they are essentially saying they would not support president biden if he were to run again in 2024. we see democrats demur about whether they would support. we saw joe manchin refusing to answer whether he would support joe biden in 2024. there was a debate last night, carol maloney, jerry nadler, people in congress for a very long time, saying they don't want to discuss that. they don't want to talk about biden running again in 2024. maloney even said she doesn't think he's going to run for re-election. which is a huge statement. despite what we saw in congress, a lot of people unsure about president biden in 2024 in that campaign statement. >> maloney statement raised a lot of eyebrows coming from a veteran lawmaker who has known joe biden for a long time. alayna treene, we appreciate your reporting. thanks to all of you for getting

up early on "way too early." "morning joe" starts right now. relief. excitement. joy. i'm very proud of our fellow kansans. >> we were telling people in neighboring states that their rights were no longer intact. they had to flee their states to get care. >> the cards were set against us from the start. >> as a husband i do not look forward to trusting the legislature to protect the rights of my wife. >> we're avoiding a huge horror that would have come to kansas. >> one of the things i heard, you may be against abortion for yourself, but you can't be against it and make it for someone else. >> this is my life on the line, too, is this my right. >> tonight, we get to say to kansans, you can still get care here, you're still recognized and make your own medical

decisions. reaction from kansas last night, as voters turned out in high numbers to protect abortion rights in that conservative state. it was the country's first best of the issue since the supreme court overturned roe v. wade. and we're awaiting several results from several key races from last night's primaries. including arizona where the republican primary for governor is too close to call but that doesn't stop kari lake from declaring victory over. and in the arizona elections, republicans have picked trump-backed conspiracy theorist mark finchem as secretary of state. >> good luck with that. >> republicans voted to impeach trump were on the ballot. we'll tell you how they fared. nbc's steve kornacki is going to break it down. also this morning, house

speaker nancy pelosi undeterred by china's threats visits taiwan, sitting for a series of high-profile meetings, while pledging strong u.s. support. knowing her value. and the value of democracy. good morning, welcome to "morning joe." it is wednesday, august 3rd. what a night, joe. >> it was really a night. there's a massive headline coming out of kansas. a massive headline that is reverberating around washington in both democratic and republican circles and that, of course, has to do with the kansas voters' decision to just say no to republican legislators, deciding the future of decisions that are made by their wives, by their daughters, by their loved ones. and it's astounding. this comes from a state that voted overwhelmingly to protect, you know, it doesn't -- i

don't -- you don't really even say abortion rights. to protect the rights of women to have control over their own bodies instead of state legislators. who have just been extreme and radical across america, whether it's forcing a 10-year-old girl to flee her state after being raped. whether it's texas republicans deciding that they want to retain the right to let mothers die on operating tables. you know -- i mean, my god, in other state, i mean, i saw a debate on a state legislative floor where they were actually in idaho talking about the right of rapists' relatives to sue a woman who was raped, to sue a rape victim and get $20,000 per rapist relative. this is the crazy stuff that -- this is the republican party of

2022, mika. and you look in kansas, and the kansas voter, even people who are pro-life say, no, we're not going in that radical, freakish direction. and, really, quickly, just about kansas, they haven't voted for a democratic candidate for president in over 50 years. >> yeah. >> they have had a united states senator that was not a republican in over 50 years. so on national issues, they're as conservative as can be. and last night, overwhelmingly, they voted to preserve the right of privacy. the right for women to make medical decisions, the right for women to decide, the right for parents to help their 10-year-old daughters or 11-year-old daughters who have been raped to make life-changing decisions. and there's no doubt that that

message from kansas, mika, reached washington, d.c. late last night. >> and, willie, just for the midterms, i'll say this just as the woman on the set, watch out. i mean, i'm surprised by kansas and i'm not surprised, because women are not going to stand by idly and say, yeah, you can take away our rights. you can take away our personal rights. you can take away our sister's rights, you can take away our daughter's rights -- forget it. watch out. and kansas is your example this morning. >> yeah, well, the supreme court decision on dobbs that overturned roe v. wade said we're actually going to kick this back to the states. it's up to the states. well, kansas was the first to speak very loudly about what it wanted to do about abortion, to joe's point what kind of state this is obviously a very red state. even last night, there weren't competitive democratic races, in other words, you wouldn't expect

a bunch of democrats to rush out and vote on this, but they did. but it was not close as we saw a minute ago. the voters in texas rejected the effort to remote right to abortion. that was the question on the ballot. 59 to 41, that's when the vote was put to a vote in june. as mika said the kansas vote signals abortion will be an energizing issue. >> look at those numbers, willie. >> look at those. >> look at those numbers. beforehand, the predictions were that the yes vote would win by a couple of point. >> right. >> every poll showed that. this is one of those -- and there were people that were afraid to tell pollsters how they were going to vote. this is sort of the reverse trump effect, the reverse bradley effect. this is a tsunami. >> it is. just not close -- and again, in kansas, this is the state of kansas. associated press had an estimate, turnout for

yesterday's primary far seeded other recent contests of 900,000 kansas voters casting a ballot. so, joe, clearly, this is a statement from the state of kansas. and perhaps a signal to republican candidates, and obviously democrats who want to run on this, come the fall, that this is an issue where many, many, many americans including the red states, have made up their mind, and kansas is a big red flag. >> you know, we have to send in elise jordan out to do focus groups. because we learned from focus groups. i remember in 2016, mark halpern and john heilemann had that focus group. with the group saying donald trump he's one of us. it was like a thunderbolt and you go oh, my god. wow. that's what's happening out there. and i'm still thinking about elise jordan's georgia, trumper, the man, who fed into every

conspiracy theory, he was a trumper's trumper. and asked about abortion. i'm a man, what are you asking me about abortion? this is none of my business. i'm pro-life, he identified as pro-life. but this is a woman's decision. and, willie, i think you just look at kansas, i think it's an example a lot of people who identified themselves as pro-life looking at what happened since roe was overturned. looking at the extremism, looking at the 10-year-old girl being chased from the state. looking at the texas attorney general fighting for the right to let mothers die on the operating table to tear away the protections that the federal government it trying to put in place. to protect moms to have a choice whether they die on an operating table or not. you look at all of the extremities. and again in another republican state legislature trying to give the right to members of a rapist family to sue a rape victim for

$20,000 unless she has a forced pregnancy. this is a rapist's bill of rights that he's republicans are passing. a rapist bill of rights for forced child birth on children. this is the republican party in 2022. and even in a pro-life state, even in a republican state that hasn't elected a democratic president in 50 years, they are repulsed by the radicalism of this new republican party. >> yeah. to call it an extreme position is an understatement. talking about no exception for rape or incest. that's where a lot of republican candidates are right now. as you said, kansas sending a thunderbolt of a message. let's go straight to the big board where we find nbc news national political correspondent steve kornacki. steve, what more can you tell us what happened in kansas last night? >> yeah, i think you're covering the big point in terms of

turnout, more than 900,000 votes were counted in this primary. typically in a kansas primary, if you went back to 2018 where you had competitive primaries on both sides, the number was really half of that, about 450,000. have you had presidential election, general election turnout in kansas in 2012, it was just under 1.2 million. in 2016, about 1.2 million. and again, you're over 900,000 in a midsummer primary. so, i think it shows you, the level of interest, clearly that this referendum brought out among the electorate. you think of kansas as a red state. it did go for donald trump. 15 points in 2020. in that trump/biden election in 2020, five counties in the entire state of kansas, five counties, voted for joe biden, with mora kelly got elected in

2018. she carried eight counties. you can see the no side is going to end up carrying 19 counties so that is a much more sweeping vert than even the democrat who won the gubernatorial election in 2018. a couple of things that stick out to me, first of all, to get a number up to 60% where the no is going to land on this, for the republicans who voted in the primary just mathematically and the crossover. that's an ingredient part of this. another ingredient, i think something that democrats have been talking about politically since that supreme court decision to overturn roe versus wade they are saying it had a particular effect in the suburban areas of the country where democrats have making the biggest inroads over the last decade, particularly with college-educated votes, particularly with college-educated female voters in suburban areas.

i want to call attention to one county, johnson county, texas. do the math in your head. this is the biggest in the state. this is a massive suburban metropolitan kansas city county here. and the vote was overwhelmingly no. 68% no. in terms of the share of the statewide electorate that johnson makes up, this is always high. this is unusually high. right now, you're looking at about 27% of all the volts cast in this kansas primary came out of this county, johnson county. more typically that number is going to be 20 and 25. so that shows an extreme level of interest in just the place democrats were saying after that supreme court ruling that you would have new or higher political engagement. and democrats were right about that point. the question is this is a referendum on abortion. what democrats have also been saying this sentiment, this energy, will attach itself to the general election. to the democrat versus republican races in the general

election. i don't know if that's the case, but just take a closer look here at johnson county, i think this is so fascinating. there are counties like this all across the country. big suburban counties that have made this kind of a journey over the last decade. in 2012, johnson was just a bed rock republican county, the republicans won it by almost 20 points. >> wow. >> in 2016, trump came along, trump carried by a vast margin. his presence further alienated the voters in that county, and joe biden ends up winning by eight points in 2020. on this margin, biden is a no by 37 points, again, what democrats are saying there are a lot of johnson counties across the country. the suburbs, philadelphia, suburbs of atlanta, suburbs of phoenix, places like that where democrats have made inroads in the last.

it's two arguments the democrats are making here. the first argument, they've got proof from what happened in johnson county, kansas, last night. that, yeah, this did bring out a lot of political energy in the suburbs in particular in kansas. the second argument they're making is that this will resonate as well in the partisan november general election of democratic, republican candidates, from a referendum here, we can't answer that yet. but that's what they're hoping for. we'll see if that happens. >> well, let's look, steve, if you can, let's look at the journey that the republican party has taken in this one county from mitt romney's election in 2012 to what happened last night. and this really underlines, we have reports that donald trump was just aghast when republicans started passing what they -- the anti-choice laws in texas, also, very concerned that he would be hurt in area where is republicans were already bleeding support.

