vaccine or plan to. serious allergic reactions can occur. ask your doctor about taltz. if you have generalized myasthenia gravis,

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we're following reports out of europe of an incursion into russian territory by ukrainian troops. yesterday, a russian official

said up to 1,000 ukrainian soldiers tried to enter the country on tuesday and that at least 100 troops were killed in the fighting. nbc news has not verified those claims. however, multiple outlets report that fighting continues in the area. meanwhile, today marks one month since a massive russian air assault on ukraine, killing more than 40 people across the country and destroying a huge section of a children's hospital in kyiv. the u.n. rights mission says there is a high likelihood the hospital took a direct hit from a russian missile. let's bring in the ceo of the humanity funds, a non-profit organization working to help rebuild that children's hospital in kyiv. thank you so much for coming on the show. given that the hospital took such a direct hit, i want to hear about what it is going to take to rebuild. but first, tell us about the

damage that was done and the pain that was inflicted when this children's hospital suffered such a massive attack. >> yes, thank you, mika, for having me. yeah, it is exactly a month ago that, in the morning, around 10:40, the hospital got hit by what we think is a guided missile directly from russia. the damage is horrific. the main building is completely destroyed. six other buildings are completely destroyed. one grandfather was visiting his grandson, died on the spot. horrific images of dust, very loud noise. a friend of mine texted me, and i knew something was going on because i received about 40 whatsapp messages early in the morning of these pictures. it is really an attack that's beyond imagination, at a place where, you know, you treat children. they had about 600 children at

the time of the attack. about 600 people, medical staff working there. they all are evacuated now, spread over different hospitals in kyiv. they are focusing now on assessing the structural integrity of the buildings, and they hope to restore it. >> yeah. i mean, just to add to your description, 41 people, civilians, were killed in the aftermath of the blast, parenting walking outside the streets of the hospital, just dazed and sobbing. obviously, you can see the damage in the video that we're showing. given that the damage is so severe, what is the effort? what will it take to rebuild? i guess i have to ask, why, if not spread people to other hospitals, why is it important to rebuild this hospital? >> yeah, thank you for asking. it is a very good question. you need to understand that this

is the largest children's hospital in ukraine. they have capabilities that other hospitals in ukraine simply don't have. including the oncology department, the toxology department, surgeries no one else can do. they had three open-heart surgeries at the time of the attack. it is extremely important they're able to rebuild that main building that was destroyed for the icu, emergency care, and being able to conduct these surgeries. right now, what they have to do is to send their medical staff to other hospitals, trying to deal with this massive influx of children at a time when the numbers are increasing. the war is going on at the east front. >> ceo of the humanity funds, silke johnstone, thank you very much for the update. thank you very much for coming on the show this morning. we appreciate it. we'll be following that. up next, we'll have the latest on the terror threat that

forced the cancellation of taylor swift's concerts in austria. and it's been a roller coaster week on wall street. cnbc's andrew ross sorkin will join us with insights on how the markets are shaping up this morning. that's all ahead on "morning joe."

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53 past the hour. taylor swift concert slated for today through saturday as part of her eras tour in vienna have

been canceled after austrian police foiled what they say was a terrorist plot. nbc news correspondent kelly kobier has the latest. ♪ i stay out too late ♪ >> reporter: this morning, new revelations in the investigation after an alleged terror plot against taylor swift's massive tour was foiled. the music superstar forced to cancel three shows in vienna, austria as she wraps up the europe leg of her eras tour. one of the suspects a 19-year-old austrian, pledged his allegiance to isis. the other was 17 years old. the duo was radicalized online and had specific plans to carry out an attack, adding at least one had chemical substances, but not all of the components needed to make a bomb. >> so even if it was a smaller attack, i think her name was

what they're after. >> reporter: according to swift's website, fans will be provided a full refund for their tickets, but for those who traveled from around the world, they're on the hook for travel and other expenses. >> the women in my family have been planning this trip for over a year. >> reporter: but some fans also praising the response. >> i think they handled it really professionally, and also they acted fast, and obviously we all want to be safe. >> reporter: there have been fears around major concert events for years. in 2017, 22 people died after terrorists attacked an ariana grande concert in manchester, england. in the following years, swift called such attacks her biggest fear telling "elle" magazine she was terrified to go on tour. swift said her team put a tremendous amount of planning and effort to keep hurt fans safe. while authorities believe they have minimized the threat in austria, event organizers said they had no choice but to cancel

swift's shows for everyone's safety. >> we were all just really sad. i guess it's good in that, like, we're safe, but also really scary. >> nbc's kelly kobier with that report. we'll say on that. still ahead, we'll move back to politics with a look at what happened on the campaign trail. kamala harris and tim walz spoke at two packed rallies while jd vance couldn't answer the simple question of what makes him happy without getting combative. we'll show you all of that coming up on "morning joe."

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xfinity internet customers can buy one unlimited line and get one free for a year. get the fastest connection to paris with xfinity. so this is a fight to make real the promise of america for every person in our nation, and also i'll tell you and i promise you, our campaign's going to reach out to everyone, from red states, from blue states, from the heartland to the coast. we are running a campaign on behalf of all americans, and when elected, we will govern on behalf of all americans. [ cheers and applause ] because coach walz and i know, and we're clear about this unlike the other side, we work for you. we work for you, the american

people, and we will always fight for you, for your family, for your freedoms, and for your future. >> vice president kamala harris speaking at yet another packed rally. thousands of people stepped up to watch her, one of two stops on the campaign trail yesterday in key battleground states. it comes as donald trump has been relatively quiet on the trail, hunkered down at mar-a-lago, and complaining about the vice president's surge in the polls. we'll go through all of that in just a moment, and we will fact check the trump campaign's attack of minnesota governor tim walz regarding his military service. also ahead, what was supposed to be an eight-day mission for two astronauts could now extend into the next year. we'll explain why they're stuck on the international space station. that's a long time. good morning, and welcome to "morning joe." it is thursday, august 8th.

joe is traveling this morning. willie will join us later with an update at the olympics in paris. with us, we have the host of "way too early," white house bureau chief at politico, jonathan lemire, author of the book "how the right lost its mind," charlie sykes, congressional investigations reporter for "the washington post," jackie alemany is with us this morning, and co-author of "the playbook," eugene daniels is with us as well. good to have all of you with us this morning. so vice president kamala harris and her running mate, minnesota governor tim walz, spent their first full day together on the campaign trail with two stops in the midwest. the pair visited eau claire, wisconsin yesterday looking at the democratic ticket. there was plenty of enthusiasm for harris and walz. look at this line. this says everything you need to know. standing in the sun, waiting for a chance to get to a kamala

harris-tim walz rally. 12,000 people packed the outdoor rally despite warm temperatures which governor walz acknowledged when he spoke to the crowd. meanwhile the vice president again, drew a clear contrast between their campaign and the republican ticket. >> and a real special thank you to everybody here looking out across here. look, you're busy people. you got things to do. it's a summer day. you had to walk two miles. i had nothing to do with that by the way. nothing. [ laughter ] but you came here for one beautiful, simple reason. you love this country and this democracy. [ cheers and applause ] >> and understand in this fight as tim walz likes to point out, we are joyful warriors. joyful warriors. [ cheers and applause ]

because we know that while fighting for a brighter future may be hard work, hard work is good work. hard work is good work, and so we will continue to fight for affordable housing, for affordable health care, affordable child care, and paid leave. [ cheers and applause ] we believe in a future where we lower the cost of living for america's families so that they have a chance not just to get by, but to get ahead. >> so then it was onto michigan after that event in wisconsin. vice president harris and governor walz spoke to a fired up crowd in detroit, michigan last night. the campaign says it was forced to change venues to an airport hangar after receiving 47,000 ticket requests to the event.

