know, the die was cast back the first tuesday of november. donald trump will get the cabinet he wants and they may have different names than we think right now. >> i think that is fair assessment. the pace of these picks have been relent is. some big ones do remain, though. we are all waiting for the head of the fbi, as well secretary of treasury. there is reporting there that some real disagreements in his camp about that and well, of course, stay on it. authorist and columnist and conservative writer, matt allow wirks thank you for being with lewis, thank you for being with us. thank you for getting with us "way too early" on this monday morning. "morning joe" starts right now. >> absolutely. and i believe the senate should have access to that. now should it be released to the public or not? that -- i guess that will be part of the negotiations but that should be part of our decision making. article 2 and section 2 in the constitution, the senate has to

advise and consent these individuals and in that process, we are going to get matt gaetz, give him the same chance as we give all of president trump's nominee. >> of course it should be released and not just democrats saying that. you have repeatedly seen senate republicans make clear who are on the senate judiciary committee or throughout that chamber say that they want access to all available information so they can make a decision about whether the nominee for attorney general is qualified to serve in that office. >> a bipartisan call yesterday for the release of an ethics report on donald trump's pick for attorney general. we will show you the response from house speaker mike johnson and take a look at where support for matt gaetz's nomination stands with senators right now. plus, the latest on a sexual assault allegation against former fox news host pete

hegseth who trump has selected as secretary of defense. meanwhile, in the final stretch of his term, president biden is making a major policy change, allowing ukraine to use american-made long-range missiles for strikes inside of russia. we will explain how it could impact the war. and president biden held what is likely to be his final meeting with chinese president xi jinping over the weekend. we will have more about that sit-down and what the chinese leader had to say about the incoming administration. good morning. welcome to "morning joe." it is monday, november 18th. with us is the host of "way too early" white house bureau chief at politico, jonathan lemire. columnist and associate editor for "the washington post," david ignatius is with us. and rogers chair and the american presidency of vanderbilt university, historian jon meacham. a great group this morning. a lot of news to get to. we have some news to break as well. so a big day today.

>> a big day today, mika. i know with all of the things going on, not only in washington, d.c. but across the world, the thing you like us to talk about first is josh allen. jonathan lemire, let me tell you something. steve young made some extraordinary runs back in the 1980s, especially in '88 against the vikings in a playoff game. josh allen last night in probably the game of the year in the nfl, what a finish. >> the nation needed this, joe. there he josh allen. this is the signature play of the year. right now that puts him, i'd argue, as the front-runner for nfl mvp this year. stakes were to big. fourth and two. the bills on the outside -- outskirts of field goal range but there was time left on the clock that had they only gotten three or if josh allen had been stopped here, you knew that the kansas city chiefs and patrick mahomes would do what they do so often and go down the field and score and break the hearts of

the buffalo bills. the bills went for it fourth and two and you saw that run. extraordinary athleticism. bills win. chiefs take their first loss of the season. >> it's unbelievable how fast and how strong and powerful the guy is. what an athlete. also, mika, she wanted us to talk about the steelers and ravens. another barn-burner. another extraordinary game. i tell you what, mika, we will wait. we have pablo coming up. >> good. >> he'll take us through the games in 30 minutes or so. >> okay, good. over past week, joe and i have heard from so many people from political leaders to regular citizens deeply dismayed by several of president-elect trump's cabinet selections and they are scared. last thursday, we expressed our own concerns on this broadcast and even said we would appreciate the opportunity to speak with the president-elect, himself. on friday, we were given the opportunity to do just that.

joe and i went to mar-a-lago to meet personally with president-elect trump. it was the first time we have seen him in seven years. >> we talked about a lot of issues, including abortion, mass deportation, threats of political retribution against political opponents and media outlets. we talked about that a good bit. it will come as no surprise to anybody who watches this show, has watched it over the past year or over the past decade, that we didn't see eye-to-eye on a lot of issues and we told him so. >> what we did agree on was to restart communications. my father often spoke with world leaders with whom he and the united states profoundly disagreed. that is a task shared by reporters and comment ators alike. we had not spoken to trump since march of 2020 other than a personal call that joe made a

call after the attempt on his life in butler, pennsylvania. in this meeting, president trump was cheerful and upbeat and he seemed interested in finding common ground with democrats on some of the most divisive issues. and for those asking why we would go speak to the president-elect during such fraught times, especially between us, i guess i would ask back -- why wouldn't we? five years of political war fare has deeply divided washington and the country. we have been as clear as we know how in expressing our deep concerns about president trump's actions and words in the coarsening of public debate for nearly 80 million americans, athletic denialism, public trials, january 6th, were not as important as the issues that moved them to send donald trump back to the white house with their vote. joe and i realized it's time to

