republicans. he can get things back on track, and instead, they are quote the press release, like baseball cards, except maybe more exciting. there you go. alexi mccammond, thank you very much, have a great weekend. thank you to all of you for getting up "way too early" with us on this friday morning. "morning joe" starts right now. the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. >> ask not what your country can do for you. ask what you can do for your country. >> i can hear you. the rest of the world hears you and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon. >> my official trump digital trading cards are $99, which doesn't sound like very much for what you're getting. buy one and you'll join an exclusive community. it's my community, and i think it's something you're going to like and you like it a lot. they also make perfect gifts.

>> great moments in presidential speeches, and then there's donald trump. where the grift continues. >> willie. >> this time embarrassing his remaining defenders. steve bannon was upset with this, with a sleazy trading card announcement. let me just say what else we have because we're never going to get to it after we show this thing. it's going to be a complete break down on the show. how do we show this and keep a straight face. >> we don't. also ahead, elon musk who has become a champion of free speech on the right suspends the twitter accounts of journalists who cover him. >> he doesn't like it. >> also following the latest from washington -- >> some free speech, elon. >> two bills, one funding the military, and giving lawmakers another week to avert a government shut down. we have katty, michael steele and jonathan lemire.

friday, it is friday. >> there are few words. i saw this yesterday, and, you know, i thought it was put together by a late night comic, they made his mouth move, but we may be going into the early days of rudyism, where you sit there and go, where are the children to like keep them away from cameras, so he doesn't embarrass himself. i mean, this is so out of touch. right? this is so -- >> we got to show what this is. >> this is so dated, it was like a couple of years ago, and i walked into tom ford's store with my baby blue leisure suit, and, you know, i had one of those silk shirt, dogs playing poker, i thought, this is right f you're going to tom ford, this

is what you dress. right? i was a couple of years behind the times. this was trump, it was so outdated. it was so off key, really, i just couldn't believe he did it. it was so horrifically bad. especially at this point when people are saying is he relevant? >> here's how bad it is. steve bannon and michael flynn said, boy, that was embarrassing. he really shouldn't have done that. that says it all, doesn't it. steve bannon and michael flynn. i had the same reaction, in fact, i just asked alex and tjr we sure those are the real pictures because the nfts or baseball cards, whatever they are, they're so ridiculous, they can't be real. is that real? and here's the worst part to all. there's the nascar one, that's great. nice photo shop work there too. >> the worst part, joe, is he wants his supporters to pay $99

for that. >> what is that? that's like lizard guy. >> let's try and pull this back here. >> no, no, we're not going to pull this back. >> we have to show our viewers what we're talking about. the former president, had a major announcement. >> a major announcement. >> and this is the major announcement from donald trump. take a look. >> hello, everyone, this is donald trump, hopefully your favorite president of all time, better than lincoln. better than washington. with an important announcement to make. i'm doing my first official donald j. trump nft collection right here and right now, they're called trump digital trading cards. these cards feature some of the really incredible art work pertaining to my life and my career. it's been very exciting. you can collect your trump digital cards just like a baseball card or other collectibles. here's one of the best parts.

each card comes with an automatic chance to win amazing prizes like dinner with me. i don't know if that's an amazing prize, but it's what we have. or golf with you and a group of your friends at one of my beautiful golf courses, and they are beautiful. i'm also doing zoom calls, a one on one meeting, autographing memorabilia and so much more. we're doing a lot. my official trump digital trading cards are $99. >> what's he doing, seriously. what's he doing? it's what we got. and i'll do zoom calls with you, and i'll -- >> he's selling them. >> he's selling all of this stuff. what's he doing. this is like late night television, you know, lately night television that we grew up on, they're like really cheap public access stuff. again, i don't understand wait,

there's more. what's going on here, willie, you know, right? >> for a guy who says he's a billionaire, he's out hustling his supporters for 99 bucks a pop to hop on a zoom with him. i don't even know what to say, i'm still watching this saying the santa hat, the photo shop. the announcement people said, okay, well, maybe he's got some plan he's going to talk about. maybe he's going to say something about desantis. maybe he throws a vice presidential candidate in. he says he's running for presidential. is there any evidence that he actually is? >> the proportions on this photo shopping. >> wow. >> got a lizard head. all the proportions are just, like, willie, come on, who said, oh, mr. president, i think this is a good idea. >> michael steele. >> remember, it's him. >> michael steele, help me out here. >> i alone can fix it.

>> i got nothing for you. this is some of the whacked stupidest stuff i have seen ever. but you know, here's the interesting part about this. we get a chuckle from it, there are a whole lot of people going to buy this stuff. >> i don't think so. >> something that doesn't exist. it's an nft. it's not like you can actually trade them. i don't know what he thinks, well, he does know what he thinks. he's not stupid. and i think the key thing goes to what jonathan in his conversation with alexi at the end of his show brought out, and that is this is a way to get back in the game. he knows he can get in the game. he doesn't have to do traditional political stuff, joe, you know that.

mika knows that. he can put this out there. we're talking about it. we're showing it. we're pushing it out. and, yeah, it's not presidential. but what about 2016 was presidential, and so what about his presidency was presidential. so, you know, for trump, this is keeping in the game, he'll come back and clap, you know, back on desantis when he thinks it's necessary, but right now, he's going to grift. he's going to grift. >> katty, this guy is, again, as willie said, supposedly a billionaire. this guy is selling zoom calls. these horrible, like trading cards. it's everything beyond cheap, and again, when you've lost steve bannon and mike flynn,

perhaps you've lost a lot more. i mean, it's -- the base can't look at this and go, oh, yeah, boy, that's a guy i want to vote for next time. >> i think it's the holiday season, and the gift to viewers should play that on loop the next three hours. it's so funny. maureen has just done my makeup, and my eye shadow is running because it's making me cry so much. i kind of thought, is he strapped for cash. is he really poor or something that he's having to sell these things, the production is cheap. it looks like the shopping channel, the way he's doing it. you watch trump doing this, and i watched it a few times, and there's slightly an heir of beleagueredness, thinking is this really a good idea, and even he seems to realize this is super tacky. but, you know, just thinking about that trump story i spent

the day in arizona where they couldn't keep stuff in stock because trump fans around the country love trump memorabilia, and there will be somebody who gives this to somebody as their christmas, you know, your least favorite aunt, is this the christmas present you give them maybe, a person you never want to speak to again. >> just, again, jonathan lemire also, i mean, just the way he was talking, as mika said as we were listening to it, if siri had donald trump's voice, hello, and we have more for you, and dinner if you want. again i've often said he's not well, but i looked yesterday at that announcement. i was like, something is seriously off. something is seriously off. you follow this guy every day. you've written a book about him. what was your take about what we

saw? >> first and foremost, this is not going to quiet the doubts the republican party has about donald trump being their face. it's been a month now since he declared his candidacy, and it's been a disaster. the dinner with the white supremacist, saying he's going to terminate the constitution. his business being found guilty in new york civil court, more legal peril. he hasn't had a single rally, a single event. he's not doing interviews. he's not doing anything, except making these nfts. a curious moment to be jumping in the nft market as it's collapsed in recent months. i will note, there's a site that tracks nft sales suggesting he sold a million dollars of these. the grift might be working at least for a little while. it's alienated allies. there was real hope he was going to put out some sort of policy or announce he's coming back to twitter or the talk about a vp pick or a scotus choice, it's

none of that. it's an effort to make money, create baseball cards, except hopefully for exciting in his words. it is laughable, and a parody, and a lot of republicans i heard from yesterday, are we really going to do this again with this guy. >> that's what they were asking yesterday, and by the way, the sold out, that's sort of like trump family members books going to number one on the "new york times" best seller list. someone's out buying books for them. someone is buying nfts for him, they're doing it themselves. unless there are people who would pay $99 to get a screen shot of that hideousness. here's reaction from two of former president's closest allies. >> whoever advised him on that, i'd fire them need. >> these cards feature some o. really incredible -- >> okay. i got it. i got it. i can't watch it again.

make it stop. anybody at mar-a-lago, and i love the folks down there, but they ought to be fired today. >> so that is his major announcement, many thought it would be political. many thought it would be about maybe creating a new party. there was so much speculation on this. it's not that. it's a digital trading card. >> it's 99 bucks and, he said it would make a great christmas gift. >> there's a bunch of them. >> interesting timing for that. >> there you go. there's the announcement. >> and i think, yep, we've got the web site too. if you are interested in supporting this business venture of the former president. >> boy, "newsmax's" heart not in it, trying to sell those nft. steve bannon, you had sebastian gorka shaking his head, and michael flynn of course

condemning this. think how little he thinks of his voters, his supporters, i think i can trick them to send me 99 bucks. keep giving me your money. that is what he has been saying around january 6th, around the 2020 election, give me money so we can continue this fight. give me money. i'm not going to share it with republican candidates who might be able to win and bring us back into power, i'm going to keep the money. it's all he wants in the end. he's fleecing his own supporters here. >> i had said six years ago, after he won, that this was a branding experiment that went horribly wrong for donald trump. he never expected to win. he wanted to make money out of it. and, you know, had his hotel, he had foreign dignitaries come, stay at his hotel, hoping to make money off of that. since he's lost, michael steele, i've compared him i think quite

accurately to jim and tammy fay baker, and how they used to fleece my grand mom, and millions of americans for money, they would use their love of jesus christ against them to take their social security checks from them, and since donald trump lost, he raised well over $100 million for that. we find out the money didn't go for legal challenges there. for anything else. then of course the january 6th stuff, there's constantly, constantly a grift, he's raised, you know, he raised money to help candidates, and he didn't spend the money on the candidates, while mitch mcconnell was spending over $100 million on it. and he blames mitch. it is a grift.