according to the campaign, 15,000 attended making it one of their largest rallies yet. >> unlike donald trump, i will always put the middle class and working families first. [ cheers and applause ] because coach walz and i know the middle class built this great country of ours, and when the middle class is strong, america is strong. the man has openly vowed if re-elected that he will be a dictator on day one. [ boos ] think about what that means. when he said that he will even, quote, terminate the constitution of the united states. [ boos ] because let us be very clear. someone who suggests we should terminate the constitution of the united states should never

again stand behind the seal of the president of the united states. never again. [ cheers and applause ] >> i don't know if we can find some video of the crowds there, but charlie sykes, i would like to go to you because yesterday on the show, you said, i think it will be interesting to see what happens in michigan and wisconsin. so what do you think about what is happening in michigan and wisconsin, especially at rallies like this where you have people showing up in the heat, showing up because they just met tim walz, and they want to get more, and they are just meeting kamala harris as a candidate, but they're showing up for her in droves, and i'll just say personal anecdote, i know some republican women who worked in government for republican candidates and politicians who are showing up at one of these rallies, who are going to travel across the country to be there for kamala harris and tim walz. what do you make of it? is it a sugar high or is

something happening here? >> well, it may be a sugar high, but something's definitely happening here. you know, you always try to sift out the wishful thinking and the speculation from what's actually happening, and that's actually happening. eau claire, wisconsin, is a -- i would say, 52%, 53% biden area surrounded by -- surrounded by a sea of red. that's a big crowd to turn out in wisconsin, but you're seeing this around the country, and i think it's an indication of the fact that, here's a party that hasn't had these kinds of big rallies, that hasn't had this kind ofenthusiasm, and it is really generating a lot of activism that you don't see. i was talking to some democrats yesterday here in wisconsin, and they're seeing this up and down the ballot. i mean, it's not just the presidential race. these people are being activated, and again, you know, just remember where we were three weeks ago.

the mood of the democratic party compared to this is really extraordinary, but that turnout in wisconsin is important, because of course, this is the theory of the case, right? for tim walz, that is that he will have this kind of appeal not just in minnesota, but in rural areas like eau claire, wisconsin, and in michigan, and at least that's playing out in the short-term, and the contrast -- the contrast between what you're seeing there on the screen and the fact that -- where is donald trump? donald trump is not on the -- he's not on the campaign trail, and you have jd vance doing this sort of pathetic, weird stalking thing. so this is rather extraordinary split screen. the nontrump campaign versus these kinds of enthusiastic rallies. >> right. we're going to get to the awkward stalking the plane moment in just a minute, but i'm just curious, jonathan lemire, because, of course, joe doesn't

like it when i do this, but i do watch a lot of the right, whether it's fox news or news max or podcasts, and i want to hear what the reaction is on the right, and what i found interesting is that it's extremely mixed and extremely vitriolic and extremely loud, but not all the same stories. almost as if there's a grasping going on. i could be overstating it, but it's everything from talking about his walk, talking about his appearance, trying to spread disinformation about his story, but very loud, very -- there's almost, like, a manic reaction to scramble, to figure out what's wrong with this guy, and then you cut to a picture of tim walz and he's on the shotgun with his daughter at the minnesota state fair or, you know, surrounded by kids. i mean, he doesn't have -- i don't know. i mean, does this look like a cruel, mean guy? does this look like the

bogeyman? because last time i checked, he's a pretty popular guy who is now garnering crowds of 10, 12, 14,000 along with kamala harris. so which is it, jonathan lemire? >> yeah. i mean, certainly right now, republicans are straining for any sort of coherent attack lines on the new democratic ticket, on vice president harris, on governor walz. i mean, they're debuting a few more, which will see if they have traction or not, including calling into his military service. this is a remarkable rollout for the democrats and stark contrast to the very shaky rollout that jd vance has had so far since he was added to the ticket. we should note the political report which has a pretty good read on polling and handle of things, just moved three states. arizona, nevada, and georgia, all three had been leaning republican. now in the tossup category which shows harris had moved anywhere between 2 and 5 points in those states showing how tight this race has become. >> wow.

>> and eugene daniels, we saw there in wisconsin the appeal of this ticket, you know, sort of out in more suburban, rural areas. that's where tim walz is going to spend a lot of time, but the vice president and her running mate were also in detroit last night. you were in detroit. you were at the rally, and she drew a big crowd there as well, and that's also so key here. there are so many democrats in months, the last few months where president biden was atop the ticket, that were worried he couldn't turn out cities. he couldn't turn out young voters. he couldn't turn out voters of color. you need to run up margins in the big cities in order to win those battleground states at least for one night. harris proved quite the draw. give us your read -- give us your takeaways to what you saw. >> yeah. 15,000 people in kind of an airport hangar is not how i typically think of vice president harris, and i have been covering her for this entire time, and during 2019, it is people looking for, and i talked to folks yesterday, who were hot and people were kind of

falling out needing water, who stayed there for hours waiting to just get a glimpse. it's something we've never seen because they see her as a solution to a problem they had. for a long time, democrats felt like they had no chance, and in a lot of these states including michigan, they were losing their grip on the possibility of winning later in november, that they were losing the ability to beat donald trump, and so what you are hearing and seeing from folks is this excitement that, like, we're back on the board, right? that is how democrats are feeling right now. and they see vice president harris, and now tim walz as a new beginning to something, and they have not a lot of time. i will say vice president harris herself has been very clear with her team. talk to a bunch of staff in the hotel as you can see here in detroit, and the thing that they keep saying is that she has brought up over and over and over again to remind her team to not get obsessed with the sugar high. we reported this to politico a couple of weeks ago.

she's continued to say that. she continues to say we're the underdog because she is cognizant of 2016 when democrats felt like they had it in the bag, and folks didn't turn out to vote. she's telling everybody, including the folks at the rallies, the folks behind close doors, don't get used to this. you have to get out and do the work. we are the underdogs because she could see how excited a candidate could get with these ralies and at the end of the day, maybe it doesn't turn itself into an actual win in november. >> mm-hmm. >> like i said, i have been covering her this entire time, and the idea that vice president harris would have 15,000 people in an airport hangar in michigan is just, like, it is kind of head-spinning for those of us who have been paying a lot of attention, and also same thing for president biden, right? president biden's biggest events were 2,000, 3,000 people. those pale in serious comparison, including the folks

in wisconsin who walked for miles, literally two miles including our colleague eli in a snyder who had to walk to the event. people have been doing that here, there, and we're going to arizona later today for her event tomorrow, and it seems like the campaign says there's a lot -- there's thousands and thousands of people ready to do the same thing. so this is -- the swing and the rollout of tim walz and this ticket is going very well for vice president harris and her team now. >> i don't -- i completely agree. kamala harris of all people would know, you never -- especially as a woman, we know never to get confident and to keep the work going, but if you look at that crowd, if i could just point out some contrasts here, donald trump says people in the crowd should get punched. reporters should get punched, you know, screams things about people who need to get dragged out. we will have kamala harris' response to protesters in just a

moment, and by the way, jackie alemany, let's see. people like getting so overheated at rallies or in audiences, and needing water, you know where that happens? at adele concerts, at taylor swift concerts. you get them on instagram. you see those moments where adele is, like, stop, stop, please. let's get this person some water, and tim walz literally did that yesterday because somebody needed water, and it was trending as this incredible moment. i don't know what's going on, but people are very excited about this ticket, and this ticket knows it needs to keep working. the harris campaign is booked and busy, visiting swing states this weekend, and there's another contrast. former president trump's schedule seems kind of empty. he spent the past couple of days in dark mar-a-lago posting pictures with a podcaster. today the vice president will

