>> we have seen that the former president's new super pac, maga inc. has shelled out some money for ads targeting warnock in georgia in support of herschel walker. i don't know of any specific plans at the moment for the former president to appear in georgia. in the coming weeks, i would certainly expect him to do so, he has shown that he's supportive of walker even in the face of all of these recent controversies and walker himself appeared on one of donald trump's very favorite shows, sean hannity, and sort of a fox news rally for walker, but i would certainly expect the former president to continue to support walker in that race. >> fox news rally, well said, and i think we can imagine trump won't be able to resist staying away. "politico's" meredith mcgraw, thank you so much. we're grateful for your appearance this morning.

and thanks to all of you for getting up "way too early" with us on this tuesday morning. "morning joe" starts right now. the media suggests they are not paying attention to the concerns of every day voters. >> you want to sweep it under the rugment i don't want to talk about this any more than anyone else. >> when the barbarians were at the gate, you were happy to let them in. >> they were people that behaved badly on that day. i'm not one of them. >> ms. abrams is going to lie about my record because she doesn't want to talk about her own. >> i don't have the luxury of being part of a good old boys club. >> debate night in ohio, utah, and georgia with the midterms exactly three weeks away, things are getting a little heated. steve kornacki is standing by at the big board. >> did you see that guy beforehand, he's going into the whole rage thing. >> out of hand. >> this guy's crazy. >> the state of the race, which

is what we really want from him. >> republicans claim to care so much about spending. >> yeah. >> will they speak out about the new report that the trump organization overcharged the secret service for stays at the former president's properties? also this morning, another wave of attacks as moscow appears to be targeting critical infrastructure. the death toll rises in kyiv after russia uses iranian drones to attack residential areas in ukraine's capitol. we'll take a closer look at the iran factor, how the war has brought moscow and teheran closer together. >> you know, i say repeatedly, iran has been the epicenter of international terrorism since 1979. we should have been more aggressive toward them for a very long time. now you have this toxic mix going on. you have terrorism. the russians, this has nothing

to do with the battlefield. this is just about terrorism and america and its allies are going to have to do more, and we're going to get into that. when i say do more, we're going to have to send them whatever they need to stop these attacks, and at some point, if the terrorism continues, we're going to have to draw a line across just as we did with syria. we're going to have to draw a line across ukraine, and we're going to have to tell the russians, hey, fight on your battle front, we're going to stay away from that. we're not going to continue to allow indiscriminate attacks against the ukrainian people. willie, that's my opinion, of course, nobody else's. >> we'll get more into it. >> we'll talk more about it. >> willie, i want to talk about something obviously a lot of people are thinking this morning, has nothing to do with ukraine. has nothing to do with syria. they have one burning question in their mind that's not even the midterms. the night off last night, the

rainout, does it help the yankees more or does it help cleveland more? don't go like that. you've seen how much i invested in the red sox. when they decided at trade deadline, we would rather be in last place than first place. that was their decision. willie is still in this. he has a front office that doesn't like to end up in last place. i'll ask again, willie, is this going to help the yankees more or cleveland nor, the extra day auch. >> -- off. >> i like it as a yankee, nasty weather means nasty nestor cortez gets a day off. an all star this year. so it was a little annoying last night. i'm sure for all the fans who went to yankee stadium, waited two and a half hours. they wouldn't have started until

10:30 or 11:00. and now you get a 4:00 this afternoon game to decide who wins the series, and then, by the way, gets about 24 hours before the next game, game one of the alcs, they get to fly to houston and play a great astros team. it gets tougher from here. i like it. i like where we are. it's one of those days where anything goes. cortez doesn't have it. shane bieber doesn't have it for the guardians if he starts today, may come out early and the bull pen is wide open. should be a fun game. >> the best part is it's at 4:00. it's an afternoon game now. you get to see it without being exhausted in the morning. mika and i usually we have a blue plate special. >> we do. >> we watch heehaw at 5:30, wheel of fortune at 6:00, have our milk and crackers and then go to bed. we get to see this.

along with joe, willie and me, bbc news, katty kay, joouj eugene robinson, and jonathan lemire, host of "way too early." >> one of the worst interviews i've ever seen of a leader. she was stammering around when she was asked, are you going to be leading the conservatives into the next election. it was like she had swallowed a marble. i don't know how the torys keep her in there. how many points are you behind labor now. >> when your premiership is compared to lettuce, you're not in a good place. the economists said she had the shelf life of lettuce.

they watch it degenerate and watch how long she's going to stay in. that's not a good look for a premiership. yes, i'm going to leave them indefinitely, and she couldn't even answer the questions without these long pauses. i mean, as a projection of confidence, that was not what the tory party, certainly her premiership was leading to, and the party is now -- i mean, it's so interesting from this side of the atlantic where it's so hard for republicans to speak out against donald trump, they are starting to come out publicly and say she's toast. she has to go. there's no chance she can stay, and as she watches those around her, her deputies, nominally, her deputies, performing better than she is in parliament, she has to be wondering how long it's going to be. >> she's not toast. she is lettuce. the daily star says lettuce

lives on leaf support. they have picture of lettuce with little lies with a wig! this is terrible. this is her apology from yesterday. >> what i'm focused on is delivering for the british public. i have recognized we have made mistakes. i'm sorry for those mistakes, but i fix mistakes. i have appointed a new chancellor. we have restored economic stability and fiscal discipline. what i now want to do is go on and deliver for the public. >> they asked her also if she would be leading the conservatives, gasped for a little bit, looked like she ate a marble, and made me think, my money, willie is on the lettuce. >> that seems to be the consensus, katty in the uk, the money is on the lettuce. can you summarize for viewers

who may not understand why these few weeks have been so disastrous for liz truss? >> i mean, in a way, this is a defining moment in the history of trickle down economics. she came in determined to implement, classic, conservative ideology, economic ideology from the 1980s at a time of growing inequality in the economy. she gave a large tax cut to britain's wealthiest, and with the argument that this would produce growth. she was then met with a market response that was absolutely ferocious, sending the pound plummeting. london suddenly looked a very cheap place to do your shopping because you could get your pounds for your dollars. the markets responded in a way that i think liz truss and her chancellor had not expected and i don't know why they hadn't expected that. they ought to have anticipated

that, and prompting even, and i have really almost never seen thrks an intervention from the president of the united states saying the policies that have been implemented in great britain do not work. trickle down economics does not produce growth. it increases inequality and the markets have the same response as president biden, which means her chancellor is out and now quite possibly she's out too. let's see how long she lasts, whether it's truss or the lettuce. >> might be the lettuce. >> my money is on lettuce. national correspondent steve kornacki, he's at the big board, we're going to cover luxembourg elections next. why don't we cover our own here. steve, three weeks, it seems this election has been going three ways, predobbs, you had all republicans post-dobbs, it seemed like democrats want every news cycle, wasn't just on dobbs but a lot of different things and now you've just sort of

sensed over the past week or two things breaking back in the republicans' camp. and i say you sort of sense that. i'm hearing that from republican campaigns and democratic campaigns that they really do see a break toward republicans. the question is where are we now and with three weeks to go, of course, do we have yet another chapter in this ever winding sort of campaign? >> yeah, what you're describing, we are starting to see in the numbers, i think. here's the biggest thing we have been tracking through the year, and that is the generic ballot. this is the average from real clear, when you ask folks, document the democrats or the republicans to be controlled in congress, as you mentioned earlier this year, republicans had a clear advantage on this question. over the summer, post dobbs, democrats due, even the lead through mid september on this metric. republicans have a lead on average of over 2 points.

that's the biggest i have seen the republican lead. if you look in context, recent midterm waves. these are all wave elections in the midterms. this is where the generic ballot was at this point. you can see it's not on par with what democrats had in the two big wave years, not on par with what republicans had in 2010, when they took 63 seats and won the house. now it's the first time we have seen this in a long time. the republican lead and the generic ballot is larger than it was at this point in 2014. the significance of that is if you remember the 2014 midterm, barack obama's second midterm, it was kind of a slow, and late building wave. to the point that even on election night, the magnitude of it caught some folks by surprise, but that's when republicans took back the u.s. senate in 2014. they reached their highest level in terms of house seats since 1928. 2014 was a late building wave. you saw that number spike in the last couple of weeks. you've now seen this one go from the republicans, just getting ahead to the democrats a few weeks ago, to being up by over

two points in today's average. what you're describing in terms of feeling like things might be moving back toward the republicans, is bearing out in these numbers, as you say, three weeks change. take a look at the senate battleground here, the top five targets for each party. what does the polling look like in those states. the bottom line continues to be true. republicans need a net gain of one seat if they're going to get control of the senate. on average, they lead in one democratic held seat. that's nevada. adam continues to lead cortez masco. there is one republican held seat, pennsylvania, pat toomey retiring where john fetterman continues to lead in the polling over mehmet oz. the big trend in the race,

fetterman, 3.4. august 1st, it was fetterman 8.7. so that has come down considerably, more than 5 points since then. there's a lot of uneasiness among democrats when they look at pennsylvania, a lot of variables there. a couple of other things to point out on this board here. wisconsin, ron johnson, running for his third term from wisconsin. i don't remember seeing many or maybe even any polls in 2016 and 2010 that had ron johnsonahead. this is a much better position than it was six years ago, when he won one of the biggest upsets on election night to get reelected and then in georgia where you had that debate friday night, rafael warnock and herschel walker, warnock continue to go lead in the polling, haven't had much in the way of post-debate polling. so we're keeping an eye on that, and the other wild card in georgia, it's the runoff state, you've got to get 50% plus one or it goes to a runoff december

6th and neither warnock or walker is at 50% in the polling average there. >> whenever you talk about the generic ballot, when you talk about these races, many people rightly look to kansas, there's a race where the pro life side of that ballot initiative this summer was supposed to win by one or two points. it was very close. they ended up winning by 19. there's some sort of invisible vote. the thing i have noticed, the further we get away from dobbs is you look at the issues, it seems that abortion just isn't registering for a lot of voters. not even in the top three. am i missing something? are you talking to campaigns? do they suspect that there's going to be a hidden vote for dobbs because not exactly sure why that vote would be hidden, why that issue wouldn't appear high on people's priorities if it's just not as important as a lot of democratic candidates

think it's going to be in voters minds. >> i think, again, this is just consistent with what you're describing in terms of the atmosphere shifting from this summer, when the focus this summer was so much on the dobbs decision, all of the uncertainty that was raised. it was also, by the way, focused heavily on donald trump, the raid of mar-a-lago, trump aligned candidates winning one high profile republican primary after another. those two things, i think, were center stage, and i think now it's that the economy and inflation, especially with some of the news last week around inflation maybe really have returned. there was that "new york times" sienna poll yesterday. i don't have it in the board, economy and inflation in that poll, 44% cited that as their top issue in terms of casting a vote. 5% chose abortion. nothing outside of the economy inflation was double digits. i've seen a lot of polling showing economy and inflation the top issue, but the magnitude

of it in the "new york times" sienna poll yesterday which had republicans leading over all the generic ballot, the magnitude in the poll yesterday was bigger than i had seen. it seems the further we have gotten from the decision this summer and the immediate uncertainty it raised now, three or four months later, it's back to the economy, back to inflation, and that inflation news last week, i think certainly didn't help the democrats. >> abortion is still central to the democratic case. we heard that in the debates last night. you're hearing it on the campaign trail. the number of the "new york times" sienna poll was the swing in one month among independent women, suburban women who decide these elections going from plus 14 for democrats in september to plus 18 for republicans one month later, a 32-point flip. how do you account for that when you look race by race. >> we talk so much about the importance of so many of these races, whether it's georgia, the suburbs of atlanta, whether it's

wisconsin, the suburbs outside milwaukee, the suburbs outside of philadelphia, the suburbs are going to swing and decide these races here. the economic concerns certainly we've seen when you ask about inflation, you ask about the economy, republicans enjoy a clear advantage there. the other issue republicans have been pushing that may have some resonance in some of these suburban areas has been the issue of crime. suburban areas outside cities where you've seen spikes in violent crime, quality of life issues take the fore. republicans have been pushing crime in particular. ron johnson in wisconsin, he has been doing that. we show johnson leading the poll. there was a marquette law poll that put johnson ahead by 5 or 6 pianos. -- points. they asked people, how seriously do you consider, and day basically said do you consider these to be serious issues. inflation and the economy was

number one, over 90% were saying basically it's a very important issue. close to that at 87%, though, was crime, and that was about 10 points higher than abortion, so that jumped out at me because the democrats have been running hard on abortion, republicans like johnson have been running hard on crime, and i think that poll indicated to me certainly in wisconsin there might be a little bit more resonance with the kind of voter you're describing when it comes to crime right now than it does abortion and that is resounding to the benefit of johnson in that state. >> and i hear from democrats sitting around the table last week in d.c, and democrats were all talking about crime. and they weren't talking about how it affected elections, they were talking about their own situations, how it touched their lives or touched lives of loved ones and gene, you look at that fetterman race, and i must say, one area, one race i think crime