and sure enough, i think a lot of republicans needs to be concerned about that. because look at those numbers, again, you brought it up, that is incredible in a decade in just one decade from mitt romney's election night. to last night. democrats have lost -- or republicans have lost 26 points. in this county. of course, we're comparing apples and oranges a bit here. but you look at mitt romney's 57%. and you look at the republicans, 31%. last night. that's pretty incredible. >> yeah. no, as i said, this is -- there are counties like this across the country. you just think of the big suburban counties. cobb county in georgia, for instance, here, they're used to when george w. bush was president, even when mitt romney was running in 2012, you just

looked at it on election night, not if the republicans are going to win, but what's the margin republicans are going to get out of it and then the republicans that suffered the erosion. you look at 2018, it was suburbs, areas across the country. so when you look here in 2022, what democrats are trying to pull off in terms of hanging on to the senate. maybe having some kind of fighting chance in the house. it goes through the johnson counties of america. so that's why i paid particularly close attention to this. but it is also true that if you look at other counties, we can just look at count this in rural, you know, kansas here, this is why i say the rural republicans who voted no on this, this is just one random county, rural western kansas, donald trump won 84%, joe biden barely got 10%. the no side got trimle what biden got. not nearly the marge than republicans have been posting

there, so that's another ingredient of what happened in kansas. >> steve, let's bring in nbc news special correspondent katty kay, and columnist for "washington post," eugene robinson. and the host of "way too early" white house reporter and politico, jonathan lemire. katty, talk to me about kansas. >> what happened in kansas is interesting. as steve pointed out you have districts that have become heavily republican. we can talk about the suburbs later but the rural districts that are heavily republican, where the margin of the votes of yes do not correlate with donald trump's election results of 2022. we have republican -- i don't know if they're republican women or more centrist republican men and women. and we have not only the story

that was raised about young girls being raped and implications of that. you have horror stories of doctors, of women who have had miscarriages and couldn't get a d&c to potentially save their life and health or make them wait in agony to get a procedure because of supreme court ruling and the chaos it's thrown up around the state. so, the ruling has had far more radical implications that i think people on the day of the ruling realized would do. both in terms of young girls being raped and in terms of mothers who might be having a miscarriage. and i whether the sum of that plays into what we saw in kansas. a bad sign for people like mastriano in pennsylvania. a man running for governor on a very firm anti-abortion platform. you wonder if the republicans are going to have a look at how they run their own races in the likes of what happened in

kansas. >> but, eugene, it's not just an anti-abortion platform which is typically you're pro-life with exceptions of rape and incest or the mother. that's where it chooses to be. we're now moving into an election cycle where gretchen whitmer is going to be going up against the opponent who said that the raping of a 14-year-old girl was the perfect example of why we had to ban abortion. >> yeah. >> so, she wants to force that 14-year-old girl to carry the rapist's baby. in the state, if she's governor, will compel the 14-year-old girl to have a forced birthing of the rapist's baby. again, it's a rapist's bill of rights that these republicans are pushing. gretchen whitmer was also

looking strong in michigan. my god, what is this -- this is a rhetorical question for my republican friends -- what is this going to do in the suburbs of detroit? what is this going to do in grand rapids? this radicalism that the republicans don't pure and analytically, it's going to destroy their candidates in swing states this fall. >> yeah. that's right. and because some of those candidates are take these radical, unacceptable ridiculous and cruel positions, and a choice in the post-dobbs context. there are republican candidates there saying, well, you know that 10-year-old girl who was raped. she really should have carried that baby to term, two wrongs don't make a right that sort of thing, which is horrifying to people. and this is a thunder bolt out of kansas.

this massive, massive turnout, for a midterm primary with general election numbers in terms of turnout. and that huge gap, it's just -- i was absolutely amazed. we saw the early numbers last night. this can't actually be real. it turned out it was real. it was basically 60/40 all night. and it should send shivers of fear down the backs of republican candidates from coast to coast about what's going to happen in the fall. because this demonstrates that people will come out and they will vote and they have strong views about choice. about this radical anti-abortion position, that so many republicans are taking and trying to cram down the throats of women and men who simply

aren't going to take it. aren't going to take it. they're going to say no. >> they just aren't, in pennsylvania and ohio, in georgia and arizona, mika, one radical republican nominee after another winning, and we go to michigan, last night, ten republicans selected as their nominee to go up against gretchen whitmer, a women said in a podcast that a 14-year-old girled rape by her uncle -- stay with me here -- a 14-year-old girl raped by her uncle was the perfect example of why abortion needed to be banned with no exceptions at all. a perfect example? i don't think 85% of americans think of it that way. that's one of the reason we had, or we keep using the word

"thunderbolt" that's one of the reasons that a thunderbolt struck in kansas last night and the aftereffects are being felt in washington this morning. >> well, i think you put your finger on it at the very top of the show here where you said that republicans are basically running and standing on the platform of a rapist bills rights and that's the choice. and women are saying forget it. kansas, a big indicator, that's the big story of last night's elections. although there are many more, we still need to get to results of arizona and michigan where the big lie had a big night. steve, stay with us for that. also ahead on "morning joe," nancy pelosi is pledging ironclad support for taiwan. we'll talk to richard haass and jeremy bash about the house speaker's controversial trip and china's reaction. plus, after days of pressure, a number of republicans reverse course and sign off on legislation to expand the health care for

veterans. senator amy klobuchar will join us to discuss that bill now headed to the president's desk. >> how many mistakes can one party make? i thought the democrats were clueless in politics. republicans have given them such a run for their money this summer. also it wasn't just the secret service, court documents reveal that phone messages of pentagon officials were also wiped. and the loss of a prominent broadcaster, vin scully, the voice of a broadcaster for decades has died. we'll remember his incredible career ahead. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. k.

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arizona governor too close to call this morning. that's the one between kari lake and karrin taylor robson. as expected, lake, prematurely declared victory in phoenix, despite her trailing at that time. and she continued to lay the groundwork for distrust in the results of the election. >> there is no path to victory for my opponent. and we won this race. we are going to win this, win or lose. >> overnight, lake took the lead over robson, but the race still categorized as too close to call. meanwhile, mark finchem, a state representative and election conspiracy theorist as well endorsed by donald trump is projected to win the nomination to oversee voting in secretary of state. and in the senate, blake masters funded by peter thiel is going to beat lamon and rusty bowers

who you will remember testified during the january 6th hearing is projected to lose by a wide margin. let's go to steve. steve, too close for the governor's race to call. what's it look like where you're sitting? >> yeah. kari lake had overnight, the last four hours or so, kari lake got a lot of good news. if you remember from 2020, the way they do the vote counting in arizona, the polls, they started releasing results about 11:00 p.m., the initial vote reported out everything that had been cast basically up until monday of this week. remember, extensive early mail voting in arizona. what you saw with the first batch of votes late last night, karrin taylor robson actually opened up a lead, close to ten points over kari lake. that is what we thought about what she might need to have a chance to win the primary. we knew she would have to do

best with that group of voters. that's the least sort of trump-friendly group of voters you're going to get. what happened then, overnight, they counted up the number of votes that were voted in-person. the folks that went out and voted yesterday. we also knew that was probably going to be the most pro-trump vote that's out there. indeed, that's what happened. in county after county, in the last few hours, we got batches of that same-day vote carried out. kari lake was winning by 25, 30, 35, 40 points. and jumped ahead of taylor robson. we got about 80% of the vote in arizona. what's left to come? well, it's anybody who had an absentee ballot and dropped off at the polls yesterday. didn't go in and vote, but dropped it off. those ballots, they're going through the process them.

review them, verify signatures. this is where things can sometimes drag on for days in arizona. but we're going to get a sense of exactly how many of those ballots there are. again, if you remember 2020, even that group of votes was pretty friendly toward donald trump. so, if that same trend kind of holds here, it bodes well for lake, having now taken the lead over 10,000 votes over taylor robson. and again, we saw similar movement in that senate race overnight as the same-day vote came in blake masters, the trump candidate went from a four-point lead to double-digit lead. same thing in the secretary of state's race. the momentum seems established on the board behind the trump candidates. >> i'm looking at your board, the big lie here. the big lie swept arizona. with kari lake, as steve says, she will become the next governor of that state -- excuse me, she'll be running to become the governor of the state, blake

masters, attorney general, secretary of state, all of people -- in fact, i'm going to introduce a resolution to go back and decertify the 2020 election results. who know what is they'll do in the 2024 if in fact elected in the general. >> yeah. there were two story lines coming out last night. one the abortion vote in kansas. and we'll get to arizona, a key battleground state. it was in 2020. it's going to be in 2024. it's certainly possible, republicans maybe they're shooting themselves in the foot here. they're nominating candidates who considered who conservative, who fringy journal l come the general election. but right now, concerning the state, donald trump has it in his grasp. internal arizona. all of his endorse candidates won. masters, backed by pete thiel, very friendly with trump. election deniers, kari lake has planted the seed if she were to

lose, the election was rigged against her. and you see she is ahead. and rusty bowers, a man who made headlines, doing praise for standing up for his party, for the constitution, by defying touch when he testified january 6th. he didn't just lose, he got crushed. certainly, this is where, joe, that the republican party, at least in this state right now, very much in donald trump's grip. and with real consequences of the sanctity of the vote going forward. >> well, and, the cheers that you hear going out, are going out in democratic offices across washington, d.c. and democratic campaign offices in swing states across america. because donald trump got his wish. he got crack pots, freaks, and insurrectionists winning primaries. and the impact is likely to be the same impact if you listen to republicans on capitol hill that we saw in georgia in 2020.