hold another campaign event in michigan before traveling to phoenix for a rally there tomorrow. harris then heads to las vegas for a campaign event on saturday. meanwhile trump's campaign, the website lists one event for his support -- i feel like i need a sad trombone. a rally tomorrow in bozeman, montana. not really a swing state, but the former president is not happy with the state of his campaign reportedly. multiple sources tell "the washington post" trump has grown increasingly upset about harris' surging poll numbers and media coverage since replacing biden on the ticket, complaining relentlessly and asking friends about, how his campaign is performing. it's unfair. he is a victim, that i beat him and now i have to beat her too. trump told an ally in a phone call last weekend. according to the paper, trump's campaign has found itself publicly struggling to manage the daily news cycle as excitement around harris has

swelled along with her campaign activity. it has left people close to the campaign wondering why trump and his team seemed ill-prepared given that they had privately speculated for weeks after biden's disastrous june 27th debate performance that harris was going to be the nominee. "the post" also reports that outside allies are now telling trump that he does not have the significant ground game in key battleground states, and to spend more on digital advertising saying he's being pummeled online. for its part, the campaign remains confident that he will win decisively in november. so jackie, the schedules say everything you need to know about donald trump and jd vance versus kamala and tim. >> yeah, mika. the contrast really could not be more dramatic, and jarring right

now, and it's some incredible reporting you read from my colleagues about the dark hole that donald trump finds himself in weeks after a convention where a lot of republicans thought they had locked this up, and that there was really no world in which joe biden would do the hard thing and pass the torch to kamala harris, and that there wouldn't have been such a seamless transition that we've seen now. even now with some of the disappointments that republicans were trying to set up this week, trying to make this leap that, you know, kamala harris picking tim walz over someone like josh shapiro who republicans claimed they were far more terrified of having him as her running mate. even that attack has fallen flat as you've seen. we've all seen the tim walz helping kamala harris put together these adele-esque concerts. again, a very stark contrast to this grievance fest we've seen so far.

you have jd vance with a boss who has not even been able to give him really anything more than milquetoast statements of endorsements, you know, saying on the nabj stage last week after saying a slew of pretty inflammatory and offensive comments about harris that it didn't matter that jd vance was his vp pick at the end of the day because the vp pick doesn't matter. this is a campaign that is clearly struggling. you have his alies speaking on the record. lindsey graham saying that the president really needs to sort of get -- the former president really needs to get his acting to together here, and mean while you see walz and harris forging ahead and running this, what everyone is calling and what is clearly apparent, whether you're a republican or a democrat, that this joy -- this campaign of infectious and dynamic joy that we're seeing. coming up, speaking of jd vance, things aren't getting much better for trump's

republican running mate. we'll show you his awkward stunt yesterday in wisconsin, and strange attempt at praising donald trump. that's next on "morning joe."

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you have been criticized of being a little too serious, maybe angry sometimes. what makes you smile? what makes you happy? >> well, i smile at a lot of things including bogus questions from the media, man. i mean, look. i think if you watch -- if you watch a full speech that i give, i actually am having a good time out here and i'm enjoying this, but look. sometimes you got to take the good with the bad, and right now i am angry about what kamala harris has done to this country and done to the american southern border, and i think that most people in our country, they can be happy-go-lucky sometimes. they can enjoy things sometimes and they can turn on the news and recognize that what's going on in this country is a disgrace. president trump in particular has the best sense of humor of anybody i've ever seen in american politics. he loves to joke. he loves to tell -- he loves to make fun of everybody that's out there, and i think you ought to do that from time to time, but he's also a guy who's very frustrated with what kamala harris has done to this country.

both of those things can be true, and i think most americans can joke around, but also be pissed off about the direction of this country. >> jd vance says donald trump's sense of humor is evident because, quote, he loves to make fun of everybody that's out there. seems mean, doesn't it? senator vance meanwhile attempted to confront vice president kamala harris after the two landed on the same wisconsin airport tarmac at the same time. cameras captured vance walking toward harris' plane. when asked afterwards what he was doing, he told reporters that he wanted to speak to harris adding, that hopefully air force two would be his soon. >> i just wanted to check out my future plane, but i also wanted to go say hello to the vice president and ask her why kamala harris refuses -- why does she refuse to answer questions for the media? and i also thought that the press gaggle following her might get a little lonely.

i at least have a respect for you all to come and talk to you and answer some questions. so i thought she might benefit from that as well. >> charlie, i'm -- i -- yeah. it just seems so rookie. i'm thinking, you know, i mean, i don't like the name-calling thing. i think it's mean when trump does that with people. he's always, like, little marco or whatever, but -- >> yeah. >> but i got to tell you, jv vance kind of fits right here. your thoughts? >> who thought this was a good idea? i mean, really to put the vice presidential candidate on this weird stalking routine, and then that gimmick was -- it was lame with hair on it. it was just embarrassing. >> awkward. >> it was cringe. it was awkward, in part, because as we were talking about before, i mean, the split screen between this enthusiastic, happy warrior

campaign, and then there's jd vance who bungles easy questions about what makes you smile, and he couldn't even come up with something that made him sound like an authentic human being, and later he was asked by a wisconsin reporter, you know, i lived in wisconsin. i want to have beer with you, and he bungled that. he can't even bring himself to say something -- just say something, you know, normal about all of this. i know you're going to do a fact check, but i also think, look. i have been critical of jd vance in the past, and i have a list of words that i'm not going to use on the air to describe some of the things that he is doing including his decision to attack tim walz on his military experience. jd vance has shown himself willing to do things that would be -- that would be beneath the dignity of most politicians in america on both the right and the left, but he is willing to say things to engage in the

kinds of below-the-belt, unfair, dishonest attacks that i think that most politicians, i think, would say, you know what? let somebody else do that, or that's really not where we want to go on this campaign, but with donald trump sitting in splendid isolation in mar-a-lago, what have they got? they've got jd vance, and they've gone as dark as possible with yet a dollop of cringe that jd vance brings to these things. >> yeah. coming up on "morning joe," allies of former president trump are attacking tim walz for his military record. we'll have a fact check ahead. "morning joe" is back in a moment. d. "morning joe" is back in a moment >> there's an old saying is whether you seem like somebody they would like to have a beer with. why would people in wisconsin want to have a beer with you? >> well, i guess -- i guess they

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here's senator vance accusing governor walz of retiring from the minnesota national guard in 2005 in order to avoid being deployed to iraq. take a look at this. >> well, you know what really bothers me about tim walz who served as a marine in uniform? when i was asked to go to iraq and serve my country, i did it. i did it honorably, and i'm proud of that service. when tim walz was asked to go to iraq, do you know what he did? he dropped out of the army and allowed his unit to go without him. what bothers me about tim walz is the stolen valor garbage.