i mean, one grift after another grift after another grift, and i don't know, again, gravity is returning. politically, gravity is returning legally. gravity is returning in so many ways. all of this ends up weighing him down, does it not? >> i think we'll see. we'll see. there's always been a carnival sort of mindset with trump. you know, everything is part of the grift. everything is part of how do i make money. everything is about me. this is just a farcical example of it. in terms of how this plays out for him politically and certainly, you know, with all of the other legal issues that are hanging over his head, i have always gotten the sense from trump that, yeah, kind of deal with that when it happens. you know, some of it can be annoying to him. but he's always got his eye centered on his audience, and how he continues to entertain

and draw them in. this is just another form of that. as you've already noted, you know, a million dollars since this thing has been launched. people just spent a million dollars for nothing. >> or not. >> and so the reality of it is for a lot of these folks, it's less about the thing itself and still about the man. the rnc, the republican leadership, the party itself still doesn't know how to deal with that. they sill sit in quiet corners, right, and talk about it under their breath. they're so exasperated. you have been done for, what, six years, at some point, you stop being done and actually say, you know what, that's it. we're not doing this. there is no pathway for you to get the nomination of this party. >> we're just not going to lose anymore. >> exactly. >> we're tired of losing. republicans need to get tired of losing and they need to

understand that since this guy stepped into the white house, they've done nothing but lose. under perform. give, i mean, cede the middle ground to the democratic party, which they should be beating every election. >> president biden followed up trump's trading card announcement with a little bit of trolling. he tweeted, i had some major announcements the last couple of weeks too and then listed accomplishments, the respect for marriage act, brittney griner's return home, gas prices and new high paying jobs in arizona. ouch. the list is a lot longer. the democrats have had a runway to get a lot done because of all of these distractions and republicans who don't have any options, willie. >> yeah, 99 bucks, that's what donald trump wants from you. no refunds, it says on the web site.

they're sold out for now. i have a feeling, joe, he's going to find more, and make them available like they do on the home shopping network. more on that later. let's talk about elon musk and twitter. the twitter accounts of several journalists who have been covering elon musk are suspended this morning. hours after the accounts went off line, musk claimed in a tweet the journalists had been involved in doxxing his location and placed his family in danger. musk later tweeted the suspensions would last for seven days. in other tweets he claimed the journalists posted his exact realtime location which he called assassination coordinates. in violation of twitter's terms of services. nbc news was unable to verify the allegation that the realtime location was posted online. it's the same justification he used on wednesday for suspending the account that used publicly available information to post the movements of musk's private jet. this goes against the promise musk made as a free speech

absolutist, which led to the reinstatement of hundreds of accounts associated with qanon and other far right groups. joe, these are accounts he claims doxxed him. the flight stuff is publicly available but he shut down the accounts for at least a week here. >> yeah, and these people weren't doxxing him. there were some people that had large followings on twitter who would write a negative column about him on mashable, and then they would get, you know, suspended. or would tweet something negative about him, and then get their account suspended. katty kay, you know, again, it's crazy, isn't it, that donald trump, elon musk both seem to be losing it at the same time, and oh, the bitter irony for those people who shamed themselves and said, oh, we're going to look through the twitter files, and we're going to find examples of

when content was suppressed, and they spent, you know, a weekend poring through these documents. there was one time when they didn't amplify this. oh, this is such a terrible first amendment -- of course it's not a first amendment violation, even suspending these accounts, it's not a first amendment violation, it's called free enterprise, they can do what they want with their company, but all of these people on the trump right, on the far right, that have been talking about how horrible twitter was and how it violated free speech, they come out and beat their chests in moral indignation right before the owner of twitter just unilaterally decides he's going to ban people who are saying things about him that may be critical. >> i don't know whether being told that you're the richest man in the world day in and day out

somehow warps your sense of your own invincibility, but the reality of his business decisions is coming back to bite elon musk. this is certainly hurting him tesla. he's not managing to make money. advertisers clearly don't like what they're seeing on the site. it has to be just a question of time before some other site operates in more grown-up responsible way, and takes over the twitter users. we will go there. i'm still on it. i find it a useful tool for finding -- it's the most efficient way to catch up on the headlines. as soon as there's another platform just as efficient, you'll have a mass migration a. platform where day after day, this is the parallel between elon musk and donald trump, they're super wealthy billionaire business people who are used to things being about them, and are used to people saying that they are wonderful and perfect and that everything they touch turned to gold until

it doesn't. until they realize the limitations of their abilities and expertise. and he's not a media platform owner. he's never done this. he's grinding twitter into the ground. >> and, you know, jonathan lemire, he's been told how brilliant he is for the past ten, fifteen years. we had renowned guests on here, and i would say, wait a second, elon shouldn't jump into twitter. does he not realize how difficult this is? are there no lawyers around him trying to get him to stop this? are there no -- and it was like, oh, elon does what elon wants to do. but doesn't he realize what a mess this is, and how it's going to distract? and again, these are supposed to be some of the most vaunted reporters in silicon valley. their answer to everything was,

oh, it's elon, elon can do whatever elon wants to do. he's great. we love elon. this is what the toughest silicon valley reporters were saying about elon musk? right, and so it's no wonder elon musk finds himself where he is right now because everybody has told him he was great, and by the way, by the way, when katty said being called the richest man in the world might actually impact your world view, day after day after day, alex said in my ear, i'm willing to take that experiment on. so if elon wants to give alex all of his money, we'll see how it goes. >> it would be a great story. >> he's been fed not just by sycophants inside his companies like telling him how great he is, he is fed by sycophants in mainstream media. >> yes. first of all, let's all be grateful that walter isaacson is

going to write a fantastic book about elon musk underway right now. he has achieved remarkable things with tesla and the space program. this is off the rails, and someone said recently, you can take almost any headline that has musks name in it and swap out musk for trump, the kays -- chaos. it certainly feels like we're in the dying days of the platform, unless something changes quickly. i use it too, it's a great way to catch up on the headlines. it feels corrupt and toxic. hate speech is dramatically risen in recent days. yesterday, steve herman, one of the reporters suspended from voice of america, all he did, was tweet the link to the publicly available web site where you can track planes. he doesn't write about musk but tweeting that link was enough to

get him suspended off twitter for at least a week. and as much as we all have to retreat to this platform as the town square, the public forum, it's not anymore. it's elon musk's, and he's going to do what he wants and it's bad for the rest of us. >> you know, i'm with katty. it's the most efficient way to get news, and i still love, i can go on anytime, five, ten minutes, can fly through there. get updated on what's going on. if it goes away tomorrow, it goes away tomorrow. i'll just find different ways to get news. that's the thing. if we have to walk away from it, we walk away from it. i hope it stays. i hope he can fix it, maybe sell it. life will go on without twitter. >> it's a great news feed. you follow reporters, news organizations, you follow politicians, and it's a way to have a streamlined news feed. it's such a mess.

it's hard to even get to the news that you're looking for. they're showing you applies from people you don't know. it's hard to wade through that. we'll keep asking smart people what he's up to here. why he's doing this. why this genius, thomas edison some people have said of our time. why is he doing this? thomas edison wasn't run into the incandescent lightbulb and running into the town square saying prosecute fauci. still ahead, a retiring republican congressman didn't hold back on his final speech on the house floor, adam kinzinger's scathing commentary on his own party. and thousands of documents on the jfk assassination now public. are we learning anything new? we'll dig into that just ahead. and nbc news medical contributor, dr. vin gupta gives us an inside look at the future

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all of the files should have been made public under a 1992 law. and with yesterday's release, about 90% of all documents related to the -- 98%, excuse me, related to the assassination have been made public. 3% remain redacted, according to the national archives. >> let's bring in senior national political report marc caputo. also with us, author and nbc presidential historian, michael beschloss. it seems they released the records we needed to see except the records we needed to see. for instance, the shadowy cia figure that ran the covert cuba operation who met oswald four months before the assassination. they decided not to release

those records. what gives? >> right. the guy's name is george joanities, and under the law, it created a warehouse, a jfk collection under the national archives. the document that is this nonprofit group that sued to get all of these records released, the mary farrel foundation found there are probably 44 records that never made it into the jfk collection, so as a result, when the biden administration is like woo hoo, we have released all of these record, look at all the transparency, the reality is that there are these records, lee harvey oswald somehow went

to mexico, made contact with the cuban and soviet embassies, and built up his name as a pro castro sympathizer. immediately after the shooting, the news media and public had access to lee harvey oswald being a communist and pro castro sympathizer, and after the shooting, there was a belief that, oh, my god, it's the communists who did it. it's the communists who are behind it. at the same time, there was an operation being launched and considered by the pentagon called operation northwoods, which was designed to stage a false flag terrorist attack in the united states to blame on castro, and you have lee harvey odds oswald. the other aspect whose identity came out as a result of this law. only in the 1990s did we find

out about this, he died in 1990. he was pulled to be a liaison in the house investigative committee. and the cia, and joe never told the house panel, the general counsel, the investigators, hey, by the way, i was involved in this program that made contact with lee harvey oswald four months before the shooting, and the cia to this day will not answer the question why he lied. why they lied. that is among the many questions they won't answer. >> yeah, it's insane. so, michael, we have been hyper critical of conspiracy theories on this show for years. i mocked and ridiculed truthers who claim that george w. bush, 9/11 was an inside deal. you know, this is all leading to a bite. let me say this, since i learned

this in dbt, and at the same time. and at the same time, there are so many questions that lingered over this. my parents who were never conspiracy theorists, they never bought the oswald lone wolf story. other people i have known, smart people have never bought that theory. oswald saying he's a patsy a couple of days later, he's gunned down by a bar owner, jack ruby. again, so much of it just didn't make sense: my question to you, michael, as a historian, first of all, can you shed some light on who killed jfk if he was a lone wolf, but more importantly than that, shouldn't they release every last document 59 years later, unredacted? >> they absolutely should, joe.

let's look at it this way, those alive at the time of the kennedy assassination, two weeks after dallas, the united states government just decided to release all sorts of stuff which they would not have released, what would it have shown? it would have given details of oswald's close contacts with our biggest enemy, the soviet union. same thing with castro's cuba. same thing with anti-castro cubans, and also we would have found out at the time if these things were released 59 years ago that oswald down to the day of the assassination was being tracked by the fbi in dallas, which was even trying to interrogate his wife. they knew that he was on the 6th floor of that book depository where the president was going to go by in the motorcade, which was preannounced. there were maps in the dallas newspapers. same thing with the cia, what if americans had learned in december of 1963 that oswald had close touch with cia contracts,

and also by the way the cia was trying to kill fidel castro. let's unwind all of this. let's assume you believe, if you do, that oswald fired the gun that killed john kennedy, which the physical evidence probably supports, although there are still many questions. the question is who was talking to him? well, he was talking with soviets. he was talking with cuban. he was talking with anti castro cubans, and plus the question that all americans would have asked then and should ask in 2022, if the fbi was tracking this guy, why didn't they tell the secret service get this guy out of the book depository. he was a soviet defector, he's a danger to the president. why didn't jay edgar hoover tell that to the secret service. why was this lone wolf talking about talking to all of these cia agents.

