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we're not going to be gaslighted on this. we remember donald trump hand-selected three members of the united states supreme court. [ boos ] with the intention that they would undo the protections of roe v. wade, and they did as he intended. oh, you guys are at the wrong

rally. [ cheers and applause ] no, i think you meant to go to the smaller one down the street. [ cheers and applause ] >> that's pretty good. vice president kamala harris responding to anti-abortion protesters yesterday in wisconsin. it was at one of three stops for her across that key battleground state. we'll have more from the campaign trail in just a moment. we'll also have more about her interview with fox news, including how many more people tuned in for her very revealing sitdown with bret baier compared to donald trump's town hall on the same network. speaking of the former president, he was in new york yesterday for a charity dinner that is traditionally attended by both presidential candidates, but he spent part of his day on

social media, on his personal social media platform, obsessing over kamala harris' interview with "60 minutes," an interview he refused to do. also ahead, elon musk was in pennsylvania yesterday pushing debunked and dangerous conspiracy theories about election fraud. we'll play for you those comments. and we'll have the latest out of the middle east following an operation that killed a hamas leader, yaya sinwar. james stavridis and richard haass will join us. this has major implications for the world. good morning and welcome to "morning joe." it is friday, october 18th. we begin on the campaign trail where vice president kamala harris made several stops in the battleground of wisconsin yesterday. here's what she had to say in la

crosse, wisconsin. >> donald trump was at a univision town hall where a voter asked him about january 6th. [ boos ] okay. so now we here know january 6th was a tragic day. it was a day of terrible violence. there were attacks on law enforcement, 140 law enforcement officers were injured. some were killed, and what did donald trump say last night about january 6th? he called it a, quote, a day of love. [ boos ] but -- but it points out something that everyone here knows. the american people are exhausted with his gaslighting. [ applause ] exhausted with his gaslighting. enough. we are ready to turn the page.

and then consider the comments that he made just in the last few days, because he just -- he's got more. he said he will target and punish those who disagree with him or refuse to bend to his will. he calls these americans the enemy within. [ boos ] and says that he would use the american military to go after american citizens. journalists whose stories he doesn't like, nonpartisan election officials who refuse to cheat by finding a few extra votes for him, judges who insist on following the law instead of following him. >> all right. let's bring in the host of "way too early," white house bureau

chief at politico, jonathan lemire, u.s. special correspondent for bbc news, katty kay, nbc news national affairs analyst, and a partner in chief political columnist at "puck," john heilemann, and pulitzer prize-winning columnist and associate editor at "the washington post," eugene robinson. >> i want to get to fox news and an update that is even more revealing than interview itself on the kamala harris interview with bret baier. how is she looking on the campaign trail in terms of her ability to keep the energy up and to keep the fire at donald trump in terms of exactly what he's doing that she considers to be a danger? >> mika, i would say that the thing that we were hearing from the peanut gallery and from the democratic -- i guess what they would call the bedwetting caucus

about a week ago was why is she not doing enough? where is she? she's not doing enough interviews or campaign events. whatever the merits of those comments a week ago, they're not -- you're not hearing them now, and i think the combination of the two weeks now of solid media engagement across -- the range of mainstream, the things that everyone in the washington, the beltway establishment media wants her to do, whether it's "60 minutes" or go on fox news. those things, she did charlamagne tha god, she's done "call her daddy." she's done every possible outlet that you can do in the alternative media or the month-mainstream media. we're waiting for her to go on joe rogan. i don't have anup date on whether she's going to do that or not, but that was one thing the campaign was pursuing for various reasons that have to do with the target groups that are left for her, but she has had this full-court media assault and has come through it in some cases having done exceptionally

well, and in some cases having done just fine, and now she seems to be full boar out of the campaign trail and you saw that in the wisconsin clip we played in terms of had energy, but also i don't know how long she's been cooking up that you're at the wrong rally. you should be at the smaller one up the street. i have no idea if that came to her in the moment or if she's been waiting to drop that on a heckler. that's a world class -- that's a world class torching of the -- >> that was fantastic. of course, donald trump would say that the person should be beat you have. that's a good contrast as well. it's important in establishing the contrast is so jonathan lem exactly what he was saying. kamala harris is blanketing swing states, five appearances a day, three rallies in a day. i mean, this is as energetic as it gets, and it's pretty positive in terms of tone, but also very, very -- a big warning