do something different and that starts with not only talking about donald trump, but also talking with him. >> somebody close to donald trump told me this past weekend, this is a president who is not seeking re-election, so maybe, just maybe now could be time for both parties to get to work. i know. given the jarring headlines that we read every day, that may seem like a stretch but think about this. of the 150 million votes cast, donald trump got 50%. kamala harris got about 49%. so i don't know. it seems to make sense for leaders of both parties to seek common ground, if it's possible at all. i will tell you a lot of democratic leaders we have talked to this past week since the election have told mika and

me, it's time for a new approach. when i say top democrats, i mean top democrats. they said we are open -- this is before we talked to donald trump -- they said, listen. we are open to working with the incoming president if the incoming president is open to working with us. >> yeah. the question is, though, how do we get there? hyperbole and personal attacks will not work. my hair on fire doesn't work. we have all seen that! what also does not work is threatening political opponents with arrest, harassment, and even jail. that is a failed path. recent history has proven that impeachments and trials turn those on trial in to political martyrs and only make them more popular with the american people. just ask bill clinton and donald trump. we know this will be a consequential presidency.

the question is whether it will be constructive. it will take a new approach from all sides, from both parties, and a leader who can bring them together and only time will tell if donald trump can sthat leader. as for us, we also let him know that we will continue to speak truth to power and push back hard when called for, as we have with all presidents. >> don't be mistaken. we are not here to defend or normalize donald trump. we are here to report on him and to hopefully provide you insights that are going to better equip all of us in understanding these deeply unsettling times and i am reminded of what marty barron, legendary editor told his "the washington post" editors. we are not going to war, we are

go back to work. let's go to work with david ignatius. i told marty i loved what he said. we are not going to war. we are going to work. i tell you what, with mika and me, it has been very personal over the past eight years. it has been war on both sides, political war on both sides. and i'm reminded of a conversation we had with you this summer after i called president trump after the assassination attempt. i just talked to him and said, you know, politics is politics. we disagree on so many things, but just, you know, i made a call like so many other people made a call and saying i was hoping that he was doing all right. we had a discussion a couple of days later. you, mika, and myself, and you had a recommendation to mika that kind of went along the line marty barron told "the washington post" seven or eight

years ago. you want to talk about that? >> we are in the news business which means we talk to people. that part of how we do our jobs. we are also in the truth business which means we have to hold people accountable when we see things that we think are wrong or going to hurt the country, we have to be very forthright in saying that. last week when president-elect trump named his nominees for key positions, i wrote a column saying that some of them seemed qualified and reasonable choices. others seemed to be coming at their jobs with a wrecking ball. they were going after the military intelligence agencies it seems from their past statements in a way that would only harm those institutions. i've been a journalist now for so many years but i can remember when i covered the middle east i would talk to yasser arafat in bay route and a few weeks later i'm talking to the eader? jerusalem and part of doing the job means. mika said her own dad, although

he wasn't a journalist, was always talking to people. i think we need to keep that in mind. two things. we are in the news business and we are in the truth business. >> david, also, i remember during the first term at one point. you may not even remember this phone call. i was walking through the airport and you politely said every day, joe, every day, it's the same thing on your show. when you can find common ground, find common ground and talk about it. i've noticed you do that. i will tell you when so many people were in shock and mika and i were surprised, too, after the election result. your first column was talking about how donald trump had the possibility to move us closer to peace in the middle east. i think that was a very important column to write at the time. again, i thought i was a little sproifed surprised when i read it after the election but then you followed it up with really tough

column about dangers with his dod pick and with tulsi gabbard. is that the type of balancing you're talking about? >> it is, joe. i think in the news business, in commentary, need to call them as we see it. during donald trump's first term when he did something i thought made sense. the abraham between the saudi arabia and united arab emirates. i thought this was good for the country and good for the wreath and i felt the say way negotiate with north korea with reducing the risk of war. when he tried to hurt the country i was as emphatic as i could be. we are in the business of covering the world as whole. if people think we are partisans on one way or another, i think in the end their confidence in our ability to tell the truth, to do our job, you see some of that in the poll numbers about

