exciting show for next week. i'll sit down with former fbi director james comey. he put all his experience from his decades long career in law enforcement into a novel. plus, i caught up with gisele fetterman. and ahead of memorial day, i want to express my profound gratitude to those who gave the ultimate sacrifice. also, the carrying on legacies and performing a service of their own, the families. we'll be back next week, noon eastern. stay here, there's much more news ahead on msnbc. ♪♪ we hope everyone is having a happy memorial day weekend. there's still time for news

before you get the burgers on the grill. let's take a look at some of the week's top stories. desantis has officially entered the 2024 white house race. as we said, the livestream event on twitter got off to a rocky start, crashing several times with the announcement delayed by the more than 20 minutes due to a series of technical glitches. >> sorry about that, we've got so many people here, i think we are kind of melting the servers. >> let's see, so -- >> yeah. >> just to simplify. let's see. >> crashing, huh? >> i think we're back online here. great. all right. well, it's certainly an incredible honor to have governor desantis make this stark announcement. >> oh, the technical troubles

drew mockery on social media. president joe biden posted a link to his donation page, writing simply, "this link works." and former president donald trump had a series of posts on truth social, calling the announcement fatal and a disaster. he also had one strange post where he wrote, quote, rob, my red button is bigger, better and stronger and is working. truth. wait, i'm so uncomfortable right now. yours does not. per my conversation with kim jong-un of north korea, soon to become my friend. i'm going to let that sit right there, okay. >> that's one of those, if a relative posts that, you send somebody to the house. >> you do. >> just to check in. >> at this point, you need to intervene, you need to help. >> somebody has to step in. a senior desantis campaign official wrote, governor desantis broke the internet. that should tell you everything you need to knowcandidacy.

desantis also spun the technical difficulties as excitement for his campaign. that was during a fox interview last night. >> we had a huge audience. it was the biggest they'd ever had. it did break the twitter space, and so we're really excited with the enthusiasm. ultimately, it's about the future of our country. >> meanwhile, desantis' spokesperson tweeted the campaign raised a million dollars online in one hour. a lot adviser claimed more than 700,000 people joined the virtual rollout. the florida governor enters the race with a cash advantage. his state re-election account had $80 million left over from his gubernatorial race. didn't need it, won by 19 points. a super pac for desantis reportedly raised $33 million. that official number won't be made public until july. that may be the point, jen, for the campaign.

they got attention, not the kind they wanted, but they raised a bunch of money, and it won't -- for someone who has been the communications director for many campaigns -- as john heilemann listens to tina turner on his phone there. >> what are you doing? >> give me your phone. >> it's fair. >> small glitch. mika, you've had these before. >> wait. >> that was bill clinton -- >> don't you put this on me. >> -- in 1992. i was doing research for this segment. >> excitement for your campaign. >> he was showing us how desantis' launched. >> there was a little -- that was a technical glitch. i broke the "morning joe" set. >> fair enough. >> jen, as a communications professional, you thought what as that rolled out last night? >> it was an abomination and hubris from desantis, from us. 700,000 people isn't that much. twitter should be able to handle 700,000 people. but for the maga base, which surprisingly is the group of voters that, you know, desantis

does seem to be going for, not the moderate republicans, he's going for the maga base, i'm sure they loved the unconventionality, the finger in the eye of the press. you know, tim scott needed a good launch. he needed to introduce himself. desantis doesn't need a great launch for a great campaign. everybody knows -- the republican voters know who he is. they need to know if they like him. in the end, they're probably thinking, this is worth the trouble we did. >> joe? >> it was a really bad start. it can be a one day, two day story depending on what happens as we move forward. it's a very long campaign. just backing up, though. i tell people, the most important days when running for office is the day you launch and when you count the votes.

day you launch, it show es how professional you are. that's the one day, kind of like the first attack, you know? mike tyson had the joke, everybody has a plan until somebody gets punched in the face the first time. this is the first punch, and you control that. as jen knows far better than me, and rev knows, who has run before, far better than me, after the punch, you don't control anything. it's all incoming. it's all how you respond to incoming. it's what candidate you are. john heilemann, based on that, on that measurement, it really was an embarrassment for the desantis campaign. say they broke the internet, ended up with 700,000 people. if they'd gone on fox, would have had well over a million people. gone on a lot of cable news shows, they would have had over a million. broadcast, they would have had probably even more people.

if they'd gone on, you know, some other show. seems they made the worst choice. that said, for a candidate and silicon valley tech engineers who hate the mainstream media -- not engineers, titans who hate the mainstream media, hate wokeness, to put that in quots, and always play the grieved, maybe it worked. >> i don't know, joe. you can launch a campaign poorly and still win your party's nomination. it's happened. this is a free shot at doing something really well. if you do it really well, it can be something people remember forever. you know, i think of my friend jennifer palmieri, thinking back to, for example, 2008. hillary clinton announced from her sun room.

then you had these images, you know, within a few days, i think obama went first, but you had barack obama as the old statehouse in springfield, illinois, cold day, giving an inspiring speech. that produced not just a huge audience to watch initially, but it was in thousands of obama campaign ads. it was a moment looked back, it set the tone of the campaign, and gave them enormous coverage. people in hillary clinton's world thought she gave a nice speech in the sun room, but it was not a thing anybody would ever remember again. it was a missed opportunity. donald trump, for all the criticism and all the terrible things he said when he got down to the end of the escalator, people still talk about it today. donald trump in trump power, he made an iconic moment for himself. part of the reason i was trying to announce bill clinton announcing, also announced in the old statehouse in october of '91, little rock. again, it was in campaign ads for all of 1992. can you win without a great launch? you can. but you have, as you said, joe,

you have a free throw here. you have all the time in the world, as ron desantis has, to set this up and get it right. they blew it in that sense. a missed opportunity. i will say, having come at the end of all of the flubs over the last -- in the precampaign, all the things they've screwed up in the last two, three months, it is creating this question, which you never want to face if you're a presidential candidate, the filter, us, media and people in the political world, looking and going, hey, can anybody here play this game? that's not the way you want people to be greeting your entrance into the race. >> i do think that's the big question coming from donors especially and also the base. people in the republican party saying, who can beat donald trump right now? this is the one thing you completely control. it's all within your control.