most people in dallas were not having meetings with cia agents. the question is why was it kept quiet, if people had found that out then, much less now because now it's a historical riddle. they would have said the fbi did not do its job. why should we allow the fbi to go on as it is. jay edgar hoover might have been prosecuted. they might have said cia contacts with oswald, november, october 1963, and earlier, you know, that period, they might have said did the cia kill john kennedy, would have unleashed all sorts of questions. if you're lyndon johnson in 1963, one of the worst secrets you want concealed, these are exactly what they were. >> mark, if in fact lee harvey oswald acted alone, as concluded almost 60 years ago, the question is why not release the documents to prover that point. why keep 4,300 at least partially redacted to allow the

conspiracy theories to continue to fester. what's in those documents, is there a chance at some point we'll see the rest of this stuff? >> i think eventually we will. it's bound to happen. you're asking the eternal question in this case, what are they hiding. i think michael answered it pretty well. in a light most favorable to the government they're hiding the fact that there were just all of these problems. the cia, the defense department, everything, these are organizations, organisms, they have their own culture, they grow, they reproduce, they protect their own. and it's just become part of the culture and it is the culture of the cia. it's a spy agency, to be secretive. what's interesting in the lawsuit is one of the things they asked for is the disclosure of a 1961 memo, two years before the shooting of john f. kennedy, saying, hey, let's disband the

cia. let's get rid of it. kennedy wanted to do that after the disastrous bay of pigs invasion. now, this really has nothing to do with the conspiracy to shoot jfk. this is two years before that happens. this is a historical memo, and the reason they asked for that to be disclosed as a trial balloon, a test, just to see, hey, is the government going to release this basic historical information. we found out yesterday the answer to that question. it's no. so the document is there, and there are these redactions which make no sense. the biden administration and the various federal agencies, included but not limited to the cia, we need to protect this information from the public because these are sources and methods, and we don't want to engage national security. everyone who spent time looking at this and various people involved say that that explanation is bunk. it's not true. it's false. >> right. >> you know, michael beschloss,

anybody that's studied this period and studied the kennedy presidency, studied bobby, ready as many books as i have on bobby know that hoover despised bob by kennedy. hoover despised jfk. we just heard marc caputo explain why the cia despised the kennedys, and here you have the cia hanging out with oswald right before the killing. you have the fbi knowing where he is, and not warning the secret service. the question is do the kennedys -- have the kennedy family, have they had their suspicions through the years? did bob by have his suspicions that it may have been hoover or the cia or an inside job that killed hids brother? >> as you know from your reading

and studying and talking to these people, bobby kennedy told a number of people that he did not accept the warren commission. the problem was he was worried investigating this would open the scab of assassination plots against fidel castro that might be traced back to him and his brother, and he felt especially since he might run for president in the fairly near future, that was not something he wanted to get enmeshed in. you're absolutely right. we have to ask these questions, and they are questions. jay edgar hoover hated john kennedy. i don't think me told the local bureau in dallas don't help the president, but they certainly knew that hoover hated kennedy, and there has to be some reason why the fbi and dallas did not do its job that day, and oswald was allowed to be in that building with the rifle sticking out of the 6th story window and

also why the fbi files were destroyed right after oswald died a couple of days later. and then the other thing you're saying about the cia. if americans in 1963 had been told the cia had people who were in contact with lee harvey oswald, how many people in the yits and united states and around the world would not have thought the cia must have plotted against president kennedy, and had qualms about the settlement of the cuban missile crisis. we have no way of knowing whether any of this is true, but we're going to have to keep asking the questions. >> nbc news senior international political reporter, marc caputo, thank you very much, and presidential historian, michael beschloss, thank you as well. >> and by the way, the questions can be answered when the government unredacts all the

documents that they were suppose to unredact by now. coming up as the coronavirus evolves, so must vaccines. we'll have an inside look at the development of a new nasal spray that could stop covid from spreading between people. that is if the government will fund it. "morning joe" will be right back. fund it. "morning joe" will be right back power e*trade's easy-to-use tools make complex trading less complicated custom scans help you find new trading opportunities while an earnings tool helps you plan your trades and stay on top of the market

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in an effort to curb rising covid-19 cases, the white house is making rapid covid tests available for free again this winter by mail. the administration says it also will make vaccinations and treatments nor access to believe those who need them. meanwhile, questions loom over funding for the next generation of covid vaccines. nbc news medical contributor, dr. vin gupta gives us a rare inside look at one lab developing a new way potentially to stop the spread of covid. >> dr. akiko is pioneering the

next generation of covid vaccines. >> everywhere in this country right now, the e.r. is jam packed with people with respiratory diseases. currently we are in dire need of vaccines that prevent infection and prevent transmission. >> at yale university, she is developing a nasal vaccine. >> it can be put into a nasal spray, and sprayed into the nose. >> unlike currently available mrna vaccines which are injected into a muscle, a nasal vaccine is sprayed directly into the nose, generating antibodies right where the virus enters the body. not only is it easier to use, it also has the possibly to stop the virus from spreading between people. the nation's top doctor, surgeon general vivek murthy acknowledging the need for new technology like this. >> it's important that we continue to invest to ensure that our vaccines are getting better, our treatments are getting better because the viruses continue to evolve.

>> developing a next gen vaccine isn't cheap, estimating on the magnitude of hundreds of millions of dollars. >> with the current amount of funding that's available to us, it will take probably a year or two at the earliest to be able to start testing our approach in humans. >> the biden administration is scrambling to get $10 billion of covid-19 funding from congress next year. it's included in the year end spending bill under contentious debate on capitol hill, debate that could lead to a government shut down. >> the bottom line is nasal vaccines are an important part of the strategy. but to invest in them to the degree that's required, you know, means that we need that funding from congress to come through. >> a decision is expected to come before the end of december, with little republican support that funding is far from guaranteed. for the time being, health experts urging lawmakers to act. >> all i can say is congress needs to do its job and step up and protect the american people. >> and dr. gupta joins us now.

dr. gupta, it's great to see you. this is a fascinating angle to the story that i don't think a lot of people think about. there was such investment for operation warp speed to rush to the miracle vaccines to save a lot of lives. not a lot of attention being paid down the road. what else needs to happen from the government, from the pharmaceutical companies? >> willie, good morning, and thank you for highlighting this. the big theme is as you point out, long-term thinking. if the government doesn't step in, willie, this is going to be in the purview of the private sector, and the whims of the private sector, and it's not clear we're going to get what we need. imagine, willie, especially with vaccines today that don't prevent against transmission, really the value proposition of a nasal vaccine. it could do that and keep you out of the hospital. it's really important that the funding isn't held up. >> thank you for highlighting it, dr. gupta. you know, as we turn the corner

here toward winter, officially toward winter into the holidays, obviously there are lots of concerns among all age groups, especially among children about the confluence of covid-19, of rsv, of influenza. what does the picture look like to you as someone who works firsthand on all of this? >> you know, willie, i'm worried about middle of january. that's when we expect a rising, hopefully a peak. that's when we're expecting a peak. that's when covid is supposed to start beginning to spike up as well. that's what i'm worried about. from an adult icu standpoint, mid january into mid february is when we expect cases to rise for kids, parents out there. if your kid has not gotten the flu vaccine, critical to get the flu vaccine for your kiddo, one of the benefits out of the united kingdom, 15 kids have died from invasive strep

infection. it diminishes your defenses against strep a, that's all around us so really important to bolster the defenses when you can. parents out there, make sure your kids get the flu vaccine. tons of threats out there to our health. your child's health. you can guard against them. >> dr. gupta, i'm curious, pulling out 20,000 feet in terms of how the fight against covid is going, and is there still an issue with people who are not vaccinated helping promulgate the spread because they get it easier than those who are vaccinated? >> mika, to an extent, and we're expecting health systems in zip codes that don't have community protection because of vaccination are going to be hard hit this winter. those are the ones we have to watch out and look out for.

to your point, even if you're vaccinated, you're still at risk of testing pods. we know those 75 and older, the booster uptake rate is low, and they are very much at risk here. very critical for all of your viewers out there, especially if you're medically higher risk, to have a plan. if you're decided you're not going to get the vaccine. at least have a plan with your medical provider so you can get early treatment if you end up feeling unwell and testing positive, especially for something like covid or flu where there's treatment. have a plan, for providers out there, standing prescriptions. i have been talking a lot about it, provide medications in a standing way so your patients have them if they need them. >> dr. vin gupta, so great to have you on, hope you have a good holiday. thank you so much. the supposed leader of the republican later wants you to buy fake picture of him for $99 apiece, and these are the

pictures. i mean, you could just take a screen shot if you really wanted one. in a move that even his most fanatical supporters are criticizing. "morning joe" will be right back. criticizing. "morning joe" will be right back ♪ my name is austin james. as a musician living with diabetes, fingersticks can be a real challenge. that's why i use the freestyle libre 2 system. with a painless, one-second scan, i know my glucose numbers without fingersticks. now, i'm managing my diabetes better, and i've lowered my a1c from 8.2 to 6.7. take the mystery out of managing your diabetes