how people feel about journalism ism. i don't want to add to that. >> you look at the results of the election, too. a new approach, i think, is needed where, again, we speak truth to power. we push back hard like we push back hard, whether it was with barack obama, whether it was with george w. bush, whether it was with donald trump or joe biden. jon meacham, i want to bring you in here and ask you. we discussed this last night and i was asking you your thoughts and you had said -- you said, you know, this is going to be a consequential presidency. it just is. >> yeah. >> one way or another. the question is whether it's going to be constructive. i'm just curious your thoughts. we saw picks last week that i think were horrifying to a good number of americans for many

republicans as well. so these are extraordinarily fraught times. i'm curious about where we stand right now in history, what you've seen. what is the best way forward? not only for reporters, but for all americans. and what does history teach us about moments like these? >> it's the most significant test of citizenship and of our -- really, i would gue, our patriotic commitments as opposed to our nationalistic appear tights. so bear with me took a second. patriotism is an allegiance not to just one's own kind, folks who look like you, but to an idea. and for us, that idea is the declaration of independence and embodied -- that is the north star and the constitution as amended is the user's guide.

and we -- i think america has always -- can judge itself on how fully or how incompletely we are in accord with the principles of the declaration. that is patriotism. nationalism is people already in your tribe and in your clan with the sea. so, to me, those are competing impulses and they have been competing impulses from the beginning of the american project. and they will continue to be. and so, to me, the great test how do those of us who fundamentally believe that the incoming administration is so likely to be out of sync with the constitutional norms, the ethos that so many of us grew up

with? and the fact that so many of us and everybody that we are talking to this morning has been part of this, i won't drag ignatius totally into this, give him some cover, but we have argued again and again and again that a second trump presidency was simply not worth the risk of the chaos and the unconstitutionalism. but guess what. those of us who believe in democracy have to obey the verdicts of that democracy. you pointed out a number of american voters decided to try this one more time. and so we have a patriotic question -- what do we do? we can't leave the arena because that would be emptive

surrender and we have to stay in the arena and patriotic stand for what we believe in. i think that is where a lot of the country is. i'm very worried that -- i suspect you all are hearing the same thing -- that so many people people so worn out by this struggle. it's not mindless opposition, let's be clear, but it does also require, as jefferson said, eternal vigilance. i would argue that the most important thing we can do at this point is enable the folks who stand on the guardrails and in this immediate case, it's the senate, right? if you believe that some of these picks are extreme, and they are, you have to -- because we will act as lincoln said, all people act on incentive. we need to signal to those who

have a stake in this, who have the vote on this, that there are people who believe that they are extreme. and so removing ourselves from the arena, tuning out, i think, would be the worst possible result. >> well, i mean, republicans will tell you some of these picks are extreme. i think it's important to look at -- you know, the first week when -- when susie wiles was selected, a lot of people applauded that selection and when marco rubio who didn't agree with marco rubio all at all, that is a secretary of state pick that he will be able to work with both sides because he was a senator and certainly worked with both sides with mark warner on the intel committee. look at arthur picks. john ratcliffe, a lot of democrats and the media were opposed to several years ago said, okay. well that is also -- it seems to be within the guardrails. some of these selections have

not been in the guardrails, david ignatius, and so you've talked about it and i think it's a good balance. it reminds me after ronald reagan got elected. you probably aren't, but i'm old enough to remember when ronald reagan got elected, he had a massive landslide and he was on "good morning america" the next day and they asked him, what do you do now? he said, we are the loyal opposition. we are going to fight him where it is necessary to fight him, not making it personal, but fight him on political issues and where we can agree, we will agree. i think that is very important. i think it's, obviously, very important -- a lot of people are scared by this election of his attorney general selection. a lot of republicans scared by it and a lot of republicans scared, as well as democrats, by this election of tulsi gabbard only because of her connections

with syria, because she is, at times in the ukrainian war, she is just echoed the words of vladimir putin and russia. so there are a lot of people that are concerned that donald trump and his administration will not get the intel they need because you can speak to this very well, they are just going to be other countries that are not going to share information and sensitive intel with tulsi gabbard. and so as i said last week repeatedly, a pick like tulsi gabbard or a pick like matt gaetz for a.g., that is not just bad for the republican party. that is not just bad for america. it's bad for donald trump because it makes him less effective. i understand he wants to find loyalists that will go in and overturn the rocks, you know, and see what is underneath them