he knew he'd take up a lot of the space, a lot of the oxygen, and he made the move anyway. rev, look back at barack obama's opening announcement, how reagan announced his campaign in front of the statue of liberty in 1980. talk about the launch of your campaign. talk about how the launch matters so much. it does set the tone. here, again, this could be forgotten in a week or two. unfortunately, it shadows either problems or strengths in the campaign to follow. >> i launched by having a rally and having a lot of the people that mattered to the people i was hoping would vote for me standing there with me. that was the message i wanted to give, and i think those you

mentioned did similar launches. i think that not only was this a mess-up, the thing we have to keep in mind is desantis is challenging trump, who will never let us forget that he messed up the launch. so we can say for anyone else, it's one day, tomorrow it'll be something else. every chance trump gets, he's going to say, how can this man run the economy when he can't run a launch? how can this man handle international global affairs when he can't handle a launch? i mean, if you were running against candidates that would move on, i would say, "don't worry about it, governor desantis." but you're running against donald trump. he won't ever let you forget it. more importantly, he will never let us forget it. that's how trump is. you just served him a softball, and he is going to keep hitting that ball over the fence every chance he can. >> mm-hmm. recent polls taken before his announcement yesterday have ron desantis significantly behind donald trump in the republican

primary. in the latest cnn national survey conducted last week, the florida governor trails trump by 27 points among registered republican and republican-leaning independent voters. in a march poll, the deficit for desantis was just four points. the latest quinnipiac national survey has desantis trailing trump by 31 points. he trailed by 14 points in march. and a new emerson college of iowa republicans out just this morning has trump ahead of desantis 62% to 20%. let's bring in former chair of the new hampshire republican party. she knows a thing or two about this. jennifer horn. >> good morning. >> ron desantis has a long way to go. what do you make of this botched rollout and the impact in the long run? >> well, there's no question that this was -- there's nothing good. you know, he went on fox and

tried to spin it, "oh, yeah, we broke the internet." that's not what happened, unfortunately, last night. it is possible that in a few months, as you look back, it might be we learn the internet broke ron desantis. it created a moment for donald trump, but equally important to that, it also -- when you look at the poll numbers and the degree to which desantis is -- his numbers are declining, it's probably undermined the confidence of a lot of the primary voters that he really desperately needs right now. there was a hashtag going last night, d-e aster. ron desater. ahead on morning joe, the marine veteran charged with manslaughter after a fatal choke hold on a new york city subway argues it has nothing to do with race. we'll take a look at that and why he is suggesting he'd do it again. you're watching "morning joe." we will be right back.

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the marine veteran who choked a man to death on the new york city subway three weeks ago is speaking out for the first time. daniel penny is charged with second degree manslaughter in the death of jordan neely. nbc news correspondent emily i ikeda has more. >> reporter: the man seen holding neely in the deadly choke hold is breaking his silence, suggesting he would take action again under similar circumstances. i would, if there was a threat and danger in the present, daniel penny told the "new york post." the veteran and college student said, this has nothing to do with race. i judge a person on their character. i'm not a white supremacist. penny didn't go into detail on what led up to the confrontation, but said it wasn't like anything i'd experienced before.

his lawyers say penny acted in self-defense after neely, who was homeless and suffered from mental illness, aggressively threatened him and others on board. >> daniel penny has got to go! >> reporter: penny wasn't initially arrested. protests spilled onto subway tracks and divided political leaders nationwide. so-called antiantism and the response to record levels of homelessness. on friday, hundreds gathered to remember the 30-year-old street performer. >> justice for -- >> we keep criminalizing people with mental illness. they don't need abuse. they need help. >> reporter: when asked what penny would say to neely's family, he said, i'm deeply saddened by the loss of life. it's tragic what happened to him. hopefully we can change the system that so desperately failed us. penny faces up to 15 years invi

manslaughter, a charge lawyers for neely's family say doesn't go far enough. >> joining us now, president of the national action network and host of msnbc's "politics nation," reverend al sharpton. as we saw in the piece, rev al gave the eulogy at jordan neely's funeral on friday. reverend al, tell us more about the funeral, how his family is doing, and what do you think needs to happen moving forward? >> well, his family clearly is struggling with the loss of life of someone that they loved, right at the same church that we had the funeral with reverend johnny green, one of the most respected pastors in the country, was the same place 14 years ago that they funeralized jordan neely's mother. jordan sitting there. they felt this is what triggered

a lot of his mental illness everyone going further. they're sitting in the same church, looking at a casket of a young man who should have had help and who the system did not, even though they knew he had problems, kept letting him go, never dealing with the mental illness issue, which is the center of what they're saying he should have been helped. the man has even said we need to sit down and have discussions on how we deal with how he was able to fall through the cracks of the city bureaucracy. he's choked to death by someone who was not in law enforcement, not in mental health services, and who came up from behind him and claimed self-defense. it was very difficult for the family, and it still is. luckily, edwards, their attorney and the other attorneys are really trying to seek justice in this matter. >> i just -- there is a lot of

discussion about mental health, especially a crisis among the nation's youth. we have seth molten coming on later, who wants to propose a solution to it. a need for sweeping changes as it pertains to mental health in this country. i've heard you even describing this situation, most of what you just talked about was how the system let him down. i guess i'd ask that critics are arguing here that this man is being charged with maybe something that the system had a role in, as well, which was jordan neely's mental health and the lack of help he had out there. what do you say to his comments that he made, that he's not a white supremacist and he was acting in self-defense? >> i think, first of all, the comments, if you look at my eulogy, is that what we said

was, why was he let go at the preset. >> right. >> whether or not if he was black, would they have let him go if it was the other way? no one said he was a white supremacist. we questioned what happened at the precinct, which we also questioned five black cops that killed tyre nichols in memphis this year. i did that eulogy, and we said even though these five black cops were black, they were wrong. >> right. >> this has nothing to do with trying to charge him as a white supremacist. he was charged with manslaughter, not with a hate crime. so they're trying to, with the help of the right-wing media, move not under anyreat, an unarmed man who was making noise, maybe annoying, how do you choke him to death, hold him down, feel

him go lifeless, and still not let go? that's what he's charged with. let's not try to make this something that it's not. i think that they're trying to move the premise so we can go to the wrong conclusion. this is not about a hate crime. this is about why you defended yourself against no apparent threat. obviously, mika, you came from behind the guy. how could he have been a threat to you? and you held him with two other people holding him down until he was limp, and you held on anyhow. everyone that has been interviewed in the media that was in that car said, yes, he was annoying, yes, he was making noise, but we did not feel there was any immediate threat on us. even if someone down the car felt he could become a threat, this guy was not a policeman. who appointed you to get up and kill a guy in the name of i'm protecting someone? why didn't you call law enforcement? let's look at your cell phone. did you try to call 911, an mta

officer? that's what he is asked to defend against these charges, not fabricate some charges, someone called him a white supremacist. coming up, a florida school limits access to a poem read at president biden's inauguration. how the young poet is responding. that's next. (man) what if my type 2 diabetes takes over?