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what your case could be worth. we will help get you the best result possible. ♪ call one eight hundred, eight million ♪ hello, everyone, this is donald trump. >> hi, billy mayes from mighty putty. >> i'm doing my first donald j. trump nft collection. >> anything fast, and make it last. >> my trading cards are $99 which doesn't sound like much from what you're getting. >> we'll give you a second set absolutely free. 8 shamwows for 19.95. >> christmas is coming and this makes a great christmas gift. >> it's going on now at a super store near you. >> each card comes with an automatic chance to win amazing prizes like dinner with me. >> remember, the more you buy,

the more you could save issue so think big, buy a million coopers and save $2 billion. >> these cards feature some of the really incredible art work pertain to go my life and career. it's been very exciting. >> we're going to have a chance to talk about homemedics, the foot massager, infrared heat. >> all you need is an e-mail address. go to collecttrumpcards.com and buy your trump digital trading cards right now before they are all gone. >> he was president of the united states just two years ago, and is currently running again. welcome back to "morning joe." >> here's the thing, you stack all of those people up and with crazy eddie, you actually got something with crazy eddie. he was crazy. >> but you got a vcr. >> with your shamwow, guess

what, you got a shamwow. >> what's a shamwow. >> i drove an isuzu. i absolutely loved it. with these things you get nothing. you get a digital picture of something. >> take a screen shot off of what we're showing you. >> it's not even fair comparing those other pitch people to donald trump. >> the one guy has got the tape and the sealant so strong if you plug a hole in a boat it, you can still float. it's sea worthy. that's how good it is. i mean, the master of the infomercial, he could teach donald trump a few things. he knew how to sell an item. a slow cooker, whatever it may be. look at this. this is just bad photo shop. $99 for bad photo shop. >> yeah. >> it's like, i just can't help but keep coming back to this, how little donald trump thinks of his supporters. yeah, let's throw this out

there. a bunch of people are going to buy it. trust me, they'll do it. 99 bucks a pop. not physical, something they e-mail to you. he wants their money. he's going to keep as long as he's alive probably to pull money out of the people who stand with him, however he can. and he thinks so little of them that he thinks for $99 they will want a bad photo shop of him in a space suit. it's wild. >> looking like a lizard man. first of all, they're not sold out. i mean, they're saying their sold out. they're doing that probably to -- >> oh, my god, it's not sold out. >> if it is. they bought them. we have pulitzer prize winning columnist at "the washington post," eugene robinson, and former u.s. senator, now an nbc news and msnbc political analyst, claire mccaskill. let's show you a little more of this. one day after teasing a quote major announcement, donald trump made headlines yesterday with

his big news, though maybe not in the way he wanted. >> hello, everyone, this is donald trump, hopefully your favorite president of all time, better than lincoln, better than washington. with an important announcement to make. i'm doing my first official donald j. trump nft collection right here and right now. they're called trump digital trading cards. >> oh, yes, for the small price of $99, you can get your hand on one of these digital cards that depicts trump's so called life and career as an astronaut, a nascar driver, a cowboy, a fighter pilot, or even an elephant tamer. >> but wait. >> there's more. >> anyone who buys 45 cards are going to get a ticket to a gala dinner with the president himself. just under $4,500, and that

includes any and all travel expenses which you will need to pay for yourself. i do wonder gene robinson, are we coming to the bitter end? >> when our reaction is on the same page as steve bannon. >> and michael flynn saying this is embarrassing and humiliating. recoming to the end of this horrible chapter in american politics. >> when steve bannon says make it stop, you know, that's something. but wait, there's more. i'm not sure we're at the end. this is who donald trump was. remember his steaks he used to sell. this is who he is. it is unclear to me that this represents the final jumping of the shark for donald trump.

but we will see. it is so bizarre. it is so weird because the photo shopping is so bad. it's just ridiculous. it's ridiculous. and $99, you know, i agree, they're obviously not sold out. either they're saying that or they've bought them to try to create an artificial shortage and this and that. however, there are some people out there who are undoubtedly buying these things, and it makes everybody talk about him. he likes that. and maybe he needs the money. i don't know. >> claire mccaskill, your thoughts as the grift continues. >> my question is if you win the sweepstakes and pay your own money and go to mar-a-lago, do you get a tour of the classified documents?

will they let you come and -- >> yeah, listen, none of this is surprising. and willie has said repeatedly this morning, i couldn't agree with him morning how sad this is for his supporters that he has so little respect for them. but let's not forget who we need to include in that group of supporters, lindsey graham, ted cruz, united states senators, members of congress who have stood by and enabled this man to grift off the american people for year after year after year, making an embarrassment of the norms that we held close to us in this country. so it's insulting to them and the fact that they have been beaten down, and they are not openly laughing at him at this point is a huge part of the problem. >> michael steele, the "new york post" went so far as to write an editorial this morning, the headline is don't give any money to con artist trump, and it's a deadly serious piece from the "new york post" saying people

stop falling for this. fool me once, shame on you, fool me 1,400 times, shame on all of us. it's a serious point. he has taken money around stop the steal. said we had the election stolen from us, send me $100 million, which went who knows where, give me money to fight the legal cases, the deep state is after me. the department of justice has been weaponized against me, send me your money. now he wants 99 bucks for bad photo shop jobs. there will be people who buy it. there are people who buy the t-shirts and flags for their trucks that have him photo shopped on to rambo's body. i don't think a whole lot of people are going to fall for this? >> i think a whole lot of people will fall for this, number one. and they just will.

i think we need to diffuse ourselves of the notion that there's something more noble that's going to prevent them from doing so. number one. number two, where was the "new york post" during all the things you cited, the grifting moments, the emoluments clause was stepped on. when there was no wall between his business and finance and fundraising for himself personally and the president of the united states. where was the "new york post" in their condemnation. let's get off this crazy ride. don't play anymore, we don't want to play anymore. you helped create this. you fueled it. you gave it energy and life for four years. so don't come crying now about this wholly ungodly mess sitting in front of you and act like you had nothing to do with it. fox news, "new york post," steve bannon, michael flynn.

so, you know, everybody's like, oh, well michael flynn and steve bannon, well, who cares. they created this. they're as much responsible for this moment as trump is. so, you know, yeah, people are suckers. and they are going to continue to play suckers as long as there are suckers out there. and don't come back and act like all of a sudden we're high and mighty and noble about the crap that everyone has put in front of the american people, and we're supposed to look at them and go, yeah, i agree with steve bannon. no, clean it up. clean it up. >> that's just me. >> michael steele. >> i like it. i think that's a great point. >> we thank you for your insight. and mika appreciates it. >> i do. >> just one public service announcement for "morning joe," jonathan lemire, as you know,

the "new york post," the official newspaper, the paper of record, for "morning joe." go ahead, what do you got? >> it's our first read here on set every morning. i say that as a daily news alum, "new york post" certainly is made for this particular moment. i'm sitting here trying to decide which nft to get for which of my boys as a stocking stuffer. becca gets an astronaut, and flynn gets a cowboy. but cat katty kay, despite the jokes that can come with this and lo there are many. this is reminiscent of grifts he has done before. we're reminded of the stop the steal movement, he raised money from his supporters on the back of a lie, a lie that the election was stolen and that a lie now being investigated by several jurisdictions and though there's nothing criminal about these nfts except in their

appearance, this is another moment, though, where trump is playing his supporters for suckers. will they ever stop giving in? >> yeah, it reminds me. do you remember the time in the 2016 campaign where he did a press conference at mar-a-lago, he had behind him bottles of trump water and magazines, and slabs of steak and stuff, and he was sort of, you know, i can't quite remember why he did this. i think it was when he was being accused of selling university plates at a university that didn't exist. he wanted to prove he sold stuff, and his supporters right from the beginning loved the fact that he was a successful businessman, and him selling stuff is a sign of a successful businessman. this nft thing looks cheap and fake, not like the trump jet that looks rich and successful. this does not look particularly rich and successful. and of course, then there is the issue you're raising that when he takes money from supporters and claims it's going to something for a legal fund, for

example, to litigate the 2020 election, and then that fund never spends that money. where is that money going. is he taking money from his supporters to boost his own political campaign future, we don't know. i don't know where that money went. we know that there was millions of dollars raised. i mean, right after the 2020 election, the e-mails were already going out to trump voters to say help donald trump send money every time there's some kind of issue like that, he manages to raise money from some people. all i can point to is that store i went to that sold out of those rambo trump figures. i'm surprised you don't have one. cheapskate, you're spending $99, you could have spent a hundred dollars on a real cutout. people buy this stuff, and they keep giving donald trump money. >> yep, the guy who's pretty much destroyed the republican party and speaking of, republican congressman, adam

kinzinger gave his farewell speech on the house floor yesterday. he reflected on his time serving his country in the military and on the current state of his party. >> we must not abandon our values or our beliefs in the u.s. constitution. we all swore an oath in this very chamber to support and defend the constitution of the united states, not a political party and not a single man. where republicans once believed that limited government meant lower taxes and more autonomy, today limited government means inciting violence against government officials. following the tragic oklahoma city bombing, former president george h.w. bush publicly refuted those who used fear to gain support. in stark contrast our leaders today belittle in some cases justify attacks on the u.s.

capitol as quote legitimate political discourse. the once great party of lincoln, roosevelt and reagan has turned its back on the ideals of liberty and self-gofer in accordanc -- self governance. the party used to believe in the big ten, welcomed the tired, the poor, the huddled masses yearning to be free. our constituents voted us in based on our beliefs, but we cannot use our faith as a sword and a shield while ignoring the fact that we are all children of god, that we are all americans. >> wow. >> sad. in many ways. must have been really bittersweet for him. what do you remember about your farewell speech in congress? >> it's interesting, he talked

about limited government. my farewell speech, we had just balanced the budget lee years in a row, and so i had said, we have changed the debate in washington forever. we're going to move away from deficit spending. we're going to move towards balanced budgets. we balanced it four years in a row, that was in 2001. republicans took over everything and deficits exploded the next several years. claire mccaskill, i was talking about a republican party i thought existed that went away as far as spending goes and balanced budgets and small government. there adam is talking about, hey, we used to be the party of limited government. and also for those on the left that may go, wait a second, the republican party has never been inclusive. it's important to remember ronald reagan's farewell speech was on letting immigrants into the country, and he said the second we chose our door to

immigration, we become an older, tireder, less dynamic country, and we cease to be great as a country. so you don't have to go back to lincoln to see where donald trump has taken this party, and understand how far they have moved away from over 150 years of what the republican party claimed to stand for. >> you know, it's really interesting, joe, because even if donald trump goes away, the republican party still has a major identity crisis. this was a party that most people in america knew what it stood for. it stood for lower taxes, smaller government, free trade, a hawkish foreign policy. now all of that is gone. now it's just about grievance. it's just about grievance, and culture wars. and so what we're going to witness over the next two years is going to be a sight to see, regardless of whether trump is

on the scene or not. you're going to see kevin mccarthy struggling to appease the people in the republican party that want to hold on to the grievance and the hate and the bigotry and all of the things that adam kinzinger talked about in his speech yesterday. look at yesterday, they had to keep the government open for one more week. and there were only nine republicans that voted to keep the government open for one more week. while in the senate, that was nine in the house. in the senate, there were many republicans that were doing the responsible thing. so you're going to have a war of two worlds. there are going to be more grownups in the senate trying to get back to a republican party based on policy, but it is going to be crazy in the house, and that is going to be really wind beneath the wings of the democratic party in 2024 because it's going to be a mess. it's going to be grievances investigations, and no policy. >> that is a problem.