in those special elections when it was donald trump who single-handedly helped democrats win those two seats. and put chuck schumer, and the democrats, in charge of the united states senate. katty kay, we now have, in most important swing states in america, these crack pots, these freaks, these insurrectionists. do you have, and i think we should just -- i think we should just calling them -- we have the class of todd akin, this is the todd akin memorial class of candidates in pennsylvania, in ohio, in north carolina, in georgia and in arizona. in fact, in arizona, it seems to me, the collection of the winners on the republican side are the most extreme. you almost expect them to come together this afternoon and hold a press conference and all

declare into the microphone, i am not a witch. >> i was just thinking of the witch, when you were mentioned todd akin and wondering if it was that you were going to go for. i think arizona, if democrats are hoping that by nominating kari lake, mark finchem, blake masters that gives them a strong chance, the democrats of winning that state because they're too extreme. i am not sure. i spent some time interviewing kari lake and mark finchem in that state, there's a very conservative group in that maricopa county that will come out to vote. and somebody like mark finchem who is going to run and probably will be the next arizona

secretary of state had have extraordinary power. mail-in voting seems to have favored kari lake's opponent, rather than kari lake. he would have an impact in the way the vote is counted afterwards. so for democrats to think well, we've got these really conservative extreme people who believe that the 2020 election was stolen, that's going to help democratic candidates, in a state like arizona, it may do. i'm not convinced it will, and if it doesn't, you end up with a trifecta. the senate, the governor, the secretary of state, who could have a real material impact on the way that arizona's electoral -- 11 electoral college votes go. they could tip that state. the way the votes are cast. the way the votes are counted. they are people who do not believe that the democrat, as they told me, mark finchem told me, he doesn't believe a democrat could win arizona, mark

finchem could be in charge of the way the vote is counted. that's a terrifying prospect who believe that the election should be free and fair and you shouldn't have somebody in charge who has determined the outcome. >> let's go to michigan, nbc news has predicted dixon has won there. the former media personality won an endorsement from former president donald trump just last week and will face off against incumbent democratic governor gretchen whitmer this november. >> truth is this upcoming campaign, the next four years, they're not about gretchen whitmer and they're not about tudor dixon, they're about all of you. they're about how together, we can rebuild your state. >> and, mika, of course, she was -- "the washington post" article that i was voting, that was actually her, tudor dixon, who had said a 14-year-old girl being raped by her uncle was the

perfect example of why all abortions needed to be banned. and she's the one that's going to be running against gretchen whitmer. >> yeah, and pushing the rapist bill of rights. i mean, these are the choices that we'll see in the midterms. and i think kansas, is a great sign, of how women step up for themselves. and the people who love them do as well. nobody wants their daughter's rights taken away. and i think it becomes even more personal, for even some men when they have daughters, and they actually realize what is happening. this has been a seismic shift what has happened with roe, when you have someone across this country who are reacting to in a very negative way to republicans because of their stance on abortion, now that their rights are in jeopardy. now that their rights are gone in some states, gone.

governor whitmer was renominated in michigan's democratic primary without up since. also in michigan, nbc news projects john gibbs as the winner in the republican primary for the state's third congressional district. the trump-endorsed challenger to gop congressman peter meijer declared victory last night in the nationally watched race, gibbs was a political appointee in trump's housing and urban agency and pitched himself as an ultra conservative replacement for congressman meijer, meijer was one of ten republicans who voted to impeach then president trump for the attack on the capitol. gibbs is one of several trump-backed republicans that have been boosting the idea is that the democratic candidate will have a better chance of defeating a more extreme

republican opponent this fall, so, steve kornacki, talk if you could about meijer's loss. there were two other republican members of congress who voted to impeach trump running yesterday, how did they do? >> yeah, interesting story. you could see meijer close, but not close enough to pulling this thing out. the back story here, you started to get at it, as michigan changed the way they do redistricting for this cycle. and that resulted in really just a blownup political congress 'map in michigan. this third district was changed dramatically, it was changed in a way that makes it much more friendly to democratic prospects in november. so that's what piqued democrats' interests in this republican primary. and they came in with money, real money, trying to prop up gibbs, in this is republican primary with the calculation that he would make as a beatable for them in the general

election, meijer said, hey, you democrats are saying that people like gibbs are a threat to democracy. you are literally spending money that could help get them in power. how can you reconcile that? i think that's an interesting question when you look at the money democrats spent. in the very close margin. meijer almost pulled this thing out last night. he's going to lose again. right now, he's inside of 4,000 votes. we had one republican who voted to impeach trump that was trounced, tom rice in south carolina. meijer came very close. now, you mentioned the other two on the ballot last night, out in washington state. remember, washington state does its primaries different. top two primary, democrats, republicans, they run on the same ballot. the top two, regardless of party, advance to the general election. so where do we stand? one of two republicans to vote for impeachment, jaime herrera

butler, you see the democratic candidate is going to advance. herrera beutler does have a lead over the race. that is joe kent. herrera beutler. we're going to get updates that maybe a while before this is settled in washington. but that's encouraging for her, she's helped by the fact we've got other candidates, how do you say, jon, a very conservative republican, there was a lot of money thrown into her, herrera-beutler, though, very much alive. and the other pro-trump impeached republican, white,

he's in the lead, the democrat a point behind him. this is warren culp down here, this is the trump-backed republican in this district. ewe got newhouse on top. more votes to come. but one thing you say is this, if newhouse and herrera-beutler both end up surviving and advancing there would be three house republicans who voted to impeach trump to actually make it to the general election. all three of them would have done it this way in the top two jungle primaries. it would be newhouse and herrera-beutler and david valadao earlier this year. he voted to impeach trump. so far, the two in the traditional primary, have lost. only one absent, liz cheney, two weeks, we've seen the polling there. >> steve kornacki, thank you very much. what a night. we appreciate you coming on early this morning.

and coming up, house speaker nancy pelosi calls out china during a historic trip to taiwan. why she thinks beijing made a big deal about the visit. and, boy, did they ever. a lot of threats, but there she is. also ahead, arizona senator kyrsten sinema is keeping quiet on whether she'll support a crucial bill for democrats. it's a vote that some in the party say could determine her political future. plus, new developments in the doj investigation into january 6. the grand jury is demanding testimony from a high-ranking trump white house official. that's all ahead on "morning joe." >> i'm not a witch. i'm nothing you heard. i'm you. none of us are perfect.

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i think it's important to note that members of congress, several of them, have made trips just earlier this year. five senator, bipartisan came, including the chair of the foreign relations committee, mr. menendez came. not too much of a fuss was made. individual senators have made trips or plan to make trips. and i just hope that it's really clear that while china has stood in the way of taiwan participating and going to certain meetings, that they understand that they will not

stand in the way of people coming to taiwan. as a show of friendship, of support, but also a source of learning about how we can work together better in collaboration. so, i think that they made a big fuss because i'm speaker, i guess, i don't know if that was a reason or excuse, because they're going to say anything -- >> house speaker nancy pelosi met with the president of taiwan yesterday. pelosi becoming only the house speaker to travel to the island in 25 years. in april of then 1997, then speaker of the house newt gingrich made a visit. pelosi praised the quote, vibrant and flourishing democracy and said the u.s. delegation used the trip as she

said to make unequivocally clear we will not abandon taiwan. last night, pelosi was awarded taiwan's highest honor with the president calling her a devoted friend. joining us council on foreign relations richard haass. and the cia department of defense nbc news national security analyst jeremy bash. guys, good morning. jeremy, i'll go to you first, speaker pelosi is right, a group of senators including republican, john cornyn, crapo, mike lee was there. a group visited. why is this so different for china? >> i think china overplayed the hand. had they not made the threats, and amped this up, people wouldn't have noticed at all. but they went out and tried to deter her from travel, threatened military action across the straits of taiwan. tried to threaten with ships and missiles and airplanes. and she wasn't backing down.

good for speaker pelosi for sticking to her guns and china botched this. they gambled, thought they could call off the trip and they lost. >> and she didn't come in she made a big trip, stayed there with the president. she just left taiwan a short time ago but there was consternation as jon has reported in the white house, i don't know if we want her to go, but she stood firm and made a point of being there. >> interestingly, the biden administration sent out principles actually give her a threat briefing. look, madam speaker, this is your call. if you go, there are consequences. and she said i'm making my own decision and to joe biden's credit, he did not call her -- that was the decision, should he call her and ask her not to go. he did not ask her to step down, to the effect, the president let the speaker travel. they cannot keep the republicans from backing down from china's threats as a result, a number of

republicans last night came out and actually endorsed speaker pelosi's trip. >> richard haass, i think one of the more underreported stories, over the past, i'd say, past year or two, has been the consistent overreach by president xi, whether you're talking about the uighurs, with jack ma, or talking about going after entrepreneurs, whether you're talking about going after nba stars, the overreach, the extremism, tweeting people in the west and across the world as if they're subjects of the chinese communist party. and it's one of a threat, and we have nancy pelosi doing what newt gingrich did, what i did, what a lot of republican members

of congress did and through the year, meeting the president of taiwan. going to the inauguration of the president of taiwan. and they said nothing, and now this massive overreach where they backed themselves into a corner and embarrassed themselves. i wonder why are there no political repercussions for him inside the chinese communist party. when you look at even with the zero covid policy, his policies have been disastrous for china over the past five years. >> joe, you're right. you know, we can argue today whether this is about arrogance, or whether about insecurity. i think it's important to remember, the economy has slowed dramatically, and china had economic success, high economic growth was for years the principal source for political legitimacy in china. taiwan also represents a

liberal, western market-oriented democratic model, which just inherently and intrinsically is a threat to xi jinping and his rule. there's no one who can push back against him right now. and he's the most powerful chinese leader since mao. a lot is about him. you're right, he could have ignored the pelosi trip. we would not have having this segment had it not been for china's reaction. i think this is about the problems that this leadership is facing. it's own insecurity. the growth of nationalism which will they've ripped up. and now in some ways is putting pressure on them as he tried to get this unprecedented third term, which he will get, that the party needs and congress in a couple of months. this is not about nancy pelosi. this is all about the leadership in china at this moment in history. >> jeremy, how do you think this plays out? how does xi at this point try to

save face? you know, a big deal. she can't come, we'll freak out. she came, she met with the president. it was very high profile. and so, he looks pretty bad right now, how does he save face? and is this because of that a dangerous moment? >> yeah, i think china is going to have to cause things to go boom in the taiwan straits. in other words, i think they're going to run some exercises and fire off missiles but i think they're going to quietly transmit to the biden administration or directly to the channels at the embassy that, hey, we're not looking to escalate the situation. we're not lacking for military conflict. after a couple of days i think they're going to back down. i think richard is exactly right, xi jinping is taking enormous risk. in every place in history you look, chinese leaders often step back from the line of risk. this leader is looking to the line of congress to solidify his position and take more risk.