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observing investors choose assets to balance risk and reward. with one element securing portfolios, time after time. gold. agile and liquid. a proven protector. an ever-evolving enabler of bold decisions. an asset more relevant than ever before. gold. your strategic advantage. amanda gorman, the first youth poet laureate is speaking out about what she described as a book ban after access to the poem that she recited at president joe biden's inauguration was limited at a florida school. here is gorman reading one of her poems just two weeks after the january 6th attack on the

capitol. >> we will not be turned around or interrupted by intimidation because we know our inaction and inertia of the next generation. our blenders become their burdens. one thing is certain, if we merge mercy with might and might with right, then love becomes our legacy and change our children's birthright. >> that poem, which has been published as a short book entitled "the hill we climb," will now be accessible only to middle school students at the pre-k through eighth grade bob graham education center in miami lakes, florida, after a parent filed a formal objection to the work. in a post on social media, gorman wrote, in part, i'm

gutted. i wrote "the hill we climb" so all young people could see themselves in a historical moment. robbing children of the chance to find their voices in literature is against their free thought and free speech. she also urged people to speak out, pointing to a lawsuit that her publisher has joined to challenge book restrictions. a copy of the complaint form posted on twitter by gorman and the florida freedom to read project states the book is not educational and contains hate messages. the form also says the complaint believes the purpose of the book is to cause confusion and indoctrine students. the school said it was better suited for middle school students and shelved in a media center. the book remains available in the media center, end quote. jonathan lemire, this and many other of ron desantis' policies,

will it come to haunt him as the 2024 race, you know, moves more nationally? i mean, how do these policies play out on the big stage. >> well, desantis' pitch is that he wants to make america more like florida. his opponents will say, well, this is what you'll get. you'll get florida like this and restrictions like this and book bans like this. it's not a coincidence that the dnc and biden campaign, as they look at the republicans in the field beyond trump, when they talk about desantis, they focus on book burning. it polls so poorly. a lot of americans outraged that this is happening. and, they say, it's of a piece of desantis being out of step with the rest of the country. let's remember, of course, the restrictive abortion ban he just signed in the dead of night a few weeks ago, as well. yes, this feels like another moment where desantis, along with his fight against disney, and the list goes on and on, is playing to a smaller, shrinking portion of the electorate. yeah, it might help him in the gop primary, but it is difficult

to see how he gets any advantage next year, were he to be the nominee. >> book bans are wildly unpopular. also, one parent who sees a book and doesn't line up with his or her world view can have it yanked off the shelf of? doesn't make a lot of sense either. coming up, the u.s. and its allies now say they'll provide f-16 jets to ukraine. admiral james stavridis is here to talk about how much of a game-changer this could be.

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♪♪ during this year's meeting of leaders at the g7 summit in japan, an allied coalition of western nations announced it will work together to provide f-16 jets to ukraine. it wasn't long after that announcement when russia responded, calling the move to provide jets to ukraine a, quote, colossal risk. during president biden's press conference yesterday, he was asked about those comments, and he didn't mince words. take a look. >> thank you, all, very, very much. appreciate it. >> how do you respond to calling this a colossal risk? >> it is for them. >> all right. let's bring in -- that's one way to put it. let's bring in former supreme

allied commander of nato, four-star navy admiral james stavridis, chief international analyst for nbc news. admiral, we heard in the beginning of this war that they couldn't have some of our anti-missile systems. they got the anti-missile systems eventually. they couldn't have tanks. they eventually got tanks. they couldn't have the f-16s. now, they're getting the f-16s. i remember two, three months ago, you talking about the extraordinary need for these, and i thought, well, it's just a matter of time. they've got it. talk about what a game-changer that could be. >> first, you have to take the president and say, as he gets more senior, he is getting quite witty, simply saying it is a colossal risk for them. i've not seen that clip, but it's true. the f-16 has been around a while as a jet, but we've been upgrading it over the decades. it's operated by 25 countries

around the world, many of whom are our allies. a lot of western pilots know how to fly it. we know how to train people to use it. most importantly, it's a multi-mission fighter, meaning it can do air-to-air combat, shoot down russian jets. it can do air-to-ground, strike at russian targets on the ground. it can do electronic warfare and jam. it's perhaps not the best at anything, but it's very, very good at everything. it's the swiss army knife of the battlefield. >> wow. >> let's talk about the g7 and zelenskyy going to the g7. he got to not only have face-to-face meetings with members of the g7, and it seems to me it was very helpful for the war effort there, but also got to sit with people like modi who was there as a visitor and with others. how significant was zelenskyy's appearance at the g7?

>> i think enormously significant. principally because of the audience. it's the g7, but it's also, as you point out, other big economies like modi, who you're showing there from india, australia, not a member of the g but a very important economy. when you add up all the people around that table, the gross domestic product total globally is well over 60% of the world's gdp. he is pitching the bankers, if you will. that's crucial. he is showing that he is the one who can come and step in. you can't imagine vladimir putin being allowed in that room. he'd probably be led away in handcuffs. he is an indicted war criminal. look at the reaction to president zelenskyy. we ought to feel very proud he's our ally. >> well, i'll tell ya what, when you see him there with modi, when you hear xi in his own way

giving warnings about even talking about nuclear weapons, you understand why vladimir putin is boxed in. he is depending on that man right there on the left, modi. modi's india to help take up some of the slack from all of the trade that's been cut off from the european union. so vladimir putin now, whether he wants to admit it or not, is a junior partner to xi and, to a lesser degree, also modi. after all, putin's russia had a gdp smaller than texas before this war began. >> exactly. oh, by the way, if you're the chinese leader, president xi, and you're looking north from beijing, you see this vast, empty land, siberian. no one lives there, russia to the east of the mountains. it's empty of people, but it is full of oil, gas, land, timber,

strategic minerals, diamonds. chinese look at that like my dog looks at a ribeye steak. it looks really good. yes, putin is the junior partner to be sure, and he will get played like one, both by beijing and new delhi. >> admiral, of course, president zelenskyy's appearance at the g7 comes as the world looks at bakhmut. the russians have claimed that they have seized that territory, the wagner group and now the russian military saying, as well, they have all of it. zelenskyy denied that, but members of the ukrainian defense ministry did acknowledge ukraine's presence there is very, very limited. russia seems to have more or less captured the city after months and months of brutal fighting. that's what i wanted to ask you about. what to you think the impact of bakhmut will be? what about the aftershocks?