gene, the senate republicans are going to find themselves in the same position over the next two years that they found themselves in during the election. republicans were winning these gerrymandered house seats and losing statewide in pennsylvania. they were losing statewide in arizona. they were losing statewide in georgia. they were losing state wide in swing states. and multiply those problems for republicans 100 fold. because every day there's going to be a crazy statement from the republican party. people aren't going to say what we say on this show, there are three parties, the democratic party, the house republican party, and there's the senate republican party, and i understand a lot of people disagree with a lot that republicans do in the senate, but that's the more traditional republican party, but all republicans are going to get smeared and held responsible for

the things that marjorie taylor greene says or the things that other whackos says for the glorification of vladimir putin. the attacking of zelenskyy. you know, violent imagery that we have seen time and time again from these house republicans. it's a nightmare for republican candidates over the next couple of years. >> it will be. i predict it will be a nightmare for them in 2024 when the map ought to favor republicans. democrats have very difficult seats to defend in montana, in west virginia, in ohio, but, it's a lot easier to defend those seats when, a, you have an incumbent, and b, the spokesperson for the other party is marjorie taylor greene or lauren boebert or donald trump, and it's all this crazy stuff. it's very very difficult to win

statewide with the positions that the republican party is taking today. it's an interesting thing. you were talking about how the party has changed, how it's philosophy, if you could call it what it has now philosophy has changed, and you know, i think what happened and certainly was a major factor in this, is that the party found a constituency. it's a minority constituency, but a constituency that believes in the crazy stuff it's doing now. that believes it's totally anti-immigration, that doesn't care about spending, particularly. isolation in foreign policy that is against the sort of demographic and social and cultural change that has taken place in this country. and has -- and so that's the new constituency of the republican party. if you play to those people

again and again and again, you're going to lose statewide races because you play to them in a way that it alienates everybody else. but that's what happened in 2022, and i think it's what's going to happen in 2024. should we move on to the world cup. >> why don't we. we've got roger bennett standing by. france is going to defend the world cup title against argentina on sunday. the highly anticipated match is going to feature two of the best players in the game. and bob fay, he is so good. to add his 2019 world cup title with france, and the great lionel messi in what will likely be his last opportunity to capture one title that has alluded him in a 30-year world cup drought for argentina. let's bring in nbc sports soccer analyst, and cohost of "men in blazers." >> he has little sheep on his

sweater. >> is that his princess diana sweater? i don't know. roger, before we start, news this morning that fifa is not going to allow president zelenskyy to offer a plea for peace, which, again, is just, i think wonderful exclamation point on just how horrid this organization is that continues to hold hostage the beautiful game. joe, fifa is the piers morgan, on the game we love on the field, and we're going to talk about is run by an operation -- >> a random swipe. a random swipe to piers morgan. you must not be an arsenal fan.

>> it has a black heart, and you have to remember the last world cup was in russia with vladimir putin. vladimir putin gave the guy that runs fifa, scourge to all balls, he gave him the medal of russian premium. it tells you all you need to know about where fifa stands. >> let's talk really quickly about a couple of things here before we get into the big game. first of all, i saw you speak in san francisco so movingly about grant wahl. if you could just share your thoughts with our friends and family members watching in the "morning joe" community. >> grant wahl was a journalist in the united states. never seemed to be a market for this sport in this nation. and grant at sports illustrated when sports illustrated was

truly sports illustrated became the first full-time football journalist. in late '90s, early 2000s and was a path finder, showed so many young individuals who followed his journey, there was a possibility to devote yourself to the sport and the nation. there's hundreds of individuals covering the sport now. grant helped many people follow in his path. his loss will be written into the fabric of world cup 2022 and a reminder to savor every single second, and everybody get their heart checks, see a cardiologist, it is a terrible terrible thing for every journalist in the sport. no doubt about it. now let's talk about the final match. france and argentina. i ask katty kay whether she was

going for france or argentina, and i guess it was a stupid question. what brit is cheering on france. still, nothing compared to france. this is going to be an amazing match up, isn't it, roger? >> it is indeed, and i'm sure for katty, it's like grounds keeper willie in the simpsons, sees the french eat the monkeys, this is a world cup that has twisted and turned every stat, and delivered one of the most predictable, heavy weight, narrowly stuffed finals. argentina, france, think about it as petit know versus de niro in the restaurant scene. you have the argentinians a team desperate to deliver glory, a fifth world cup. he's never won, undoubtedly the goat of the modern period. the fact that he has never won

the world cup is the one rod used to beat miz back. inflation is about to hit 100% on the year. this is a win the whole argentina nation craves. playing against france, trying to go back-to-back in a world cup, which is incredibly hard it's only played every four years since brazil. you have the subplot of lionel messi against mbape, seeing michael jordan breakthrough. so potent, unstoppable. in a world cup played in qatar, both play for paris, you have club super star playing club super star. serving up a final for the ages. >> the joyful e wok, you got to

love that description of messi. the two best players in the world, two best teams. i think there were so many casual fans here in the united states during this world cup who have been drawn in because the american team made it to the knockout round. we were captured by the moroccan team being the first african team to make a semifinal. what should we be watching for? who will have the edge? what are we going to see out there? >> morocco will play on saturday. who announced themselves, gathering exiles from france, the netherlands, creating a mighty collective fist, wonderful, a 200-1 play croatia final for the last time, the semifinal. both teams are path finders and

what small teams can do. on sunday, you have argentina, messi on a mission of god to deliver glory for his country men. the last truly g.o.a.t. argentinian, they say is looking down from heaven as he plays. he wants to go out as a winner on the field, but france overcomes so many obstacles to get back in the finals. they had a glut of injuries. they also had to overcome their innate frenchness, they self-sabotage when the world is looking at them. they try a lowly opponent, sirens on to the rock, and they spring forward to mbape who is a young 23-year-old position to announce himself s the greatest of his generation. for france to go back-to-back is an incredible feat. this tournament is four years apart, and humanly,

organizational consultants watching this show will know football is towards the arrogant, egotistical, for the squad to maintain their focus, form, intensity, and stiff arm is miraculous. i say that as an american now. you know how hard it is for me to praise the french. as steve kornacki would say, this world cup final is too close to call. >> roger, apparently there's a lot of cold bugs and flu in the french team. i feel really sorry for them. that's a terrible blow. i hope they all get better by the middle of next week. that would be great for the team. but, you know, france, argentina, it's sort of as you say, predictable, and yet it doesn't really tell the story of this world cup, does it? all of the twists and turns in the narrative, this is why we love the world cup, every single time, it delivers us these

surprising plot twists, for you looking back over the last month, what surprised you if you had to remember the world cup for one thing, what would it be roger? >> this world cup was a surreal world cup taking place in qatar, a place with no footballing tradition. human rights abuses, the death of 6 1/2 thousand foreign workers to even create the stage. the qatar team lost all three games heavily. they had to import and pay lebanese fans to support them so they didn't look like nobody cared in their home nation. there's been wonderful moments watching the moroccan team charm the world, and through faces and identities, it's been moving the the first female officialing crew to officiate a men's game in a world cup final was a truly moving thing. the young american team taking the team and believing that they could show the world they

belonged. their movement was off the field when the iranian media tried to humiliate them, and tyler adams dealt with it with poise that u.s. politicians don't show. how qatar will be remembered as a host will go down in history. it's too early to call that. the women's world cup is coming next summer. it's going to be a thing of magic, and 2026, the united states, canada and mexico, but the united states is going to host the world cup on our turf, and we have always joked on our show that soccer is america's sport of the future as it has been since 1972. i do believe we're just 1,230 delays away for the kickoff of that world cup. who's counting, but i believe that's what i'm looking forward to, the moment the sport goes over the top in this nation.

>> it's coming. that day is coming. it's coming home. now we can start saying that. i can't really say, though, roger for the first time when i watched the u.s. team, i wasn't watching a team that i was like, oh, kind of thinking, they don't belong here. this was the first time i watched them, i said, wait a second, something's different this year. they believe on the field with the best teams in the world. they're still a ways to go. they still need to figure out how to finish it off, but they believe finally. we advanced leaps and bounds over the past few years. >> the sport has grown so much on the men's side. you have a young glut of baby eagles. they mentally believe they're going to win when they take the field against portugals, spains, please god in our lifetime, we can say soccer is coming home.

>> they are in the beautiful game. roger bennett, thank you so much. and still ahead on "morning joe" we'll have the latest -- thank you thank you" on the war in eastern europe after a new round of russian strikes in ukraine overnight. plus, minority leader kevin mccarthy has suggested u.s. funding for ukraine's fight will be cut when his party takes control of the house in the new congress. our next guest might be more willing to work across the political aisle on that. remember member of the armed services committee, congressman mike waltz will join the conversation. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. before we begin, i'd like to thank our sponsor, liberty mutual. they customize your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. and by switching, you could even save $652. thank you, liberty mutual. now, contestants ready? go!