may have a substantial impact is in that pennsylvania race. people who told me their relatives wouldn't go down and see the phillies play or eagles play because they're in the suburbs of philly, and they didn't want to go into philadelphia where the murder rate has just absolutely skyrocketed while you have a d.a. who's telling everybody, we don't have a crime problem. everything is going great here. voters don't believe that. >> yeah, you know, you have to first acknowledge problems or voters won't believe you, and that's not a wise tactic in any election. that's a weird race, the fetterman, oz race. oz has gained ground and then oz does something stupid like crudites, or there was an incident the other day when he made a big show of comforting a

voter you know, who was distraught because of these awful democrats, and it turned out to be a paid staffer who he was ostentatiously comforting and that got a lot of play in the pennsylvania press. so it's going to be a lot closer than it looked like it would be, you know, a couple of months ago, and it's just going to be a real nail biter for democrats. they're going to have to have an unprecedented midterm turnout in order to salvage this election. there was an interesting number out of georgia. there was a record number by a lot of voters yesterday, the first day of early voting. and now, you can't really generalize from that. most of the people who might have voted later in the cycle, they were going to vote anyhow, but that's the kind of number

that i think democrats are going to look at and say, well, gee, you know, are we able to get out more democrats than usually vote in midterm elections, and pull out these races where we have these slim leads because that's, you know, that's a slim lead, 3 points in georgia. warnock over walker is a slim lead, in what ought to be a republican year. >> we should note that even as abortion rights seems to be slipping down the list of voter priorities, at least a couple of polls, we're going to hear from president biden on that very subject this afternoon, so steve kornacki, there were a lot of democrats in pure panic mode after the one poll we should emphasize that had the gender gap that willie mentioned and they do feel that the race may be in the last few weeks breaking away. but what you have behind you, if it holds right there, democrats still control the senate. it's 50/50, they trade a seat or two. beyond, we know, nevada and

pennsylvania, you have those two flipping. we know georgia is close, is there one other race we should be paying more attention to that you think at this point in the senate has been overlooked that could surprise people come election day? >> yeah, i mean, there's a couple here. i think in georgia, again, there's the possibility there as we say of the runoff. if senate control is on the line in georgia as it was a couple of years ago, i know you talked about this before a couple of years ago, you had donald trump telling republicans not to vote in that runoff. if you did it all over again, senate control were on the line, and maybe trump behaved differently this time, i wonder if this becomes a pure d versus r dynamic and walker is able to win over the voters who have been reluctant. if you look at georgia, the governor's race, the brian kemp is over 50%, and relatively speaking, comfortably ahead of

stacey abrams, there's suburban voters outside of atlanta and georgia who don't like biden and the democrats and also don't like donald trump. they watched brian kemp go to political war with donald trump and survive and win, and i think it means in those voters' eyes kemp is okay. that's why kemp is over 50% in georgia. the same voters seem to have reservations about heschel walker who's aligned with donald trump. the challenge for walker in the race is there's a group of voters right now who seem to be poised to give brian kemp the republican, more than 50% in the governor's race. can he win them over in the final weeks of the campaign. that's a key dynamic. and arizona, you have the incumbent, mark kelly up 4 1/2 points on average. the governor's race in georgia, that's where kari lake, as trump aligned as humanly possible among these candidates, very different than kemp in georgia, but kari lake has been running ahead of blake masters, the democratic candidate in arizona.

they have been trying to, you can see these lake and blake signs in arizona. they have been trying to join forces a bit, it does raise the question to me, could kari lake end up pulling blake masters up on election day in arizona. it's a totally different dynamic there but it's not escaped my attention or anyone's attention that kari lake has been running stronger in arizona than maybe some expected. >> you know that can go both ways. it could bring masters up. more likely, though, and i'm not just talking about these two candidates, if you have a candidate that's a lead weight, it brings the other person down so i'm surprised that kari lake would want to be attached to blake masters because right now it is much closer than a lot of people expected. let's look at that board for a second. steve and just let everybody know, three weeks out, whatever side you're on, there shouldn't be weeping or gnashing of teeth.

i think it was harold mcmillen who said in politics a week is a lifetime. three weeks left to go, it could break either way. i think, though, you look at the board and this really does feel like 2014. i think kay hagan was up one or two points the entire time, and everybody assumed she's the incumbent, she's up one or two points, she's going to pull this out, and thom tillis won. just the slightest of margins, if there's a hidden vote for republicans out there, people that just as we've seen in the past, don't want to talk to pollsters, could end up with a 52 seat majority. if women are more engaged, you could have democrats having 51 or 52 seats. you look behind you there. walker could win georgia, and

kelly, i know masters is a weak candidate, but, steve, i keep thinking about 2020. and kelly was supposed to win that race by 9, 10, 11, 12, and he almost lost it. that was one of those states that the polling was wildly off and he almost lost that race. anything seems possible, but certainly anything's possible in nevada, georgia, arizona, at the very least, and, you know, pennsylvania and ohio, this could go any direction, right. >> and you're right. it is important. we live in this day and age to remember. i don't think i need to remind anybody, we have had polling miss, big ones. the other one from 2020 is susan collins in maine who looked just buried politically and she didn't just win reelection in maine, she won easily in 2020. >> she crushed it. >> you got that, and you

mentioned the 2014 example. it was reinforced to me by 2014, you'll remember this too, yeah, we had a bunch of races that were extremely close all the way through, right up until election day, and you're looking at it saying democrats could hold the senate, win these three seats, what ended up happening is we say a late breaking wave. it's seen that there was this decisive shift everywhere of about 3 to 5 points on election day from the polls to the republicans, and republicans, every seat that looked 50/50 in 2014 broke to the republicans. a few that looked like, you know, democrats had a slight advantage, that the swing at the end was enough to lift republicans. i remember looking up just as the polls close on election night in 2014, the first sign you saw something was going wrong for democrats, 7:00 p.m. closing poll time for virginia, and mark warner, nobody had been talking about mark warner's race, and he was in a dog fight to keep the seat. he barely won, and you're saying if mark warner is barely winning

reelection in virginia in 2014, this is going to be a long night for democrats, and it was. scott brown nearly knocked off jeanne shaheen in new hampshire, after trailing 6, 7, 9 points in the polls there. there was late movement of republicans, and it ended up being reflected in every race. >> and i remember the mark warner race as well. i must say going into the final three weeks after everything that's come out about herschel walker as well, mika, if that race stays close in the polling, if that stays within the margin of error inside the polling it shows you that '22 is going to be radically different than '20, especially in states like georgia and arizona and swing states are going to be far different. >> we'll be watching and obviously we have more debates to come, and we're looking also at florida, val demings and marco rubio, and how that race is pairing out. >> and again, it could break either way. >> it could. >> three weeks, definitely a lot of time. >> take a deep breath, everybody. be mindful.

we got a long way to go. >> i'm not breathing at all. nbc's steve kornacki, thank you very much. we appreciate it, and we'll see you once again soon. still ahead on "morning joe," there have been more russian strikes in kyiv this morning. this time, appearing to target the country's electrical infrastructure. we'll have the very latest from the war-torn country. plus, former trump adviser steve bannon will be sentenced on friday, and the justice department is out with a new recommendation for how much time he should spend behind bars. we'll tell you what that is. and on the heels of former president trump's remarks about american jews, we'll be joined by former israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu. and the morning papers including an effort by one state to teach students the different between fact and fake news. you're watching "morning joe." >> that's kind of important. >> very important. >> here's a hint, stay off of web sites that are run by

chinese religious cults. >> we'll be right back. >> just a tip. s cults. >> we'll be right back. >> just a tip. ever leave your clothes in the dryer and find a wrinkled mess? try downy wrinkle guard fabric softener! wrinkle guard penetrates deep into fibers, leaving clothes so soft, wrinkles don't want to stick around. make mornings smoother with downy wrinkle guard fabric softener. (snorting) if you struggle with cpap... (groan) (growling) (chuckle) ...you should check out inspire. no mask. no hose. just sleep. (beeping) learn more and view important safety information at inspiresleep.com.

everyone remembers the moment they heard... “you have cancer.” how their world stopped and when they found a way to face it. for some, this is where their keytruda story begins. keytruda - a breakthrough immunotherapy that may treat certain cancers. one of those cancers is advanced nonsquamous, non-small cell lung cancer where keytruda is approved to be used with certain chemotherapies as your first treatment if you do not have an abnormal “egfr” or “alk” gene. keytruda helps your immune system fight cancer but can also cause your immune system to attack healthy parts of your body. this can happen during or after treatment and may be severe and lead to death. see your doctor right away if you have cough,

shortness of breath, chest pain, diarrhea, severe stomach pain or tenderness, severe nausea or vomiting, headache, light sensitivity, eye problems, irregular heartbeat, extreme tiredness, constipation, dizziness or fainting, changes in appetite, thirst, or urine, confusion or memory problems, muscle pain or weakness, fever, rash, itching, or flushing. these are not all the possible side effects. tell your doctor about all your medical conditions, including immune system problems, or if you've had an organ transplant, had or plan to have a stem cell transplant, or have had radiation to your chest area or a nervous system condition. today, keytruda is fda-approved to treat 16 types of advanced cancer. and is being studied in hundreds of clinical trials exploring ways to treat even more types of cancer. it's tru. keytruda from merck. see the different types of cancer keytruda is approved to treat at keytruda.com, and ask your doctor if keytruda can be part of your story.

when moderate to severe ulcerative colitis persists... put it in check with rinvoq, a once-daily pill. when uc got unpredictable,... i got rapid symptom relief with rinvoq. check. when uc held me back... i got lasting, steroid-free remission with rinvoq. check. and when uc got the upper hand... rinvoq helped visibly repair the colon lining. check. rapid symptom relief. lasting, steroid-free remission. and a chance to visibly repair the colon lining. check. check. and check. rinvoq can lower your ability to fight infections, including tb. serious infections and blood clots, some fatal; cancers, including lymphoma and skin cancer; death, heart attack, stroke, and tears in the stomach or intestines occurred. people 50 and older... with at least 1 heart disease risk factor have higher risks. don't take if allergic to rinvoq... as serious reactions can occur. tell your doctor if you are or may become pregnant. put uc in check and keep it there, with rinvoq.

ask your gastroenterologist about rinvoq. and learn how abbvie could help you save. . 6:34 on the east coast, the justice department is recommending steve bannon be sentenced to six months in jail after he defied a subpoena to testify. federal attorneys wrote in a sentencing memo to the court that bannon should receive a hefty sentence because he pursued a bad faith in compliance and contempt, records and testimony about his knowledge of donald trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election. lawyers for bannon recommend he should not spend any time in jail and should receive probation. bannon is set to be sentenced this friday. he has thumbed his nose at the

subpoena from the beginning in public, in private, on his podcast, what do you think is going to happen on friday? >> that was always part of the strategy, and bannon told people, he said it publicly, he wouldn't mind being a maga martyr for the cause, but faced with prison time, let's do that from home if we can. there's a limit to his devotion to the cause. the doj has said they want the harshest punishment. there's a sense they likely will get it. there's a real chance bannon will get if not six months a few months in prison. they won't sentence him to probation or home confinement which is another option his lawyers had pursued. if bannon is able to do that from home, it's possible he'll continue with his podcast and espousing the big lie, and remains one of donald trump's sort of biggest supporters and loudest voices on election denying and this sort of maga movement as we barrel into the midterms. >> we have heard him on tape the last few weeks saying out loud, here's the plan, win or lose, we say we won.

he's been behind the whole thing. meanwhile, according to investigation released yesterday by the house committee on oversight and reform during donald trump's presidency, trump hotels charged the secret service as much as $1,185 a night. that's more than five times the recommended government rate. a "washington post" report shows trump organization properties overall charged the secret service more than$1.4 million for agent's accommodations when traveling to protect trump. eric trump responded in part by saying in part, the trump family is likely the first family in american history to have not profited off the united states government. hold for laughter. >> more like saudis. >> the trump organization gave the federal government discounts for staying at their hotels and only charged them about 50 bucks a night. so joe, mika, 1,100 bucks a night to the united states taxpayer at trump hotels. >> what a surprise.