>> so in a moment of fact check, but first here's msnbc's chris hayes on walz's record and why he left the guard. >> among the tiny fraction of americans who enlist, a much smaller share make a career of it, serving 20 years or more with multiple, multiple deployments. only a tiny fraction of those fought to stay in the service after being disabled on the job, and one of them is minnesota governor tim walz. an enlisted soldier in the national guard for nearly a quarter of a century, a journey that began on a nebraska farm as soon as he was eligible to join. >> my father served during the korean war, and the day after i turned 17, he took me down to an army national guard recruiter and i raised my hand and signed up. >> that was in 1981. ronald reagan was president. now walz continued to serve for the next 24 years under four commanders in chief. he spent most of that time as an

artillery soldier and it took a toll on his hearing. after he had done 20 years, he qualified for retirement. a medical board considered discharging him because of his hearing impairment. instead he convinced them to let him complete his final enlistment which began after 9/11. walz achieved the highest enlisted rank in the army, command sergeant major, but rather than stay in and complete the schooling for that rank, walz retired in 2005 at the rank of master sergeant. party says because he wanted at that point to speak freely about political injustice specifically, the iraq war. the following year, he was one of more than 60 anti-war veterans running for congress as the fighting dems, a -war veterans running for congress as the fighting dems, a group that included jim webb, patrick murphy, and tammy duckworth. >> i spent 24 years in the army national guard. i spent the better part of two decades as a public schoolteacher. i'm a small business owner. i'm a father, and i'm a husband. i intend to come here to washington to provide authentic

leadership and to truly represent the people of my district and the people of the united states. >> walz's experience is an atypical one, particularly for politicians at the national level. there is literally no one like him, and now walz is running with kamala harris against donald trump and jd vance, and perhaps not that surprisingly, republicans are trying to swift him, denigrating his service the way they did with john kerry 20 years ago saying he stole valor and left the army to avoid going to iraq. it's a playbook republicans also used against walz when he ran for governor of minnesota and it failed then because they're lies. when they hear about the quarter century he spent as a soldier, the time he spent since then fighting for iraq veterans to get the benefits they do. they don't see what republicans do. it's the rare politics that can cut through the self-serving b.s. rather than adding to it. >> so here are the facts according to minnesota public radio.

a medical board considered dismissing walz in 2002 due to hearing problems he developed while working with high-powered weapons during his more than two decades in the national guard. at that point, a guardsman who served under walz says he was already openly discussing retiring in order to run for congress. the records show that in january of 2005, he did indeed take that step, and filed a statement of candidacy with the federal election commission. two months later, walz acknowledged in a campaign statement that there were talks about units potentially being deployed, but wrote, quote, i do not yet know if my artillery unit will be part of this mobilization. in may of that year, documents show he officially retired from the military meaning he likely had to inform the national guard of his plans many months earlier. in july of 2005, six months after walz declared his intent

to run for congress, his former battalion received a mobilization alert, and then the following month, the order to deploy. vance also accused walz yesterday of lying about his rank of command sergeant major, but in a new statement, the national guard says the governor did indeed reach that level, though he, quote, retired as a master sergeant for benefit purposes because he did not complete additional coursework at the u.s. army sergeant's major academy. jonathan lemire, again, different people do different types of service, and jd vance is going after tim walz and lining it with untruths, but also i feel like a service member denigrating another service member for his service is just -- i don't know. i'm not sure how that's going to play. that may go in the jv vance category as well. we'll see.

>> yeah. governor walz devoted two decades of his life to military service, and as you correctly note, jd vance served as well. both men should be praised as doing so. this shouldn't be an attack line, and yes, we're expecting to hear more from the harris campaign clearing up a few little discrepandiscrepancies, overall argument as you just laid out in that fact check and as our colleague chris hayes did last night, it simply doesn't hold water. this idea of stolen valor, this idea that he bailed on his unit to avoid combat deployment. these are attacks that don't seem honest and it's unclear whether they will resonate, and charlie sykes, i think it's a couple of other things that need to be noted here. first of all, this just shows how the trump team has really struggled to come up with any sort of effective attack lines against vice president harris and now in these early days in her running mate, so they're seizing upon this. it's perhaps not too surprising.

this is a familiar playbook. those also, many of them factually inaccurate, and we should leave no conversation about political candidates military services without noting donald trump repeatedly dodged military service because he claimed he had bone spurs, and then later, when asked when foot they were in, couldn't remember. >> no. exactly. yeah, the two words that i was going to use were bone spurs here. look. i've spent a lot of time around veterans. i'm not a veteran myself, but one of the things i did in the before times was, you know, to raise money to send world war ii veterans to their memorial in washington, d.c. and one of the points that we often made with the veterans was that all of their service was honorable. whenever they were, whether they were radar operators or whether they were in supplies, and this is what i think is so beneath jd vance here to go after -- to go after someone like tim walz who served for 24 years and was

disabled in his service while jd vance, and again, we should thank him for his service. he was not in combat either, but he has made a -- he has kind of a pension for denigrating service members. he attacked general mccaffrey, and that's a thing for jd vance, but it is the dishonesty of all of this reaching back into the swift boat playbook to go after someone like tim walz who spent as you point out, 24 years, more than two decades serving his country, and the timeline that you lay out is very clear, you know, when he retired. look. people retire all the time from the military. this is not that radical. people in the military understand this, particularly when you have made a career of it. so i just think the attacks -- the attacks are potentially

potent, but they are so fundamentally dishonest. the harris campaign has to take this seriously because, you know, things like stolen valor can resonate. this is one of the things that the conservative media is very effective at getting out there, to push out, and i think they do need to engage. they do need to push back, but i also think that they need to g on the offensive about this, that a presidential ticket headed by donald trump, who used bone spurs to avoid service in vietnam, the fact that a donald trump-led ticket would once again attack a member of the military who had served, you know, i couldn't help but, you know, think about his attacks on john mccain. i couldn't help but think about the reports in "the atlantic" about the way he had denigrated service members when he was president of the united states. this not something they should take lightly, and i don't think

they should be overly defensive about it. as you point out, if there are discrepancies, you know, clear those discrepancies up, but this is an honorable service, and there is just something particularly loathsome about jd vance's decision to go after tim walz on this particular issue. coming up, we'll check in with willie geist from paris as team usa racks up the hardware at the summer olympics. that's next on "morning joe." in.

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♪♪ welcome back. it was another big day of historic wins for team usa at the paris olympics. american sprinter quincy hall claimed gold in the men's 400-meter final. he entered the last hundred

meters well out of medal position, but overtook the field in a remarkable comeback to win by four-hundredths of a second, and can t u.s. women's basketball team extended their win streak to 59 games yesterday, beating nigeria 88-74 to advance to the semifinals and now just two victories away from a historic eighth straight gold medal. our own willie geist is reporting from paris, and brings us more. willie? >> a little bit more on some of those highlights. john just ran through the united states women's basketball team is a juggernaut. a'ja wilson, the best player in the world, the wnba mvp. another double-double for her. as john said, a 59th consecutive victory. the last time u.s. women's basketball lost in the olympics was in the semifinals of the 1992 barcelona games against a

unified soviet team. meanwhile on the track, that run by quincy hall, 400 meters u an incredible comeback for the gold medal. weaving through traffic, i improbable, and he thanked his community college back in california after the raitt race for teaching him the grit he needed to get that win. artistic swimming. it's the talk of the games this morning because the american team did what they called an underwater moonwalk. a little michael jackson music. the women winning the silver medal, their first medal in 20 years. if you haven't seen the video, check it out online. they're inverted underwater, and moonwalking with their feet across the top. there's a still picture of it. kind of incredible, and by the way, this is not your mother or father's synchronized swimming. there are gymnastics throws out of the water. it's really a fun event, and the women of the united states took home silver last night. no medal for the first time ever

in beach volleyball for the united states. that's because the final men's pairing lost last night in the quarterfinals. both women's teams also have been knocked out. the other men's team knocked out. so there will be for the first time in olympic history, no men's beach volleyball or women's beach volleyball medal for the united states. looking ahead today, it is about two things. first of all, the track, noah lyles going for gold in the 200-meter. he won the 100-meter by five-thousandths of a second, and the great sidney mccclaughl. she's the record holder. the semifinals planning to get into the gold medal game, but first, you've got to get through a friendly face. that is nikola jokic, the joker. the three-time nba mvp of serbia. now the united states beat them about a week ago, serbia in the pool round by 26 points, but

they're not letting their guard down. jokic is that good, and final note to you, joe -- to you, john and to mika, is that today is the 32nd anniversary of the original dream team, the 1992 dream team winning that gold medal in barcelona that changed, of course, the olympic basketball, that changed international basketball and brought the game to the world. they beat croatia by 32 points to win gold. they won their games by an average of 43 points, and notably, mika, they never called a time-out during the tournament. there just wasn't much to discuss. coming up, when a pair of astronauts blasted off in june, they were supposed to be in space for just a few days. now they could be there until 2025. we'll have the latest next on "morning joe."