both sides spent so much time, men and equipment in that space. how do you see it playing a role with how ukraine is going to carry out its counteroffensive going forward? >> jonathan, 2,300 years ago, there was a warrior who took on the roman empire. we take the word of a victory. he won the war but broke his military on the wheel of a battle in the area of the world. as a result, i think it'll be much the same here. what russia has, quote, accomplished, end quote, in effectively destroying the city of bakhmut, they didn't take it, they break it. they broke it. as a result, their own armed forces have been seriously diminished. as they try to defend this 600 mile battle line against the ukrainian offensive, that is

assuredly coming in the next few weeks, they will be in far worse shape for this empty puric victory. >> shouldn't we have given the f-16s earlier, or at least trained the pilots earlier? we've lost a lot of time. >> we have. there's no other way around it. i understand why the administration has been very careful, very incremental, and as joe mentioned at the top of this segment, it took us a long time to get comfortable sending them anything more than stingers or javelins. eventually, we got there with advanced drones. we got there with tanks. now, we're there with f-16s. should have happened earlier. many called for that. here's the point, katty, we're doing it now. here's the second point, those ukrainian fighter pilots, they're very experienced. many of them have thousand plus hours in combat jets.

they will be able to transition quickly and fly these jets very care capably. the skies are bright over ukraine. >> let's talk about the past for one moment. there is no way the united states could have sent f-16s six months ago. there's no -- >> no. >> i mean, it seems that as putin upped the ante, as things got more grim, it gave joe biden, it gave the western allies an opening to send the anti-missile systems, as they were terrorizing children, grandmothers, everybody else, civilians, by shooting at apartment buildings. then, of course, the tanks, they came, again, after more russian savagery. again, we can look back and say, gee, should have been sent six, nine months ago, but that really wasn't a possibility. i talked before about how some republicans that are ruben runnr

office don't have the political touch. in this case, what biden has done, whether people want to hear about it or not, i don't really give a damn if they want to hear it or not because it's the truth, he's had an extraordinary touch throughout the entire process, knowing how far he can move, how far he can push his allies, how far he could push the russians. so far, it's been about as good as any president in our lifetime. this side of george h.w. bush going into the '91 war. >> that's a fair assessment overall. the only codicil i'd put to the scarborough doctrine is even taking those point, we could have, and this was katty's point a moment ago, perhaps we could have started the training earlier, just to be prepared for this moment. coming up, global citizen announces a major new event to fight climate change. we have all the details on who is performing and what to expect next.

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♪♪ global citizen just announced a major new event aimed at confronting the climate crisis head on. power our planet, live in paris, is a free event that will take place on june 22nd, and will feature performances by lenny kravitz, billie eilish, jon batiste and many more. the power our planet campaign is calling for a seismic shift in the way the world's financial systems work, to give the world's poor and developing nations access to the financing they urgently need. the goal is to speed their transition to clean energy, strengthen their resilience against natural disasters, and address their most urgent needs. joining us now is global citizen

co-founder, hugh evans. hugh, great to see you. >> thanks so much for being here. >> great to see you, too. >> tell us about paris. it looks pretty remarkable. >> well, thank you, joe, and thank you, mika. today, we're thrilled to announce that global citizen will be returning to the foot of the eiffel tower in paris with 20,000 global citizens with a free ticketed event where everyone will be taking action to address the climate crisis, specifically while president macron of paris will be hosting his global financial summit that's taking place that same day on june 22nd. we're mobilizing citizens to enable emerging markets to be able to withstand natural disasters and transition to clean energy. this is a critical campaign, and we know we need to mobilize the whole world right now in support of this urgent issue. >> well, and you obviously -- we all came together in new york about a month ago, and you

talked about some of the goals that you hoped would happen in paris with president macron's meeting. talk about that, as well, about how the global north really needs to take some positive steps forward to aid and assist the global south. >> absolutely, joe. so i think when you -- when you were interviewing president macron at the global citizen now summit, we spoke about three big priorities. the first is to encourage the private sector to commit to the race to zero and adopt science-based targets to ultimately halve their carbon emissions by 2030 and go carbon neutral by 2050. the second thing we urgently need is global financial reform. for too long, the world bank has been completely asleep at the wheel, and under the former world bank president, they effectively were incredibly lazy over the last five years and didn't loan the sort of loans

the world needs to ultimately transition to clean energy. under the new leader, the president that will be starting on june 2nd, we know we have an opportunity to see enormous world bank reform, but we need janet yellen's leadership. we need the white house's leadership. that's critical to ultimately unlock capital for the world's poorest nations. finally, we also need to see that the world's most advanced economies support emerging markets as they committed to under the paris climate change accord, and address the $100 billion climate commitment that the u.s. committed to under the paris climate change agreement. ultimately, we're simply asking the u.s. government to do what it's already committed to do. >> hugh, every since you started this, you've had huge goals. it is important to remind global citizens exactly what their part in this is. so for someone going to the paris event or getting involved in global citizen, how do they

have anything to do with the lofty goals you just put on the table just right now, in terms of even, for example, impacting the decisions made by major financial institutions? >> well, thank you, mika. we know that, ultimately, we live in a democracy. and we live in some of the world's greatest democracies. world leaders are elected official, and they respond to the will of citizen, not just once every three, four years during an election, but every time that you reach out to your elected official and ask them to take action. that's why global citizen and everything we do is about action taking. you download the global citizen app, and your voice, while it might seem so insignificant by yourself, when you're part of a movement of millions of citizens, and together you're calling on janet yellen or, together, you're calling on banga, they can't possibly ignore your voice. that's why when you call for reform, these reforms happen. so the way you earn your way

into paris, into power our planet, is by taking action. we want to invite citizens all around the world, starting today, to be part of this movement, sign up and take urgent action. use your voice to create change. >> sounds like what bobby kennedy in south africa in 1966 said. that it will be from a million different acts of this generation that will define actually what the generation does. this is exactly what you do with every one of these events, so we thank you so much. really quickly, just tell everybody about the event itself and who is going to be performing and what they can expect. >> well, what's going to happen, joe, and thank you for that question, is billie eilish, together with lenny kravitz, h.e.r., jon batiste, and special guests like ben harper, will be performing this free event with 20,000 global citizens at the