and all of these different bureaucracies and i think most americans would say, okay, that is good. but not political retribution and not these selections that were end up hurting him and make him less effective and make the united states less effective. >> so, joe, as you know well, the military, the intelligence agencies are full of thousands of people who want to serve their country. sha that that is why they are doing it. they want to be professional how they do their jobs and they want to be respected. i get nervous when i see the nominee who has been making headlines for years as pete hegseth has by attacking military leadership and i provider that is going to produce chaos in the opposite of what the country wants. there are going to be so many issues coming up where donald trump will make decisions that really matter for america and

the world. what he does on ukraine, whether he rewards vladimir putin's aggression, whether he leaves the ukrainians in terrible danger is a crucial issue. we need to cover that. we need to know a lot about the decisions he is making. same thing with finding peace finally in these middle east wars. same thing with iran and where our policy toward iran is going. all of these areas, it's important that we do our work as journalists, when we see mistakes being made, poor choices being made and hear from allies around the world, these policies are hitting us and we need to get that information from the white house and as readers because that is part of how the system works. people try to implement policies. journalists and -- >> jonathan lemire, we want you to jump in. i'm sure you have lots of

thoughts and questions. >> i'm sure anyone at this show is rooting for marc. that is what people do. when a new president comes in you root for president to be a success meaning good for the country. whether it's not necessarily about their particular policy or agenda but there are. a lot of people out there who very afraid right now. >> yeah. >> we will continue to give voice for those people and afraid of the prospect of another donald trump administration. but to joe's point earlier, there are also democrats who recognize they need to do some soul searching and learn to work with this president in some way to make this a successful four years for the country. now look. past is pro logged every time donald trump is given a chance to be a uniter or divider he has chosen to be divisive and he has engaged in hazel and at times racist rhetoric and pitted people against each other and certainly we will well chronicled that over the years how he has hurt people at home but he comes into the office with a mandate and we will cover

him like we should clear-eyed and honestly and as david detailed very well, we have been criminal when needed some of his cabinet selections and raised concerns because republicans have raised concerns. republicans have said that these picks might be not just too enact a personal agenda but perhaps destroy the very agencies or damage the very agencies they are meant to lead. but we are in a new part right now. we are in a new moment for this country. and with any president coming in, we will speak truth and we will -- that president or his staff, when they do something well and effective we will note that and talk to people and get expert analysis and they will say what they believe, the same if that president needs to be criticized and bring that too and our job on this show. >> joe? >> no doubt about it, it's our job. mika, i remember -- and, you know, when we went out talking through the years, i remember

after rush limbaugh had said that he was rooting against barack obama after he got collected. i, obviously, as you know, i had a lot of problems with barack obama's policies and talked about them every day. i also said, though, you can't root against the president of the united states without rooting against america. so i think most americans, again, we are a 50/50 nation. we were a 50/50 nation in '16 and a 50/50 nation in 2020 and now. but, at the same time, again, this is going to be a tough bumpy ride. at the same time, we start this administration and keeping in mind what marty barron said, which is we are not going to war. we are going to work. that is a bit of a change here. not going to lie. that is a bit of a change. so you speak truth to power. you push back hard and, again, the final thing i will say about

this meeting which, again, was on background, but, of course, we requested an interview as soon as possible for the show. but we spoke at length just about what jonathan said. a lot of people are scared right now. they are scared about the threats of political retribution and they are scared about the threats of retribution against media people, they are scared some potential picks have actually said they are going to arrest members of the media orc. all that does is make people martyrs and what we said. you go after your political opponents, you turn them into martyrs, you make them the next president of the united states. so, again, a lot of people are scared. a lot of people are nervous. hopefully, there will be a lot of lines of communication opened up and not just with us, but other members of the media,

democrats, and hopefully democrats and others with impress on the incoming president, the need for both sides to work together. make no mistake, this is a republican town right now. washington is a republican town with a house and a senate and a white house that is republican. that is why what the republicans in the senate are doing right now, asking tough questions about his selections is so important. again, not just for the country, but for the white house as well. advise and consent and make sure the president has the people people working for him in the best interest of the united states. a hat tip, joe. don't look at your phone. mine is exploding. we will get to the latest

reports against trump's cabinet picks in a moment. a look at other stories making headlines this morning. a new wave of offensive text messages hit phones nationwide. these ones targeted hispanic people and the lgbtq community and comes days after black people in over a dozen states reported receiving texts with hazel racist language. the fbi is investigating. iowa polster jay ann seltzer is retiring from election polling after 25 years of predicting results. she had conducted the iowa polling since 1997 while widely regarded for her analysis and her latest presidential poll missed badly and trump won iowa 13 points despite her numbers showing kamala harris ahead just days before the vote. still ahead on "morning joe," billionaire elon musk appears to publicly pressure the elect on economic and key pick

irking some of trump's picks. trump's tran circumstances team is piling a list of military officials involved in the withdrawal from afghanistan, exploring whether they could be court-martialed. we will dig into that and whether or not treason charges would realistically be on the table. we are back in 90 seconds. y be table. we are back in 90 seconds. ♪ 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! hmm... i see. (limu squawks) only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ ♪♪