so the test flight of boeing's starliner spacecraft was supposed to be a short

mission, but now more than 60 days later, the astronauts who pilot it are stranded. >> reporter: on day 63 of what was supposed to be a ten-day mission, butch willmore and sunny williams would remain. >> they would return with them on crew 9. >> reporter: crew 9 is set to launch in late september, returning next year. for months they have suggested they are not stuck in space. years behind schedule, boeing's troubled starliner took a test flight in early june, but it has been docked. ground teams are still trying to

troubleshoot starliner's helium leaks and engine thruster problems. starliner needs those thrusters for a safe return. williams and willmore recently insisted they're not worried. >> i have a real good feeling in my heart that this spacecraft will bring us home no problem. >> reporter: boeing says it still believes in starliner's capability. it will take the actions necessary to configure it for an uncrewed return. >> failure is not an option. that's why we're staying here now. >> a ten-day mission that could continue for eight months. coming up, our first guest was elected to public office when he was 18 years old. dan kildee is stepping back from service. n kildee is stepping bam service. wn there? is it peyronie's disease?

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so this is a fight to make real the promise of america for every person in our nation. also i'll tell you and i promise you, our campaign is going to reach out to everyone, from red states, from blue states, from the heartland to the coast. we are running a campaign on behalf of all americans. and when elected, we will govern on behalf of all americans. [ cheers and applause ] because coach walz and i know -- and we're clear about this, unlike the other side -- we work for you. we work for you, the american people, and we will always fight for you, for your family, for your freedoms and for your future. >> look, we're pretty neighborly with wisconsin. we get our friendly battles. but in minnesota, just like in

wisconsin, we respect our neighbors and the personal choices they make. [ cheers and applause ] even if we wouldn't make the same choices for ourselves, because we know there's a golden rule. mind your own damn business! mind your own damn business. [ cheers and applause ] i don't need you telling me about our health care. i don't need you telling us who we love. and i sure the hell don't need you telling us what books we're going to read. welcome to the fourth hour of "morning joe." it's 6:00 a.m. on the west coast, 9:00 a.m. in the east. vice president kamala harris and her running mate, minnesota governor tim walz made two stops in the midwest on their first full day together on the campaign trail. nbc news senior washington correspondent hallie jackson has the latest. >> reporter: a battleground blitz for the new democratic ticket.

vice president kamala harris and minnesota governor tim walz greeted by a large crowd in detroit. >> we are joyful warriors. >> reporter: at one point, harris, pausing to respond to a handful of pro-palestinian protesters. >> everyone's voice matters, but i am speaking now. you know what? if you want donald trump to win, then say that. otherwise, i'm speaking. >> reporter: the focus now, rust belt battlegrounds like wisconsin, where earlier supporters broke into chants of "thank you, joe." the cheers for president biden coming as he sits down for his first interview since dropping out of the race. asked by cbs news if he's confident there will be a peaceful transfer of power in january -- >> if trump loses, i'm not confident at all. he means what he says. we ought to take him seriously. he means it. >> reporter: on the republican

side, jd vance with campaign stops in the same state, even on the same tarmac walking towards air force 2. >> i just wanted to check out my plane. >> reporter: vance attacking walz who served for 24 years, accusing him of abandoning his unit before iraq. >> shame full. >> reporter: walz fired paperwork for his congressional run in february 2005 about a month before reports of a deployment. harris/walz campaign officials not clarifying the timing, but framing his decision to pursue politics as a new way to help service members and veterans, calling him a tireless advocate for men and women in uniform. former president trump hinting he'll face off with harris soon. >> i'll be debating her, i guess, in the pretty near future. >> reporter: while saying he's thrilled she selected walz as her running mate. >> he's a very liberal man and

he's a shocking pick. >> it's interesting so far the criticisms they've thrown at tim walz don't seem to be sticking. you get the feeling more and more that donald trump is going to have to do something to change the game. maybe a debate will be in the future, as he's saying. joining us now jen psaki. mara gay is with us. peter baker and jonathan lemire are with us. starting off, it does seem like the trump campaign is thrown off their game in a big way. i mean, there was a huge shift and perhaps even some momentum after the horrific attempted assassination on the former

president. but now it just seems like the slate has been washed clean, and kamala harris and tim walz are sort of the main show right now. then you cut to trump and it's like sad trombone or whatever the womp-womp. they seem to know it. they're holding some sort of press availability at 2:00 today. what are the stakes for the trump campaign trying to get their game back? >> it's remarkable. this was a campaign that was so static for so many months, thereupon and biden. then it changes so quickly for republicans a couple of weeks ago, when you mentioned that trump survived the assassination attempt, put together a pretty well-received convention up until the last moment. it was his speech at the end that kind of struck many as a wrong note. then three days later president biden bowed out. kamala harris rose to the top of

the party. everything has changed since. it's clear in the 2 1/2 weeks they've had since harris has been the leader here, the republicans have been flailing. jd vance's rollout has gone poorly. trump has not settled on any conclusive attack line on harris. he is going to have a news conference. often he'll say i'm having a news conference and rant for a while and not take questions. he needs to take questions for there to be a news conference. it's unclear whether he'll do that. he and his team are trying to say vice president harris has not had a news conference since she rose to the top of the ticket. her aides acknowledge there are plans to do that to maybe a group of reporters or a sitdown interview with governor walz ahead of the august convention. talk to us about how you see this changing and how the

republicans seem to be flailing. >> yeah. they're on the defensive in a way they haven't been most of the year. for most of the year i feel like democrats with president biden as the head of the ticket, were trying to explain why they weren't doing well, explaining why trump would still be doing well despite 34 felony conviction counts, multiple indictments, multiple civil judgments on sexual abuse and business fraud, and yet he seemed to be doing well. now the energy is entirely the other direction. the energy is that rally you just saw. nothing gets under trump's skin more than the idea somebody else would get large crowds and he's not. i think that's something that must be gnawing at him. we'll see what happens. we'll see if he'll aggressively turn the tables on harris. there are still 90 days left.

two weeks ago we thought the race was a very different race, and four weeks before that a different race. for the first time this year democrats feel like they're on the leading edge here. >> it's interesting. i try and think of all the things trump might say at 2:00 today. maybe he has a big announcement, jen psaki. >> maybe. >> he's got some problems with his running mate. i mean, this guy is clearly not up to the task. it has been a hard start, to say the least. yesterday that whole -- i don't know what that was when he walked up to kamala harris' plane and said it was his future plane and then tried to crack some jokes with reporters and pose some questions. but it just, like a lot of other moments he has on stage or in front of reporters, it kind of fell flat.

on the democrat side you have coach and on the republican side you have jd vance. he's not ready for varsity, you know what i'm saying? >> yes, i do. >> so does donald trump replace him? >> look, i think that's hard to imagine. that's just my gut, because it would be acknowledging failure and he's already this far down the road. now, trump has surprised us many times before. what i will also say about jd vance is, this has happened in politics before, not just on the republican side, certainly on the democratic side too where there's these candidates that seem like a good idea on paper, right? jd vance, senator from ohio, married with three kids, wrote a best-selling book. that seemed like a good idea. i think as soon as we saw him speak at the convention, which fell completely flat, it was clear he was not the sparkler that maybe people in the trump campaign thought he was. claire mccaskill said this thing

the other day that i'm going to steal and credit her for that i think really defines it. tim walz is who jd vance wants to be, which is why he's driving donald trump so crazy. he is legit, authentically a american regular guy you could talk to in a hardware store. that's not who jd vance actually is even if that's who he presents himself as on paper. that's part of the problem. >> even more, jen, tim walz really supports his candidate and is there to support her and believe in her through and through and always did. jd vance hated donald trump, literally hated him and said horrific things about him. he was an anti-trumper of the best order, so i'm not sure how he figures out who he is at this late date. it's a struggle.