as much as she can to americans about what's at stake here. on the other hand, former president donald trump appears to be canceling every interview has any slight possibility of holding him to account. >> yeah. i was in washington the last couple of days, mika, speaking to senior democrats and harris allies, and a number of them concede that the -- the slower pace of her schedule there for a few weeks, that was a mistake, but they have corrected it in a significant way, and she's been out there barnstorming, hitting the campaign trail. three events in wisconsin yesterday, doing these media interviews, and they are thrilled with the fallout from the fox news interview. they think she showed real strength there, and we'll get into it. she tussled back with bret baier, called him out on the selective edit. >> yep. >> they think that really played well, and there are a lot of people watching that including women watching that who are going to be -- really recognize that dynamic, kamala being

interrupted and not being able to speak and that will resonate with that, and they think she stood up to a bully in that moment, and it'll play well. as for trump, he made an appearance at the dinner last night and was decidedly not funny and turned it into a campaign rally. harris opted to skip it and sent a video message instead. outside of that, his schedule has really shrunk. he's canceled a series of interviews and canceled what seemed like pretty easy events for him, including an appearance at an nra convention in georgia in a couple of days. that's been scrapped too. so it seems like his team is really trying to play it safe right here, trying to run out the clock, and that's a mistake, i think, because polls suggest this is a complete tossup race, and democrats, mika, right now that i speak to the last couple of days, feel a lot better about things. yes, they know it's close, but they feel a lot better about things than they did two weeks ago. they feel like harris has room to grow here in the end in the closing weeks. >> well, it turns out -- i believe, like, 8 million people

watched the fox interview. i've heard a number from 7 million to 8.2 million, and they got to see everything all at once in one moment. i actually think it was one of -- a more important moment in political history, modern political history than we could have imagined when it actually happened, but as i look back at it, what she was able to do in that one moment when she called out bret baier for showing the wrong clip, for misleading the american people, she was able to point, again, to donald trump's threat to go after his political adversaries with the military and show how a friendly media network that bends to his will will play to him, in even avoiding stories. so they show completely the wrong clip. she calls him out on it. now let me just tell you from being in tv news all my life, local, cable, network, anybody

at this table, i know the producers in the booth. if a clip runs and it's wrong, everybody knows it right away. it's, like, not the clip you're expecting. you know what you're expecting, and bret baier is really intelligent. i mean, they've got the best producers there, highest rated shows. they knew it was the wrong clip, and if they had even said something in the broadcast that they did 20 minutes later after the interview, that would have been reasonable. they waited a full day to tuck into the end of bret's show -- oh, by the way, i did make a mistake. i did not see the clip i was expecting. here's the clip i was expecting. okay. moving on, and no one on the network has talked about the clip at all. all they've done is talk about how kamala harris is nasty, but they haven't talked about how she actually called out fox news

on fox news for what they do, which is sometimes disinformation depending on the show, but at other times, it's subtle like this. misleading the american public, moving things, avoiding the actual point of a story, or just not covering it, and in this case, it was all revealed in one moment by the candidate who was in the hot seat during a contentious interview, and yet she noticed the clip was wrong. he didn't? i'm absolutely certain he knew it was the wrong clip, and he should have said it right away. so gene, your new column in "the washington post" is titled "harris ought to send bret baier flowers for that fox news interview." i agree. tell us more. >> yeah. no, absolutely, because what an -- what an opportunity, and it was a moment -- there was potential great peril for her in going on that interview with fox

news, and there was also a potential big upside, and i think she got all the upside she possibly could have gotten and more. she -- first of all, she got to present herself as she is, not as the caricature that fox viewers have been told she is for -- since she got in the race or even before. she's not the sort of empty, vacuous shell. >> right. >> who speaks only in word salad, and, in fact, she is a forceful, really informed person who has command of the issues, who doesn't back down from anybody, and who was able to not just sort of stand up to what a lot of people saw as bullying, but -- but -- >> yeah. >> snap back at it. and call it out. >> hey, gene, the video we just