>> not grifters. >> we were scammed. it wasn't just that, it was the fact that he sent a very clear message to world leaders across the globe, when you come to washington, d.c., you better stay at my hotel. i know who stays at my hotel and who doesn't stay at my hotel, and how fascinating, how fascinating he leaves the white house and he sells the hotel. i mean, again, it's a clear scam, but of course why are we even saying this. the sunrises in the east and sets in the west. not a surprise at all. >> it's time now for a look at the morning papers "the beacon news" reports that illinois has become the first state in the country to require media literacy education be taught in high schools. the curriculum aims to teach students how to decipher fact from fake news. lessons include how to properly access information, evaluate

sources, and reflect on media consumption. it's a good idea. "the portland press herald" covers the surge in spending by outside groups in maine elections. outside groups have spent more than $3 million in political advertising in the past week. the groups have now spent nearly $14 million in the state's gubernatorial election and legislative elections since labor day. the press and sun bulletin leads with the latest in new york's gubernatorial race. according to a new poll, representative lee zeldin trails kathy hochul by 10 percentage points. that's one of the closest margins in a new york governor's race in years. >> and again, we talked about crime. i wonder how much crime has to do with it. we've had the mayor of new york city on saying that the governor has fought him on some crime

issues from the beginning, including cash free bail. >> interesting. i wonder if it's also a sort of cuomo effect and some of the covid things that are still going on and reports that are still coming out about how the administration handled covid, and the tennessean reports that the tennessee titans have unveiled the potential $2.1 billion deal to build a new football stadium. the new and closed stadium would be funded through a mix of private contributions and state and local bonds. if approved, the deal would be the largest of its kind in nashville's history, and coming up, a page out of president abraham lincoln's play book for preserving american democracy in the modern age. jon meacham joins us next. plus, the untold story behind congress's botched impeachments of donald trump. we'll speak with a reporter behind the new book with their new reporting including why

speaker pelosi didn't want the votes to be her legacy. "morning joe" will be right back. be her legacy "morning joe" will be right back this is a glimpse into the not-too-distant future of lincoln. ♪♪ what's also nice... the prequel is pretty-sweet, too. ♪♪ ♪ today, my friend, you did it... ♪ today you took delicious centrum multigummies and took one more step towards taking charge of your health. they're packed with essential nutrients for energy and immunity support. so every day, you can say, ♪ you did it! ♪ with centrum multigummies. ♪ ♪ have diabetes? know where your glucose is? with the freestyle libre 3 system, know your glucose and where it's heading. no fingersticks needed. now the world's smallest, thinnest sensor sends your glucose levels directly to your smartphone. manage your diabetes with more confidence and lower your a1c now you know

freestyle libre 3. try it for free at freestylelibre.us.

president biden has now signed the inflation reduction act into law. ok, so what exactly does it mean for you? out of pocket costs for drugs will be capped. for seniors, insulin will be just $35. families will save $2,400 on health care premiums. energy costs, down an average of $1,800 a year for families. and it's paid for by making the biggest corporations pay what they owe. president biden's bill doesn't fix everything, but it will save your family money. ♪♪ whenever heartburn strikes get fast relief with tums. it's time to love food back. ♪ tum tum tum tum tums ♪ we've designed vehicles that bring a sense of quiet and calm to their drivers... looking ahead, things are about to get decidedly hushed.

here's to year hundred and one. ♪♪

bonded in cannon fire and death. >> it may be all right. they say all we done is show the world that democracy isn't chaos. that there is a great invisible strength in a people's union. we've shown that a people can endure awful sacrifice and yet cohere. might that save the idea of democracy to aspire to? eventually to become worthy of?

at all rates whatever must be proven by blood and sacrifice, must have been proven by now. shall we stop this bleeding? >> that was daniel day lewis portraying president abraham lincoln in the 2012 steven spielberg film "lincoln," the challenges lincoln endured during his presidency to preserve democracy provide crucial lessons to the country today, something our next guest writes about in his new book. joining us now, presidential historian, jon meacham, his new book entitled "and there was light," abraham lincoln and the american struggle is officially out today. congratulations. also with us for the discussion is msnbc contributor, mike barnicle and author and nbc news presidential historian, michael

beschloss. >> by the way, barnicle almost selected as secretary of war. >> scandal. >> but first, "the washington post" eugene robinson is still with us, and he has the first question. gene. >> jon, congratulations on the book, and i will read it eagerly. i'm curious, it wasn't really until he got into the war that the sort of stated and open goal of lincoln was to get rid of slavery. and he tried everything to kind of keep the union together, yet earlier, before he was president, he had given the famous, you know, a nation divided against itself self cannot stand speech, as if he knew all along that it was going

to -- it was going to come to that. was he temporising, until the moment was right or was this a genuine shift in lincoln's thinking? >> well, as a conscientious politician, which is not an ox oxymoron, and that's a key point here, if you're going to send something to the power, you need a moral commitment and in many ways, i think that's a hugely important lesson about lincoln for us today. he was anti-slavery persistently. in the politics of the time, he believed that the slavery could not be extended to the territories. that was the defining political issue of the 1850s. it was what the douglass/lincoln campaigns were about for the senate, and remember, lincoln kept losing. so being an anti-slavery

politician in the 1850s was not a guaranteed winner. but he believed it. and as you mentioned, he comes to cooper union. he talks about how there is a strong distinction between us and them, between the north and the south, between the free states and the slave states. they believe slavery is right, and we believe it is wrong. and on that issue, democracy itself would hang because the aristocracy of race wanted to protect its own power at any cost, unto 750,000 people dying in civil war. one of the great facts of american history is that the slave owning interest in the united states of america preferred civil war, an

immensely bloody civil war to living up to the declaration of independence. and lincoln stood in that breach and said my ancient faith teach me that all men are created equal, and that without that, democracy and the point of the union fail. >> and risked his own reelection as you write about in the book in 1864. you connect very well in this book the events of lincoln's time to the events today. perhaps providing a little bit of a road map, the title, right there, "and there was light," it was so dark. what should we take from that, people say we're so divided, there's no way to stitch it back together. social media is an accelerant on the fire, and all the things lincoln didn't have to deal with. what do you take away from lincoln's experience to today? >> i think what president lincoln and the era teach us is that if you believe in the

promise of the country, if you believe that we are all created equal and there's a self-interested reason to believe that. it's not just morally good, though it is, if i respect your dignity and your equality, maybe not you, but -- >> understood. >> but if i respect you, you are more likely to respect me. it's a covenant. it's of, for, and by the people. and you can't have everything perfect at once. but living with ambiguity in the constitutional order is hugely important. you cannot have -- every political question cannot be total war. politics has to be about a mediation of differences, and there is reason to hope, the title of the book is a play on frederick douglass said i do not despair of this country, the fiat of the almighty, let there be light has not yet spent its force.

frederick douglass thought that and he helped create a climate of opinion that lincoln was also an architect of. he believed in the promise of the country, and he believed that without union chaos resulted. because one of the criticisms of lincoln, in fact, the abolitionists thought that, when you're preserving a union that gives slave owners and awful people too powerful a voice, his question was if we just let them go, there's no way to free the enslaved. it becomes its own entity, and becomes a nation among the powers of the earth. so we have to fight. so one of the things you have to answer is what's worth fighting for? and constitutional democracy, i think, is one of them. >> you know, off of willie's question, jon, the two lead stories in the "new york times" this morning, lead story on the right-hand side of the front page, most voters say u.s.

democracy is under threat but few feel urgency. twinned with that story is "right appears activist army to watch vote trained to aggressively seek irregularities", so today i would submit that we are a much smaller nation in the sense that the toxicity, the toxic cloud of politics has so overwhelmed this country that we do feel divided from one another. what hope do you see within the framework of what lincoln had to contend with, which was a rupture of the country, compared to today where things travel literally with the speed of light. >> yeah, well, speed is relative. right? so for lincoln, newspapers, telegraph, that was an information super highway. so the world is remote. but it's not as though it's the

war. he was dealing with mass communications. he was dealing with a country that could agitate itself, could manufacture emotion, could capitalize on the emotion of division, which is what politicians were doing at the time. what gives me hope is that here was this fallen, frail, and fallible man, who was not perfect, to go back to eugene's question, not perfect at all, who transcended those limitations and convinced just enough of us to do the same thing. i think we have to look at lincoln in the same way we look at ourselves, which is not expecting perfection, but hoping that we can get just enough right. and lincoln did it. barely. but that's been true since the garden of eden. right? we just barely get it done.

and his capacity to believe that, in fact, we had it within ourselves to govern ourselves, the whole point of the gettysburg address, right is to take the country back to its first principles, and its first principles was not the constitution, four score and seven years ago was the declaration of independence and that central sentence that we are all created equal, a radical and revolutionary idea. and he wanted to -- he was willing to fight for it. both literally and figuratively. i pray that we are figuratively fighting for it. but if we don't believe that, then, in fact, the national experiment doesn't work. because nothing unites us except an assent, an agreement with that idea. >> and how unbelievable. jon says that lincoln got it

done. but he got it done just barely. he got it done, courthouse, april 9th, 1865. less than a week later, abraham lincoln is dead a 30-year fight, and it was a 30-year fight, michael beschloss. and this doesn't just apply to lincoln. you look at, for instance, lbj who actually chided richard nixon for being too self-righteous on civil rights in 1957 when he was vice president. who did not have a great background fighting for civil rights, and yet what he did in '64 and '65, absolutely extraordinary. with lincoln, you had somebody who represented a run away slave

in the 1830s and 1840s, he represented a slave owner. he fought in the 50s, he came back, gave extraordinary speeches in the 50s, talking about stopping the spread of slavery. and yet in the '56 campaign, he would say different things in northern illinois than he said in southern illinois. in southern illinois, sounding far more, actually sounding less like the abraham lincoln we know. and have come to cherish. but there's a quote that jon writes early in his book from lincoln where he says, i walk slowly but i never walk backwards. this is a pragmatic politician who understood that it wasn't just the south that was filled with racists, that he was actually dealing with a racist north who was fine preserving the union, but they weren't so

fine having slaves freed, and certainly did not want to live in the same communities as black people, and that's the background that abraham lincoln, the political minefield he was walking through for 30 years. it's an extraordinary story of what he accomplished. >> it sure is, and, you know, the fascinating thing, this is, by the way, my copy of jon's book arrived by pony express last week. i have been reading. read it twice. compulsively readable, classic meacham book in two ways, number one, fascinating story. who in american history could be more fascinating to learn more about than abraham lincoln, and we have new discoveries about lincoln, but more than that, what was the most tragically divided year in american history, it was 1860. very close run upper, sadly, is 2022, and three weeks before the 1860 election, this country was

not only divided but lincoln had to decide if he became president did he feel these things so strongly that he was willing to go to the edge of civil war. so my question to jon is, you know, these two apocalyptic sides to lincoln. number one, the great uniter in all of history, but also at the same time, he felt so strongly about union and his hatred of slavery, which you write about beautifully that he was willing to go to the brink of civil war. what does that tell us about 2022? >> it sells us that if we believe in the american proposition of equality and liberty under law, then we have to be willing to stand up for it. i don't think we're going to get to mast armies. but we are living with civil chaos with periodic violence as we all know, and i think what the lincoln example, and i've learned so much of this from

you, michael, the lincoln example is, in fact, that he was not willing to compromise. he comes into office 39% of the vote, not on the ballot in a huge part of the south, and perfectly plausible deals put on the table, what is america if not an exercise in compromise. his hero is henry clay, who had done it again and again. and he said no. that he was not going to surrender a principle before he took his dually elected office. and that moment is vital. it's like churchill in 1940. same with fort sumpter. winfield scott and others did not want him to bet the entire country on sumpter. but he said no, that, in fact, there has to be a point beyond which we will not let things go.

>> and this is our red line. >> yeah, and for us, i think the red line has to be are these going to be democratically, lower case d, fair and free elections, and if so, we respect them, and if you don't respect them, then you are falling out of the democratic covenant and you're falling into a state of nature. >> you know, jon, i just want to end with what you said, there's a time for all seasons, and for lincoln, reading your instant classic, reading eric phoner's the fiery trial, you see lincoln, and you get -- you know, some people -- some people -- some historical figures are just a joy to read. with all of his failings and flaws, winston churchill, just, it's just a fascinating read. fdr, the tragedy of polio, but he was such a positive figure.

and it's actually just seeing a joy of him, just fighting over and over again, his affliction to become president of the united states through the depression of war. lincoln, i found was -- i mean, lincoln's hard. he's struggling with slavery. he's struggling with how in the world do i sell this when i come from a state, a northern state that voted 70% in a referendum to keep black people out of the state. and it's this struggle, but i bring all of this up to say, as you said, he had that struggle, and then he got elected president of the united states, and suddenly, the clouds part and he really does make the decision. all right, i'm here. i'm not going to compromise.

i don't want war. we'll work in good faith with the south, but on so many of these issues, it was almost like lincoln at that point just really steely resolve, and suddenly you notice the compromises start getting moved to the side. he's where he needs to be to stop the spread of slavery, and he refuses to compromise. >> and it's -- to me, one of the main reasons i wanted to do this was to explore why did he do what he did. we all know kind of how he did it, you know, the great politician, the great statesman, but why did he do it. why did he believe in american democracy, why was he anti-slavery. i think a lot of it goes back to his parents' religious background. he was not a conventional christian at all. he was more of kind of a unitarian guy with a tragic

sensibility. but he believed that, as theodore parker said, the abolitionist minister, the arc of a moral universe is long but it bends toward justice. he also knew it doesn't bend toward justice if people aren't insisting that it swerve toward justice, because there are always going to be forces of reaction pulling the other way, and that conscientious insight, the capacity to bring conscience to bear on political, economic, cultural issues of contention, that's where american greatness comes. it's where human greatness comes. and i'm not mindlessly celebrating this guy at all. i don't think we should look up at him adoringly or down on him condescendingly. i don't think he was martin luther king in a stove pipe hat. i also don't think we can dismiss him from the american conversation.