>> yeah. in politics, the american public can sense inauthenticity. this guy is inauthentic. >> he doesn't like trump. >> he doesn't like trump. he's not presenting himself as who he was for more decades before he had this kind of about-face to try to connect with the maga world. people recognize it. voters are not dumb. they're smart. that's a root problem for jd vance, is that he is just not authentically who he presented himself to be at all. >> yeah. it's hard enough for donald trump to look at him and to know that jd vance said those things about him. i figure if fox news is going to say kamala harris' name wrong, we can say jv. i mean, it rhymes at least. >> it rhymes. >> it seems to work, actually. authentic.

but donald trump's looking at this guy who said all these things out loud about him. so donald trump knows that guy doesn't like him. imagine the dynamic the other way around. you're jd vance and you're thinking i know i said all these things out loud. he knows how i feel. that's just an uncomfortable dynamic from the get go. it seems like he's uncomfortable on the outside. it's really hard to do this stuff. politicians who are really good make it look easy. but jen psaki, as you know, this is hard work. it's really hard to communicate. it is about not only just skills, but the moment coming together, the dynamics working between people and getting out the vote, getting a crowd to come, to show up. that stuff isn't easy. it doesn't come naturally, so you need to have a natural

authentic connection with your running mate, and there just isn't one there at all. so the harris/walz campaign is out with a new ad targeting latino voters across battleground states titled "determination." it is their first ad since governor walz joined the ticket. take a look. ♪♪ >> when you're raised by an immigrant mother, you learn what's possible with determination. >> determination is how kamala harris -- >> went from working in mcdonald's to -- >> prosecutor. >> state attorney general. >> u.s. senator and vice president. in only one generation. and with that same determination, she always defended us. as a prosecutor, she protected us from violent criminals. as vice president, she fights for women's reproductive rights every day. >> she beat the pharmaceutical companies to lower cost for insulin and prescriptions.

>> as our president, determination is how corporations gouge our family on rent and groceries. she won't start fighting until we win because she knows determination. >> when we fight, we win! i'm kamala harris and i approve this message. >> mara gay, the ad is part of a tv blitz and will run on radio, digital platforms in english and spanish. harris and walz will campaign in arizona tomorrow. they got a lot in there. in a short amount of time they covered a lot of topics. what's the strategy here? >> first of all, i've been traveling the country all year for the "new york times" talking to voters in the democratic base, which we have to remember is an exceptionally large and diverse voter base. mostly that's an advantage. i think when you see ads like this and when you see the

rallies we've seen this week, diverse, vibrant, you know harris and walz are riding this wave of enthusiasm that is real, because they are representing the america that actually exists, the america that we have, which is a vibrant, diverse nation, people from every background. there's an excitement about that. you know, a majority of americans in this country do want to see democracy continue. they do believe in multiracial democracy. they are excited about the democratic agenda, which is hugely popular. to see them out there fighting for it and fighting for the america that we do have, not some 1950s version filled with grievance is exciting to voters. i think the challenge that harris and walz are going to have -- and i think this ad is a part of that -- is that when you do have a diverse base, you've got to make it clear that there

is something for and is a place for everybody within that coalition. clearly that is genuine, because this is a country that harris and waltz -- it's clear that they believe in diversity. it's not a stretch for them. it's not difficult. you know, i watched her campaign earlier this year in las vegas, and she just is really good at this. this ad is totally in keeping with her views, her deeply held beliefs on the american experience and story as it is, which is a complicated one. so this is going to land a lot better than it would if we were seeing donald trump trying to do outreach, which we are with black voters in some really ugly ways. it doesn't work because it's not real. >> yeah, for sure. joining us now, democratic congressman dan kildee of michigan. he spoke yesterday at the

harris/walz rally in detroit. thank you so much for being on the show this morning. love to hear your reflections on how yesterday went. also following up with that, michigan is a diverse state, and you saw some of the challenges play out during that rally when kamala harris was confronted with some protests. she managed through the rally, but also gives us a sense of some of the challenges moving forward in addressing the needs and the concerns of michigan voters. so what do you think their strategy should be in making sure that they hear everybody in that state? >> well, first of all, thanks for having me on. it was an amazing rally. i've been involved in every presidential campaign since 1976. maybe with the exception of 2008, i haven't seen energy like i saw yesterday. you mentioned that i spoke to

that crowd, had a great reaction, but i think i could have gotten up and read the phone book and they would have been screaming on their feet. they are really excited about this ticket. to the challenge that you present, i think what vice president harris and tim walz have to do, they have to be here. there are diverse voices within the democratic coalition. those voices are being heard. we need to allow that to take place. what vice president harris showed yesterday, she's willing to listen, but she has a message she is going to deliver. i think that message, as compared even on this issue of israel and palestine, as compared to that question, is a much better path forward for this country than the dark, dystopian, angry and, yes, weird agenda that donald trump and jd vance are offering this country. >> the harris campaign has made no secret that governor walz, a

midwestern governor, is going to spend time in michigan and pennsylvania. you served with him in congress for a number of years. tell us why you think he is the right messenger there for a state, michigan, really diverse in terms of the type of voters that the harris team needs to turn out to win in november. >> well, i think it's because tim's whole career has been focused on service. we appreciate that in the state of michigan, as others do around the country. he's also very practical, very pragmatic. folks in my state don't necessarily want to hear the big talking points. they want to hear somebody who speaks the language that they speak every day at their kitchen table. just in the last couple of days, we have seen such an overwhelming response to tim, because even when he's standing there in front of the microphone, he's one of us.

i've heard people say, well, we don't know tim that well. they're going to have a chance to get to know him, but here's the real point. they may not know him yet, but he has known you all of his life, because he's one of us. he grew up own a family farm. they went through their struggles. he enlisted in the army to serve his country. he was a teacher, he was a coach. he was not born with a silver spoon in one hand like the other side of the ticket donald trump, and jd vance does not have that same biography. he is one of us. in michigan and lots of other places, that really makes a difference, and i think it will. >> yeah. you notice that. and i think it's going to play a huge role in this election, dan, that a school is like a little country, you know. you have to be a leader in that country and you have to be a great example and you have to be fun and you have to be a person

who respects others and leads by example, but also makes sure things stay in line. you see it when he does the rallies. you see the teacher or the coach. i think it's going to help him a lot. it's definitely a huge contrast to jd vance. democratic congressman dan kildee of michigan, thank you very much for coming on the show today. so donald trump is complaining again about the 2020 election results and he is, again, talking on georgia. in a post on truth social, trump called on georgia's attorney general and secretary of state to look into allegations made in a separate post about missing ballot images involving fulton county in the 2020 election. trump wrote, quote, we can't let this happen again. we must win georgia in 2024. the governor and a.g. must lead. those claims had already been investigated by the state in an inquiry that wrapped up in may.