i think this back fired completely on the chinese leadership. >> and richard, xi has made it pretty clear that he sees taking back taiwan as part of his legacy. to what extent is calculation going to be affected not by nancy pelosi's visit, but by what's happening with the war in ukraine, with the zero covid policy which is having disastrous effect at home, and the population, politically, he is looking weaker. then you add in what's happening in ukraine and russia's troubles there, does suddenly part of his desire to make taiwan less dependable for him? >> not really, i think he's watching the war in ukraine really, really close. he's looking at the sanctions what it would mean for him if he were to move against taiwan. he's looking at the military lessons. he's looking at the nuclear balance. one of the things china is doing is massively accelerating its

nuclear buildup. they've basically concluded that the u.s. does not send direct military help to ukraine because of russia's nuclear arsenal. they're thinking if we had a much bigger nuclear arsenal, maybe the united states would not send help directly to taiwan if we move against it. my hunch is they're not yet ready to move against taiwan. over the next five to ten years, i think you're exactly right, he sees this as part of his legacy. he sees this as central to his legacy. so we better be prepared. and i think the speaker of the house is exactly right to say we need to explicitly state we will come to taiwan's defense and try to move against. and more important, he's going to put us in a position where we can do it. that means strengthening taiwan, working with japan and other regions. and many we don't want to put ourselves in the same position that europe put itself vis-a-vis russia over energy. we need to make sure that the

push comes to shove. the economic leverage works against china, rather than its favor. interestingly enough, katty, both sides have enough to strengthen themselves. we working with taiwan and others have to strengthen our ability to deter and if need be to defense against china. >> you know, richard, i've been -- my wife would say overly optimistic in this country over the last five years thinking we were strong enough to endure multiple political shocks. and i still believe at the same time, i deeply disturbed when i find out that the secret service has destroyed evidence about what happened on two of the most extraordinarily consequential days in american history. and now, we're getting reports that pentagon officials also destroyed evidence of communication that they engaged in on january the 6.

they wiped cell phones of top defense leaders that were in charge of deploying the national guard on january 6. i remember at the beginning of this crisis, the thing that we kept asking on this show, is what happened to the national guard? why wasn't the national guard called out? and when the commission was set up, i said that was the first thing i wanted to know. why was there a delay. and yet, according to court records that were published by american oversight and reviewed by "the washington post," the phones of high-profile figures including christopher miller who was the acting defense secretary at the time and acting army secretary ryan mccarthy were scrubbed after the attack. richard, i just -- to say this is disturbing. i don't -- it's un-american. and it's absolutely frightening

that you have the secret service and the pentagon actively -- well it would be burning papers in past times. i mean, there are legal consequences to destroying evidence on cell phones. and yet here we have these top agencies doing it. what are your thoughts? >> and, joe, we've been talking about china, and a lot of people would say china's the greatest threat to the united states. some would say russia. i think it's what you have raised is the greatest threat to the united states. is that we can no longer get up in the morning and assume that american democracy is going to be respected and it's going to function as it's functioned for nearly 2 1/2 centuries. that we now have law enforcement agencies and people with real physical power whose ultimate loyalty is not the constitution. but might be to a person or to a party. and we don't seem to have the constraints on them. and the oversight that we need.

so, yeah, i actually -- i think this is the issue for the next couple of years. we just had the election results. and we have people coming into power who, again, are going to put parties and persons ahead of american and democracy. and so the real crisis facing us is not half a world away in taiwan. it's right here inside the united states. >> jeremy we got this when we watched the group american oversight, as evidence reviewed by "the washington post." it's not just any officials at the pentagon. it's the acting defense secretary and other high-ranking leaders. this goes in with the department of homeland security missing texts, and as joe said, secret service, they're missing texts. this is just policy for departing employees that they just wipe everything from the phone. does that seem plausible for someone who has worked inside the highest reaches of government? >> totally. i know everyone wants to find a

conspiracy here. and i think there's going to be a heightened scrutiny on presidential appointees. and joe is right, we have to find out minute to minute with the national guard wasn't deployed and what happened at the pentagon. as a general matter, the i.t. folks are going to do what i.t. folks do, unless someone countermands and says there's a procedure, they're going to do that. for the most part, secret service, you're talking security, they take a bullet for either party, the president. we're talking about presidential appointees. >> so, jonathan lemire, you wrote about the big lie in your new book. is this the big lie getting bigger? >> it sure seems that way, part of what the book examines is how the former president was able to manipulate those in the republican party. those in conservative media, but also those in his government to do his bidding, whether it was

an explicit order or just sort of an understanding. and those of us who have covered trump for a long time have talked to people when he wants you to do something, he kind of lets it known without being known. the culture is established. that's what it was at the white house. this raises a lot of questions to jeremy's point, secret service and pentagon, we're wiping phones, a changeover of administration, we're going to change from one phone to another. both had orders to stand down. there were requests from congress, from inspectors general to say, look, you need to preserve your record because of what happened on january 6th. it didn't happen anyway and that's the concern here. the defiance of those requests, that's why so many democrats are screaming cover-up here. and, yes, much like the elections last night, this behavior, an example of the big lie, and a lot of democrats fear the kind of thing that would happen again when donald trump returns to power. >> so far, we have missing texts

from two agencies, well, that's what they do, is make sure they collect information and intelligence. and it's impossible at this point to believe that these text messages are gone for some other reason than a cover-up. jeremy bash and richard haass, thank you both very much for being on this morning. we want to turn back quickly now to the major election results from kansas where voters have rejected an effort to remove the right to abortion from the state's constitution. this marks the first time the issue was put to a vote since the supreme court overturned roe v. wade in june. with midterms coming up, the kansas vote signals abortion can be an energizing issue to say the least. according to an associated press estimate, turnout, turnout from yesterday's primary far exceeded other recent contests with about 900,000 kansas voters casting a ballot.

>> i'm super proud of people from kansas tonight. and i feel like my state just showed up and told me they're going to take care of me and my female friends. we are protected tonight. >> let's bring in former u.s. senator now and nbc news and msnbc political analyst, claire mccaskill. claire, are you surprised or not surprised by the outcome in kansas last night? >> i am surprised by the margin. not necessarily the outcome. i am blown away by the numbers. and, you know, i think people need to remember that midterms are all about who has passion and emotion on their side of the equation. the way you overcome midterm elections and a sitting president and a historical fact that they typically are bad is you get people motivated. and our party, i think, for too long, has been motivated in some

ways just by trying to stop trump trump. well, now, we have to stop extremism. and what democrats stood up for last night, democrats and republicans, is that they're uncomfortable with the extremism. and i've got to tell you something here, mika, it's important, we cannot let the national conversation somehow think because a sex scandal former governor was defeated last night that somehow the guy that got the republican nomination in missouri, it is not extreme -- he is totally extreme. just remember this, the guy who got nominated in missouri last night wants to force young incest victims to give birth. forced by the government to give birth. so he is very extreme. he is very fresh and i think missouri has a chance to speak up like kansas and so many other states across the country that going this far is really not

going to work with the women of america. >> you know -- >> wow. >> you know, claire, they've lost their minds. i mean, republican extremists have lost their mind. you look at what's happening i believe it's in idaho republican legislature, they're fighting for a rapist bill of rights where a member of a rapist can get $20,000 per family member if the woman who is raped does not have a forced abortion. you look at what's happening in texas. you have the texas attorney general and republicans there supporting the right to be able to make women die on operating tables, by stripping away their rights that the federal government is trying to provide to moms who are in duress during pregnancy. you look at what's happening in indiana, their reaction to a 10-year-old girl having to flee

her state after being raped. their reaction, oh, we'll make it so the 10-year-old will also be forced to have her rapist's baby. you look at the woman who will won last night in michigan. she actually said the example of a 14-year-old girl being raped by her uncle is a perfect example of why she wants to ban all abortions for rape and incest. i said, last hour, this is the party of todd akin -- i mean, this is the party of todd akin, this is sort of the class of todd akin, if you look at all of these extremists and freaks winning these things. but they actually seem to be making todd akin a bit moderate along with christine mcdonnell. this is beyond what we used to call extreme. >> yeah. and there is a level of

buffoonery and political stunts that are involved here. you know, none of these trump candidates that won last night, you're not going to hear a word from them about whether or not the election was fair. you're not going to hear a word from them about fraud because the only time they claim there's a problem with the election is when they lose. it's like everything you teach your children not to do. you know, you do not complain about the contest after you have been defeated in the contest. you pick yourself up and you conduct yourself with integrity and dignity. not these guys. this is -- this is a clown car of candidates across the country. and let's hope america has the same sense, whether it's in arizona or missouri or other places to reject this kind of extremism. i would love this kind of extremism rejected on either side of the equation, but right now, it's the republicans that are embracing this. this guy in missouri, i mean,

suing china, like what a joke. he's just -- he does all of these stunts that are just student and silly for an educated man. you know, if he's, you know, suing school districts that have the nerve to try to have people wear masks during a deadly pandemic. he does all of this stuff just graveling to the extreme fringes. and you would think kansas would say to all of these people, quit graveling. by the way, i also want to say, what is interesting last night, this is not a good night for josh hawley last night. i got to make that point. he fwhent all in for vicky hartzler, all over the camera saying vicky hartzler is the candidate. he didn't want eric schmitt to win. all of the republicans were

apoplectic about it. and josh hawley was the hero of the fringe right. clearly, donald trump is a bigger hero because donald trump blessed eric. >> eric, exactly. let's bring in msnbc contributor mike barnicle and msnbc and nbcnews.com, job john heilemann. john, you know, kansas, we've been describing it as a political thunder bolt. it's hard to imagine that not giving us some indication of the amount of energy among people who are frightened by the attack on the right of privacy. and, you know, i think back to doug jones and what that

indicated, i think back in to -- when teddy kennedy's seat was won by a republican what that suggested was going to happen in 2010. and i'm not suggesting a blue wave in 2010. i'm suggesting, though, looking at these results from last night which i just see the margins are astounding. that republicans have a hell of a problem, especially in suburban america. >> yeah, joe, i think, you know, you sometimes get these kind of augeris, these omens, like something happens that foretells, that portended what happened later. oftentimes, things that come earlier in the cycle, whether it's the off-year election, people pointed to the virginia races in the off-year election, look at that. or just pointed to scott brown in the ted kennedy case which also happened much earlier in