31 past the hour. welcome back. a mantle of senate republicans have told nbc news that matt gaetz does not have enough support to be confirmed as attorney general. more than half of senate republicans, including some in senior leadership positions, privately say they don't see a path for the former republican congressman. nbc news spoke to more than 15 additional republican sources who agreed that they are not enough votes to confirm gaetz. some estimated that closer to 30 republicans consider him unqualified. gaetz had been under investigation by a bipartisan committee for allegations that he may have engaged in sexual misconduct and illegal drug use and accepted improper gifts. he abruptly resigned last week just before the panel was set to vote on whether to release its findings. gaetz was also investigated by

the department of justice has always denied the allegations and has never been criminally charged. speaker mike johnson doesn't want the report released arguing it would be a breach of protocol. >> the comments about this being -- there is a precedent for releasing a report is not exactly accurate. yeah, two breaches of the tradition in the bast under very extraordinary circumstances. i don't think this meets that criteria. there is a very important reason for the tradition and the rule that we always -- will almost always followed and that is we don't issue investigations and ethics reports on people who are not members of congress. i'm afraid that that would open a pandora's box because the jurisdiction of the ethics committee is limited to those who are serving in the institution and that is its very purpose and i think this would be a breach of protocol that could be dangerous for us in the future. my understanding is the report is not finished. it's in a rough draft form. it was not yet ready to be released.

and since matt gaetz left the congress, i don't think it's appropriate today. >> all right. joe, i'm not sure that is all. i think other investigations have been released in the past in scenarios -- >> right. >> yeah. so. >> they certainly have and a couple of things here. the reporting has been that they were going to release it on friday. >> right. >> he resigned a couple of days beforehand. i don't know how rough a draft it was. right? >> right. >> it's not like monkeys with typewriters had been typing this up and humans had to come in and fix it. it was almost ready to be released and he abruptly resigned -- well, it appears -- and republicans in the senate believe he abruptly resigned. s it wouldn't be released. jonathan lemire, let me come to you. this is something -- mike johnson and every other member of the house can say whatever

they want to say. but you look at republican senators and what they have been saying, they are not going to vote on him it appears until they read that report. and what is in that report, according to the woman who was 17 years old and a high school junior when she testified under oath that she had sex with the nominee, that is going to come out. again, there is no way -- there is no way that is going to survive in the united states senate. so i'm curious. you know, you're hearing over the weekend people in background saying, oh, he is going to fight to the very end on this. i will tell you this is one thing we can report directly from it. he expressed surprise about the ethics report, expressed

surprise about the testimony, and so i just -- i just don't know how this nomination goes forward in a way that doesn't hurt the administration. and, also, that doesn't make matters even worse for the a.g. nominee. >> yeah. first, the lawyer of the 17-year-old girl says that they had sex and also there are witnesses to this. and that is all going to be detailed in this report. let's be clear. it was in its final stages. maybe there is one last spell check that needed to be done but it was on the brink of coming out. republicans, not just democrats, but republicans is in the senate have made clear they will see it. even some who have been pretty staunch trump allies. senator mullen of oklahoma, for one, who is up and down and supports what the now president-elect wants to do but he has made clear, no, no, on this, we need to see this report before we really consider this nomination and nbc and other reports over the weekend real

doubts gaetz has near enough votes to get confirmed. now this raises the possibility does donald trump try to force recess appointments and take on the senate and try to break the senate early on? we will see. john thune is the new majority leader and is being noncommittal to this and mike johnson suggested he would support but the house is not their call. it's an early test and a sense that a lot of these picks right now are involved in controversy and we will get to the department of defense in a moment. they all likely won't get through. the republicans might neat -- assuming there is any sort of backbone there will need to have a draw line and fight, at least on one or two of them. if gaetz is the one, if he were to be defeated, the odds are that donald trump could put in someone just as conservative and just as loyal but not as controversial and that may be where we end up going. >> joe? >> again, that is what advise and consent is all about. the fact is donald trump won the presidency. donald trump can put the people