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♪♪ welcome to the second hour

of "morning joe weekend" on this holiday weekend. we have more of the top stories. take a look. what a day of news yesterday, as the most high-profile defendant in the january 6th investigation was sentenced to 18 years in prison, that's right, 18 years in prison, the stiffest penalty handed out so far in one of the biggest criminal probes in u.s. history. justice correspondent ken dilanian has more. >> reporter: one of the key figures behind the january 6th attack on the capitol facing the toughest sentence in more than 1,000 prosecutions. stewart rhodes was sentenced to 18 years in prison after convicted of seditious conspiracy, using violence to prevent the government from carerying out its lawful duties. he was not in attendance at the capitol, but he conspired to help make it happen and take up

arms and foment revolution, said judge mehta. a former army paratrooper who graduated from yale law school, he wore an orange prison suit during the hearing. he showed no remorse, telling the judge he considered himself a political prisoner. judge mehta responding to rhodes, you, sir, present an ongoing threat and a peril to this country and our democracy. rhodes' lawyers promised an appeal. >> i think this was all about the weaponization of speech by the department of justice. i think that, essentially, they used stewart rhodes' words against him. >> reporter: prosecutors say rhodes spent weeks after the election plotting to use violence to keep president trump in power. the judge applied a so-called terrorism enhancement to rhodes' sentence, the first time that's happened in a january 6th case. >> it is a very significant sentence, and it sends a very, i think, important message of deterrence.

>> yeah, it really does send an important message of deterrence. something that republicans used to support. that was nbc's ken dilanian with the report. as we told you yesterday, the writer whose photographed with his feet on a desk of then speaker nancy pelosi's during the insurrection has been sentenced to 4 1/2 years in prison, as well. florida governor and 2024 hopeful ron desantis promises if elected president, he, like donald trump, would consider pardoning some of the convicts who rioted on charges related to january 6th insurrection at the capitol. he made the comments on a radio show. take a listen. >> the doj and fbi have been weaponized. we see that. we see some of what you mentioned. some is the fbi going after parents going to school board meetings. some is how they treat a pro-life demonstrator, how they

don't go after people attacking pro lifers. what i'm going to do, day one, i will have folks that will get together and look at all these cases who people are victims of weaponization or political targeting, and we will be aggressive at issuing pardons. now, some of these cases, some people may have a technical violation of the law, but if there are three other people who did the same thing but in a context of blm and they don't get prosecuted at all, that is uneven application of justice. >> i mean, he's not really that stupid. maybe he's talking like a third grader. we're talking about people who tried to overthrow american democracy. ron knows that. he knows that. yet, he's playing that game. recall how donald trump also responded to a question about pardons for january 6th rioters in a recent cnn town hall meeting. >> my question to you is, will

you pardon the january 6th rioters who were convicted of federal offenses? >> i am inclined to pardon many of them. i can't say for every single one because a couple of 'em probably they got out of control. what i've done to these people, they've persecuted these people. yeah, my answer is, i am most likely, if i get in, i will most likely, i would say, it will be a large portion of them. >> it's unbelievable, the party of law and order? that's what they tell us, it's law and order for the poor? is it law and order for the dispossessed? is it law and order for what? everybody but rioters who tried to overthrow the federal government, to keep a republican in the white house after he lost? you know, the people that are talking about pardoning, desantis and trump, are people like stewart rhodes who said,

"they won't fear up until we come with rifles in our hands." rhodes wrote a message ahead of january 6th, saying after the attack, a recording was played in court during his trial when he said, i'm a political prisoner, trump is saying he's a political prisoner, desantis is saying, oh, it's the fbi and doj's fault. don't you understand, that's their fault. no, it's stewart rhodes' fault. after january 6th, after the cops had the hell beaten out of them by american flags, he said his only regret was, we should have brought rifles. let me tell you something, about 400 rioters have already received sentences for their crimes, for their violent, vile acts committed on january 6th. their anti-american, treasonous acts.

200 have been incarcerated for that rioting, for the beating of cops. support the blue? not quite. not even close. for donald trump and his rioters, it was beat the hell out of the cops. yes, they were planning to overthrow american democracy. it's called sedition. law enforcement still seeking 350 criminals who committed violent acts at the capitol, and that search goes on. trust me, the rioters will be found, and they will be brought to justice, too. you know, trump and desantis praise these rioters that you're looking at. they praise the seditionists, the convicts. they send a very clear, very loud message to others. you try to overthrow the federal government while beating the hell out of cops with american flags that our troops have proudly marched into battle for over two centuries, as they storm government buildings, destroy american democracy,

that's okay. stand back and stand by. let me tell you something, the rotted corpse of what once was the republican party, it just keeps lurching forward zombie like. it'll follow donald trump into whatever gutter he takes them on this eight-year march toward fascism. not almost fascism, not something quite like fascism, but fascism itself. and to think, the republican party i grew up in and the conservatives that, well, they claim to be conservatives, they once talked about being the party of law and order. they argued that criminal penalties did not just punish the violators like stewart rhodes, but also discouraged other people from committing those same violent crimes. but no more, desantis. no more, donald trump. wow.

do you think that's going to win swing voters in the suburbs? you've got another thing coming. the only thing i can say is, thank god for the judicial branch. let me say that again because i say it a lot. thank god for the judicial branch. the only one of the three branches that stayed true to madison's promise of checks and balances across our great republic's government. federal judges, both conservative and liberal alike, did not mindlessly follow donald trump, and that's why the rule of law still reigns supreme in america and why justice keeps getting done in courthouses across america every day. hey, guess what? if you're out there, if you committed crimes, if you committed violent acts on january 6th, they're coming to get you and bring you in, not as a political prisoner, but as somebody who defiled the united states capitol and tried to

shred the constitution of the united states. know this, justice will be served. david ignatius, i look at stewart rhodes' conviction yesterday, 18 years. i don't think it's enough, but that's what they got for him, 18 years. what message does that send to all the other people out there that listen to idiots on podcasts or on websites that are saying, "let's overthrow the federal government"? i've heard this for 30 years from wingnuts on the far reaches of parties. donald trump tried to bring it mainstream, and a lot of people are sitting in jail for a very long time because of it. >> joe, the words of the judge in the stewart rhodes' case ring in my mind, amit mehta.