2010, february, i think. by january, february, 2010 when that special election happened. now, we're in august. and, you know, people say that these things get locked in stone. that the governing dynamics get locked in stone. and inflation gets big. no matter what happens in the summer. what we've seen with the overturn of roe v. wade and reaction to it, state legislatures, it's been so extreme as you pointed out, it has changed the game and dynamic in a way. and the thing that happened in kansas it should be a wake-up call for both sides. it's going to confirm to democrats who had a theory that this would activate a turnout or enthusiasm, at least energy on their side, that is the wrong word, i suppose. and it should care republicans out of what's happening. they are a party that had all of the advantages of the out of party economy. and having all of that, the

unpopular sitting president and that there's a force bigger than all of that, that got loose. and that's what kansas showed. and steve kornacki raised a proper question can democrats transfer that to the issue of their candidates. that's the tactical and strategic challenge over the next months but the energy is there. in some ways we shouldn't be surprised because of this. what's on the ballot yesterday, in some ways, the anti-abortion and the pro-choice sides on this spike, what we saw last night there say third -- kind of a third constituency out there which is the pro-roe v. wade constituencies. roe v. wade was a compromise. it was not -- abortion on demand, that's not what roe v. wade said. it gave people rights within

limits to set up a trimester system. two-thirds of the country wants to see where abortion in some cases is legalized. i think that's what kansas reaffirmed that there's still this large two-thirds of the country majority for something like roe. and that should tell people the possibility of legislating it on a national level. >> by the way, not in oregon. not in illinois. not in vermont. in kansas. >> yeah. >> and a lot of people say, and they are right, a lot of pro-lifers who say that if you look at polling on abortion, that it's complicated, mike barnicle, but it's actually, actually, if you dig in, it's really not that complicated only 1 out 3 americans it through the years, if you look at gallup polls have ever supported the overturning of roe v. wade. there's a plurality of

americans, again, with the complexities of it all, a plurality of americans support abortion up to 15 weeks. that 15-week ban that roberts wanted to get the majority of the court to support. that was a mississippi case. they wanted at least through the first trimester, most americans, women, have a right to make to make decisions about their own bodies but we see just the radicalism. again, i keep going back to, you know, these republican legislatures who want a rape victim to be liable to members of rapist's families, or a texas attorney general who wants the right to have moms die on operating tables, instead of a husband and wife, or partners, being able to make the choice themselves.

this is -- this is so radical and goes so far beyond to what anybody imagined, even ten years ago, that it's no wonder that we're seeing out of kansas again, this political earthquake. and this does remind me of doug jones. i remember when you were telling me in 2009, early 2010, everywhere you drove, you were seeing scott brown signs as a reaction to the affordable care act. and the bank bailouts and all the other things. and this seems to be one of those moments. >> you know, joe, you just used the phrase "it's not that complicated." and this, i believe is not that complicated. this is kansas we're talking about. this is the heart of the country. this is literally the middle of america. >> look at that. wow. >> normally, each and every day, we cover the controversial in

politics. we cover the conflicts in politics. but on this one, i really believe we're looking at the quiet vote. people who know what's going on. people who observe the news. and they come up with their own conclusions and they're very smart. people who are less smarter than most politicians think they are. and they recognize the crazy. they recognize things that are just out of bounds and beyond the realities of life, as they live it each and every day. i think that's what this vote is all about. and the margins are huge as you saw, as we've all seen. and again, it's kansas. so that quiet vote is sitting out there. and it's a short time until the off-year elections get under way. we're under way now but until the vote occurs in the off-year elections. both sides, both political parties ought to be aware, watch

out that quiet voter is out there. they're watching. they learned, they're educated, and they know what's way over bounds and what's not. >> and kansans went out and voted in extraordinary numbers last night as steve kornacki told us in the last hour, more than 900,000 votes were cast last night in an election cycle where there aren't really competitive democratic races on the ballot. he said that was just below presidential election turnouts. people certainly were motivated. meanwhile, in the state of arizona donald trump had a big night. the republican primary for governor still too close to call. mark finchem, an election conspiracy theorists endorsed by president donald trump is projected to win in republican naum make oversee voting.

in the senate primary, blake masters funded by peter thiel is projected to beat jim lamon and attorney general mark brnovich. and a name you'll recognize, rusty bauers who testified in the january 6 hearings is projected to lose and lose big his premium marry for state senate, down by 30 points with 57% of the vote. so, john heilemann, this is -- we'll see what happens with kari lake. steve kornacki says the vote is still out there. likely she will win, we don't know, close to call here. top to bottom in the primary elections, not just supported by donald trump but people who explicitly have called 2020 still winning the election. and some are saying we're going to go back and decertify the results of 2020 and take it away from joe biden. >> you said good night for

donald trump in arizona, also a good night for arizona democrats in arizona. you know, as we know, when we think about the electoral map, the two most important new swing states, new swing states are georgia and arizona, states that are changing dramatically in terms of demographic composition, in terms of ethics and composition, but suburban places why joe biden was able to win those states. what we've seen, the arizona republican party has been taken over by the nutjobs that is great for donald trump but it's not great for republicans. who are going to have to compete statewide, particularly in a state like arizona which is a purple trending blue state. not a red -- not a red state. so, i would say, look, we can't predict the future. but are democrats in arizona that like the outcomes some of those hope for the outcomes in a lot of cases because these are

easier to beat. mainstream republicans do not despair. donald trump will take a victory lap in a lot of the races. then if we're right about the way this could very well play out this could turn out to be victory for donald trump because a lot of these candidates are weak candidates and democrats have a strong hand to play in arizona in the fall. well, we've got much more to get into from last night's huge primary. three of the night's winners will join us. plus, one of the key issues at least in the republican primaries was the 2020 election itself. in just a few hour, the senate rules committee will hold a hearing on reforming the electoral count act. the chair of that committee senator amy klobuchar will be here. and up next, it was an emotional night on capitol hill, after republican senators finally gave in and renewed their support for a bill providing care for veterans injured by toxins. va secretary denis mcdonough

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americans can't afford to wait. ♪♪ it is half past the hour. and the senate officially passed a key health care bill for veterans exposed to toxic burn pits in iraq and afghanistan. the pact act passed by an 86 to 11 vote, all 11 no votes coming from republicans. last week, 25 republican senators who had initially voted for the legislation changed their votes to block the bill, over what they claimed were accounting technicalities. more than 60 veterans groups and advocates including jon stewart declared victory at a press conference after the vote. but stewart said the bill should have been passed in the first place. >> i want to apologize for cursing last week.

i don't know what happened. but i will say this, i'm not sure i've ever seen a situation where people who have already given so much had to fight so hard to get so little. and i hope we learn a lesson. >> let's bring in right now, the secretary of the u.s. department of veterans affairs denis mcdonough. mr. secretary, thank you so much for being with us. help clarify, if you will, for us the question of what accounting technicalities were that republicans were for this bill, before they were against this bill. and claimed there were dramatic changes in the bill. and yet, we've scoured through it, and we didn't see any dramatic changes. and then, i guess they changed their mind again. why were republicans opposing this bill? >> well, joe, thanks so much for

having me, mika, the bottom line is i think where we ended in a good spot, i think they were worried about the fact that we created a particular set aside, where we could insure that the money we spent on this program was spent especially on we veterans. that's the point. we don't want to make sure we pit them against veterans of other eras. i think they were worried about that probably. and able to work through it. now, we got two more votes for this -- you know, last night, than we did back in june. >> yeah, the vote was 86 to 11, if it goes through, the veterans will get the care they need. i'm interested in the point you made, mr. secretary, jon stewart, i work with it and i've seen it so often, veterans with whom we've made this implicit

bargain, you ship out, we'll take care of you when you come home have to fight so hard for basic health care and go cap in hand on capitol hill to get jon stewart to scream on their behalf until it happens. why is it so hard to take care of our veterans? it shouldn't be. >> well, it really shouldn't be. and this is why president biden has made a priority of this issue, that is for say, toxic exposure, since the day he got in office. even before last night, there's 12 conditions that he's -- under his own authority -- ensured are presumed connected to your service in iraq and afghanistan. that's a decision he made because of what he heard across the country from vets. so, the bottom line is he considers this our sacred obligation to take care of those vets. he is going to make sure that we do a bill that is overwhelmingly passed in the senate last night assures us that we have the

authority to do it. >> mr. secretary, you were white house chief of staff under president barack obama, you dealt with considerable issues during your time in the white house. is the senate worse now? is it more contentious now than it was then? >> yeah. it didn't feel great then either, to be honest. but the fact is that the president outlined in his state of the union, mike, last january, that there's certain things -- you know, we have disagreements about a lot of things. but there's certain things that should be disagreement. that's how he views the agenda. so he challenged the senate and house to work together on toxic exposure. we've now done that. there are two other things that we need to work on and veterans are at the center of both of those, one is act on mental health professionals and the third is substance abuse disorders, addiction. these are all things that, frank

list, whether you're a conservative or progressive, we should be able to get together on the president's agenda, like we did last night in the senate and ensure that we do the right thing. >> thank you so much, secretary of the va denis mcdonough, so great to have you again. >> thank you, joe. >> congratulations. and congratulations most importantly to those veterans who so desperately need this care that, really they were promised when they first enlisted they would be taken care of. for some reason, so many republicans stood in the way of it which leads to the next question, john heilemann, it's not hyperbole to say that you have -- republicans in congress, republicans in state legislatures, that are taking opposing sides to rape victims, to incest victims to getting to the bottom of what happened on

january 6 by opposing participation in these hearings. and standing in the way of vets' benefits who are victims of what they suffered because of their service to the united states of america. it's not just extreme, but also just the political missteps are astounding. look at this vets issue. republicans threw a tantrum. >> yeah. >> and actually blocked, blocked health care for vets. what is going on? >> well, first, i mean, i know it's kind of cliche to say this, jon stewart, let's give that guy a round of applause. he really demonstrated, like we put that clip up with the recount, it's like we put it up in full. it's almost ten minutes long.

millions of viewers, you look at the analytics, people have watched the entire thing. millions of people were captivated by a ten-minute video clip no one watches ten-minute clips on twitter. people were watching this. like mcconaughey went to the white house over uvalde. when you get a celebrity not doing a quick hit but committed to passion on the issue, he's been working on it 15 years, to see those guys can cut through the cluttered media landscape and really had an impact shamed a lot of republicans in the senate effectively to coming back and doing the right thing. joe, this is the question we're asking over and over again on the broader scale, republicans, we talk about the echo chambers in our politics. and democrats are sometimes guilty of this, too, where they forget there's a broader audience out there in this internecine sectarian way.