in that he thinks will help him out the most. and, again, susie wiles, as chief of staff, had a lot of people on the hill going, okay. not perfect that he is going to be the president but this is somebody that ran an -- brought order to the campaign structure at least, even fountain campaign, itself, at times was far from orderly. again, the same thing with marco rubio. a lot of people in washington, d.c., again, had a lot of different policy issues and debates with marco rubio. but, at the same time, that was his selection and the people said, all right, well he is going to be the president and that is his prerogative. let's face it. just three picks right now that i think senate republicans are going to have real trouble with and, of course, you know, we have talked about one, but also tulsi gabbard and also the selection for d.o.d. which, of

course, people on the inside and the trump transition team know that the d.o.d. selection is going to be a rocky ride. >> yeah. let's get to that. former fox news host pete hegseth's important confirmed to nbc news that hegseth, president-elect trump's nominee for defense secretary, paid a woman an undisclosed amount after she accused him of sexual assault. the lawyer also denied the encounter between hegseth and an unnamed woman which she alleges happened in 2017, was sexual assault. that statement comes after "the washington post" reported a friend of hegseth's accuser sent a four-page memo to the trump transition team detailing the allegations. nbc news has not independently reviewed that memo but hegseth's attorney confirmed it is related to an encounterer and hegseth

and the unnamed woman had in monterey, california, during a conference in 2017. "the post" reported the memo said the woman was at the conference and she was there with her husband and her children. and didn't remember anything until she was in hegseth's hotel room and then stumbling to find her own hotel room the night in question. hegseth's attorney denied the allegations saying this is a situation where a consensual encounter occurred and, unfortunately, the woman had to come up with a lie to explain why the woman had not come back to her husband's room that night. adding that if was fully investigated by police and video surveillance, as well as multiwitness statements show that she was the aggressor. authorities in monterey investigated the allegations in 2017 and did not file charges

against hegseth. joining us now is congressional investigations reporter for "the washington post" jackie alemaniy and part of a piece titled trump won. the celebrations start. then the trouble began. tell us what is happening in reaction to these nominations. >> i would say the reactions by some of the more staff around donald trump has not necessarily been positive. those close to him don't really see him in this moment right now pulling back or withdrawing some of these more controversial nominees although it seems like you greened new information from your conversation with trump over the weekend. but i think what we are seeing here in terms of the broader trend is lessons that trump learned in 2016 and things he is now trying to avoid repeating, such as picking appointments, people who are trump loyalists and willing to execute some of these more expansive and

unorthodoxed and controversial plans that he has for institutions he is essentially trying to blow up. people like gaetz, hegseth, and gabbard, people who have not been well received by some of the people who are close to trump who have advised him otherwise. but say that the decision making process has been pretty chaotic and dysfunctional and one adviser said there is no decision making process. at the end of the day, trump is sort of throwing out names and whichever up with sticks the most, he lands on. although another trump adviser told us if you had been paying any attention to him throughout the primary and throughout the campaign, these are names that he has consistently gravitated towards that gaetz and hegseth and gabbard have always been in the mix and people who have been really close to him and giving him advice and people that he trusts to actually execute his agenda and that, yes, they seem like shocking picks, but to those who have actually been listening to trump, people

outside, again, of this professionalized staff of the transition team on who have put together all of these lists and try itried so vet people themselves might not be familiar with themselves. >> jackie, good morning. president-elect is rolling through with remarkable speed these nominations but a few big posts still vacant and not bigger than the second of the treasury which is something that trump cares deeply about. you've got reporting about some of the disputes behind the scenes and the role elon musk is trying play. give us the latest on this important post. >> this has turned in to a remarkable internal knife fight between some of the nominees and people under consideration right now by trump with the two main contenders howard lutnick and fitzgerald, executive and his allies sort of scraping with scott and his allies. another hedge fund executive

under consideration and visited mar-a-lago on friday for an interview with the president, lutnick's allies are claiming that -- is not pro tariff enough and does not take trump's plans he has laid out throughout the campaign seriously and is going to execute them and is more concerned sort of with the stability of markets. while lutnick is presenting himself as a change maker and lutnick and trump have been spending lots of time together and lutnick has barely left his side without the transition process but some of his allies think he is has been acting in self-serving ways, a distraction from his job at hand which is to help with the transition process and some of these major appointments. another wildcard factor that we have to think about here is elon musk, the other person who has been by trump's side nonstop who took a pretty remarkable turn over the weekend and weighed in on the treasury appointment before trump really made his decision which is sort of little bit of a switch in the lack of