everett dirkson once said every american politician has to get right with lincoln, and i think every american in this hour, i believe, needs to grapple with what he did because, as mike just said, we may be confronting this question ourselves. and so why wouldn't we want to be in conversation with someone who saw us through a storm like this? >> jon meacham, thank you very much. and jon will be back with us throughout the week for more on his brand new book entitled "and there was light" abraham lincoln and the american struggle. historian, michael beschloss, thank you as well. >> you know, leah toy stol said he was the single greatest historical figure since jesus christ, the more i read about lincoln, the more i agree with that. it's staggering what he did. and jon's book captures all of

that. at five minutes past the top of the hour, we turn back to our coverage of the midterm elections now just three weeks from today. there were debates yesterday in a number of key races including the final one between the democrat and republican candidates in extremely close ohio, the senate race there. here are some of the exchanges between congressman tim ryan and j.d. vance. >> it's tragic and j.d. and his extreme crew, they want to have a national abortion ban. they're not happy with people having to go to illinois. they want people to get a passport and have to go to canada. largest government overreach in our lifetime. he called rape inconvenient. this is not a guy ready to protect the rights of women. >> look, my basic view is we need to protect life in this country. it's a different view from where tim ryan stands. here's the thing i want to say here is you cannot say with

total confidence what every single exception in every case is going to be. let me offer a specific example. i know a lot of pro life people, people who have been pro life since before i was born. one of the things they will tell you is they support an exception in the case of incest, for example. i've heard a number of pro life people say that, but an incest exception looks different at three weeks of pregnancy, versus 39 weeks of pregnancy so i actually don't think that you can say on a debate stage every single thing that you're going to vote for when it comes to an abortion piece of legislation. there are specific piece of legislation i'm willing to talk about, where look you talked about the lindsey graham bill. the lindsey graham bill protects babies four weeks and older, fully formed babies that can feel pain and it provides reasonable exceptions. if you can't support legislation like that, you're making the

united states the most barbaric, you can have minimum national standards while also allowing the states to make up their minds. california is going to have a different view than ohio. that's totally fine. i want to save as many lives as possible. >> you would vote for lindsey graham's 15-week ban. >> i think it's totally reasonable to say you cannot abort a baby, especially for elective reasons after 15 weeks of gestation, no civilized country allows it, i don't want the united states to be an exception. >> i think that president trump should be afforded all of the rights that every other american citizen is afforded. he should respond to subpoena. he should come clean. he should talk about, we know that there's been a call from the white house to somebody who was participating in the storming of the capitol. we should know all of this and if he has nothing to hide, he should come clean, and we should figure out what's going on. >> i'm not going to pretend to give the president of the united states legal advice about

whether he should honor the subpoena. i think it would probably be a pretty enlightening piece of testimony if he did honor the subpoena. look, the january 6th committee has shown from the very beginning that it's not interested in the truth. that it's interested in a political hit job, and it goes back to four years ago, the obsession with the idea that donald trump somehow had the election stolen by the russians. there's been a nonstop political effort to not honor the election of 2016. and i think that's just as much of a threat to democracy as the violence on january 6th. >> oh, my god. that guy. >> that's absolute garbage. coming from a guy who 2016, if he wants to talk about 2016, we're talking about a guy who called donald trump america's hitler in 2016. we're talking about a guy who in 2016 lectured christians and said you can't be a christian and vote for donald trump. that's the same guy that's worried about how democrats have

acted since 2016. let me tell you something, this moral equivalency is getting really exhausting. i see some people writing columns right now, people that i like, and people that have written other columns i respect, but i'm seeing more and more people trying to paint a moral equivalency between joe biden and donald trump. let's impeach joe biden bauds he signed a presidential order that may be unconstitutional. let's impeach him now. i got an idea, why don't you just take it to the united states supreme court, and you don't have to impeach somebody if it's unconstitutional. they can just overturn it. in donald trump's case, you have a guy that held up arms to ukraine, that congress had already passed. you have a guy who said to president zelenskyy, i'm not going to give you this, basically, until you find dirt

on my political opponent. you have in donald trump, a guy who two weeks before the election told his attorney general arrest my opponent and his family. seriously, you've got a guy in donald trump that sent a tweet out getting people to come on january the 6th, a guy who, i mean, the evidence has come out. because of the january 6th committee, there is no moral equivalency there between joe biden doing presidential orders, executive orders, whether it's on moratoriums for eviction or whether it's on student loans. if he expanded his reach as a president, take it to a federal court. we're going to impeach him. seriously, i guess that's what we have to look forward to. and j.d. vance, also, a moral equivalency between what happened in 2016 and what

happened in 2020, hillary clinton, i can't believe i have to keep reminding people of this, hillary clinton went out the next morning and conceded to donald trump. she wasn't happy about it, but she conceded to donald trump. i went to church that weekend, and i had one guy come up to me and he said, hey, you really need to check the votes in michigan. the republicans stole it. i was like, okay, great. hey, can i get you some coffee, and that was the end of it. i still have my friends, my family, people i grew up with going to conspiracy web sites saying the 2020 election was stolen because donald trump said that. because it's permeating america now on the far trump right. so please, let's not paint moral equivalency especially from a guy who called donald trump

america's hitler. how do these people do it. we've got hope and change, the hope and change candidate in arizona. we've got america's hitler in ohio, the guy calling trump america's hitler, and they're lecturing their opponents for being too anti-trump? it's rich. >> i actually want to take -- i was going to talk about abortion, we will in a moment, katty kay, but on a global level, and this does matter in terms of what the rest of the world is thinking of america, which right now when you have things like that permeating our politics, meaning right, election denying kari lake running for governor in arizona and claiming that she'll only accept the results if she wins, et cetera, et cetera, this guy, j.d. vance, let's not even talk about dr. oz who is not even committed to pennsylvania. seems to be committed to the country of turkey, among other

things. >> as far as voting goes. >> hasn't told the truth. has been seen as a quack doctor, and dragged into congress to testify about things he said. these are the republican candidates, thank you donald trump, that are permeating our politics in light of donald trump and yes, what does it look like from the outside as the united states is doing an incredible job trying to show the way in ukraine. trying to help ukraine save the rest of the world. save the concept of democracy. americans don't seem clued into that. they're clued into these quacks and freaks and they may even elect them at this point. and i ask you, what does this look like from the outside, because it appears that we're destroying ourselves? >> i kind of hate this question, mika, because i have lived here long enough to know moments of america's reputation was not

good. you knew that was one specific incident and it would end. at the moment, we're back into a stage where people are looking at america, it's kind of, you know, how can you live there type moment, and so much seems to be going off the rails with democracy, and it's very hard to see, and listening to that conversation we had earlier, it's hard to see a way out of this one because from my travels around the country, people are absolutely committed to the notion that democracy is in peril on both sides. republicans i hear that from and democrats i hear that from, but with completely different reasons for believing that. they both blame the other, and i don't see in the system that is there how we get out of that. you know, you mentioned somebody like kari lake. the ground work is laid very early on. i mean, it was have laid very early on with donald trump, very early on in his presidency, and before the 2016 election, he started talking about if i don't win, it will have been rigged. don't trust the media.

sowing all of the seeds of discourse that led to 2020 and to january 6th, they are sewn early, and you can see that with kari lake, before the election has happened, will you accept the result. i'm going to win, that's the result i will accept. will you accept the result if you lose. i'm going to win. that's the result i will accept. and you sow distrust in the system, and that's where we have gone to, americans of both sides distrust the system and i find it hard to see how we get out of it. >> and you know, willie, we find, and we need to be clear here because i find that people often conflate issues. they conflate the debate on abortion with election denialism. and i hear politicians, democratic politicians do it all the time. or conflate the debate over gun rights with election denial iism. or conflate tax policy with election denialism.

people have been debating about roe v. wade since roe v. wade became law of the land in 1973. all right. that's a debate that's done between the guard rails of american politics, and it has been that way for 50 years. it's the same thing with gun rights. that debate's been going on for quite some time. it will continue to go on inside the guardrails. the constitutional guardrails of american politics. the difference between what we're seeing in 2022 and what we saw before donald trump is that we actually have a lot of candidates now in donald trump's republican party saying that they will not recognize the outcome of the democratic election, unless their side wins. it is the undermining of american democracy. again, far different than a good faith debate that's been going on in this country for half a century over abortion. >> and it, in fact, has become a

prerequisite to win in the republican party, at least in a primary when you're asked, what do you think about 2020, they said, well, they may not say donald trump won but there are a lot of questions, it's important to have this conversation. notably, herschel walker a couple of days ago said joe biden was the elected president. maybe that was a slip of the tongue. you're talking about impeachment and all the reasons donald trump was impeached twice. nancy pelosi said this on capitol hill, 21 months ago. >> today in a bipartisan way, the house demonstrated that no one is above the law. not even the president of the united states, that donald trump is a clear and present danger to our country, and that once again, we honored our oath of office to protect and defend the constitution of the united states. so help us god. >> that's january 13th, 2021, exactly one week after the

attack of january 6th. our next guest though, says pelosi initially tried to prevent both of the impeachments of donald trump. joining us now, coauthor of the "politico" playbook, rachel bade and pentagon correspondent for "the washington post" karoun demerchin. "unchecked, the untold stories behind the botched impeachments of donald trump," congratulations on the book. i want to start with the title, botched impeachments, we got him through the house, wasn't convicted in the senate. you get to why they were in the view of some botched. >> we interviewed 250 capitol hill sources for this book, and what we learned sort of flipped the script on what we knew from covering these two impeachments, and what we think the public perception is and that is this notion that trump escaped accountability because republicans turned a blind eye to everything he did, and democrats did everything they could to build the strongest

case to the public. now, obviously there's a lot of truth to that, and we can talk about the examples in the book, but what we found is democrats have their own concerns about what they did. they will tell you privately that because of speaker pelosi's strategy, they did a quick impeachment, that short circuited the case that they could have made publicly both in the first impeachment after which trump as you remember, emerged stronger with higher poll numbers, and after the second impeachment, which arguably was the most important impeachment in american history after trump incited a riot on the capitol. violence on a coequal branch of government, it was done like that, and democrats, you know, they privately are upset they didn't call witnesses, didn't fight down their subpoenas in court, and they also in the first impeachment kept the focus very narrowly on ukraine when you had people like jamie raskin who was making the case to pelosi that this is not working with the public, we need to go beyond this.

we need to talk about trump's campaign finance, trying to profit off the oval office, but pelosi who was concerned that impeachment would blow back on her majority put everything on a time line and wanted it done quickly so her front liners could turn back to pocketbook issues and because of that, everything was done so quickly, and you know, half of america bought the impeachment but the other half very much didn't. >> and karoun, you detail speaker pelosi's objections, not to the impeachment proceedings but the way many democrats wanted them to go big in that way. you talk about in the second impeachment the incoming biden administration wasn't so sure that another impeachment was a good idea. >> right. i mean, the second impeachment is even more striking in many ways than the first. the night of january 6th, when we know that all the republicans were furious at trump and were really ready to pop. you had pelosi's rank and file approach the democratic leaders in the house, let's impeach him tonight, we have the article ready to go, we're not going to do that, and the delay caused

republicans to think, and not feel with their gut. fast forward to the impeachment trial, you have jamie raskin who's a character through both impeachments because he is, as we know, the constitutional law brain of congress. and he wanted to do the impeachment the right way. he was the one trying to call foul along the way about we need to call witnesses. we need to run our subpoenas down to the courts. there's a precedent we have to uphold on impeachment, and we have to make sure that the impeachment is strong, that power, whether or not trump gets convicted but the whole weight of the democratic party came down to bear on him, and we saw that saturday, right before valentine's day, the final day of the trial, he got the vote in the senate to call witnesses and two hours later, all of a sudden, we're wrapping it up and going home. we have striking scenes where, you know, the source for putting out the cnn article, calling foul on that conversation between mccarthy and trump, she's on the west coast waking up to see what has happened on the floor, and realizing she's going to be called as a witness. we have a scene where she calls

the house counsel, i can't advise you and never passes on the message. she's looking for a lawyer to counsel her on what to do. if they had waited a couple more hours, history could have gone a different direction. and the democratic leaders were saying don't interfere with the presidency, it's nascent, two years later we're talking about president trump. that logic didn't work to the ends that they wanted but they ended up pulling punches they could have thrown, and that might have changed history. >> we talk a lot about republicans in the wake of january 6th and the hypocrisy there, running from the mob, and then all of a sudden a few days later embracing trump, going down to mar-a-lago and kissing the wrong, and we should continue to talk about that and call them out on that. we learned from our reporting that democrats were trying to shut the second impeachment down, not just that night. jamie raskin's team had reached out to the biden white house to try to talk to secret service

agents during the trial, to try to get certain amounts of evidence they thought could change republican votes, and they were basically snubbed and told to bug off. the other thing we learned about was that chuck schumer and his aides were putting pressure on these managers not to call witnesses, again, because they wanted to move to biden's agenda. you have to remember, this was a moment when trump was the most vulnerable. there actually were republicans who were having this sort of gut check at that moment. you have to wonder, what would have happened if what the january 6th committee is doing right now, what if they would have done that in that moment. >> the january 6th's committee. >> it's incredible. >> the fact that they have run subpoenas through the courts. they have not let go. they have brought in republican witnesses and taken the time to do it, even though it's politically inconvenient. three weeks away from the midterm election, they have still done it, which is almost acknowledging that they didn't do it in the past. the stakes aren't whether trump left or not, it's the strengths