republicans off their own back side where is they're talking to themselves and they're not it seems totally deaf to the larger audience that's hearing or seeing what they're doing. and i think that tendency in politics, they do not get your point, yes, a lot of it is extremism, but it's also widely tone-deaf extremism. on the brink of an election. when victory is there for republicans when ever macro variable should favor them, having a landslide in the house taking over the control of the house of representatives, make getting 30, 35 seats, talking about it just a few months ago and just one net gain in the senate, they have disappeared into this -- into this echo chamber. and they've lost touch with the most obvious political lessons of the last 20 or 30 years including things like we shouldn't as republicans be seen as on the wrong side of veterans

health care. and we shouldn't be on the wrong side -- 80% of americans on gun legislation. we shouldn't be on the wrong side of two-thirds of the country when it comes to abortion. these are not close calls. these -- these should be easy calls for republicans. even to hide what they really believe just from political expedience, they're not doing that. and that tells you the appear has really lost its way in a pretty fundamental way and could pay a huge price in november coughing up a huge share. >> you look at what's going on in the papers, unfortunately, tragic shootings, grocery store smootings, 18-year-olds with mental problems being able to walk into a gun shop and buy a weapon of war and go shoot up a school while police and other law enforcement officers stay outside scared to go in. and maybe you have one or two republicans i think yesterday voting against

military-style weapons, but like john said, they're on the wrong side of 90% of universal background checks. they're on the wrong side of an issue of a 10-year-old girl who is a rape victim having to flee a state. they're on the wrong side of protecting mothers' lives on an operating table when they're at risk at dying. they're on the wrong side of burn pit legislation to protect veterans' rights. i mean, my god, one extreme position after another. in a year, this should be a dream for republicans politically, where they should just wipe democrats off the board. >> yeah. i mean, as richard haass said earlier on the program, america's biggest problem right now isn't china. it isn't russia. it isn't the middle east. america's biggest problem right now is its own politics. it has these huge problems. and it's utterly perplexing to

america's friends and allies around the world why it can't pick these basic things. and the reason it can't fix some of these big issues where the public is so clearly on one side. and yet the laws seem to be so clearly on the other side. is because, largely, because the republican party has moved so much, it's not the party you're in the '90s in congress on issues like abortion. on issues like gun control. i mean, look what congress did back then in terms of assault weapons ban, where the republican party was. you had republican members of congress who could be pro-choice. in congress. you don't have that anymore. the party has become so extreme, and it's got itself out of step with the american public. and somehow the political system isn't able to fix that. and that's what's worrying about the country at the moment. the system of america is not working. it's not that it's taking positions that the world disapproves of. it's the system itself is

broken. and can't get itself into a place where even the american people want it to be doing something that it's not doing. you know, that's largely because of where the republican party has drifted to. >> let's bring in one of the 86 yes votes on this veterans health care legislation. democratic senator amy klobuchar of minnesota. senator, it's good to see you this morning. >> thanks, willie. >> so, this got hung up for far too long, denied health care to veterans far too long but it does pass ultimately, we had your colleague senator tester on the show yesterday and he really point by point rebuffed everything republicans and name any pat toomey was saying about switches and changes made. he said, no, they took one sentence out in the house and we were ready to go with it. so, what do you make of the road blocks that were put in your way to get this through? >> democrats stood on the side of veterans, that's what happened. john hatch was able to negotiate

a bipartisan bill, i've been working on this for years, a man who lost his wife, 36-year-old, three babies, stationed behind one of the most major burn pits in iraq. this has happened all over the country, so with the veterans, with that passion of jon stewart, we basically said we stand as just pointed out we stand with the people and with jon. and one by one by one, we're scoring victories here. and they're victories for the american people. we got that chips act done to finally make semiconductor chips in america. that's a huge gain. we have the inflation act about to pass with senator schumer and senator manchin. $200 billion in reduction, finally, in addition to making sure we do manage about greenhouse gases with 20% reduction by 2030 finally taking on the pharmaceutical companies, finally taking on the nra.

this isn't just rhetoric in campaign ads we're moving this country forward. this isn't just something we can overnight it was hard work while getting pummeled by extremists time and time again. i love working across the aisle. i have friends that are republicans but as just pointed out we are in the mainstream and people are with us. and that's what you saw in kansas last night. that's what you saw in kansas. >> i can't agree with you more, senator klobuchar. i want to ask you about the reconciliation package. the big question is of course, if senator kyrsten sinema will support it. is there any contact with her, her office, any word that she might come around? >> i know she's from arizona and she's always cared about climate change. you know, this is a major part of this bill. the pharmaceutical piece of it i would have gone farther months ago but this is actually something she negotiated. and we are finally lifting that ban that says to medicare, you can't even get less expensive

drugs for 46 million seniors. aarp is on our side with this. she knows this issue and she's already said she'd support this part. the tax piece, 15% minimum fashion, i don't think that's a problem. these in the past able to work on a number of issues. i'll say we'll get her support. i know senator schumer has been working with her. >> senator klobuchar, looking at last night, the primary results in michigan, and having new fears were they to be leekted about the sanctity of the ballot going forward. i know you and your colleagues in the senate are trying to safe guard matters on that end of it, the january 6th end of with the electoral count reform act. which is ahead to the rules committee for possible changes. give up an update where thins

and where this will be? >> we had a hearing and we both want to move this along. senator collins and manchin. put together a bipartisan group that come up really good ideas in the bill. i think we're going to pass it by the end of the year. what this does is basically say, remember the hang mike pence, it clarifies not that we need to, but it does, that the vice president can't overturn the election of the votes of the american people number two, it makes it clear that one senator and one house member out of 500 some people can't just slow down and gum up the counting of the electoral votes for this country. and it puts in a 20% number which is much more appropriate. and then the third thing, you can't come up with fake electors after an election which is exactly what donald trump was trying to do. and it makes it really clear what an appeal process should be. so there will be changes to it, we're working on it, but it's a strong bipartisan effort and i'm proud to be part of it.

>> hey, amy, good morning. it's claire. >> hi, claire. i was thinking of you last night with kansas. >> i know! missouri women still have a place in the state which is really important. >> yes. >> which is really important to my state. >> exactly. >> speaking of bipartisan and speaking of kansas, i notice that there is a bipartisan bill that has emerged with jim cane and others about codifying roe v. wade. talk about the chances of that legislation, and the alternative where mitch mcconnell and clearly a lot of these republican nominees around the country want to do the opposite. they want to make sure that what the good people of kansas did last night has no value whatsoever. because they want to make it a federal law that no abortion can be safe or illegal. >> exactly. just reviewing this proposal, but i'd prefer the bill that we have voted on already which is the women's health protection act. but with that being said, what

they are proposing on the republican side is unbelievable. they literally, as you know, a number of them have said they would want to ban abortion federally, not just state by state, but federally. so it is a very clear choice in nearly every single race in the country between where democrats stand, people like catherine cortezes masto and warnock and john federerman, where they stan and barnes, our candidates want to protect a women's right they want to make it clear that it's a woman that makes a decision about her health care, not a politician and we don't want a patchwork of laws around this country. so, that's where we are right now. and the republicans don't even have close to the votes to the 60 votes to get this done. we want to win at least two more

democratic senate seats and we will move and be able to codify roe v. wade into law. that's what we want to do. >> you know, senator, when talking about what republican legislatures have been trying to do the past couple of months, where they've seen -- i can't even believe that we're at this point, where they're more concerned about a rapist's right than they are the rape victim. i talked about a republican state legislature that's now trying to pass a bill where members of a rapist's family can sue a rape victim for $20,000 per rapist family member if this rape victim does not have a forced pregnancy. we look at texas republicans who want moms to not have protections to stop them from dying on operating tables. you look at indiana that's

actually moving quickly because a 10-year-old rape -- a 10-year-old rape victim, let me say it again, a 10-year-old victim of a rapist, she and her family did not feel like they had >> the michigan gubernatorial

republican candidate who will be facing off this fall against gretchen whitmer said that her 14-year-old girl raised by her uncle was a perfect example of why she wanted to ban any exceptions for and incest. i just ask you, do you talk to the republicans there? do they express concern about the extremism? >> i think they've gotten so immersed in this we march together one way that they have lost their way when it comes to things like assault weapons, as you of pointed out, and abortion. and we asked what was the matter with kansas? we won't say that anymore. they

have a democratic governor and they have resoundingly taken on this issue with turn out of nearly 1 million people, double that it has been in the past. they turned out and said, no. we are against this extremism. you are not going to tell women and a 10-year-old girl who got raved that she has to find her way to another state. then when she goes there the attorney general investigates the doctor who gave her the healthcare. this is why we won big time in kansas. you are right, the extreme candidates won in some places, not all places, but they won with the voters that are trump mega voters. now the general election and not what just happened in kansas. what republicans are turning out , they are going to choose the

mainstream. they want a party that will actually take on the pharmaceutical companies and saying stand with the aarp. they want to take on weapons of war in the hands of 18-year-olds . they will stand with a party that will say to women that you don't have to go across the country to get reproductive health care. we stand with a party that will acknowledge forests are burning across the country and that we need to do something and invest in clean energy. this is my favorite, they will stand with a party that wants to reduce inflation and debt because in a few days they will be voting against that and we are unified for that bill. senator amy klobuchar, thank you so much and it sounds like a strong platform, actually. >> it is strong. it is not just

what they are doing, it is what we are doing, we are moving with the white house and moving forward. thank you so much and not next a passing of a legend. vin scully has passed away. we pay tribute to a morning giant when morning joe returns. g . let's make history. vote yes to let medicare negotiate lower drug prices. welcome to allstate, where you can bundle and save. isn't that right phil? i'm in the metaverse, bundling my home and auto insurance. bundle home and auto and save. call a local agent or 1-888-allstate

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>> there is the wind up in there is the pitch. >> a high fly ball into right field and he is gone. >> it is a no-hitter. that is a tribute from mlb on tbs with the show last night . the voice of the dodgers for 67 years. the longest in pro sports history. he passed away in the hidden hills neighborhood of los angeles, we are told. mike, where do you begin? for the fans who don't appreciate who he was and what he did. there are broadcasts of how he viewed his job. he said to say

what happened and get out of the way. he would shut up so he could hear what he loved as a kid, the roar of the crowd. if you go back and watch, he makes the call and it clears the fence and vin scully is quiet for one minute eight seconds as he lets the viewer absorb that moment in history. >> for those who heard him on national television or whatever , knew that he knew the game and could give a portrait of the game, verbally. the most important aspect of vin scully is a broadcaster was one he was a incredible and decent human being. and second, he knew when to be quiet and let the pictures tell the story. wonder for, wonderful memories of vin scully . >> probably the best that ever

was. he has been retired and was in ambassador for the game. you grew up as a dodgers fan in los angeles and he was the soundtrack of your life. >> i didn't know there was another baseball announcer for a long time. for years and years in the 70s and the 80s, he worked with radio in l.a.. he wasn't solo and a lot of games but in television, he was so low and that is part of why the relationship developed with the game. it was you and vin scully watching the game and he was talking you through it. one other thing was he knew when to be quiet. i remember in example like yesterday. when hank aaron was against the

dodgers and fulton county in 1974, you could see the hit and it's gone. he leaves the microphone and walks away and gets a cup of coffee knowing the roar of the crowd would not go away. he also turned phrases in and incredible way. we were told by announcers why he was the greatest. it was because of his ability in a pithy way to spend the perfect poetic line. that is the thing you just don't hear. obviously he knew that hank aaron would about a home run, but he didn't know it would be against the dodgers. he made note of history that it was a black man in the deep south and getting the ovation that he let ring on national television for two minutes. >> he was a poet in addition to

everything else and he knew the dodgers. all the sandeep koufax no-hitters, he had been there for all of it and no one knew the dodgers better than vin scully . >> yeah, the sweep of history, of baseball history. a kid that was born in new york city, he started working in 1950 as the voice of the brooklyn dodgers. >> yeah, from jackie robinson to clayton kershaw, this man stands for and important principle that young people need to hear. success is loving what you do and not what you can buy or own . he went down in history for many reasons, but his decency is high on the scale as you

look at this man and how kind he was to people. how respectful he was notches to the fans, but of the game and the people that he was talking to when he was broadcasting the game. remember he was only 25 years old when he broadcast the world series, the year i was born in 1953. that is in accomplishment for a kid from the brox that lost his father and early age. he decided he had to be there for the fans. as somebody who loves baseball, it's hard not to have a source part sort spot in your heart for losing this icon of the game. and kansas voters, democrat and republican decide overwhelmingly to protect abortion rights in that state.