should in everybody's. you, sir, are an ongoing threat and a peril to this country. then he gave him the 18-year sentence. he insisted there is no crime worse that he could hear here than seditious conspiracy. it is a message, as you've been saying, that this judge, and i think you're right, the court system in general, will not tolerate the kind of behavior that we saw on january 6th. but i thought this judge was especially direct, blunt in calling stewart rhodes what he is, which is a person who wants to overturn the system of government we have in this country. i'm glad he is so specific. now, we've got to see whether justice can finish these prosecutions, can keep going and, indeed, will approach the person who launched the riots in the first place, which is former president trump. coming up, an explosive new report on the mar-a-lago documents case that could give a clearer picture of exactly what

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♪♪ let's turn back to the new reporting on two of donald trump's mar-a-lago employees moving boxes of papers the day before a visit by fbi agents and a prosecutor. they were there to remove classified documents in response to a subpoena. that timing is now being viewed as suspicious. and a potential indication of possible obstruction, joe. this seems to me like some of the clearest reporting yet as to exactly what jack smith is looking at and potentially what he could charge. >> yeah, no doubt about it. why don't we bring in the co-author of the story. "washington post" reporter covering the justice department, perry stein. tell us about what you guys uncovered. >> yeah, thanks for having me.

"the washington post," we reported yesterday that the day before that justice department officials and fbi agents came to mar-a-lago to collect, to retrieve materials that they asked for in a subpoena, we learned that the day before that, there's now evidence that boxes were moved back. boxes with classified materials were moved back into the storage room. that suggests that there was -- we knew that after the subpoena was issued, boxes were moved out. now, we know boxes were moved back in before law enforcement officials came to collect them. >> perry, one of the things that was so interesting in your reporting was also that he left some of these documents, reportedly, out for potentially people to see. i wanted to ask you more about that, what more do you know about that? how much does it matter, as you've been talking to justice department officials, as to what those documents he may have left out are about?

i know we don't know the answer to that yet, but tell us a little more about that piece of your reporting. >> yeah, so we don't know exactly who he showed them to, what he did with them, what the specific documents say. we know he was showing them. i mean, it is a crime to mishandle classified material, so i am sure that plays into both, you know, what the crime he potentially or people there potentially committed and possibly into intent, as well. >> perry, give us a sense, if you will, who investigators have been speaking to at mar-a-lago. are these employees? they've pierced attorney/client privilege for one of the attorneys trump is using because that person is heavily involved in this. walk us through who smith, the special counsel, has been talking to. >> we know from this reporting yesterday that there were two employees, at least we know of now, that were moving documents around after the subpoena was issued and before they came to collect on that subpoena. so the one that has been public

so far is a valet, meaning an aide to trump. this person was a staffer at mar-a-lago, this second person. they seem to be staff members who were moving the documents around. the lawyer for one of these people told us on the record yesterday that, "my guy had no idea what he was doing. he was just moving these boxes to help out. he didn't know what was in them or he was potentially committing a crime." >> perry stein of "the washington post," thank you for your reporting. appreciate it. you know, reverend al, they do know. they do understand at mar-a-lago. from, let's just say, my reporting, donald trump understands he's in serious trouble here. when you have a judge in this case that has already pierced the attorney/client privilege because -- well, the only time a judge can do that is when they believe a crime may have been

committed through that attorney/client privilege. at that point, you get this information about the boxes being moved the day before the doj and fbi come down. donald trump does understand, has to understand, and everybody around him has to understand, this is not going to end well for him or people that are close to him. >> not only do they understand that it's not going to end well, they know more than any of us know. until recently, what the prosecutors knew what they did. it was a question, i believe, of them finding a ways that they would try to limit what would be discovered. i think that they know very well, like anybody that does anything that is wrong or even criminal, what is the possible things that could be discovered,

which is why they made these moves that seem desperate. but you may be guessing at just the tip of the iceberg of a lot of things. i think that's what we're seeing. to move boxes the day before they are coming to a deal with this matter seems to me that you're dealing with people that are really, really panicking on the possibilities of what could be uncovered. a top republican just said the quiet part out loud. admitting his party's investigation into president biden is all about boosting donald trump. our panel has a lot to say about that next.

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yesterday, oversight committee chair james comer was asked whether he thought his investigation was the reason for an uptick in media coverage about the biden family's business dealings. his response was to cite head-to-head poll numbers between president joe biden and donald trump. >> do you think that because of your investigation, that is what has moved this needle with the media? >> absolutely. absolutely. there is no question. you look at the polling, and right now, donald trump is seven points ahead of joe biden and trending upward. joe biden is trending downward. i believe the media is looking around, scratching their head, and they're realizing the american people are keeping up with our investigation. >> actually, we're realizing you made a fool of yourself time and time again, and you don't really -- you can't cherry-pick a poll. because a republican poll that just came out recently, public

opinion strategies, which is, of course, as we've said here, is the most respected republican pollster in washington, most republicans would suggest that, been around for 25 years, their latest poll has, i think it's from the 13th to the 15th of may, has joe biden up over donald trump. has him up even over donald trump in georgia. we could go through all of it. it's tight, but there's nothing coming out of comer's investigation, but more embarrassments for him. he hasn't produced any evidence, any evidence. by the way, even right-wing allies in the media say it'd prove members of the biden family engaged in any criminal activity. willie, you listen to that and it reminds you of somebody else, doesn't it? we keep asking, why are they freaking out so much in hearings and screaming, taking a tragedy

and trying to turn it into some big political hit job on benghazi? let's play the tape. we can see the parallels. >> there's a match. >> everybody thought hillary clinton was unbeatable, right? but we put together a benghazi special committee, a select committee. what are her numbers today? her numbers are dropping. why? because she's untrustable. but no one would have known any of that had happened had we not -- >> i agree. >> jen palmieri, that is kevin mccarthy in 2015 saying the quiet part out loud, that her poll numbers are down. it's proving hillary clinton is untrustable. sorry for using one of your trigger words, benghazi, as someone who worked on the 2016 campaign. but there are notable differences here. that was only, what, eight years ago. at least they pretended or tried