but yesterday georgia's new gop-controlled state election board voted to ask state attorney general chris carr to investigate the fulton county government looking to reopen that inquiry. the board threatened to hire an outside investigator if the state a.g. doesn't act. meanwhile, that same gop-led election board passed a new rule allowing georgia county officials to investigate election results before certifying them. it's also expected to allow county election boards to request information and potentially delay or block certification of results as they see fit. jonathan lemire, author of "the big lie," what stands out to you here, if not everything that i just reported? >> i mean, it certainly shows that donald trump is not changing. he is still insisting, without

evidence, that the 2020 election was stolen even though he has, of course, been charged criminally because of activities that he did there in georgia. i also think just politically, peter baker, i don't see how this helps. i mean, there are -- yes, anybody who's nodding along with him and saying yes, the georgia election has been stolen, well, they're going to vote for him anyway. instead, i think it turns a lot of people off not just because it's a baseless lie. elections should be about the future. early in the campaign cycle before trump seized control of the party again, saying if we're talking about 2020 all the time, that's going to be bad for the top of the ticket and also potentially in house races. now as this race has changed and tightened up and he's still talking about 2020, how does that win him over any new votes? >> he's going back to the old

playbook. this is what he knows how to do. he knows how to complain about supposedly rigged elections that weren't, in fact, rigged. he plays the racial card as he did the other day with kamala harris saying she's not really black. these are the old standbyes from his political career. there's nothing new here. people don't want to talk about the past. they want to talk about the future. they want to take the case to kamala harris and tim walz. they think they've got a case to make on all sorts of issues, policy and ideology. they don't think rehashing the 2020 election is going to sway voters in order to get trump over the top. it's part of what i think we've seen this last week and a half of trump seeming to, you know, reach out in different directions trying to figure out how to proceed. he doesn't seem to have a clear, coherent strategy moving forward

given he's facing a ticket he didn't expect to face. >> peter baker, thank you very much. coming up in the fourth hour of "morning joe," wall street heavyweight jamie dimon is revising his forecast for the u.s. economy, raising the odds of a recession by the end of the year. plus, a new report says meta and google teamed up to run a secret campaign deliberately targeting teens. we'll dive into all of that with andrew ross sorkin, next. l of th andrew ross sorkin, next hi, my name is damian clark. and if you have both medicare and medicaid, i have some really encouraging news that you'll definitely want to hear. depending on the plans available in your area, you may be

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half past the hour. tropical storm debby which has already dumped more than a foot of rain on parts of the south and is forecast to bring more, made a second landfall early this morning when it crossed back into south carolina. nbc news correspondent marissa parra has the latest.

>> reporter: this morning, from a tropical storm to tornado fears, a possible twister touching down near raleigh, north carolina, damaging this middle school. it comes after a tornado tore through the state yesterday as tropical storm debby continues to soak the east coast. north carolina's governor warning his state could get hit with more rain in one day than they normally see in months, urging people to stay off the roads. >> now is not the time to see if your car floats, because it doesn't. >> reporter: 20 million people are under flood alerts from georgia to new york. in bullock county, georgia, a number of roads washed out from fast-moving flood waters. rain from the tropical storm flooding communities as far north as new york and new jersey. >> all the water flowed into our homes over here. >> reporter: air travel with flight delays up and down the east coast. >> we're devastated.

we are sad. jp morgan ceo jamie dimon says he believes a recession still looms on the horizon and is skeptical about the federal reserve's ability to lower inflation to its target of 2%. let's bring in coanchor of cnbc's "squawk box" and columnist for the "new york times," of course, andrew ross sorkin. andrew, what more is jamie dimon saying and what can you glean from it? timing, severity? how concerned should people be? >> the risks have gone from what they were determining as a 25% risk of a recession by the end of the year, now saying that risk is a 35% chance. now, of course, that still leaves a 65% chance there is not a recession. i should say this comes after

goldman sachs last week also increased its risk of a recession, now in their minds up to 25%. all of this suggests things are getting a little bit more nerve-racking and it is not necessarily a coast-is-clear situation. a lot of this is going to be determined by what the federal reserve does come september, but also even beyond september. we talked about the pressure on jay powell to lower interest rates. does he lower interest rates by 25 basis points? does he low interest rates by 50 basis points? there's some worry if he lowers that by 50 basis points that would be good, that would be a signal that he thinks the economy is actually in worse shape. we got jobless claims numbers, by the way, that came in better than expected. we have had these not-so-great unemployment numbers earlier last week higher than we thought. now these numbers come in better than we thought. if you look through some of the

numbers indicating that maybe some of the increased joblessness is actually a function of the weather over the summer. we had hurricane beryl. that created temporary problems. maybe the numbers could get better. all of this is put into the stew of what i think is called uncertainty. that's the technical term, and that's we are. >> before we get to disney and meta and teens, which is a huge issue, i want toe ask jen psaki about the politics of this. andrew used the word uncertainty to sum it all up. how does the harris/walz campaign deal with that as they are, what, less than three months from election day? because the economy can play a huge role in decision making here. >> no question. there are always developments and events that happen in august, september and october

before the election. this is one of them. they can't control this, obviously, neither of them can. what they can do from a messaging perspective is make the message centered in how they are fighting for working people, right? it's not about the markets. it's not about exactly the data. it's more about how their policies are for the people sitting at home who are feeling uncertain, who are worried, who are concerned. the challenge is obvious, right? vice president harris is in the white house, but i still think that contrasting message is the core message for them for the remaining months regardless of where the data is. >> yeah, for sure. andrew, let's go to google and meta targeting teens, targeting them. talk to us. >> what a story. so the "financial times" doing some digging into a story that's fascinating. as we've seen google, frankly, get a little bit more desperate for advertising and we've seen

meta looking for younger users, which you hope they wouldn't be trying to target, meta effectively at some point had a secret deal with google to target younger people under the age of 18 against the policy of google. these are advertising representatives working for google that decided to bypass to collect cash from meta. this did happen. google does not seem to be denying it, in fact. of course, this is going to raise even more questions just about the governance and the morality of all this. what are these companies really doing, and why are they doing these things? we keep talking about targeting young people and whether young should even be onto begin with. why are they doing it? well, google's advertising revenue has been struggling.

if you're an ad sales guy and you're getting a commission and these folks are offering you money, that seems to be what's happened. they appear to be sort of rogue operators, but i don't know. were they rogue operators? we're going to hopefully find out more as the story unfolds. >> also, i mention disney, but the next story, really quickly, disney turning a profit is huge news. >> it turned a profit a quarter earlier than expected. so there's a question within the streaming world as to whether we are turning a corner more broadly. we're seeing huge numbers, obviously, out of the olympics for our parent company's streaming service peacock. having said that, the truth is time warner, which owns hbo. they continue to struggle. earnings out yesterday. that stock down more than 50%

for the year. there's a mixed picture of what's going on in the media world, but it does seem like disney is a winner. the question long-term is how many families are going to be owning how many streaming services. if you have netflix and disney, what happens to max and paramount and the rest? that's the trillion-dollar question. >> can i just add that maybe more people are going to buy projectors rather than tvs. do you have a projector? >> i don't. you have one? >> it's all i use. don't need a tv anymore. >> you do it against a white wall? >> any white wall. >> what about glare during the daytime? >> it's a little less clear, but it's still very clear. >> this is news you can really

use here. >> try it. you never have to have big clunky tvs. you just have this little thing like this, like a mug. >> i'm going to buy one because of you. no joke. >> okay. try it. let me know. >> we'll talk about it. thanks. >> thank you. coming up, a new documentary is asking the question most americans do not want to consider. what if there is another january 6th insurrection, one that is bigger and better organized? the writer of "war games" joins us to discuss the new film. gam us to discuss the new film customizes car insurance, so they only pay for what they need. got it? [squawks] did you get that? only pay for what you need. ♪liberty, liberty,♪ ♪liberty, liberty.♪ smile! you found it. the feeling of finding psoriasis can't filter out the real you. so go ahead, live unfiltered with the one and only sotyktu,