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welcome back to "morning joe." 39 past the hour. a beautiful shot of a sunny washington, d.c. morning on this friday morning.

and on top of that, there's a real chance for a fresh burst of bipartisanship on capitol hill. and it revolves around two newly reelected democratic congresswomen, that's according to a new opinion piece in the washington examiner. marc polymeropoulos writes, abigail spanberger of virginia and alyssa slot kin have emerged as key democratic voices as republicans take control in january. arguing that the two know how to speak republican and will be able to work with the incoming republican chairs of the house intelligence and foreign affairs committees on national security issues including ukraine. writing quote they have strongly supported u.s. assistance to kyiv and understand the clear threat from russia. this will be important in the next congress as more fringe

elements of the gop have vocally opposed further u.s. aid to ukraine. it remains uncertain how resolute the gop house leadership will be in fending off such sentiments. centrist democrats must resist call for a russian concessionary stance in future negotiations. spanberger and slotkin should also work well with mike gallagher and mike waltz, both veterans, who believe that ukraine needs strong u.s. assistance. >> let's bring in the author of that piece, former cia officer, marc polymeropoulos, who i think may have worked with one or two of those people in the past life, and also he's our nbc news security and intelligence analyst. also republican congressman, mike waltz of florida who you heard mentioned in this piece. a colonel in the national guard, and combat decorated green beret. congressman, i didn't know you were the first green beret ever

elected to congress. that's pretty cool. so let me just say right off the top. thank you so much for your service to america. we greatly appreciate it. so you heard what we were talking about with marc's piece. i worked on the armed services committee, and i always found that men and women who serve in the united states military and have been out there really knew how to work together across party lines to keep america strong. do you think we have a good chance of holding the line against putin, a good chance of supporting ukraine over the next couple of years? >> thanks, joe, and i think the premise you were talking about of people who have served

abroad, if we were willing to die for the flag, we can roll up our sleeves, make the tough votes, make the compromises necessary. it's not that we agree on every issue. of course we don't. it's the ethos of mission accomplishment, and in the fox hole, no one cares necessarily about race, religion, socioeconomic background. it's about moving the country forward, getting the job done: i hope to work with the two women mentioned, the two representatives mentioned and a number of others, not just on ukraine but also on afghanistan and getting to the bottom of that withdrawal debacle and having some accountability and some answers there for the gold star families. we should have a china select committee focused on what multiple administrations now have said is our greatest threat. and we will, you know, look, whistleblower going to have disagreements on both sides of the aisle. we've had 30 progressives sign on to a letter also mentioned in marc's article demanding that

the administration drive zelenskyy to negotiations now. which would be a concessionary approach, and of course i don't agree that we can just do nothing else in ukraine. but we do have to have oversight and we should be demanding that the europeans do more. germany in particular has only delivered a fraction of the military aid that it's promised despite an obvious direct national interest coming from europe. >> of course, congressman, president zelenskyy would agree with you there. he has been less than pleased with the germans following through on many of their promises. marc, i'm sure you would agree with the congressman on just about everything that he said. and i'm wondering if you believe from what you're hearing, do you think we're going to continue

standing shoulder to shoulder with ukraine over the next few years or do you think those that are arguing that we should have more of a concessionary approach to putin, on the left, and on the -- i don't want to even call them the right. i don't know what they are now. we'll just say the isolationist wing of the republican party. do you think the center will hold here, and continue to support the freedom fighters in ukraine? >> joe, i do think the center will hold. i'm generally an optimist on everything but our beloved boston red sox. i'm an optimist here. two things are in play, one is a sense of resiliency, the notion that national security professionals understand that we're going to have to be in this for the long haul. the other point is urgency, in a sense, representative waltz has talked about this, too we have to actually help ukraine win.

and i think there's consensus among this group, waltz, slotkin, spanberger, that perhaps the administration should do even more. i'm an optimist on this. i think people understand the stakes, and you know, at the end of the day, there's two things that, you know, those of us who follow foreign policy worry about. one is pushing back russian aggression in ukraine, and number two is the rise in china. i think there's a lot to be said for members on both sides of the ail who do agree on this. >> congressman, good morning, jonathan lemire, and marc teased exactly where i wanted to go with you, certainly for the most part, bipartisan support on the war in russia, and another area where there is agreement on both sides of the aisle is that rise of china and how the u.s. perhaps slipping behind in many ways, worried about the threat there. so talk to us about what you see from beijing, but more so how republicans and democrats can work together on it. >> i want to be clear here.

no issue with the amazing, wonderful chinese people and culture. it's the dictatorial human rights abusing freedom stamping regime that is currently led by president xi who if you look at his speeches to the 20th party congress is openly talking about replacing the united states as a global super power, becoming the global super power in the next few years. replacing the american dream with the china dream. that's not a world that i want our kids and grand kids growing up in, and to do that, their navy is larger than ours. their space force is launching more in space than us and the rest of the world combined. they have an increasingly serious alliance with russia. we've seen that millions now of uyghurs are in concentration camps as we speak. not to mention stamping out freedom in hong kong. militarizing the south china sea to control trade into asia, and

shipping. and of course threatening taiwan. so, i mean, all of those issues are things, i think both republicans and democrats need to continue to talk to the american people about the seriousness of it. we need to get our military ready, but domestically here at home, we have to bring our supply changes out of our greatest adversary. we cannot continue to responsibly move forward when china produces 90% of our pharmaceuticals. 90% of our solar panels, which they build, by the way, with coal fired power plants, the global lithium supply, and on and on. as a policy to create dependency on them so they can choke the supply chains off if we dare disagree with them. and on top, and, you know,s the final thing is they're stealing their way to the top with stealing technology out of

researchers, university, and business, either cyber or buying them. this is a whole of society, whole of government competition that we need to wake up to, and it's far more serious than what we faced with the soviet union, germany, japan or any other adversary in modern american history. >> representative waltz, michael steele here, i really appreciate your voice in this space on the opportunity to create these bridges in national affairs, and foreign affairs with the democrats. i want to ask you if you see a lane also to create that sort of bipartisan spirit on domestic issues like the economy and health care and some of the things the immigration, for example, that republicans like yourself, myself and others have tried to get clarity on, and show those bright line distinctions between us and

democrats, do you see an opportunity to sort of translate the work you're doing in the foreign policy space, working with representative slotkin and others, for example, domestically as well, irrespective of a lot of the noise we may here. i think the country wants to see us move forward domestically as well as internationally? >> yeah, sure, you know, for example, i've worked with democrats on investing in s.t.e.m. education. i mean, we have a huge work force issue where we're going to be a million jobs short over the next ten you have a 10% participation from minorities and 25% women that are participating in the s.t.e.m. fields we need to understand why and incentivize greater participation. we are not creating the workforce of the future from the university system and something we worked on investments but democrats worked with me

protecting those investments into things like artificial intelligence, microcomputing, quantum computing so that the adversaries can't steal it and use it for their military means and then representative slotkin signed on to border issues saying this shouldn't be an either/or proposition. we can secure our borders, stop the humanitarian crisis where 30 to 40% of girls are sold into trafficking but then move to some type of immigration reform. i do think that there are things. you know a lot of work gets done behind the scones but unfortunately it is the drama highlighted all too often by media because that's clicks and views and it is the same premise

why people slow down to see a car wreck unfortunately. there is work that will get done for this country particularly in the national security space. that is about being american and defending at the end of the day the freedoms that we all hold dear with freedom of assembly, the press, religion and whenever you served abroad in places like i have you appreciate churchill's statement that american democracy may be one of the worst systems in the world except all the others. i appreciate this great nation. >> amen. mike waltz, thank you. former cia officer mark polymeropolous, thank you. in the past week alone the administration has announced

investments of $600 million toward projects to bring energy to farms across the country. joining us is u.s. secretary of agriculture tom vilsack. thank you very much for being on the show this morning. if we could start with the state of america's farmers, i don't think a lot of viewers take into consideration the extreme weather and how it crushed the farming industry from the mega hurricanes and the drought. >> the great thing about american farmers is their resilience. they are tremendously productive despite the droughts and the climate change challenges. because of technology and innovation and productivity we feed ourselves and the rest of

the world epa a reason why we are enjoying a record farm income in farm country. the challenge is that it's not necessarily farm income record for all farmers and a challenge to make it profitable and not just productive. that's why i'm so excited about the opportunities that we have in agriculture with the climate change and climate smart agriculture commodities. a tremendous opportunity to put tens of millions of acres into sustainable practices. >> ultimately having technology and farming coincide with the fight against climate change? >> absolutely. we have basically now have 141 projects in which we are investing resources with farmers across america. it is an opportunity in climate

smart commodity production and it is not only sustainable, better for the environment but profitable for farmers. the announcements are focused on small farmers to participate. so it's a unifying effort among american agriculture and a transformational moment for american agriculture which gets us excited at the department of agriculture. >> any connection with food prices? will they be coming down any time soon? there's obviously the inflation and also the war in ukraine impacting both. >> the good news is that the rate of inflation, food inflation is coming down but taking a look at the numbers inside what you find is baked goods are driving that inflation. why? because russia unprovoked war in ukraine roiled the markets. we deal with avian influenza.

it's coming down and we expect that's going to continue. why? because american farmers are productive and we have an efficient system and building a more resilient system. we look at a way to produce regional and local food systems. there's a necessity of having a stronger system and complimenting the able for revenue streams and the rural job opportunities. it's an exciting time. >> u.s. secretary of agriculture tom vilsack, thank you very much for coming on the show this morning. coming up, nbc' keir simmons brings us the latest bombshells from the netflix docuseries "harry and meghan." "morning joe" will be right back.

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. donald trump announced yesterday he'd be making a major announcement today which got esch going. what is he doing? suing the statue of liberty? who knows? there's a lot of speculations online. some thought maybe he was returning to twitter or releasing the files on jfk, choosing a running mate, running for speaker of the house. none of those things. trump's major announcement was this. >> hello, everyone. this is donald trump. hopefully your favorite president of the all time. better than lincoln and washington. i'm doing a donald trump nft collection. trump digital trading card. >> trading cards! not even real trading card. digital trading cards which is another way of saying nothing. now he is selling you nothing.

>> welcome to "morning joe." >> nothing. >> nothing! >> welcome back to "morning joe." friday, december 16th. i just got a question for you, joe. >> yes? wait. can we keep the replacements come up? >> okay. but my question to you is, these things that he is selling? >> yeah. >> well -- can't you just take a screen shot? what? >> the replacements. talking to them at home -- >> i keep the sound up. >> can't you take a screen shot right off the tv and the show here and then you have the damn nft if you want one. >> does seem open to fraud. there's so much. i don't know what to say anymore. we have been talking about it this morning.