to publicly say, republicans did, that benghazi was about getting to the bottom of the deaths of americans at benghazi. they said this is not about hillary clinton. they said that publicly. by the way, after kevin mccarthy made those comments, trey gowdy, the chairman of the benghazi committee called him in and made him apologize. he said, he's my friend, so it is especially disappointing. republicans showed how disappointed they were in kevin mccarthy and condemning what he said. with this biden family investigation, it is about joe biden and his family, so they really can't say anything other than, we're glad to see, at least in one poll that they found, that it is taking a toll. >> i mean, shows you the erosion of the integrity of the republican party even in the last eight years. also, how young kevin mccarthy looked in that, right? that was shocking. responsibility ages people. but, you know, that -- what kevin mccarthy said in '15 in benghazi, first of all, one of the best days of the clinton campaign, because it proved our

theory that this was political and not within merit about what actually happened at benghazi. but that was seen as costing kevin mccarthy the speakership. that move. he did have to backtrack it. as you said, trey gowdy did go after him. now, jim comer, the chair of the committee, just goes ahead and asserts, that is the purpose. the purpose is to -- the purpose is to drive down biden's standing with the public. i mean, joe's point about the fact the polls, you know, most of these polls definitely do not show donald trump beating biden. it shouldn't be the point. also, they are failing even in trying to, you know, assert any kind of real case against the biden family here.

ahead on "morning joe," quote, what josh hawley and the right get wrong about manhood. we'll bring in the author of that piece. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. now i feel free to bare my skin, thanks to skyrizi. ♪(uplifting music)♪ ♪nothing is everything♪ i'm celebrating my clearer skin... my way. with skyrizi, 3 out of 4 people achieved 90% clearer skin at 4 months. in another study, most people had 90% clearer skin, even at 5 years. and skyrizi is just 4 doses a year, after 2 starter doses. serious allergic reactions and an increased risk of infections or a lower ability to fight them may occur. tellour doctor if you have an infection or symptoms, had a vaccine, or plan to. thanks to clearer skin with skyrizi - this is my moment. there's nothing on my skin and that means everything!

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the left wanted to define traditional masculinity as toxic. they want to define masculine virtues, courage, independence and assertiveness, as a danger to society. this is an effort that the left has been at for years now, and they have had alarming success. >> that's republican senator josh hawley discussing the left's so-called attacks on masculinity during a speech back in 2021. that fight over manhood has become a key focus for hawley, as he and other republicans seem to be courting the support of disillusioned men. joining us now, editor at "the washington monthly," will norris. will, you take a look at senator hawley's version of masculinity in a piece titled "what josh hawley and the right get wrong about manhood." you say, republicans like hawley are confronting a genuine social problem, but they're using it to promote their careers, to bring disillusioned, young men into the party's fold in

fundamentally harmful ways. they're misdiagnosing what is causing the ills of men and boys. spoiler alert, it's not feminism. and they're wooing those hurting through a message of resentment. the reception on the left to hawley's masculinity crusade has been predictable. jeers, sneers but little appreciation for a real social problem. many young men are hurting, women too often face misogyny, discrimination and violence. acknowledging the woes of one group doesn't diminish the suffering of another. by refusing to show how they're delivering for men the way they boast of delivering for women or minorities, democrats are blowing it. they're failing to expose the fraudulence of the right and leaving votes on the table. joe, this whole manhood thing

has been an interesting tactic. >> well, it has. there's a reason why politicians are talking about it, at least politicians on the right. because by one measurement after another, young men actually are in a state of crisis. as will points out, it's only the republicans right now that seem to notice this. so, will, let's talk about how republicans, not just republicans, but also what i see all the time when i go online. i've got three boys. varying ages. i've kind of seen this moving. you know, the message from these people start out fairly positive, which is, you know, get out of your rooms. get off of your screens. get outside. exercise, make something of yourself. that's the first part of the message. and anybody that has seen what's happened to boys, young men over the past 15 years, would say,

great message. but then it turns dark to misogyny and bigotry. talk about, politically, why people like steve bannon have identified this group and are trying to push them in a more radical direction. >> yeah, well, thank you so much for having me on today. i think this tendency we're seeing among hawley and j.d. vance and marjorie taylor greene and some of the other figures on the right-wing fringe of the party, to sort of mobilize misogyny this way really did start in its sort of current permutation with the 2016 trump campaign. steve bannon was -- he really pioneered that strategy of sort of going after -- he used the tools of cambridge analytica to attract them to his cause, the

trump cause. other republicans since that campaign, like hawley, identified that as a winning strategy. >> reverend al, i'm going to go to you. i know you have a question for will, but this is something that will points out. the democrats shouldn't just leave to people like josh hawley and steve bannon, the democrats -- you can see two crises at once, right? if you talk about the crisis of manhood, if you talk about the crisis of young boys, the crisis of young men, as you have done for so many years, rev, that doesn't mean women aren't facing misogyny. that doesn't mean women aren't facing their own challenges either. there's been almost this zero-sum game. if you talk about men, then you're supporting toxic masculinity. into this void have come people

like hawley and people like bannon. there is a massive crisis among young men. you look at the numbers. it seems to be growing by the year. what are some effective ways for people other than these far-right political profiteers, what are some of the ways to help young men? >> i think the first thing you have to do is not ignore the issue. address young men and say, "we understand the issue. we understand what you're facing. we understand the crisis you're facing." and we have to deal with that as we fight for rights for women against misogyny and homophobia and the rest. i think that a lot of what they've been able to do, the bannons of the world, hawley and others, is the fact that they even addressed them. it attracts them because they're feeling ignored.

i'm talking about young men. i think any time you create a vacuum, whoever fills it benefits from it. coming up, u.s. surgeon general vivek murthy joins us with a new warning about social media and mental health. "morning joe" will be right back. ght back what are folks 60 and older up to these days? getting inspired! volunteering! playing pickleba...!