of congressional oversight to check a president. both parties pulled punches for political reasons, prioritizing that over the institutional safeguards and we're as joe was saying a minute ago, looking down the pike at likely house gop trying to impeach biden and pointing to this as an excuse why it might be legitimate. >> the new book is entitled "unchecked the untold story behind congress's botched impeachments of donald trump" rachel bay and karoun, thank you so much. a great point. we let things decline when it comes to our ability to have proper oversight and respect for our constitution. >> it's a fascinating debate to have right now, and i'm sure a lot of people are going to really enjoy the book and enjoy debating. i will say, mike barnicle, the thing that i learned, the thing that republicans learned in the '90s. the thing that certainly nancy

pelosi learned in the 1990s, the thing that joe biden learned in the 1990s is that impeachments are big losers politically. they just are. so bill clinton got disbarred for perjury from arkansas, arkansas supreme court disparred -- disbarred him and the united states supreme court disbarred him after impeachment. but his approval ratings went into the 60s. we republicans were looking at this, and saw the more he was impeached, the more that dragged on, the higher his numbers went. i can't explain why but that's certainly something that nancy pelosi knew, something that joe biden understood. you didn't want an impeachment hearing dragging on. he was starting his presidency and things were tough enough in the transition as it was. i'm just getting people going

why in the world would nancy pelosi not want these impeachment hearings to drag on forever, because impeachments for whatever reason, historians will know better than me, or political scientists. for some reason, impeachment usually politically helped the impeached. >> you know, joe, there is some striking new nuggets in this book by rachel and karoun that are very very interesting, but overlying that, i would think, and i don't think i'm alone here, is that impeachment, the two impeachment trials of donald j. trump seemed like so far in the past today that events have just cascaded them to a point where it seemed like ancient history. and the other aspect of it is the january 6th committee hearings, despite all of the vital information that's been provided, factual, criminal evidence that has been provided to the country in these hearings, a tremendous amount of work obviously went into, i

don't think it's had much of an impact on the public. you can go grocery shopping, you can put gas in your car. i haven't heard anybody talk about the january 6th hearings, wow, did you see that, it's kind of depressing, the democracy is at peril, and yet they say, well, okay, pass the salt, please. >> and you look the actually. >> depressing. >> and you make, i think nancy pelosi's point, you actually -- i can't believe this is the case, but it just is. even after all of the revelations from the january 6th hearings, which i think as far as getting evidence out there about as effective a set of congressional hearings as i've seen in my life. certainly since watergate. you look at what we found out about mar-a-lago, the top secret classified documents that donald

trump took down to mar-a-lago, that he lied to the fbi. he lied to the department of justice. guess what. in the polls i have seen over the past few weeks, his approval rating's up. his approval rating is up. so again, i don't say that to make you spit out your oatmeal, i say that to put you into the mind of joe biden at the time, and nancy pelosi who have seen for whatever reason these investigations, impeachments, seem to have the opposite effect. i'm not saying they shouldn't have done it at all. i'm not. i'm just explaining what the political realities have seemed to be over the past, well, 20 years. 25 years. >> how to get the country to care again about right and wrong, about watergate, you saw the turn. >> you have a republican party

right now that just won't sand up to donald trump. still ahead on "morning joe," it's not uncommon for campaigns to prepare for recount scenarios by hiring lawyers, but in the case of republican senator ron johnson of wisconsin, he is paying a law firm that played a role in former president trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election in his state. we are digging into that new reporting. and up next, former israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu is our guest. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. uest you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. first psoriasis, then psoriatic arthritis. even walking was tough. i had to do something. i started cosentyx®. cosentyx can help you move, look, and feel better... by treating the multiple symptoms of psoriatic arthritis. don't use if you're allergic to cosentyx. before starting...get checked for tuberculosis. an increased risk of infections some serious... and the lowered ability to fight them may occur. tell your doctor about an infection or symptoms... or if you've had a vaccine or plan to. tell your doctor if your crohn's disease symptoms... develop or worsen. serious allergic reactions may occur.

watch me. ask your rheumatologist about cosentyx. it's the subway series menu. 12 irresistible subs. the most epic sandwich roster ever created. ♪♪ it's subway's biggest refresh yet! when your v-neck looks more like a u-neck, that's when you know, it's half-washed. downy has 7 benefits that condition and smooth fibers so clothes look newer, longer. feel the difference with downy. bipolar depression. it made me feel trapped in a fog. this is art inspired by real stories of bipolar depression. i just couldn't find my way out of it. the lows of bipolar depression can take you to a dark place.

latuda could make a real difference in your symptoms. latuda was proven to significantly reduce bipolar depression symptoms. and in clinical studies, had no substantial impact on weight. this is where i want to be. call your doctor about sudden behavior changes or suicidal thoughts. antidepressants can increase these in children and young adults. elderly dementia patients have increased risk of death or stroke. report fever, confusion, stiff or uncontrollable muscle movements, which may be life threatening or permanent. these aren't all the serious side effects. now i'm back where i belong. ask your doctor if latuda is right for you. pay as little as zero dollars for your first prescription. my active psoriatic arthritis can slow me down. now, skyrizi helps me get going by treating my skin and joints. along with significantly clearer skin, skyrizi helps me move with less joint pain, stiffness, swelling, and fatigue. and skyrizi is just 4 doses a year after two starter doses. skyrizi attaches to and reduces a source of excess inflammation that can lead to skin and joint symptoms.

with skyrizi, 90% clearer skin and less joint pain is possible. serious allergic reactions and an increased risk of infections or a lower ability to fight them may occur. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms, had a vaccine, or plan to. with skyrizi, there's nothing like the feeling of improving my skin and joints... ...and that means everything. now's the time to talk to your doctor about how skyrizi can help treat your psoriatic arthritis- so you can get going. learn how abbvie can help you save. president biden has now signed the inflation reduction act into law. ok, so what exactly does it mean for you? out of pocket costs for drugs will be capped. for seniors, insulin will be just $35. families will save $2,400 on health care premiums. energy costs, down an average of $1,800 a year for families. and it's paid for by making the biggest corporations pay what they owe. president biden's bill doesn't fix everything,

but it will save your family money. chance to have this conversation. he and his family arrived late last night, and i'm glad to see him looking so bright eyed this morning. >> he has both youth and wisdom. >> i dispute youth, but that's

good. >> and i think is in a position to achieve the security objectives of israel, but also bring about historic peace. >> you and i have been friend a long, long time, and as a matter of fact, when each of us were in the minority, we'd occasionally, i'd get a phone call at home, and i'd call you as well. >> it's an honor to have prime minister netanyahu, a great friend of mine, and a great friend of our country. we've had a tremendous, almost three-year relationship. i've known you for many years before that, but this was three years of prime time, and we've done a lot for israel. >> three years of prime time. youth and wisdom from barack obama. i wrote that down. i thought that was supposed to be a strained relationship. that's high praise. in his 15 years of prime minister as israel, benjamin netanyahu got to know the oval

office and the men sitting behind the resolute desk quite well. the former israeli leader opens up about the diplomatic relationships and some tense moments behind closed doors. let's bring in the former prime minister of israel, benjamin netanyahu, he's with us now and his new memoir entitled "bibi my story" is out today. thank you for being with us, and it's very timely that you're here. obviously the people of ukraine last night terrorized by a country who's been the epicenter of terrorism in the globe since 1979, iran. i'm curious, what do you believe the united states and its allies should do in response to the iranians continuing to supply vladimir putin with weapons to kill children, women, and israeli citizens? i mean, i'm sorry, ukrainian citizens. >> well, if they can get their hands on it, israeli citizens, too, and americans.

they chant death to israel, death to america. we're the small satan, you're the great satan. so iran is perhaps the preeminent terrorist state of our time, and yes, it's supplying russian forces with lethal weapons with which civilians are killed. now, what would i suggest? what i have been suggesting all along, that the sanctions on iran should not be lifted. if they're lifted you lift also the sanctions on other countries, including russia: i think there should be a consistent policy against iran to not give them hundreds of billions of dollars of sanctions relief. you can see the brave men and extraordinary brave women of iran who are telling you what this regime is all about. they should not have the money or the path to nuclear weapons which would ultimately threaten every city in the united states. >> well, do you believe that the nuclear deal is now sidelined?

there was some talk that the united states might consider reentering that nuclear deal, but based on everything that you've heard, do you believe that at least for now the united states and iran will not be renegotiating that deal. >> i certainly hope so, and you know, i make no bones about it. it was one of my pivotal issues of disagreement with president obama whom i respected, but i thought the deal would pave iran's path with gold to international recognition of its position as a threshold nuclear state from which point they could break into a nuclear arsenal and literally in zero time happily, i think people understand now that that would be a mistake. i think that in many ways, that has to take paramount -- a paramount interest in the policy of all people who are concerned, all countries and governments who are concerned with the peace

of our world because it's one thing having the netherlands have nuclear weapons, but to have the ayatollahs who preach for the destruction of israel and the united states to have the weapons of mass death and the ballistic missiles that they're developing to deliver them, i think is the height of folly, so the answer to your question, i hope it's put back. iran's going to cheat on any deal anyway. that's not how you're going to stop iran from having nuclear weapons. it's a combination of crippling sanctions and a credible military option that will do that. nothing else will. >> there's been a suggestion since the beginning of this war that israel has not done enough to support ukraine. do you believe the government of israel should do more? >> well, look, on this one, you know, i'm the opposition leader, and maybe in two weeks i'll replace this government, i hope or nothing is guaranteed, but on this one, i think they're taking a prudent policy in the

following sense. first of all, israel has welcomed more refugees from the ukraine jews and nonjews, they're helping with field hospitals, helping with humanitarian aid. on the question of weapons, there's always a possibility, and this has happened time and again, that weapons that we supplied in one battlefield end up in iranian hands used against, and the goland heights where we're trying to prevent iran from creating a second terrorist front against us, we encounter weapons. i think to be circumspect is important, but the larger question of ukraine is something else, and i'll add my two cents worth here. i think the greatest danger for ukraine is not the tragedy, the indiscriminate bombing of civilians, i think the greatest danger is that this conflict would unravel to a global conflict with ominous

proportions, and the possible use of nuclear weapons. i don't think it makes that much difference if it's tactical nuclear weapons or strategic nuclear weapons. that threshold has not been crossed for 77 years, and i think what is required right now is a combination of firmness and prudence to make sure that this conflict ends and certainly doesn't spread. >> the bbc's katty kay is with us, and has a question. >> you've mentioned iran several times during the course of the conversation already, and of course in israel's bid to tackle iran, when you were prime minister, you had closer relationships with the saudis. you developed a closer relationship with mohammed bin salmon. we've seen over the last couple of weeks, reaction from saudi arabia that has caused dismay here in washington, doing what appears to be an alliance with russia to reduce oil production, which is hurting the biden

administration and also today just sending an american citizen to prison for 16 years in saudi arabia for something that he tweeted when he was actually in the united states. if you were prime minister again, would you re-think your relationship with mbs? >> i'd ask them to rethink their relationship with us, because i think part of the reason that we saw over flights of israelis, hundreds of thousands of israelis over saudi airspace in 2018, that's two years before the historic abraham accords, which were done with the help of the trump administration. i have to give them credit for that, but the reason, the reason the gulf states turned to israel was that they saw in 2015 after a very difficult decision i made to go to the joint session of congress and speak out against the impending nuclear deal which i thought would threaten the existence of israel, they called and i say this in my book, i mean, i got phone calls from

gulf leaders while i was speaking. my delegation received phone calls from them, and they basically wanted to have secret meetings at that point because they said we're terrified of iran, too, and if you, israel, is willing to stand up to iran, then we want to be your partners, and that really foreshadowed the abraham accords which produced four peace treaties in four months, although we labored hard under, you know, behind the curtain to get them done. so i think that if saudi arabia and the other gulf countries feel secure that there will be a strong anti-iranian posture on the part of the west, i think that will bring them back to the circle of peace and i think that would be one of my great targets, my great goals if i get elected, and i had the opportunity to bring four peace agreements, i would like to

bring another one with saudi arabia and other countries because i think at that point, we'll end the -- effectively the arab israeli conflict, and we'll be able to deal with the 1% that's left because that's what it is, about 1%, 2% of the palestinian/israeli conflict. everybody said, no, first you have to make peace with the palestinians, and then we'll get peace with the arab world so the 1% was nagging the 99% of the arab world, and i said, no, let's do it different. let's go to the arab world with the common interest we have, blocking iran, providing tremendous civilian technology, medicine issue the environment, energy, you name it to the arab countries to better the lives of their people and work our way back into the palestinian problem which was not resolved because the palestinians so far don't want peace with us. they want a peace without israel. let's make peace with the arab world. yes, i would try to reconfigure that relationship towards pro peace, and frankly, pro western policy. >> mr. prime minister, thanks