showed. i don't know if we can put it up again, but it's really important because that is such an important moment. she's telling him, you've got the wrong clip. look at him. he's not -- he's not owning up to it. >> mm-hmm. >> he's -- he's hoping that she'll get really angry, but the thing is they have shown the wrong clip, and he's not saying to his viewers, you're right. that was the wrong clip. let's get the right clip prepared or let's find it and let's show it, and instead, he moves on and leaves it hanging there, and i'm sorry. that is what they do, and i'm really glad that 8.2 million americans had a chance if they wanted it, and a lot of people can't be moved, but had a chance to see what they do in realtime. i'll let you continue with your point. we've got a lot of news to get to. >> that's absolutely right.

that's -- another -- that was a huge benefit that she got out of this interview, that i didn't see coming, which was exposing what fox news does, and that was -- i mean, on fox news. i thought that was incredible. the other thing she got to do is to explain, yes. she does have policies. the fox viewers have been told over and over again that, oh, she doesn't -- she doesn't have any policies. she doesn't -- who is she? what is she about? what does she want to do? she got to talk about what she will do as president of the united states, and -- >> yep. >> her economic programs, and other, by the way, you might not have heard that all the -- all the national security officials who worked for donald trump are all opposing him this time around because they think he's so dangerous, and oh by the way, i just came from an event with 100 republicans who were crossing party lines to vote for

me instead of donald trump. she got to put facts into the -- the right-wing media bubble which believes in alternative facts, and i thought that was really significant. it's like putting a virus into that machine, and so all in all, i thought it was -- she got more out of it than she could have possibly hoped. coming up, a live report from tel aviv after israeli forces killed the architect of last year's terror attack. what it means for the hostages still held captive in gaza when "morning joe" comes right back. "morning joe" comes right back

when i was five, i began getting sexually abused by my stepfather. and he got me pregnant when i was 12. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ 64,000 pregnancies from rape have occurred in states with total abortion bans. and trump did this. women and girls need to have choices. with kamala harris we do. i'm kamala harris and i approve this message.

we turn to the development out of the middle east, and the death of hamas leader yahya sinwar. the israeli defense force announcing they've eliminated the leader. they found him by chance in southern gaza on wednesday, ending a year-long search for the man believed to be the architect of the october 7th attack. officials say troops were patrolling an area of rafah when they noticed there were three terrorists fleeing from house to house.

the two sides then engaged in gunfire, and all three militants were killed. it was only then that israeli forces suspected one of those terrorists might be yahya sinwar. the idf later ran dna tests to confirm his identity. nbc news correspondent hala gorani has more on this from tel aviv. >> reporter: we have new details about the operation that led to the killing of yahya sinwar, the leader of hamas. we were briefed by daniel hagari, one of the spokespeople for the israeli military. he showed and projected drone video showing the last moments of yahya sinwar sitting slumped in a big chair in a bombed out house. the drone captured images of him. he appeared injured. he threw a piece of wood at the drone as it was flying, as it was coming close to him in that building, and then we understand according to hagari, that israeli forces fired at the

building, killing the individual. it is only the following day that israeli forces conducted a sweep of the area and realized that the man that they had killed looked, according to the soldiers on the ground, a lot like yahya sinwar. they identified him through fingerprints and dental records. they had all this information about yahya sinwar because this is a man who had spent 22 years in israeli prison, and was released only in 2011. two other people were also killed. we don't know what their names are or what ranks they held within hamas. now the hostage families have reacted. of course, they are hoping that this development will bring them closer to the day they are reunited with their loved ones, and palestinians as well, inside the gaza strip, one of our teams caught up with ordinary palestinians in the besieged enclave. they too were hoping that the fact that yahya sinwar is now

dead means that perhaps the end of the war is near, but the israeli prime minister has said that that is not the case, that, in fact, the war will continue with full force until all the hostages are released. >> let's bring in president emeritus of foreign relations, richard haass, and former supreme allied commander of nato, four-star navy admiral james stavridis. he's chief international analyst for nbc news. where to begin, admiral? i guess i'll start with you, if you could talk about the implications and moving forward, what happens? >> well, first and foremost, a very good day in the world of counterterrorism. yahya sinwar has significant blood on his hands, not just israeli, but also for americans, and i for one, salute the