turnout was massive yesterday and resembled a general election in the first big test of the issue since the supreme court overturned roe v. wade. it was also a big night in arizona and other states as several candidates appear to be on the way to victory. we will have reports from key states in a few moments. first, hallie jackson has a breakdown of what happens. >> reporter: a political earthquake and kansas voters rejecting and amendment that would have removed abortion protections from the state constitution. in effect, keeping the procedure there. >> i'm overjoyed that we did what kansas needed us to do. >> reporter: president biden makes clear what we know, the majority of american should have access to abortion. the

first time abortion has been on the ballot since the supreme court overturned roe v. wade. the decision is galvanizing abortion-rights supporters. >> i hope we inspire other states, when they get the opportunity to vote, to think about a woman's choice. and a test of former president trump's grip on the gop but for now it appears strong in arizona. nbc news rejecting his preferred candidate, blake masters for winning the senate nomination. and kari lake who the president prefers pulling ahead against her opponent. lake, a former tv host has amplified mr. trump's lies about a stolen election in 2020 while claiming without evidence that the election was rigged.

>> reporter: endorsed by former president mike pence, lake is unfit to hold office. >> for a candidate to come out and say there is fraud before the vote is cast is crazy and it is disqualifying. she simply is not fit for the job. >> reporter: and the january 6th hearing that the speaker of the house refused to lose his primary weeks after testifying. peter mayer who voted to impeach mr. trump over the january 6th insurrection. and emerging as the gop for candidate for governor against gretchen whitmer. >> the work is not finished. my friends, we are just getting started and i hear it will be a rough ride. where it was eric versus

eric with eric schmidt defeating eric brighton. >> are you ready to take this country back? >> reporter: a round of from nbc 's hallie jackson. and there was also st. louis missouri. good morning to you. we start with you out west where it is too close to call the governor's race but it seems to be almost a sweep there for former president trump . >> reporter: exactly. this was what we were setting up yesterday. the potential the donald trump endorsed candidates would pull off victories. blake masters said he would've objected to the certification if he had been in the u.s. senate at the time. also kari lake and mark

mitchum for secretary of state. and a sizable advantage for the person running for attorney general here. they have called for the decertification of the 2020 election. these individuals are facing democrats and what is the post to be close and competitive general election races. and now rusty powers who testified publicly in front of the january 6th select committee about the pressure campaign in the weeks with the 2020 election with trump allies that pressured him in the arizona state legislature that the ballots be recounted. last night he lost by a sizable margin and was a trump backed challenger. essentially now all but abandoning the john mccain wing

of this party. doug ducey is out of office and it appears that robeson will not be his successor. this is a republican party that has denounced the likes of jeff flake and the governors before this year. it is a changed sort of republican party. at the same time, joe biden pulled off a narrow victory but there is going to be intense campaigns facing the state of arizona over the next days. >> you mentioned that he would stand in the way of the attempted coup and will lose by about 30 points. in the state of michigan, a couple of trump gap backed candidates won there. >> it was a chaotic primary on

the governor's side that included leading front running candidates. one candidate indicted on charges related to january 6th. there was a $2 million ad by democrats in the closing weeks and the trump backed candidate winning by a fairly comfortable margin setting off and intense battle with gretchen whitmer who is the democratic governor in this election. democrats are calling tutor in extremist saying she's out of touch with michigan. republican saying gretchen whitmer's reign of terror is coming to anand. i want you to hear the speech last night. >> the truth is this upcoming campaign, the next four years, they are not about gretchen

witmer or tutor dixon, they are about all of us. how together we can rebuild our state. >> reporter: and then there is the place where we are now. peter mayer was one of the republicans to vote after the january 6th insurrection. you can see john gibbs was endorsed early on by the former president and was a former member of the trump administration. he went on to defeat peter mayer's. the group getting involves spending a half million dollars. that is the matchup we will see in november and the matchup democrats want. he denied the results of the 2020 election.

>> democrats got what they wanted in the race and we will see how it turns out for them in the general election. in the state of missouri, a fascinating tweet from president trump. it was eric schmidt who won and eric brighton was trailing badly . >> eric schmidt, the missouri attorney general pulled off the win in the last hours of this race. he was seen as a moderate republican in this race. trying to get the rights for former president trump and becoming the senate majority leader if republicans take the senate. he talks about immigration and open borders. he talks about election integrity and critical race

theory. he takes up the politics of former president trump. and the embattled governor failed in his comeback . he resigned in disgrace at just 18 months after being inaugurated with allegations of sexual abuse and spousal abuse. that tells you that the republican voters did not want to back eric brighton. he did not concede. and they did not hear from him and it's interesting to see although again he is not declaring victory. in creating chaos in the last 36th hours of this race. aids said he was part of the political attention here.

both saying they were endorsed by him although former president trump left it to the people of missouri. overall, when we look into november, eric schmitt is a good thing for republicans . he is someone republicans think will win in november. it would've been until 19/96, the last time i democratic presidential candidate won in this state and it was bill clinton. the last time a democrat won in this state was 2012. democrats feel confident that in the state where former president trump is popular that they will be able to hold it together. >> so it was eric schmitt who won and not eric greitens who is down this morning . thank you for your reporting this

morning. now let's turn back to the secretary of state of arizona, katy hobbs who is the democratic nominee for governor of arizona . thank you for be in on the show this morning. we need to look ahead right away. what does a governor against kari lake look like? >> with both candidates, it is not looking that way at that point. they are for every day arizonans and during the primary , they made positions clear. with the most far right faction of their base. kari lake has proposed ideas of having -- i don't know how you take this seriously. she

started making fouls false allegations of fraud a few minutes ago. with this race, i'm not taking anything for granted. to get voters out, we can't take anything for granted in this race. i will continue to talk to arizonans across the state with what they want to see and how we bring people together to do that. >> secretary, good morning. your arrival has expressed concerns that this year's election would not be conducted fairly. she said if she was to lose that it must be rigged. i also want to touch on the race for your old job, you're out going job, where the candidate has made it clear he would also play a significant role. he is back in the big lie

and even trying to decertify joe biden's win from a couple of years ago. how important is this to the state of arizona. >> they may trump's big lie the focus and it's not a surprise they are calling out allegations of fraud already about this election. it is really concerning engines the thing all along that democracy is on the ballot in 2022. and trump is working to insert himself in the election so he can install leaders to change the rules and oversee future election so they could potentially overturn elections if they don't like the out come. >> how much to kari lake

represented more than arizona is becoming purple. >> you are up to very big outside personalities. there is money poured into the campaigns. is arizona starting to drift and becoming more red? or, is it purple in training blue? >> absolutely, regardless of what color you call it, these folks are part of the mainstream of every day arizona. they certainly do not represent the majority of arizona voters. we started to see the trend in 2018 and it continues in 2020. these folks do not speak for the majority of arizonans. we are ground zero for so much of the conspiracies and

allegations. not just right after 2020 but throughout 2021. arizonans are tired of this and want to move on and they want leaders who will get the job done. all right, the democratic nominee for governor of arizona, katie hobbs , thank you for watching and thank you so much. there is a novel lot to digest, mike. you look at the extremists that won races last night. with extremists, of course political positions are outside the mainstream of where the majority of americans are but they are conspiracy theorists and they are insurrectionist and they are weirdos and they are freaks. you look at them and you think about how extreme they are. i'm trying to think of another example.

i go back to the 1984 democrats. remember republicans talking about the 1984 san francisco democrats saying they were outside the mainstream of american politics. reagan proved that to be the case winning 49 out of 50 states that fall. i'm not saying the sweep will be that dramatic for republicans but i believe that this republican party, donald trump's republican party have effectively push their way outside of the mainstream of american voters. there are good, conservative, pro-life republican voters from kansas to connecticut that are just going to say, i can't vote for these people. they are too

extreme. we can go back to 64 and goldwater. my dad stood in line for goldwater all day to vote for him and goldwater was wiped out. it is outside the mainstream of american politics. you wonder if americans have gone the way of the 1984 san francisco democrats. >> gold rotter would be considered a republican in today's republican party. they are in a capsule by themselves, almost like a space shuttle going around the earth. they are 100 miles up there and just removed from reality. i don't know if you would agree with me or not, the subplot in this election is the number of states and republican candidates who are literally spending most of their time talking about the past. talking about the 2020 election and the

rigged election, in their minds, in 2020 two what might happen in the fall in november. this election is rigged and the democrats do it all the time. the contentions problems that everyday americans live with like food prices and gas prices. how much of and impact will that have on who wins the senate? based on the fact that one party, the republicans, are so far removed, in general, from reality. >> of course, this has nothing to do with conservativism. bowers is as conservative today as he was weeks ago. and with a 95 or 96th% conservative rating. i have a 95% or 96%

conservative rating from when i represented northwest florida. it has nothing to do with ideology and everything to do with conspiracy theories and following donald trump. my gosh, we can't say it enough, i don't know what is wrong with republicans and why they cannot see it. donner trump is the first president since herbert hoover to lose the house, the senate and the white house. >> it is losers, crack pots and conspiracy theorists. >> and now it seems from coast- to-coast. you go to the heart of america and to kansas and that is a thunderbolt. still ahead on morning joe