for being with us. this is jonathan lemire, we played the montage a moment ago of you with several u.s. presidents and you enjoyed a particularly close one with donald trump who could be a presidential candidate again. just a couple of days ago, trump made headlines here in the united states by on his social media site saying that no president has done more for israel than i have and that he thought that evangelicals rather than american jews were more appreciate of that. and he said this to american jews, it's time to get their act together before it is too late. that has been deemed anti-semitic by many, sir. what do you make of that? is donald trump anti-semitic? >> well, you know, he has a jewish son-in-law and his daughter converted to judaism, grandchildren are raised as jews, i think it reflects his frustration, when he doesn't get credit for the things he did. let me say, i'm not an exception, all of us belong to

that, but i think also there's a certain myopia here on the assessment of american jews. american jews by and large and to a great majority support israel warmly, and some, especially on the radical progressive wing do not. but the great majority in the democratic party do. now, the reason that's skewed a bit is because while democratic support for israel among the american voters has remained fairly steady as the annual gallop poll shows over a period of many years, the republican support for israel has skyrocketed, and that creates perhaps a misunderstanding. israel enjoys very broad support among the american people, and it's something that i think is absolutely necessary. we have to maintain bipartisan support. you know, i'm sometimes accused of being a republican or going against democrats. that's not true. i have opposed democratic

presidents, republican presidents when i thought their policies would engage israel, but i have long supported and continue to support the bipartisan support of america because i'll tell you what, because while we've developed many alliances with our newfound strength, our economic and military and intelligence and cyber strength, many many alliances, america is still the indispensable ally. it's not the exclusive ally, but it is the indispensable ally because it's an alliance based between our peoples and it's forged on common interests but more so on common values, and we're not going to give that up. i'm not. >> the antidefamation league and others said the rhetoric is so dangerous here, and the comments from the former president come at a time hate crimes here in the united states are on the rise. there's been a wave of anti-semitism in the u.s. and also in europe and other places. it seems that the former

president is feeding that. that's what many have charged. should he not be more careful with what he says? is not his rhetoric dangerous? >> look, he's been a great supporter of israel. he has many jewish supporters and he also has many opponents. i think it behooves all of us to engage, although it's very difficult in campaigns, in measured language. if you can get politicians, all of us, to do that, you'll get a nobel prize for peace good luck. >> one more question on donald trump, you're probably sick of hearing the name, but in his statement he says he has done more than any other president for israel. you have dealt with a lot of presidents, is that statement accurate, has he done more for israel than any american president that you have dealt with? . >> i'll say this, i think under

his presidency israel achieved some tremendous breakthroughs we didn't achieve before, the recognition of jerusalem as israel's capital, long overdue given that it's been our capital since king david declared it such 3,000 years ago. the movement of the american embassy there. the recognition of israel's sovereignty over the golan heights which we were attacked several times from syria, and the withdrawal of the dangerous iran deal which i think was absolutely necessary. i credit him with that. did we have good relations with previous presidents, of course we did. i don't hide my disagreements with him. by the way, i had my disagreements with president trump on some of the matters related to the palestinian issue, but i welcome the fact that even though i had disagreements with president obama on iran and on the palestinian issue, we signed a ten-year mou, memorandum of understanding to replenish israel's military aid from the united states, and that's something i value. i did the same thing with

president clinton, the first such mou i signed in my first term with president clinton, i'm grateful for that. here's what i would say about american presidents through successful administrations, we can have our differences but as we say in israel, it's differences within the family, because our relations are unlike -- they're just not like the relations we have with any other country, and believe me, i've gotten to know leaders from all over the world, and some of them have been close friends, one of them was recently assassinated, a dear friend, shinzo abe who america and the unfolding relations with american presidents is something that is deeply valued and despite our differences i think we are what in many ways what iran and the radical islamists say about us is true. we are you and you are us.

they don't see much difference between us because we are committed to a democratic and liberal form of life that they find so abhorrent. we are you and you are us. we are the bastian of free liberal civilization in the heart of the middle east. look around us and see. look around me in the background and see the free economy that we created and look at the tremendous growth. israel when i first became prime minister one skyscraper in the background and this is freedom and enterprise so i write about that in my book. it is "a life of purpose." >> one final followup, mr. prime minister, on ukraine. if you are prime minister, if you become prime minister again,

will israel be more full some in its support? much in the same way israel was struggling after an invasion after another. did you take it out? ifp is lost? all right. the new memoir is "bibi, my story." thank you. this afternoon president biden tries to bring a renewed focus to the issue of abortion. >> polling shows it is fading from the minds of voters three weeks from the election. joining us now is form ere atlanta mayor lance bottoms. what is the strategy to bring

this issue back to the minds of voters, especially with the crime and economy in front of them that matter. >> thank you for having me. the president will continue to remind people how important this issue is. many issues face working americans every day but when you think about what the republicans are trying to do you think about senator graham's plan to institute a national ban on abortion. that means nowhere in america if a woman is a victim of rape or incest, if there is a fetus that's not viable, if she is suffering a miscarriage a national ban would mean that doctors and health care providers could be prosecuted criminally. that should concern all voters and we know that dobbs is more than 100 days behind us but it's

important to continue to remind the american people what it means for women across the country. the fundamental right to make decisions about our own bodies. >> good morning. it is willie geist. some of the candidates on the trail, democrats have been asked if they support abortion without limits and some said yes. if you look at the polling that is an extreme position. does the president and white house believe there should be abortion without limits? >> the president believes there should be a fundamental right for a woman to choose what to do with her own body and the president said this time and time again. their basic fundamental rights, access to health care, includes women across the country and expect to see is that especially college aged women, women who have had to face the very difficult choices will be reminded of this, especially during this season.

it is something that we can't ever put too far behind us because we know that elections matter and congressal republicans want to take us back. i'm 52. in my lifetime, i have always known that a woman has a right to make decisions about her own body an enwhat we are seeing put foth by congressional republicans takes us back more than 50 years. >> does the president support abortion at 3 weeks or 30 weeks? >> what the president has said publicly is that he supports a woman's right to choose. he has said that he believes that a woman has a fundamental right to make decisions about her own body and health care choices. >> okay. so i'm curious. why do you think this is becoming more remote to the

minds of voters? is it that the democrats need to communicate effectively on crime and the economy? because it seems to me that this issue to take a page out of kamala harris's book is about the republicans not understanding the way that woman's body works and about the health of all women. not just women with children and who are pregnant. women who may have a miscarriage, needs a d & c. it's women who are raped. it is women who are assaulted by a family member. and yet, it seems to be floating away from the minds of voters. how do we communicate to all women, especially maybe younger women who think this is remote from me? how do we get them to focus about this is all about us?

>> we know that people have difficult decisions facing them every day and sometimes only concerned about the things right before them but we have to remind people that elections matter. it matters if you have a congress that supports a woman's right to choose. we have to keep reminding people how far backwards that the supreme court took us with the dobbs decision and not just during the election season but every day to remember where we were in 2020. that in 2020, a woman had a right to make decisions about her health care. in 2022, that right has been taken away and in large part has to do with the makeup of the supreme court. it is important that we continue to communicate this and always

remind people, the public, on these issues that matter beyond the issues that they face on a day to day basis. >> all right. director of white house office of public engagement, thank you very much for coming on the show this morning. still ahead, breaking down the heated debates between candidates in key midterm races across the country. ♪ birds flyin' high ♪ ♪ you know how i feel ♪ (coughing) ♪ breeze driftin' on by ♪ ♪ you know how i feel ♪ copd may have gotten you here, but you decide what's next. start a new day with trelegy. ♪ ...feelin' good ♪ no once-daily copd medicine has the power to treat copd in as many ways as trelegy. with three medicines in one inhaler, trelegy helps people breathe easier and improves lung function.

it also helps prevent future flare-ups. trelegy won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. do not take trelegy more than prescribed. trelegy may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia, and osteoporosis. call your doctor if worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling, problems urinating, vision changes, or eye pain occur. take a stand and start a new day with trelegy. ask your doctor about once-daily trelegy. and save at trelegy.com. i'd like to thank our sponsor liberty mutual.

they customize your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. contestants ready? go! only pay for what you need. jingle: liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪♪ subway's drafting 12 new subs for the all-new subway series menu the new monster has juicy steak and crispy bacon. but what about the new boss? it looks so good it makes me hangry! settle down there, big guy the new subway series. what's your pick?

we spend enormous amounts of time and energy and resources pointing out the latest, crazy thing he said or, you know, how rude or mean, you know, some of these republican candidates behaved. that's probably not something that, in the minds of most voters, override their basic interests. can i pay the rent?

what are gas prices? how am i dealing with child care, et cetera? right? >> that was former president obama on the pod save america podcast this past weekend saying to focus on the economy as polls show voters may be breaking for the republicans. >> that was a fascinating -- >> just what we were talking about. >> fascinating interview. you know, willie, you look at what the former president said about focusing on republicans and how mean they are instead of -- and how shocking they are. it's exactly what they want democrats to do and media to do instead of the issues that most americans really do care about and doesn't work as well for the democrats. he had quite a few things to say

about wokeness, identity politics. he talked about this before and for quite sometime but it certainly was a very clarifying interview for the democrats to listen. >> he steps in. not often but tries to recalibrate democrats and the message a little bit. he is right objectively. it is the economy by a wide margin on people's minds and not to say that the other issues are not important. it is a balance of pursuit of democracy and take seriously the candidates saying we won't respect the elections and the concern of women and families on abortion but coming down the stretch the voters made clear it

is the economy to sway the election. we have reporters with us and the correspondents following the developments on the trail. blayne alexander in atlanta. jessie kirsch and shaquille brewster. what did we see last night? >> reporter: this was a rematch foush years in the making. they met in 2018. a lot has changed since last on the ballot today. governor kemp with four years of a record to run on and stayty stacey abrams with national prominence and they used that against each other and the nuggets to attack each other. gun control, the gun law here in

georgia and crime was something that have a point of contention. kemp argued that the law he signed that loosened restrictions to own firearms making people more safe and defend themselves. abrams said it puts guns in the hands of people that don't need them and could hurt the state economically if businesses pull out because they don't like the gun laws. take a look. >> our recovery as good as any state in the country. we have two years of record economic development. >> gang crime is up. gun violence is up. housing prices have skyrocketed. equity investors purchased 30% of the homes in georgia. 1.4 million people without health insurance. we live in a state of fear and

this is a governor who for four years beat his chest and delivered little for most people. >> reporter: the delivered very little for most people. you could see the two really draw a difference between them. very clear differences in their policies. they highlighted that. abrams made a number of remarks saying she wasn't part of a good old boys club and then saying on race with police reform in georgia she lives a complicated life saying that it is important to have access to public safety and racial justice and it's an interesting back and forth. this is the first of two debates this season and early voting began in georgia.

we saw record breaking numbers yesterday. >> abrams with ground to make up with the polling there in that race in georgia. thank you. let's go to ohio. jesse is covering the debate between governor tim ryan and jd vance. jesse? >> reporter: we saw discussions on the economy, on gun control. vance on abortion seeming to inch closer to embracing graham's abortion ban proposal but this debate once again got personal and at times ugly. there was a point where vance invoked the biracial children. he also invoked congressman tim ryan's wife saying that it seems like ryan agrees more with his own wife than pelosi and about both trying to portray the opponent as being tied to

extremist wings in the respective parties. we're in ohio. right? so that gives you an idea of how they try to portray each other and a debate topic to illustrate the divide was talking about january 6. both candidates asked about it. vance condemned violence. ultimately made this about the idea that democrats, the media, want to talk about january 6 instead of kitchen table issues. >> we can walk and chew gum at the same time. if a group of people storm the capitol, what we try to file the paper work for an election and prevent that from happening and kill the vice president, that needs to be looked into. you want to sweep it under the rug. i don't want to talk about this.

i want to talk about jobs and wages and pensions and making sure that people have dignity but, my god, you got to talk about it, jd. >> people say that tim ryan is in office 20 years and didn't do the damn job. that's a direct quote. if you were half as good of a legislator as you pretend to be youngstown would not have lost 15,000 jobs. >> reporter: again, this debate in youngstown which is a part of the district represented by tim ryan and an argument of vance is that you had two decades to make a difference in congress. ryan will counter by saying there's changes in legislation that he voted on which benefited the people of this community. i think this ultimately could

hinge on one strategy from tim ryan. can he peel off enough republican voters? vance said he allied himself back to the primary winning the former president's endorsement. you talked about this idea that the economy is still that key issue and both candidates talking about this. we heard this from tim ryan on the trail. workers. a big buzz word from the candidate. and again this david versus goliath thing talked about last week on this show, let's look at what's happening in the days ahead. three big name republican senators coming to campaign for vance but on the democratic side not seeing obama or biden but

dave matthews. willie? >> take nothing away from dave ma shoes but a curious decision from the national democrats. thank you so much why finally shaq brewster in florida looking ahead to the debate between republican senator marco rubio and congresswoman val demings. what does the race down there look like? >> reporter: hi there. we'll see those two candidates take the stage in the race that's somewhat closer than many political experts in florida believed. while rubio had thatexperts in

believed. while rubio had that advantage ahead of hurricane ian, he's in the average of polls ahead. you are seeing a closer margin in that race compared to the governor's race and many people say the reason is the money that val demings raise jd a forler police chief. was on the short list as president biden's possible vice presidential nominee outraised rubio and competitive despite flood of cash coming in and advertisements from the outside groups. the main messaging against abortion saying that he is open to a federal abortion ban

without exemptions. she goes after the voting record and specifically the votes he missed in the senate. rubio ties demings to the democratic messaging saying that she would make crime worse and supported defunding the police which she denied. rubio said she supported nancy pelosi 100% of the time and made inflation worse. as i talk to voters, what they list as the top issues can give you a sense of where they decide to cast the ballot at the polls. here's a sample. >> i do know that i do want people to be left alone and do things that don't impact other people. i believe in women's rights and lgbt rights.