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♪♪ the united states surgeon general has issued a new advisory this morning warning about the adverse effects of social media on our younger population. according to the department of health and human services and the general surgeon, nearly half of the teenagers they spoke to say 64% are exposed to hate-based content often or sometimes. nearly 75% say social media

sites and apps are only doing a fair to poor job of addressing online harassment. joining us now, u.s. surgeon general dr. vivek murthy. >> thank you so much for being with us, mr. surgeon general. tell us about your surgeon general's advisory over social media and the mental health of youth in america. >> well, we're living in the middle of a youth mental health crisis in america. i said before, this is the defining public health issue of our time. the reason i'm issuing this advisory, i'm very concerned now that social media is an important factor that is driving this youth mental health crisis. you know, i talk to parents all across the country, and the most common question they ask me is, is social media safe for my kids? the truth is, when we look at the collection of publicly available evidence, talk to subject matter experts, we can't say that social media is, in fact, safe for kids. what we do see is growing evidence of harms. specifically, think about the

fact that kids who use more than three hours of social media a day face a greater risk, in fact double the risk, of depression and anxiety symptoms. this is especially concerning when you consider the fact that the average amount of use by kids is 3 1/2 hours a day. the bottom line is, this is a real point of concern here. when nearly half of kids are telling us that social media use makes them feel worse about their body image, i think about that as a father with two young children. i want what every parent wants. i want my kids to grow up confident, feeling good about themselves, and they want them to be able to thrive. we should make sure that social media is, in fact, a place where our kids get benefits and where they're not harmed. >> so what does an advisory do at this point, in terms of spreading the message? i think a lot of parents are living the message, and social media has become a part of the fabric of young people's lives. it's not something, as a parent, you have a lot of power over. you have some but you don't have a lot.

in other cases of things that were dangerous toward children, there were regulations or laws or bans. they can't smoke. they're not supposed to smoke cigarettes. they're supposed to wear a seat belt. they can't drink alcohol until a certain age. what is the solution, and what does this advisory do? >> what should parents do? >> really good questions. i'm glad you brought up parents, mika. parents are in a difficult situation here. i hear this from parents all the time. they are having to deal with the technology that is rapidly evolving, that is pervasive. around 95% of kids are using social media. a technology that fundamentally changed how our kids look at themselves and each other in the world. a technology that prior generations never had to deal with, contend with or manage. parents are in a difficult situation. what i worry about, mika, is that we have largely put the burden of managing social media on the shoulders of parents and kids. what they find themselves is

pitted against some of the best product designers in the world, who designed the platforms to maximize the amount of time that kids spend on the platforms. what i care about as surgeon general, as a doctor, a dad, is their health and well-being. what this advisory does is, number one, helps parents understand what the data tells us about the mental health impact of social media on our kids. it also calls to action policymakers, technology companies, researchers and others, and lays out concrete actions they can take. finally, consider this, mika, you mentioned other places where we look to support parents in making decisions and keeping kids safe. the thing about cars, we don't tell a parent of a 15 or 16-year-old who is about to start driving, "you figure out whether the car is safe on your own. figure out what tools and sort of safety provisions and features it needs." we establish safety standards, then we implement them and enforce them. that's what we need policymakers to do here.

this is too much to place on the shoulders of parents alone. >> dr. murthy, good morning. when the cdc report came out in friday, it dropped the jaws, i think, of a lot of parents, that showed especially teenage girls, young girls, 60% or something like that have feelings of persistent sadness and hopelessness. we talked about suicidal ideation, all these things that just break the heart of anybody who read that study. is there any doubt in your mind that this huge spike in that is directly linked to the proliferation of social media? >> well, i'm issuing this advisory because i am concerned that it is, in fact, linked. there are open questions we have to answer here. part of the challenge we have had in getting answers to all the questions we have about the full extent of social media's t had in getting answers to all the questions that we have about the full extent of social media impact, who is at greatest harm and the mechanisms is that researchers have not been able to get all the data that they need from

technology companies. it's something that i hear from researchers around the country. that is something that has to change. i recognize that some of the companies are working to make the platform safer. that is a good thing but it isn't enough. we need to move faster. social media has been around 20 years. yet i have not seen in all the publicly available evidence that we have looked at that there is clear evidence that this is, in fact, safe for our kids. that is what parents are asking for. it's a reasonable ask. consider this, the other day i came home. my wife and i were talking to my daughter 5 years old in preschool. she asked us about posting a picture on social media. she is 5 years old, in preschool. we don't talk to her about social media but her classmates are talking about it. this is pervasive and everywhere. that's why it's important that we support parents. what we are doing for our kids, our kids as they get older, our goal is going to be to delay

the use of social media until after middle school, recognizing that it's easier said than done. we need help. we are looking for other parents to partner with who take a similar approach to their kids. there is strength in numbers. for kids that are already on social media a couple of things i would offer. start a conversation with your children about social media, about the benefits and harms but when they should be worried, when they are harassed or bullied as so many kids are. there are certain parts in life you want to protect, sleep, in person time with others and time for physical activity. making those times in their life tech free zones is one way to help protect our children. coming up on morning joe, sara barellis. sara barellis. when you're wearing a mask. and i have noticed those lines beginning to really become not so much moderate

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that is the audible original singing competition called break through. it features sara bareilles and kelly roland. they find five undiscovered musicians to become me sick's next. it is audio only so it puts the focus on the music ability. sara bareilles joins us in studio. great to see you. >> this is not on twitter spaces. sounded good. >> politics this morning, it didn't go great. >> let's keep it to audible. this seems like the next -- if the voice on nbc was we can't see the performance and hear it and judge it on the -- this is the next step of that. you just have to be a great musician, singer to get through. >> we realized -- kelly and i

talked about it a lot, how much information you get visually and how much biases and assumptions about who a person is by information you get about the way they look, how tall they are, how they dress. so, it was very intimate. it reminded me of the way i used to listen to music on my bedroom floor, reading lyrics. it's a really intimate way. >> you are not in the room. >> never saw the contestants. i saw them for the first time yesterday. we had the finale taping. you know how people had masks on in covid, that's not the mouth i gave them. i was like, oh, my gosh, that's not what -- i thought you had red hair. but then immediately they all came to life exactly as they were. incredible. >> then you choose them for the right reason, their talent. >> what drew this to you?

was it the #kwred idea of focusing on the music? >> i'm drawn to doing things i haven't done before. that is something that is a big draw for me. i hadn't worked in this space before. and i love the sort of courage of doing -- it is a competition show but not really. we didn't have a winner every week. we didn't have -- there was a winner chosen at the end of it but the point of break through was about these artists evolving and they all did. so -- their connection -- this is a kind, nurturing competition show, you know. and nobody was mean, which is the other -- >> a great idea. the way we can zoom things. we are trained with podcasts and everything else, listen in the car. we have to ask you about the tony nomination for into the woods. congratulations. you said it was a complete

surprise for something that was supposed to to be a two-week theater thing. >> it turned into a broadway run and tony nomination performance which is meaningful. as a theater kid, waitress was an extraordinary adventure for me but i never imagined myself as a broadway composer, imagined myself to be on stage in this way. this community means more to me than anything in the world. >> you can listen to the audible original breakthrough next wednesday june 1st streaming where you get your podcast. sara bareilles, thank you very much. that does it for us. have a great rest of your memorial day weekend.