, deleted text messages sent around the time of the attack on the capital. this time from some of the highest levels of the pentagon. and steve will be back at the top of the fourth hour of morning joe . we will be right back. we hit the bike trails every weekend shinges doesn't care. i grow all my own vegetables shingles doesn't care. we've still got the best moves you've ever seen good for you, but shingles doesn't care. because 1 in 3 people will get shingles, you need protection. but, no matter how healthy you feel, your immune system declines as you age increasing your risk for getting shingles. so, what can protect you? shingrix protects. you can protect yourself from shingles with a vaccine proven to be over 90% effective. shingrix is a vaccine used to prevent shingles in adults 50 years and older. shingrix does not protect everyone

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>> that was the intention from the start. >> as a husband, i did not look forward to trusting the legislature to provide for the rights of my wife. >> one thing i heard is you may be against abortion for yourself but you cannot be against it and make the choice for someone else. >> this is my life. >> ending kansas you can still get care here and you are able to make your own decisions. >> you know, kansas is a political thunderbolt. it is hard to imagine that not giving some indication of the amount of energy among people who are

frightened by the attack on the right of privacy. you know, i think back to doug jones and what that indicated. i think back to when teddy kennedy was a republican and what that suggested would happen in 2010. i'm not suggesting a blue wave, but i suggest looking at the results from last night and the martians are astounding. republicans have a of a problem , especially in suburban america . >> it is massive. you sometimes get these omens were something happens that foretells what would happen later. often things later in the cycle.

whether it is in off year cycle and people point to new jersey and virginia in the off year election. or scott brown and ted kennedy which happened in 2010. i think it was january or february of 2010 when that special election happened. now it is august and people say the governing dynamics get locked in stone and inflation is big. it doesn't matter what will happen over the summer. the reaction to roe v. wade by conservative governors has been extreme and it has changed the game. it has altered the dynamic, and away. and what happened in the state of kansas should be a wake-up call for both sides. it confirms democrat professed with enthusiasm, i suppose that is the wrong word, it should

scare republicans as they are the out of power party with having the economy not in a great place and and unpopular sitting president. there is a force that got let loose in all of that and kansas showed that yesterday. can democrats move the energy from the issue to the candidate and that is the challenge over the coming months . the energy is clearly there. it was on the ballot yesterday and in some ways we saw last night that we think of this as the antiabortion and pro-choice sides. then we saw a third constituency which is the pro roe v. wade constituency. some people think it is pro-choice or pro-abortion.

it was a compromise that gave people the right, within limits and it set up the trimester system. it turns out the polls are right that americans want to see a system like roe v. wade where abortion is legal. kansas we affirmed that last night with this large two thirds majority in the country with legislating that at the national level. if democrats keep control, somehow, of the house of representatives this fall. nancy pelosi's trip to taiwan is not the first time she is upset the chinese. she displayed a banner in tiananmen square and we will talk about the u.s. in china relations next coming up on the morning joe. .

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>> it is important to note that members of congress have made trips earlier this year. five centimeters, bipartisan, came. the chair of the foreign relations committee came in not much of a fuss was made. several senators have made trips or plan to make trips. i just hope it is really clear that while china has stood in the way of taiwan participating and going to certain meetings, that they understand that they will not stand in the way of a show of friendship and support and a source of learning about how we can work together. so, yeah, no, i don't know why they made a big fuss. because i am

speaker, i guess but they didn't say anything when the men came. >> reporter: house speaker nancy pelosi is the only house speaker to travel to taiwan in five years. then speaker of the house new gang risk made a trip . there were threats from china which claims taiwan as its own territory. with a vibrant antlers seeing democracy, she said that she used the trip to make abundantly clear we will not abandon taiwan. she was honored and the president called her a devoted friend. and from the former chief of staff, good morning. speaker pelosi is right. just back in november, a group of senators

including john cornyn and a group of them that were visiting, why is this a stir for china? >> china overplayed its hand and if they had not attempted up , people would not have noticed at all. they try to deter travel and threatened military action across the straits of taiwan. they tried to threaten taiwan and she was not backing down. good for speaker pelosi for sticking to her guns but china botched this and gambled that she would call off the trip and she did not back down. >> she made a big show of going to the event with the president and she just left taiwan a short time ago. and there was discord in the white house about not wanting her to go but she did go and

made a point of being there. >> there were national security principles to give her a threat briefing. look, madam speaker, this is your call and if you go there could be consequences. to joe biden's credit, he did not call her and ask her to stand down. the biden administration played it exactly right. they had deniability but cannot be accused by republicans of backing down from china's threat. and came out and endorsed speaker pelosi's trip last night . one of the more underreported stories over the past, i would say the past year or two, has been the consistent overreach by president xi jinping. whether you are

talking about hong kong or if you are talking about going after entrepreneurs. when you are talking about going after nba stars. the overreach and the extremism of treating people in the west and across the world as if they are subjects of the chinese communist party. so, now we here have nancy pelosi doing what newt gingrich did and what i did and what a lot of members of congress did over the years. meeting the president of taiwan and going to the inauguration of the president of taiwan. now this massive overreach where they back themselves into a corner and embarrass themselves. i wonder why there are no political repercussions for him inside the chinese communist

party. when you look -- >> joe, you are right. we could argue whether it is arrogance or security. the economy has slowed dramatically in china and economic success and high political growth was for years the source in china. it is also a liberal western oriented democratic model which inherently intrinsically is a threat to xi jinping . there is no one who can push back against him right now. he is the most powerful chinese leader right now. they could have ignored the pelosi trip and we would not have this

segment if it had not been for china's reaction. this is about the problems this leader is facing in his own insecurity. the growth of nationalism, which they have whipped up and now the pressure for the unprecedented third term which he will get. this is not about nancy pelosi, it's about this leadership in china at this moment in history. coming up, the supreme court ruled that states should decide abortion policy but kansas just did. it is not the way that conservative justices may have imagined. stay tuned, the morning joe is coming right back.

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i have been, my wife would say, overly optimistic about this country over the past five years, thinking we were strong enough to endure multiple political shocks. and i still believe that. at the same time, i'm deeply disturbed when i find out the secret service has destroyed evidence about what happened on two of the most extraordinarily consequential days in american history. and now we're getting reports that pentagon officials also destroyed evidence of communication that they engaged in on january 6th. they wiped cell phones of top defense leaders that were in charge of deploying the national guard on january 6th. i remember at the beginning of this crisis the thing that we kept asking on guard,

why wasn't the national guard called out? when the commission was set up, i said, that was the first thing i wanted to know. why was there a delay? and yet according to court records that were published by american oversight and reviewed by the "washington post," the phones of high profile figures, including christopher miller, who was the acting defense secretary at the time, and acting army secretary were scrubbed after the attack. richard, to say this is disturbing, it's un-american and it's absolutely frightening that you have the secret service and the pentagon actively -- they would be burning papers in

pastimes. there are legal consequences to destroying evidence on cell phones, and yet here we have these top agencies doing this. what are your thoughts? >> talking about china and that china is the greatest threat to the united states. i think it's what you've raised that is the greatest threat to the united states. we can no longer get up in the morning and assume american democracy is going to be respected and that it's going to function as it's functioned for two and a half centuries. we have people with real power whose ultimate loyalty is not to the constitution, but might be to a person or party and we don't seem to have the constraints and oversight that we need on them. yeah, i think this is the issue for the next couple years for people coming into power, who are going to put persons ahead

of american democracy. the real threat is right here inside the united states. >> we got this from the watchdog group american oversight reviewed by the "washington post." it's the acting defense secretary and other high ranking leaders. missing texts from the secret service. they say this was part of their policy for departing employees, that they just wipe everything on their phone, i guess. does that sound plausible to you as someone who's worked inside the highest reaches of government? >> everyone wants to find a conspiracy theory here and i think there's going to be a heightened scrutiny on presidential appointees. joe is right. we need to understand minute to minute why the national guard was not deployed and what happened at the pentagon. the i.t. folks are going to do

what are they are going to do. i think for the most part the secret service are talking about career professionals. they don't have a loyalty to one political party. i think the pentagon there are more questions to be raised because we're talking about presidential appointees. >> thank you both very much for being on this morning. coming up, a hard fought house primary. also drew some sharp contrasts between the progressive and moderate wings of the party. we'll talk to congresswoman hailey stevens. n hailey stevens (johnny cash) ♪ i've traveled every road in this here land! ♪

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welcome back. with a lot of companies like microsoft, airbnb, twitter embracing flexible hybrid work models, the question of who goes back into the office and when may be leaving a younger demographic of workers without the career growth opportunities generations before them had. joining us now is daniella pierre-bravo. she's the author of a new book. you wrote about this in your latest pierce. what did you find out? >> first of all, we found that there is a disconnect between company leadership and employee expectations about work from home policies. then there is a generational and gender disconnect between office and remote policies. a poll showed that 84% of

millennials say they prefer remote work. the more flexible policy allows for more options when you have a family or have a long commute, for example. studies show more women are left excited about returning to the office full-time and there can be unintended consequences for these remote workers. they can miss out on mentorship opportunities. one worker said she would have questions during virtual work meetings but would stay quiet because she didn't want to bother. that, of course, can be tough on young people starting out. it's interesting because only 4% of employers said they are requiring all employees to return to the office full-time. one startup built is one of the few companies with the full-time

in office policy. here's what the ceo and owner told me about why other business leaders should consider doing the same and the importance the decision has on young employees. >> i think the most important thing i am hearing both from the leader side and the employee side is just give clarity. the worst is when you're kind of in the middle and you say, well, we're flexible, but we're kind of in and kind of out, because the people who want the in-office culture don't get it and those who work from them only feel this pressure to come in. being clear with a team up front and having that clarity and in-person time is going to lead to a much stronger team and a better culture for everyone, especially to the young folks who are looking to get a hold. >> young employees are grateful to have these social and collaborative benefits that come

from being in the office, but it's important to advocate for your particular work environment needs. they encourage young professionals to get into the office whenever they can and connect with as many people as possible. >> it's a tough one. it's a balance for women for sure. you can read her report at know your value dotcom. it is the top of the fourth hour of "morning joe." 9:00 a.m. on the east coast. 8:00 a.m. in most of kansas where voters in that state sent a major message about abortion rights. voters overwhelmingly struck down a proposed constitutional amendment that would have removed language enshrining reproductive rights in kansas. the proposed amendment was the