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in this room is an incredible diversity of professional experience spanning the last five presidential administrations. most of you have sworn under oath to defend the constitution. what happens when those in uniform break that oath? >> january 6th demonstrated a possible false sense of security. >> the next insurrection could

involve numbers of the military turning their weapons around on the folks they're there to protect. >> one of the recommendations was in war games, what that might look like. >> you have six hours to avert a civil war and ensure the peaceful transfer of power. >> mr. president, we are going to be starting the game in three -- >> we are here to stress our national security. >> -- two, one. >> i want them to be prepared for the worst case scenario. >> that was a new look at the film "war games." it follows real top government officials as they take part in a six-hour roleplaying exercise. set in the white house situation room january 26th, 2025, the group simulates a response in realtime to a failed presidential candidate claiming the election has been stolen from him and calling on active u.s. military troops to join his coup attempt. joining us now is emmy award

winning codirector and writer of the film tony gerber. i'll let you explain the separation for this. i can only imagine. >> absolutely. shortly after the events of january 6th, three retired generals penned an alarming op-ed in the "washington post" in which they pointed to the potential for lethal chaos in the military in the wake of a contested election. now, this alarm was the result of awareness that the far right had been actively recruiting active duty troops, national guard, sheriff's departments, police departments across the country, right? and their recommendation was that the administration war game a tabletop exercise to imagine the unimaginable, right, to not be caught flat-footed again. and the administration couldn't do this because it's such a

partisan issue, which tells you something about washington. but in comes vet voice foundation and ceo janessa goldbeck who did this exercise you see in the film "war game". >> tony, we know each other a little bit. sounds like you're feeling a little bit less dystopian these days. obviously we've seen a major shift in the presidential race in the last few weeks. as we have candidates across the country trying to get voters to the polls, as someone who creates art, what actually moves people? there's a debate, for example, within the democratic party about whether scaring people about the real threat to democracy is the way to motivate people to the polls. what is it that actually allows us to take someone like donald trump seriously, to take the threat of anti-democratic forces

seriously? when you think about building characters in our own work and what moves people, can you talk about that? >> that's a good question. i can tell you when jessie moss and i made this film in january of 2023, we filmed on january 6th, 2023. we had no idea who the presidential candidate would be, right? so in essence, we've made a film about a what-if scenario that every day becomes more real, right? yes, the film is a touch scary. i think rolling stone called it the scariest film of the year, but it's not without hope, right? because what you see in "war game" is a group of reasoned leaders from both sides of the aisle coming together to diffuse an incredibly violent situation. so that gives me hope, right? it's also a provocation for a conversation we need to have as a country, because the relevance of our film doesn't end with the

election, right? it's about how did we get here? how are we standing at this precipice? how did we allow this to happen? >> thanks for giving us some hope. >> great questions. the new film "war game" is in select theaters right now and opens nationwide on friday. tony gerber, thank you very much for coming on the show this morning. we appreciate it. and coming up, american gymnast jordan chiles is back from paris with her two medals from the summer olympics. she joins us straight ahead on "morning joe." "morning joe."

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with so much entertainment out there wouldn't it be great... ...if you could find what you want, all in one place? show me paris. xfinity internet customers can enjoy the ultimate entertainment experience and save on some of the biggest names in streaming, all for just $15 a month. get the fastest connection to paris with xfinity. welcome back. after a slow start, the united states has surged to the top of

olympic medal leaderboard heading into the final weekend of the competition, the u.s. has racked up a total of 95 medals, two of those were won by our next guest, jordan chiles who closed out the gymnastics portion of this year's games with a bronze medal in the women's individual floor event, and jordan joins us now. she's now a three-time olympic medalist, and i'm hearing excitement from like everywhere about you. anybody i know who's a young person is like, jordan, you're talking to jordan, oh, my god, i love her so much. so you have quite a fan base. you have electrified people around the world, and it looks like you cried your way to the finish looking at some of the videos. tell us what it was all like for you, especially the moment when you knew you won your floor routine that you had done well?

>> there were so many emotions going through my body from the moment i found out i got my bronze medal on floor to all the way at the very end. there's been so many like different -- i'm still on a high, i can tell you that, like there's just -- it's a lot. but i'm very proud of myself, and i couldn't be more excited to say that i came back with two medals. >> yeah. >> that's amazing. >> jordan, congratulations. i am a huge fan. i was actually a gymnast as a little kid, nothing like you all, but i just love ever since i was a kid watching gymnastics competitions, and i just have to say, it also just makes me so proud to see a really strong woman and a black woman out there representing the united states. i'm wondering, you know, i know you're a fan of beyonce, who is cutting a similar profile in a different sphere of influence. can you talk a little bit about

why you are so keen on using beyonce medleys and kind of what it means to you to represent the united states in this moment where it's really not so easy to be a woman here at home right now. >> well, just to start off, obviously women's sports are a big thing that a lot of people don't really recognize, so being a part of a woman's sport who's kind of been in this platform of just growing and growing and growing, and with the diversity part, i do appreciate you saying that because i wasn't being seen in a lot of different ways, whether it was my skin color, my body shape, however it was. but honestly, with beyonce, i felt like after her renaissance tour, which i did go and see and i watched the documentary and her story of her growing up being a childhood star and people saying this about her and that about her. it just made me realize life is life. we can't control it. we can't do anything about what others are saying because i felt like in that moment when it does come to a hate comment or

something, it's something that they aren't comfortable within themselves, so they feel like they have to put it on somebody else. so with beyonce, her being the queen of herself in the music industry, i just felt like, you know, everything that she's gone through has kind of been almost similar to what i've gone through, whether it's mental, whether it's the spotlight. whether it's people just saying things about her, and i just felt like why not use, you know, the renaissance tour as this big thing, and obviously the model i'm that girl just came from -- obviously it's self-explanatory, you listen to the song. you've seen her say it a bunch of times. i just felt like there was something i could really be with. >> well, you're beautiful to watch. congratulations. >> thank you. >> jordan, it's jen psaki, i'm in washington, d.c., i'm such a huge fan. i'm kind of freaking out i'm getting to talk to you right now. i watched your ucla perfect 10 floor routine, which is so amazing. anyone who's feeling sad about

missing the olympics should watch it. i wanted to ask you, one of the things that was so amazing watching at home is how you all seem to support each other. there's the amazing moment of you and simone biles on the podium when you're receiving the medals, when you bow down. you all were hugging each other in between. this feels just as a viewer at home who definitely could not stay on a balance beam is remarkable. is this a new vibe in gymnastics, or is this something that's been around for a long time and we haven't seen it. you seem to have really brought a new energy, camaraderie, support for other competitors to the sport. >> honestly, sportsmanship is the biggest thing i feel like in a lot of sports, and being able to recognize or give somebody their flowers because you've gotten flowers from them is the biggest thing. for rebecca in this moment, i was like, you know what? she's been doing amazing things within her country, within herself, like in that moment i just feel like she needs to be seen and be seen in the way that me and symone have been seen

within the u.s. bowing down to her was just about, you know, making sure people could understand that this isn't just a once in a lifetime thing. this isn't something that she only worked for two weeks. no, she worked her whole life for, so i felt like it was needed and, again, she's giving so many flowers to not only me and simone, but also team usa. it was really cool, plus, it was an all black podium. i was like oh, my gosh, this is crazy. >> that is amazing. >> why not make it even bigger. that's what i did. >> three-time olympic medalist jordan chiles, thank you so much. you are so impactful and thank you so much for coming on the show this morning. it's great to have you on "morning joe". >> thank you. >> take care. that does it for us this morning. we stuck the landing, ana cabrera picks up the coverage in two minutes. you'll find them in

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