>> i believe in most of the policies that the republican party stands for in regards to crime, immigration, taxes. >> reporter: tonight's debate will begin at 7:00 p.m. early voting in the state of florida starts next week. >> should be fascinating. thank you all for your reporting this morning. so that debate in florida going to be very closely watched. a tough sell to say val demings is soft on crime as a 30-year officer in the orlando police department and the chief of police there. >> yes. and her husband serves. talk about -- >> yeah. >> yeah. >> a tough sell. we have been talking about "the new york times"/sienna polls because "the new york times" ran the poll and obviously dominant footprint in american media. there have been some other polls

including this morning from morning consult that shows the democrats holding their own on the generic ballot. ahead of republicans 48-45%. eli yokley updated it this morning. joe biden's up to 46%. the highest rating of the year on that poll. democrats with an enthusiasm edge and democrats gaining trust on the economy. republicans still ahead 46-49 but a relatively consistent tightening since mid-may with a 16-point lead from the morning consult. there have been some other polls out this week that have shown democrats ahead in the generic ballot test but there's been a tightening. as we said earlier this morning

going over "the new york times" polls, we have a long way to go and the polls are all over the place. >> three weeks until election day is a very, very long time. it will be as you say the economy. it will be what people see as their future, the standing and often historical trends are not kind to the party in power. with inflation at 8.2% in particular so we'll see. >> we will. our next guest said the midterm elections offer a clear choice between democracy and fascism. right now it is a dead heat. so why is the pro democracy side struggling? and what can it do to win the battle for hearts and mind? for start irs stop living in reaction to the right. joining us now author and political analyst anand

giridharadas. inauguration on the book. thank you for sharing it with us. >> the first people i came to. first stop of publication day. >> always "morning joe." great to have you. i'm curious. i find it so interesting in all the discussions about the elections and looking at the polls and what people care and worry about you don't see a conversation about what we are doing in the struggle for freedom in ukraine which quite frankly most foreign policy analysts say this administration is doing an effective job and surprised there's a lack of connection, that the american people don't talk about it every day and aren't looking at what we do and feeling the pride and that disconnect when it comes to the struggle for democracy also seems to be here at home. >> i think you are raising the

fundamental issue at the heart of the persuaders with an anti-democracy side and a pro democracy side in american life. it is not about party idea. it is about whether you are for continued and expanded liberal democracy or not. the pro democracy side is ham strung by a belief that simply doing the right thing and standing for the right thing in the imagination is self explanatory. people will gravitate to you doing the right thing on ukraine and for policy as you see it and the argument of the persuaders is the pro democracy side right now is not winning and not just not weren'ting because of rigging and big lies and voter suppression and state election officials who toy with things. although that's real and serious and dangerous. asking people on the street, it

is a dead heat between democracy and fascism. i set out to ask why. i got tired of despairing. watching the show and the excellent coverage of the descent and why is this happening and relegated to despairing about it. i spent the last years reporting own people showing another way, particularly organizers on the ground across the country, outside the limelight. scientists, a cult deprogrammer in the book because we are there with millions of fellow citizens and tried to learn from them what the pro democracy movement can do to save american democracy. and realize the future of nice things that we all deserve. >> you know, i've said this on

the show, especially the past couple of weeks. seems like it's parallel universes. we come on the show. talk about the economy, ukraine, foreign policy. and we do. but if, for instance, you have neo-nazis and fascists marching in charlottesville we got to talk about that. the president of the united states telling people of color, members of congress, go back where you came from. the president telling people to beat people up and he'll pay for the medical bills or lawyer bills we have to talk about that. when you have everything that happened on january 6 happen and the republicans who claim to be pro law enforcement suddenly throw law enforcement officers

under the bus and graham telling the mother of a dead capitol hill cop if you say bad things about donald trump, i don't care if you're the mom of a dead capitol hill cop i will throw you out of my office. i believe like you believe that there are threats to american democracy and -- but i found there are two worlds. some of the smartest people i know will say about january 6 much ado about nothing. mike pence was never in danger. donald trump had nothing to do with it. smartest people in the world. lawyers. at the end of the campaign, you would actually have -- i would say but what about the president of the united states ordering his attorney general to arrest his opponent and family two weeks before -- just goes right

over people's heads. we live in two alternate universes and i accept the things that i believe are threats to the american democracy americans don't care about. they care about inflation, gas prices, things that obviously are important that my dad would care about but we are in two different worlds, talks past them. why? >> that's astute point and raised what is hard here which is that it's important to call out and talk about on this show and in your life everything you mentioned. it would be irresponsible not to. it is progress in the media to get folks to call these things what they are. yet we risk living in reaction to these outrages and chewing

gum with the walking, that is offering people a thrilling, galvanizing, magnanimous vision of the future that is more exciting than what the other side is offering. the scary thing right now is the people to end liberal democracy in america and don't want to include and break the republican share it with a vision that reads to many americans as more welcoming and more inviting and more fun and the people on the pro democracy side trying to build a better movement are failing at that. i set out to learn from people showing a different way and can move the friends. we need to command attention much more effectively on the pro democracy side in the way that the right is very good at. we need to for lawyer friends and others do a better job to making meaning of these things

that are happening and understanding the intuition and explaining to them and with care not contempt why it is what's happening to the country violates what they believe and not just what we believe. we need to meet people on this issue of gas, inflation, crime. there is a tendency in the democratic party to say the thing you tell us you are worried about is not something to worry about. you should be worried about this thing over here. it doesn't work. it doesn't work. in fact, democrats have a whole policy agenda that relates to those concerns people have and have a theory. there is a failure to actually meet people where they are. there's a problem, president obama referred to, of a movement that feels inaccessible to people. a lot of that is ginned up. some is real.

i spent time in all kinds of spaces outside of the national political scene where this is actually happening. we are not having the most inflammatory version of conversations where we are having conversations where americans find common ground and talking about race in ways that pull people in and talking about how you have a more fair economy without scaring people. i really believe in part because i refuse to give up on this country but it takes a freedom movement that is unlike any movement we have ever seen and i believe these persuaders show a way. >> this is a hope. book? >> it is. >> you are saying to people stop doom scrolling and hiding behind the blanket and do something.

what gives you hope? >> i went to arizona for the final chapter to witness deep canvassing. these are regular people around the country with a few hours of training online to go door to door and talk to their neighbors about issues. this is not the political canvassing with one minute on the door. this is 30 to 40 minutes if they keep the door open and what they are doing in arizona and elsewhere is talking about immigration, race, lgbt rights. and they go to the doors and they basically behave the opposite of how we do in the culture. they don't condemn or dunk. they sit there and they listen to respect. they don't lie about where they stand. they're honest that they believe in dignity for whatever group is

in question but they listen. and then they start doing the second thing. they look for sources of disso nance. do you know any immigrants? do they square with what you said? people realize, no, my gardener is the hardest working person i know. have you been shut out because of factors about you that you couldn't control? people say, yeah. this movement of deep canvassing is one of many in the book with real progress made in changing minds in a polarized time. not the hard core 10% of americans but people who are movable. i spent time with them because i

was despairing and convinced that you can pray for indictments and bob mueller and the detours when we actually know what has the only thing that's ever changed anything in this country which is more people coming together and wanting the other thing. we need to summon as we have never before in this country a passion for democracy. people cannot just be voting for the pro democracy movement because it is less bad and crazy. it needs to build a movement of belonging and connection that people want to scream about from the roof tops and i believe it can. >> so remarkable. a thing that i often despair about is sometimes in this -- mike barnacle, in this pro democracy fight, there is why reverend al and i talk about preach to the choir. you are not touching people and

reaching out to people. i love about this book i got it this summer and i love it. positive and talking about engaging people. some people are not persuadable. maybe a third. who knows? anne applebaum said about january 6. also part of this approach is finding the dissonance and finding common ground. i'll be walking through an airport and somebody will come up and very polite. people are polite. they just are. whether they are trump supporters or whatever. just especially over the past couple years. always polite. i guess they're afraid of mika.

i'll say, you know, i do disagree with donald trump. i'm very concerned about the presidency. you do know i agree with you on this issue and you agree with me on this issue. there are a lot of things we agree on as far as issues go. we disagree on constitutional norms, on so many of the thing that donald trump -- you sit there and start talking to people and they understand. wait a second. maybe there is common ground here. same thing that i have done with a left my entire life. it is crazy but it comes down to listening to other people and talking to other people and trying to find common ground and we have confined it with americans. >> totally agree. a biggest problem i would submit of the democratic people is how many people come up to you and

ask you, do you think they will get trump? put $80 in the gas tank. do you think we'll get trump? the question to you is, basically, republicans versus democrats, candidates for public office, when you listen to them apart from the elite circles, when you listen to candidates it seems to me and to a lot of other people i would submit that democrats don't have the language of common people, of people on the sidewalk and people who live day-to-day. thank you don't have that language to affect people. >> i deeply agree with that. i think one of the ideas at the heart of this book -- at the risk of being corny, i love america. i think it is a great country and sometimes democrats bury that message in the other things

being said and i think sometimes there is a failure on the political left to remind people why we have the revolt against the future is because of progress that has been made, that is being made. we have come incredibly far as a country. i can't think of any other great power in history that's chosen through democratic means to become a country made of every other place. india and china are not doing that. germany and france is not doing that. this is remarkable and falling on our face as a country right now attempting to build a country that's hard to build and telling that story you inspire

people and speak in the language of freedom that regular people resonate with and then you can explain what tucker carlson is trying to do and donald trump and why and why they would rather break the inheritance. i think it is important for party leaders to do this and those at home with qanon relatives, who have climate deaniers uncles to have better conversations in our communities with respect, humility. but to defend the idea of america. >> the new book is titled "the persuaders."

anand, thank you very much for being on the show this morning. >> thank you. >> turning to biden for help on the campaign trail. >> really? >> not that one. the conservative outside the republican party to save the party from trumpism. you are watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. ve one in our family... 'til my sister signed up for united healthcare medicare advantage. ♪wow, uh-huh♪ now she's got a whole team to help her get the most out of her plan. ♪wow, uh-huh♪ with coverage that's better than ever for dental... ...vision... ...prescription drugs and more. advantage: me! can't wait 'til i turn 65! aarp medicare advantage plans, only from unitedhealthcare. take advantage now at uhc.com/medicare if you still have symptoms of moderate

to severe rheumatoid arthritis or active psoriatic arthritis after a tnf blocker like humira or enbrel, rinvoq is different and may help. stand up to your symptoms with rinvoq. rinvoq is a once-daily pill that tackles pain, stiffness, swelling. for some, rinvoq significantly reduces ra and psa fatigue. it can stop further irreversible joint damage. and rinvoq can leave skin clear or almost clear in psa. that's rinvoq relief. rinvoq can lower your ability to fight infections, including tb. serious infections and blood clots, some fatal; cancers, including lymphoma and skin cancer; death, heart attack, stroke, and tears in the stomach or intestines occurred. people 50 and older with at least one heart disease risk factor have higher risks. don't take if allergic to rinvoq as serious reactions can occur. tell your doctor if you are or may become pregnant. ask your rheumatologist for rinvoq. rinvoq. make it your mission. learn how abbvie could help you save.

the new subway series menu. the greatest sandwich roster ever assembled. tony, the new outlaw's got double pepper jack and juicy steak. let's get some more analysis on that, chuck. mmm. pepper jack. tender steak. very insightful, guys. the new subway series. what's your pick? if you're loud, be louder. if you stand out, stand strong. very insightful, guys. and if you got the devil on your shoulder... take him for a ride.

♪ ♪ ♪♪ voltaren. the joy of movement. ♪♪ there's a reason comcast business powers more businesses voltaren. than any other provider. actually, there's a few... comcast business offers the fastest, reliable network... the protection of security edge... and the most reliable 5g network. want me to keep going? i can... whether your business is starting or growing, you need comcast business. technology solutions that put you ahead get started with fast speeds and advanced security together for $69.99 a month for 12 months. plus find out how to get up to a $650 prepaid card with a qualifying bundle. our internet isn't ideal. my dad made the brillant move to

get us t-mobile home internet. -which... we have to share our signal with the entire neighborhood. yeah, now we do some weird things to get our speeds. well... i'm up. -c'mon kids. this sucks. well if you just switch maybe you don't have to be vampires. whoa... -okay, yikes. oh sorry, i wasn't thinking. we, uh, don't really use the v word. that's kind of insensitive. we prefer pro-lunar. yes, much better. politico calls it the strangest senate race in america. mike lee facing a challenge from a former republican endorsed by democrats who if elected would caucus with neither party. the latest next on "morning joe." whenever heartburn strikes get fast relief with tums. it's time to love food back.