>> i don't either. >> the presentation if you watch is a terrible late-night infomercial. it is just -- he was president of the united states. he wants to be president of the united states again. begging the supporters to send him $99 a pop for -- >> does he? look at that! does that guy really want to be president of the united states again? >> that's the question. >> i think he does because of the legal potentials. maybe if something escalates and he gets arrested. >> okay. let's stay on that one. he looks like lizard guy there. i don't know -- >> so creepy. >> i just don't know -- >> i am so creeped. >> who did his photo shopping. all right? >> my nightmares. >> i got a 11-year-old friend's

son who does photo shopping and the 11-year-old can do a far better job than that. as we look at the picture of the lizard fighter pilot, do you know a british politicians current or in the past that have tried to sell trading cards that are not really cards running for prime minister? >> screen shots. >> look at the way the tie is blowing in the wind. >> yes. >> that's also kind of odd on that one. we have been i have to say through our fair share of political turmoil as you know and boris johnson had some flamboyants. tony blair criticized for getting money for speeches but no.

no one has ever done anything that comes close to this. it's sort of fantastic tackiness of it. maybe he doesn't want to run again. it is that one. that's the one. >> come on. >> sort of a -- glasses. all out of proportion. isn't that a disqualifier? >> doesn't look like glasses. >> maybe what you need now. >> jonathan lemire, this is like even mar-a-lago culture on the skids. this is as bad as it gets. again, i seriously question whether this guy wants to run for president ever again. maybe he understands -- this is the shot seriously. >> yeah. i'm partial to that one. >> i am, too.

so of course t.j. moves on. does this guy really want to run for president? i don't think this guy wants to run for president. he didn't want to win the first time. and this is -- this is -- >> but what are you getting? >> there it is. there it is. >> what do you mean? >> what are you getting? $99. >> let's answer the question. does this guy understand his time has passed? he is just squeezing the turnip for one last drop of grift. >> making money is always first and foremost what donald trump wants. presidential run about marketing and branding to start and then became somewhat more serious. seeing here misses no opportunity to take money from the followers. he is not exactly nothing but cause trouble. i do want to say we have

overlooked announcement moments where he says better than lincoln and washington as if they're rivals somehow and you can tell when donald trump reads a teleprompter thing for the first time and reacting to it in realtime. an exciting prize and stops and goes that's not that exciting. he is ad libbing and commenting on the script and shows how ad hoc and sloppy this is. a cheap attempt to make money. >> gene robinson, is this guy really planning to run for president again? >> i think he is planning on running because as a way to -- he hopes shield himself from prosecution. i think he wants to run and be able to say any prosecution is all political. i'm persecuted by the enemies

and by the way send me more money because it all comes down to the money. it's all been a grift all along. it will continue to be a grift. he'll run for the president. if he stops running for president he will not stop the grift. there is an attempt to squeeze more money. this is not the last squeeze of the turnip. the people who believe in him. >> you know, that's a good point. jim and tammy faye did build a theme park. i think ptl land. >> getting what we showed on television? >> here's the thing, though. t.j. brought up a frightening point, willie. >> what? >> a really frightening point. >> what? >> he said, they all like sitting around and showing him

these photo shops, horribly photo shopped pictures of donald trump. these were the ones they chose. these were the best of the lot. t.j. says i want to see the ones that are on the cutting room floor, the bad ones. if these are the good ones show me the ones that didn't make the cut. >> you want one? take a picture of the screen right now. you don't have to pay $99 for this. i don't understand. >> you keep saying that. >> it makes no sense, willie! >> this is the good one. lizard man is the one they selected. what are the ones on the cutting room floor? >> i like how she is caught up in the practical elements of this. the other thing is as long as we're talking about it, this superhero image of donald trump, the idea to ever in his life do any of those things, ride a

horse, get in a spaceship or a fighter or have you ever seen the man throw a ball? anything like that? it is fantasy macho stuff that most exciting thing he does is ride the elevator from trump tower down to the car. >> this is one that didn't make the cut. >> wow. >> great. >> that is a strong crew right there. >> it is a strong -- >> looks great. >> yeah. >> i am just appalled. that's hilarious. >> who has time -- doing a four-hour show. >> you can pay $99 for that. >> take a picture. >> i am just -- okay. meanwhile donald trump is lashing out at new polls showing ron desantis with an early lead in the 2024 republican primary.

>> crushing him. >> even with that airport, miami. >> crushing him. >> the latest "wall street journal" poll shows desantis with a 14-point lead. "usa today" suffolk university poll has -- >> he is not even running. >> i know. >> sitting in his home in tallahassee. >> hanging out. >> how to own the libs and like plus 23 over donald trump. >> trump posted on the social media page he has to quote put up the same old stuff and that "wall street journal" -- >> prosecutors? >> fox news which is not released the new polling is quote seriously wrong from the day i came down the escalator. >> not really. >> some might agree. >> bring in reporter for nbc news jonathan allen.

desantis obliterating him in the gop primary polls. also with us senior columnist matt lewis. i have to start with you. i would like to feel sorry for people who have been riding the trump train for six years now and stubbornly on the trump train but when you have lost general flynn, when you have lost steve bannon -- >> this is true. >> when you have lost trump meme maker on twitter cat turd, perhaps you have lost the trump base. >> i think so, joe. that's the amazing thing about this is that this is the first time we have seen hardcore right wingers jump off the bandwagon and i think because of the midterm losses, because of ron desantis.

if you look at the contrast it is pretty stark. say what you will about him but he is picking the culture war battles that have action items so whether it's going after the martha vineyard's -- the vaccine or mickey mouse, he is actually doing stuff. what is donald trump delivering for the pop list right? what is he giving the national populist right? nfts. that's the version of winning the culture war so i think the folks are saying this other guy, the governor of florida, is doing the bidding and he is younger. the good news is if you are not a trump fan the american public are fickle and bored with donald trump.

they have turned to musk, kanye west and ron desantis. >> let me say matt lewis to get matt back up again. if you're sporting portraits of joan circa 1967 and winston churchill that is a ten-plus right there. >> i want to point out not only could you screen shot but they claim that they are sold out. >> yeah. >> is that -- >> no, no. very skeptical. >> i don't believe it. >> she doesn't believe that. >> not having dinner with anybody that bought them. >> hung up on the practicality. >> it is fraud! >> perhaps she is missing the bigger story but hung up -- >> who would buy a hideous picture that will be e-mailed to you on the computer when you

could screen shot it and then delete it because it's so hideous? >> take it. >> worried about the potential fraud here and rightly so. matt lewis' shot -- the guitars. got the lights. got it all. got it all going on there. that's a ten out of ten. >> everyone has to do this. these are the big two right here because they're two of my favorite writers. >> pretty good. >> excellent. >> absolutely. jonathan allen, the polls show huge margins. republicans are given a choice looks like increasingly they like desantis more than donald trump. what does that mean?

we are a ways out before the presidential campaign gets going in earnest. donald trump said he is running but did nothing that a presidential candidate would do. what are we looking at? is ron desantis taking a serious look at 2024? >> absolutely. let me first say if you act now you can get a digital my pillow with the nft from donald trump. >> oh. >> in case folks are looking for a bonus. >> $99. >> so yeah. look. ron desantis is thinking about run jeff gordon the folks are quiet. they don't want to get baited into a fight with donald trump way too early. they wait for quite a while and going through the legislative session in florida. ends basically next spring and summer and looking at donald trump said about them as an effort to get them into a fight

they don't want to have as his numbers are going up and trump's are cratering. if you look at the statement he talks about the same old stuff from "wall street journal" and fox news. attacking the polling and not attacking desantis. >> john allen, is this a one on one contest at this point or are there other republicans who if -- even if not figuring in the polls yet do you think are going to try to contest if trump looks beatable? >> yeah. he does right now and looks vulnerable other republicans will get in the race. the best opportunity for non-trump republicans is to have one candidate but they have their an interest to pursue so former vice president mike pence looks likely to get in. former secretary of state mike

pompeo. former u.n. ambassador nikki hayley. politico found 45 to 30 for trump over desantis with 7% for mike pence. so the polls are a little bit all over the place. we are two years out. if you're former president trump you dominated the party for five or six years and look at polls saying the governor of your state is beating you without trying. >> jonathan allen and matt lewis, thank you both very much for being on this morning. we have been talking about the netflix documentary about the duke and duchess of sussex. i found it fascinating about the media. >> absolutely fascinating on a lot of different fronts. >> harry raised some real issues

about the media. nbc news chief international correspondent keir simmons with more on what we learned from the latest installment. >> reporter: the royal family presenting a united front at westminster abby a day after harry and meghan exposed deep divisions. >> reporter: a dazzling princess of wales with a charity concert together at christmas. >> nice to meet you. >> reporter: alongside prince william and george and charlotte warmly greeting the king and queen consort who joined in for some holiday cheer, perhaps the royal display criticized by prince harry hours early. >> felt distant from my family. so much of how they operate is what it looks like. >> reporter: as the final part of the netflix docuseries were released thursday the claims

deeply personal exposing the true rift with william. >> terrifying to have my brother scream and shout at me. >> reporter: harry accusing the media team of briefing newspapers against him and his wife. >> to see them copy the same thing we promised we would never, ever do that was heartbreaking. >> reporter: the duchess of sussex describing the experience of damage caused by headlines. >> you make people want to kill me. it is not just a tabloid. it is not just some story. you are making me scared. it's real what you are doing. >> reporter: netflix says this was its biggest documentary debut ever. >> nothing will ever change. racism can't change. >> outrageous and a publicity stunt. >> a way to grab some cash at the expense of your family.