deference i think we have seen musk play to trump. a number of people, my colleague and i called over the weekend to sort of opine on the role that essentially this co-president as someone said to us, has taken when it comes to decision making processes, especially when it comes to something like the treasury which is going to be extremely important component of trump's administration and determine, you know, the economic path forward here. >> all right. "the washington post" jackie alemany, thank you for your reporting and fascinating, especially on the treasury secretary pick and what is happening right there. jonathan lemire, you've covered donald trump. we have covered him through the years. you know, people keep talking about elon musk as a co-president. i don't know that is helping

elon musk's standing. also, i was very surprised that he tweeted, out, basically weighing in publicly on who he supported for treasury secretary and also the issue of tariffs which was sort of the centerpiece of donald trump's economic campaign and basically agreeing that he thought tariffs were not good for economies worldwide. i don't know if that ends well for elon musk or anybody that is doing that publicly. >> there is only room for one star in donald trump's sky and it has to be donald trump. we know this is a man who would fire advisers if they got on a magazine cover. he does not like sharing the spotlight with anyone. and he has, in recent days, he has couched them as jokes but flashed irritation that elon musk is always around. he said that a couple times now

at mar-a-lago and he won't leave. i've been talking to some people in the trump circle that that real. the world is flattered by the world's richest man. he likes to hang out with people richer than he and musk qualifies for that. musk they tell me musk didn't win a single vote and donald trump did. they say the person has to restain himself if he wants to be in the trump's orbit. odds are, there will be a fall out in the weeks or months ahead. >> what do they say about visitors? like, after three ys, they are like fish, they start to smell. >> come on! >> just a saying people say about visitors who come to your house. i wouldn't say that. i lost visitors.

yes, i do. jon meacham, you don't have to be a pulitzer prize winning historian for people stepping on the president and telling him who to select on twitter may not be the best path forward. you can can speak to that are o just speak generally what you're looking at this week and what you're concerned about and what we should be looking at. >> i think the big question, both this week and one that is going to be incredibly important the next 48 months, is to what extent the senate is going to stand as a guardrail and a defender of their constitutional prerogatives, because when people talk about, oh, the institutions will stop the worst impulses of the ones in the future president, i think we should be more precise about that. it's not the institutions.

it's the people who embody the institutions, right? it's not the courts. it's judges. it's not the senate. it's senators. up know? so i think that the more -- we are in a moment arguably as important as any infant history of the republic, where the individual character of everyone in this whole arena matters enormously. the president's character and his impulses matter. the people around and their impulses matter. the broad citizenry and our impulses of character matter. the people who have electoral incentives and that is the united states senators. if you want to know where somebody is going to stand, at this point, show us their primary electorate and i can probably give you a pretty good guess, right?

what are we going to do to preserve a constitutional order that has served us very, very well and that the incumbent, the incoming president has shown a great deal of contempt for? and nothing -- that is just where we are. and so no one is being polyannish and no one is staying, oh, trump grew the past couple of days. if anything, these appointments show that the worst impulses are very much at the surface and breaking through. so our character is on trial. >> mika, that is what we said coming into this. we cannot be pan glossian. >> i was thinking the same thing. >> jon, you give me another reason to go to the dictionary o

figure out what is he saying. >> jon meacham, thank you very much. coming up, pablo is here to recap the big moments from around the nfl yesterday, including the first loss of the season from the defending champs. "morning joe" is coming back. g k ♪♪ missing out on the things you love because of asthma? get back to better breathing with fasenra, an add-on treatment for eosinophilic asthma that is taken once every 8 weeks. fasenra is not for sudden breathing problems or other eosinophilic conditions. allergic reactions may occur. don't stop your asthma treatments without talking with your doctor. tell your doctor if your asthma worsens. headache and sore throat may occur. tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection. step back out there with fasenra. ask your doctor if it's right for you.