♪ tum tum tum tum tums ♪ i look back with great satisfaction on my 32 years of active duty. it's time to love food back. i understand the veteran mentality. these are people who have served, they'e been in leadership positions, they're willing to put their life on the line if necessary and they come to us and they say, "i need some financial help at this point in time." they're not looking for a hand out, they're looking for a little hand up. my team at newday usa is going to do everything we possibly can to make sure that veteran gets that loan. ♪ ♪ ♪♪

voltaren. the joy of movement. ♪♪ it's nice to unwind after a long week of telling people how liberty mutual customizes your car insurance so you only pay for what you need! (limu squawks) he's a natural. only pay for what you need. ♪liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty.♪ moderate to severe eczema still disrupts my skin. despite treatment it disrupts my skin with itch. it disrupts my skin with rash. but now, i can disrupt eczema with rinvoq. rinvoq is not a steroid, topical, or injection. it's one pill, once a day, that's effective without topical steroids. many taking rinvoq saw clear or almost-clear skin while some saw up to 100% clear skin. plus, they felt fast itch relief some as early as 2 days. that's rinvoq relief. rinvoq can lower your ability to fight infections, including tb. serious infections and blood clots, some fatal, cancers including lymphoma and skin cancer, death, heart attack, stroke, and tears in the stomach

or intestines occurred. people 50 and older with at least one heart disease risk factor have higher risks. don't take if allergic to rinvoq, as serious reactions can occur. tell your doctor if you are or may become pregnant. disrupt the itch and rash of eczema. talk to your doctor about rinvoq. learn how abbvie can help you save. naomi: every year, the wildfires and smoke seem to get worse. jessica: there is actual particles on every single surface. cooke: california has the worst air pollution in the country. the top two causes are vehicles and wildfires.

prop 30 helps clean our air. it will reduce the tailpipe emissions that poison our air. kevin: and helps prevent the wildfires that create toxic smoke. that's why calfire firefighters, the american lung association, and the coalition for clean air support prop 30. naomi: i'm voting yes on 30. so, steve -- >> three weeks. >> three weeks. seems this election is going

three ways. pre dobbs all republicans. post dobbs seems like on a lot of different things you have sensed over the past week or two things breaking back in the republicans' camp. i'm hearing from republican and democratic campaigns they really do see a break toward republicans. the question is, where are we now and with three weeks to go, of course, do we have yet another chapter in this ever winding sort of campaign? >> what you describe we see in a number -- this is what we have been tracking, the generic ballot. the average from real clear. do you want the democrats or republicans to control congress? republicans had a clear advantage on this question. over the summer democrats drew

even and took the lead through mid-september and now this morning republicans have a lead on average of over two points. as big as i have seen the republican lead on the generic ballot in months. in context take a look at recent midterm waves. wave elections. where the generic ballot was. not on par with what democrats said. not on par with what republicans said in 2010 taking 63 seats and won the house and now first time to see this in a long time. the republican lead in the generic ballot is larger than this point in 2014. the significance is if you remember the 2014 midterm it was a slow and late building wave to the point even election night the magnitude caught folks by surprise. they reached the highest level

since 2018. 2014 a late building wave. you saw that number spike in a last couple weeks. seen it from the republicans just getting ahead of the democrats to being up by over two points in today's average. in terms of feeling to the republicans is it seems right now bearing out in the numbers. take a look at the senate battleground here. top five targets for the party. what does the polling likely there? the bottom line continues to be true. republicans need a net gain of one seat if they get control of the senate. right now on average they lead in one democratic held seat. that's invest n. laxalt leads. that would be a net gain for republicans. democrats again continue to be able to counter that. there's one republican held

seat, pennsylvania. pat toomey retiring. fetterman leads over oz. the big trend is fetterman with 3.4. august 1 the poll average in pennsylvania fetterman 8.7. came down more than five points since then. there's uneasiness with democrats. a couple things on the board. wisconsin, ron johnson for the third term, i don't remember seeing any polls in 2016 and 2010 that had ron johnson ahead why this is an in terms of polling a much better position than six yearing ago. in georgia with the debate warnock continuing to lead in

the polling. haven't had post debate polling. and the other wild in georgia is you got to get 50% plus 1 or goes to a runoff and neither warnock or walker in 50%. recent polling shows republicans declaring the united states a christian nation and a loudest voice on that front is michael flynn. >> he is a guy that pleads the fifth like a thousand times. do you love america? i plead the fifth. huh. >> talk about the efforts to blur the lines between church and state straight ahead on "morning joe." felt anything but. ♪ ♪

enough was enough. i talked to an asthma specialist and found out my severe asthma is driven by eosinophils, a type of asthma nucala can help control. now, fewer asthma attacks and less oral steroids that's my nunormal with nucala. nucala is a once-monthly add-on injection for severe eosinophilic asthma. nucala is not for sudden breathing problems. allergic reactions can occur. get help right away for swelling of face, mouth, tongue, or trouble breathing. infections that can cause shingles have occurred. don't stop steroids unless told by your doctor. tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection. may cause headache, injection site reactions, back pain, and fatigue. talk to your asthma specialist to see if once-monthly nucala may be right for you. and learn about savings at nucala.com there's more to your life than asthma. find your nunormal with nucala. it's the subway series menu! 12 irresistible subs... like #11 subway club. piled with turkey, ham and roast beef. this sub isn't slowing down any time soon.

i'll give it a run for its money. my money's on the sub. it's subway's biggest refresh yet. bipolar depression. it made me feel trapped in a fog. this is art inspired by real stories of bipolar depression. i just couldn't find my way out of it. the lows of bipolar depression can take you to a dark place. latuda could make a real difference in your symptoms. latuda was proven to significantly reduce bipolar depression symptoms. and in clinical studies, had no substantial impact on weight. this is where i want to be. call your doctor about sudden behavior changes or suicidal thoughts.

antidepressants can increase these in children and young adults. elderly dementia patients have increased risk of death or stroke. report fever, confusion, stiff or uncontrollable muscle movements, which may be life threatening or permanent. these aren't all the serious side effects. now i'm back where i belong. ask your doctor if latuda is right for you. pay as little as zero dollars for your first prescription. as a teacher living and working in san francisco, the cost of housing makes living and working here really difficult. proposition d is the only measure that speeds up construction of affordable new homes by removing bureaucratic roadblocks. so teachers, nurses, firefighters and workers like us can live where we work. while prop e makes it nearly impossible to build more housing join habitat for humanity in rejecting prop e, and supporting prop d to build more affordable housing for everyone. we can't wait any longer. climate change is here. already threatening san francisco's wastewater treatment plant at ocean beach. risking overflow sewage to dump right into the ocean.

there's a solid climate plan in place, but changes to the great highway required by prop i would cost san francisco taxpayers $80 million to draft a new climate plan and put the entire west side and ocean beach at risk of contamination. protect our beach, ocean and essential infrastructure. reject prop i talk to anyone in san francisco and they'll tell you now is not the time to make our city even more expensive by raising taxes. san francisco has one of the largest city budgets in america. yet when it comes to homelessness and public safety, we're not getting results. what we really need are better policies, more accountability, and safer neighborhoods. vote no on propositions m and o. the last thing we need are higher taxes, especially right now. now is not the time to raise taxes in san francisco. vote no on m and o. the justice department is

recommending steve bannon be sentenced to six months in jail and fined $200,000 after he defied a subpoena to testify before the house select committee investigating the january 6th attack on the capitol. federal attorneys wrote in a sentencing memo to the court that bannon should receive a hefty sentence because he, quote, pursued a bad-faith strategy of defiance and contempt from the moment he received subpoena last year that sought records and testimony about his knowledge of donald trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election. lawyers for bannon recommend he should not spend any time in jail and instead receive probation. bannon is set to be sentenced this friday. he's thumbed his nose, jonathan lemire, at the subpoena from the beginnings, in public, private, on his podcast. what do you think happens on friday? >> that was always part of the strategy. bannon said publicly he wouldn't mind being a martyr for the cause, but facing prison time, there's a limit perhaps to his

devotion to the cause. the doj has said they want the harshest punishment. they'll likely get it. they were saying there's a real chance he would get at least a few months in prison. they won't just sentence him to probation or home confinement, another option. his lawyers had proceeded. of course if bannon can do that, he'll continue with his podcast. he remains one of donald trump's biggest supporters and loudest voices on election denying and this maga movement barrelling into the midterms. >> we've heard him on tape in the last two weeks saying here's the plan, win or lose, we say we won. we'll see what happens on friday. he may get his maga martyrdom afterall. according to an investigation released yesterday on oversight reform during donald trump's presidency, trump hotels charged the secret service as much as $1,185 a night, more than five times the recommended government rate.

"the washington post" report shows properties charged the secret service more than $1.4 million for agents' accommodations when traveling to protect former president. in a statement on behalf of the trump organization, eric trump responded by saying in part, "the trump family is likely the first family many american history to have not profited off the united states government." he said the trump organization gave the federal government discounts for staying at their hotels and only charged them about 50 bucks a night. joe, mika, $1,100 a night to the united states taxpayer at trump hotels. >> what a surprise. we were scammed. you know it wasn't just that. it was the fact he sent a very clear message to world leaders across the globe, when you come to washington, d.c., you better stay at my hotel. i know who stays at my hotel and

who doesn't stay in my hotel. and how fascinating he leaves the white house and he sells the hotel. again, it's a clear scam, but of course, why are we even saying this. the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, not a surprise at all. coming up, we'll go live to georgia where two top democrats are taking decidedly different approaches to their midterm campaigns. now the races for senate and governor feature a sharp split in strategy to get out the vote.

♪ ♪ have diabetes? know where your glucose is? with the freestyle libre 3 system, know your glucose and where it's heading. no fingersticks needed. now the world's smallest, thinnest sensor sends your glucose levels directly to your smartphone. manage your diabetes with more confidence and lower your a1c now you know freestyle libre 3. try it for free at freestylelibre.us. there's a different way to treat hiv. it's every-other-month, injectable cabenuva. for adults who are undetectable, cabenuva is the only complete, long-acting hiv treatment you can get every other month. cabenuva helps keep me undetectable. it's two injections, given by my healthcare provider, every other month.

it's one less thing to think about while traveling. hiv pills aren't on my mind. a quick change in my plans is no big deal. don't receive cabenuva if you're allergic to its ingredients or taking certain medicines, which may interact with cabenuva. serious side effects include allergic reactions post-injection reactions, liver problems, and depression. if you have a rash and other allergic reaction symptoms, stop cabenuva and get medical help right away. tell your doctor if you have liver problems or mental health concerns, and if you are pregnant, breastfeeding, or considering pregnancy. some of the most common side effects include injection-site reactions, fever, and tiredness. if you switch to cabenuva, attend all treatment appointments. every other month, and i'm good to go. ask your doctor about every-other-month cabenuva. when moderate to severe ulcerative colitis persists...

put it in check with rinvoq, a once-daily pill. when uc got unpredictable,... i got rapid symptom relief with rinvoq. check. when uc held me back... i got lasting, steroid-free remission with rinvoq. check. and when uc got the upper hand... rinvoq helped visibly repair the colon lining. check. rapid symptom relief. lasting, steroid-free remission. and a chance to visibly repair the colon lining. check. check. and check. rinvoq can lower your ability to fight infections, including tb. serious infections and blood clots, some fatal; cancers, including lymphoma and skin cancer; death, heart attack, stroke, and tears in the stomach or intestines occurred. people 50 and older... with at least 1 heart disease risk factor have higher risks. don't take if allergic to rinvoq... as serious reactions can occur. tell your doctor if you are or may become pregnant. put uc in check and keep it there, with rinvoq. ask your gastroenterologist about rinvoq. and learn how abbvie could help you save. it's the subway series menu!

12 irresistible subs... like #6 the boss. pepperoni kicks it off. with meatballs smothered in rich marinara. don't forget the fresh mozzarella. don't you forget who the real boss is around here. it's subway's biggest refresh yet.

oh, what a beautiful shot of the white house on a beautiful day in washington. welcome back to "morning joe." it's 9:00 a.m. on the east coast, 6:00 a.m. out west. we've got a lot to get to this hour, including new signs that control of congress is anyone's guess. polling yesterday favored republicans, but new numbers released just moments ago gives democrats the edge. we'll have the latest on the midterms now just three weeks away. also ahead, is first lady jill biden a not-so-secret weapon for democrats? new reporting on the role she's been playing this election cycle. and a look at whether 2022 could be different for third-party candidates. >> the answer is usually no. >> usually no. >> and, willie, today 4:00 p.m.,

maybe 4:30 eastern time, the new york yankees and the cleveland guardians playing each other, rained out last night. the yankees i guess, you know, one of the last big-market teams in the playoffs. i know eventually baseball will probably be cheering for