>> reporter: prince harry says he hopes to make change happen but this morning they look more divided than ever. >> i have had to make peace with probably not getting genuine accountability or apology. we are moving on. >> katty kay, your reaction to the reaction that in the uk seems really critical and when you watch it there are i think both bring up legitimate issues and yes made a lot of money. >> yeah. i was listening to the reaction over the last days in the uk and been some awareness that the tabloids did play a role, certainly in hounding diana and treatment of meghan unfair and racism there and pretty blatant. hard to deny and been glossed --

shoved under the carpet in the way they left and the negative approval ratings. the hounding of the tabloids and manage to destroy people's lives is very real. saddest thing is the relationship of harry and william. went through the loss of their mother and seems broken and so sad to see the hurt that harry feels and i'm sure william feels at losing a brother. >> yeah. gene robinson, obviously they have been roundly criticized in the british press. not surprising considering the main targets were the british press. >> exactly. >> there was a great, great column by somebody who's a

supporter of harry and meghan saying let's admit this is what she said. let's just admit they can seem irritating and self serving and narcissistic at times and yet what they reveal is extraordinarily damning on the tabloid press, on -- >> the institution. >> on the institution. other things. i personally again there were times i cringed. oh. but i have to say the last three installments were as extraordinary a dockmented ri on the royals as i have ever seen why the tabloid press, the commonwealth, the race. i thought harry's most insightful comment which is, you guys should have figured out how

to use her. 2.5 billion members in the commonwealth. the majority of whom look like her. they're people of color. my god, what a godsend that could have been for the royals. >> yeah. i think -- look. if you're offended by hallmark movies you will be offended by this. i'm not offended by hallmark movies. this is fine. it is a love story. >> right. >> a love story under duress. i thought they told it pretty well. actually. i thought this is put together pretty well. the central revelation and argument about this nexus between the crown, the firm and the british press, the symbiotic

relationship that tried to destroy essentially harry and meghan i believe absolutely that rings true from my time in the uk. when you watch how the royals reporters from all the papers operate and you watch and read the stories and see it's very easy to tell whose communications people are leaking to who and why. it is just really, really sleazy the way this happens. i think harry is absolutely right to call them out on it. it is true. >> yeah. i agree with that. who's to call them sleazy for making money looking at how the tabloids work selling images of their children and whatever else. >> their right to do that. >> it is. >> certainly they right and they feel obviously deeply agrieved

by what happened. it is remarkable documentary. you should watch it because it does take you behind the scenes. harry's lived it his whole life. elon musk took over twit we are a promise to promote free speech but apparently doesn't apply when he is the topic of interest. thousands of files on the jfk assassination are released. as we go to break, willie, what do you have planned for sunday today? >> we got one of my favorites. kate hudson is my guest this sunday. >> my gosh! >> she steals the show in the new "knives out" movie. the movie is so good.

if you liked "knives out" you will love "glass onions." she is so smart and funny and charming. kate hudson on nbc and we'll be right back on "morning joe." trying to control my asthma felt anything but normal. ♪ ♪ 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.

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coordinates. nbc news unable to verify the allegation. it is the same justification on wednesday for suspending the account with publicly available information to post the movements of musk's private jet going against the promise to run it as a free speech elitist. many of those accounts promote of qanon hate speech. these are accounts he claims doxed him. the flight stuff is publicly available but he shut down the accounts for at least a week here. >> yeah. they weren't doing that. there were some people that had large followings on twitter writing a negative column about him on mashible and then get

suspended. tweet something negative about him and then get their account suspended. it's crazy. isn't it? that donald trump, elon musk seem to be losing it at the same time. the bitter irony for the people that shamed themselves and said, oh, we will look through the twitter files and find examples when content suppressed and spent a weekend pouring through the documents. one time they didn't amplify this or -- oh! this is such a terrible first amendment. it is not. suspending the accounts, mine, not a first amendment violation. they can do what they want with the company but all of the people on the trump right, the far right that have been talking about how horrible twitter was

they come out and they beat their chests in moral indignation right before the owner of twitter just unilaterally decides he's going to ban people saying things about him that may be critical. >> yeah. i don't know whether being told you are the richest man in the world day in, day out warps the sense of your own invincibility but the reality of the business decisions is coming back to bite musk. hurting him at tesla and twitter. not making money. advertisers clearly don't like what they see on the side. has to be a question of time whether it's a site that operates in a more grown up, responsible way takes over the twitter users. i'm still on it and find it a useful tool.

>> of course. >> most efficient way to catch up on the headlines. a platform where day after day it is about -- this is the parallel between musk and trump. they are used to things being about them and people saying that they are wonderful and perfect. everything they touch turns to gold unless it doesn't. he is not a media platform owner. he is grinding twitter into the ground. >> you know, jonathan lemire, he's been told how brilliant he is for the past ten, 15 years. we had renowned guests on here and i would say -- wait a second. elon shouldn't jump into twitter. does he not realize how

difficult this is? are there no lawyers around him trying to get him to stop this? elon does what elon wants to do. doesn't he realize what a mess this is? these are supposed to be some of the most vaunted reporters in silicon valley. the answer to everything was, it is elon. elon can do whatever elon wants to do. we love him. this is what the toughest silicon valley reporters were saying about elon musk. right? it is no wonder musk finds himself where he is right now because everybody told him he's great. by the way, by the way, when katty said being called the richest man in the world might impact the world view, alex said

in my ear i'm being to take that experiment on. we'll see how it goes. >> but yeah. a great story. >> he is fed not just by sycophants inside the companies, he's fed by sycophants in mainstream media. >> yes. let's all be grateful that walter is going to write a book about elon musk. he's achieved remarkable things but this is off the rails. someone said recently you can take a headline right now with musk's name in it and swap in trump and feel apropos. the fact that he is bringing down an institution. and the twitter is not the republican party but feels like the dying days about this platform. i use it, too. a great way to catch up on the

headlines and talk about things you are working on. it feels toxic and filled with hate speech. yesterday steve harmon who's suspended all he did was simply tweet the link to the publicly available website to track planes. he doesn't write about musk but tweeting that link was enough to get him suspended from twitter for at least a week. as we treated it as the town square, the public forum, it is not anymore. musk will do what he wants with it and it is bad for us. coming up, another deadly day in ukraine. retired four star admiral joins the discussion straight ahead on "morning joe."

the biden administration has released more than 13,000 records into the assassination of president john f. kennedy but thousands more documents are still being held. all of the files should have been made public under a 1992 law and with yesterday's release 90% of all documents related to the 19 -- 98%. excuse me. related to the assassination have been made public. just 3% of the records remain redacted in whole or in part according to the national archives which control it is collection. >> let's bring in mark caputo covering the story. it seems like they released the records we needed to see except the records we needed to see like, for instance, for instance, the shadowy cia figure that ran the covert cuba

operation who met oswald four months before the assassination and did not release those records. what gives? >> right. george joanetis and under the law there's a structure of a jfk collection under the national archives. the documents that this nonprofit group that sued to get all of these records released had found in separate sort of reporting and snooping around there are about 44 record related to george that never made it into the jfk collection so as a result when the biden administration's like we have released the records, look at the transparency, there are records about the pro castro or

anti-castro group that somehow came into contact with lee harvey oswald before the shooting and he went to mexico, made contact with the cuban and soviet embassies and built up his name and immediately after the shooting the news media and the public has this access to lee harvey oswald being a communist and all of a sudden at the time right after the shooting there was this belief that it is the communists who did it and an operation that was being launched and considered by the pentagon of operation north woods to stake a spectacular false flag terrorist attack in the united states to blame on castro and lo and behold you have oswald. suspicious stuff and strange stuff.

other aspect of joe's identity that came out from the law in 1992 only in the '90s find this out. he died in 1990. he was appointed after retirement by the cia to be a liaison with the house investigative committee in 1976 and they never told the house panel, the general counsel, the investigators by the way i was involved in this program that made contact with oswald four months before the shooting and the cia will not answer why he lied. >> mark, if lee harvey oswald okayed alone i guess the question is, why not release the documents to prove the point? why keep the records to allow the conspiracy theories to continue to fester? is there a chance at some point to see the rest of this stuff?

>> i think we will. what are they hiding? i think michael answered it pretty well in a light most favor to believe the government. hiding the fact that there were these problems. the cia, defense department, organisms. they have their own culture. grow, reproduce, protech their own and it is the culture of the cia. it is a spy agency. to be secretive. part of the national security establishment. from the lawsuit is one thing they asked for is the disclosure of a 1961 memo, two years before the shooting of jfk, to kennedy saying let's disband the cia. kennedy wanted to do that after the bay of pigs invasion. this is nothing to do with the

conspiracy to shoot jfk. this is just a historical memo. the reason they asked for that to be disclosed is as a test just to see, hey, is the government going to release this basic historical information. the answer is no. the document is there and redactions that make no sense. the biden administration and the vary yos federal agencies are vaying, look, we need to protect the information from the public because we don't want to endanger national security. everyone that looks at this from the government say that that explanation is bunk why it is false coming up. "the new york times" magazine is doing something totally different with the annual profile of the lives they lived. we are joined by the editor in chief who explains what's behind

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in an effort to curb rising covid-19 cases, the white house is making rapid covid tests free again by mail. it will also make vaccinations and treatments more accessible to those who need them. meanwhile, questions loom over funding for the next generation of covid vaccines. nbc news medical contributor dr. vin gupta gives us a look at one lab developing a new way potentially to stop the spread of covid. dr. akiko is pioneering the next generation of covid vaccines. >> everywhere in this country right now the e.r. is jam-packed with people with respiratory diseases. currently, we are in dire need

of vaccines that prevent infection and prevent transmission. >> at yale university she is developing a nasal vaccine. >> it can be put into a nasal spray and sprayed into the nose. >> reporter: unlike currently available mrna vaccines, injected into a muscle, a nasal vaccine is sprayed directly into the nose, generating antibodies right where the virus enters the body. not only is it easier to use, ewa is a i can says it has the potential to stop the virus from spreading between people. the nation's top director vivek murphy acknowledging the need for new technology like this. >> it's so important we continue to invest in our vaccines and treatments are getting better because the virus evolves. >> reporter: but it's not cheap -- hundreds of millions of dollars. >> with the current amount of

funding available to us, it will take probably a year or two at the earliest to be able to start testing our approach in humans. >> reporter: the biden administration is scrambling to get $10 billion of covid-19 funding from congress next year. it's included in the year-end spending bill under debate in capitol hill, debate that could lead to a government shutdown. >> the bottom line is nasal vaccines are an important part of the strategy, but to invest in them to the degree that's required, you know, means that we need that funding from congress to come through. >> reporter: a decision is expected to come before the end of december. with little republican support, that funding is far from guaranteed. for the time being, health experts urging lawmakers to act. >> all i can say is congress needs to do its job and step up and protect the american people. >> dr. gupta joins us now. great to see you. this is such a fascinating angle of the story i don't think a lot of people think about because there was such investment with operation warp speed and everything else to rush to these

miracle vaccines that saves do many lives yet not a lot of attention being paid down the road. what else needs to happen from the government and the pharmaceutical companies? >> willie, good morning. thank you for highlighting this. the big theme here is long-term thinking. the government doesn't step in, this is going to be in the purview of the private sector and at the whims of the private sector and it's not clear we'll get what we need. imagine, willie, especially with vaccines today that don't prevent against transmission, really the value proposition of a nasal spray vaccine is it could do that and also keep you out of the hospital. so it's really important that this funding isn't held up. >> dr. vin gupta, thank you so much for being on. it's good to see you. coming up, the senate averts a government shutdown for now. we'll get the latest from capitol hill where a larger spending package still needs to pass by the end of the year. "morning joe" is back in a moment.

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