israeli defense forces on a signal victory. i have heard, and i agree with the comparisons to taking out osama bin laden. it's really at that level within the context of the middle east. point two to be made is i am hopeful that this opens some new possibilities for a ceasefire. i think we heard already from the prime minister of israel that perhaps the war will simply continue as it is. let us hope that there can be a path to ceasefire, calming the situation in gaza. hamas is effectively broken as an organization. their ideology will perhaps continue on. i think frankly in the end, many of the palestinians in gaza will be happy to see the back of yahya sinwar, and then third and finally, from a u.s.

perspective, this is the moment for the biden administration, my view to redouble their efforts at the ceasefire piece of this. i think it's a given that israel will continue combat north in hezbollah territory, but i think there is a possibility here. i don't want to state it and get ahead of ourselves, but let us hope there can be some life breathed into the ceasefire. >> mm-hmm. mm-hmm. >> richard, tom friedman has reported on tony blinken's efforts with other arab countries to get to the day after, and what that would look like in gaza, including some kind of pan-arab security force based in the strip. how does the killing of yahya sinwar make that more or less likely, and what do you think the kind of time frame for that might be? >> well, it's up to essentially the israelis, whether it's more likely. whether you have a ceasefire or not, that takes both hamas and israel to do. it takes two to tango or to stop dancing, and it's not clear that you'll have the leadership on hamas' side to make such a

choice. it's not clear whether israel would accept it, but to go to the aftermath, that's something that could be done a bit more with u.s. leadership, and i would say this is a moment to think bigger, that the united states working with the uae, with saudi arabia, with egypt, now ought to press very hard for bringing in an arab stabilization force, into gaza, and call upon israel to introduce at long last, a political component that they have been -- that they have refused to introduce, to essentially say, we're prepared to participate in the process that includes the palestinian authority or their palestinian authority. no one is asking to sign onto a two-state solution today, but to begin at least a credible process enough that does two things. it gets an arab stabilization force to enter gaza, so you'll have security and governance, and by the way, this would not be peacekeeping. they would have to fight off the remnants and have a conversation with palestinians.

the way to defeat hamas is not just with a gun. they've marginalized. you've got to show palestinians there's a better path for them to secure some of their future, and that's something only israel can introduce by introducing a political component to its policy. >> so admiral, to richard's point, i have new reporting this morning. the white house sees this as an opportunity. at minimum, they hope the de-escalation of the fighting and yes, but they want -- they feel like they can perhaps get back to that ceasefire for a hostage release deal, but thinking that with sinwar's death, that will placate some of the extreme forces in netanyahu's government who just -- who just want to continue the bombardment. maybe this gives momentum to those there who say, look. it's easing up and let's get these hostages home. do we think netanyahu will listen? >> i am not sure if he will simply because there is a certain level of momentum and vested interest on the part of bb netanyahu conflict to continue. it pushes off the inevitable

investigation into what happened on october 7th, a massive failure of his government intelligence and defense, and secondly, he has his own legal challenges, all that comes back into the spotlight if the war diminishes. so he will have to, in my view, look hard in the mirror and make the right choice for the state of israel. let's hope he does so. i do want to make one additional point. we're talking a lot about the israelis and the palestinians and washington. there's another actor here, of course, and that would be tehran. what are the iranians going to do? they're kind of reeling at the moment, watching hamas severely degraded. hezbollah in the process of being degraded, massive strikes in yemen by long-range u.s. strategic bombers against the houthis, so yes. tehran is feeling the incoming as we would say in the military

world, but they make no mistake. they will be involved in these decisions, and we ought to watch that flank of the conversation as well. coming up, are republicans losing patience with kari lake? we'll get the latest on the u.s. senate race in arizona where the republican candidate is running well, behind donald trump. vaughn hillyard joins us straight ahead on "morning joe." s straight ahead on "morning joe." ♪ limu emu & doug ♪ woah, limu! we're in a parade. everyone customize and save hundreds on car insurance with liberty mutual. customize and sa— (balloon doug pops & deflates) and then i wake up. and you have this dream every night? yeah, every night!

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