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do you really like this kid brownlee, a fifth round pick out of louisville? what a moment here. boy, they nearly get to darnold as he hits his man wide open and it's addison. touchdown! >> second down and four. block there by ylstra. a foot race with savage and that

is six! put some speed on that one. there goes cooper kupp to the house. >> he throws off his back leg and jonnu smith is wide open and trying to print to the goal line. >> we have had our best when taysom is involved in everything and what we have seen today. >> there he goes again. >> he picks up another first down and still going. taysom hill with his third touchdown today! it is blocked! oh, my goodness! the packers block it and they are going to win! fakes left. now taking off. going to run for it and he got it! there he goes! inside the 10, the 5. oh, the play of the year in the nfl! >> those are some of the biggest plays from across the nfl yesterday, including the game sealing touchdown run by buffalo bills quarterback josh allen and

the kansas chiefs loves. it marks the chiefs first loss since last christmas. let's bring in the pablo torre. we always talk about the good, bad, ugly. we can talk quickly about the bad. how bad are the browns? the question answers itself. i want to talk about three of the best games i've seen this year. >> yeah. >> of course, the bills and the chiefs. the steelers and the ravens. and in a game that doesn't matter as much, but the packers and the bears. monsters of the midway and what a battle that was. >> i want to start with the chiefs, though. i want to go a little gerald ford on you this morning. >> please do. >> our long national nightmare. mika knows what i'm talking about.

our long national nightmare is over. i want to text with jonathan lemire over here, a patriots fan. he only wants his team to feel like a dynasty. when the chiefs get away with this week after week, missed blocked field goal and miraculous touchdown. it looks like they are going to go and ruin the annual celebration that is larry csonka's champagne being popped. the bills come in, okay? josh allen looks like the mvp. he has the play of the year. he casually with the game on the line breaks about five or six tackles. he is 6'5" and 240 and look a man of this size moving at this level of speed. it's absurd. the only thing i have to warn everybody about is while this is the best rivalry in the nfl, bills/chiefs, every postseason, the chiefs tend to have their way. for now, 9-1 in kansas city with all due respect to claire mccaskill and 9-1 in kansas city

is an occasion to celebrate in buffalo as we are watching right now and news jon could use. >> gleeful. i don't dispute that. beating chiefs in january is a different story and they find a way to win these games. it seems with a loss yesterday, bills a game behind them as the pittsburgh steelers. if tfeels it feels the afc open yesterday this doesn't seem like the kansas city coronation. >> a level stretch opening for the fc. mike tomlin, if you're scoring at home, my voice just cracked praising mike tomlin. i went through puberty talking about mike tomlin. he has been basically -- he's not had a losing season for about as long as a teenage boy's life, actually, to complete the metaphor here. it's been 17 seasons that mike tomlin has not had a losing season in the nfl.

this game against the ravens, they won without scoring a touchdown. this was six field goals, plus some defense. some gum and spit and tape and russell wilson. remember, joe? russell wilson, justin fields. who is going to start? the steelers doesn't seem to have a answer. you have two quarterbacks and not one but you got mike tomlin. you beat the ravens. this steeler team can win however you want them to. when you look at the afc right now, the afc north is a mess beneath them but the steelers, every year, because of that coach, a future hall of famer, they can do stuff like this and it is so underrated. the consistency in a league that prizes itself on truly randomness and steelers are neither of those things. >> yeah. it really is. it is -- the steelers team is coming together as just -- just an excellent top-to-bottom team. you're right, a lot of questions about two quarterbacks.

but, man, they are looking brilliant right now. using justin fields when needed. of course, russell wilson, when needed. we even saw that near the end of the game yesterday. mika will tell you, if you ask, and you're always, what is joe really like? she will tell you i am the master of worthless trivia. about the only thing i am a master of. during the bears and packers game, there was a number that flashed up yesterday that surprised me and i always thought george halas' bears had the most wins in the nfl history. no, it's the packers. then number two, george halas' bears. here are the two winningest teams of all time in the nfl just playing an extraordinary game yesterday. and what an ending. >> yeah. so george halas feels like a very long time ago if you're a bears fan right now because the -- here is my useless stat for you. the last time that the chicago

bears beat the green bay packers was in 2018. mitch trubisky was their quarterback. a lot was different. right now the caleb williams show as we saw. in this game i want to nod to this. caleb williams was not the problem. the drive he had at the end to get them within range. you know? every week, joe, on national sports shows, the ritual has been to wonder why the bears are this bad and the reality is they shouldn't be but coaching tends to be the difference. >> it is because caleb williams is serving better, even as he

is learning the job. >> the game ended with the field goal and it was unbelievably dramatic. speaking of worthless trivia, after i saw the josh allen run i texted her producers. i said i want you to find me the best quarterback run in nfl history. and i requested. i do not know if they could get the tape. roll the tape. steve young against the vikings in 1988 . >> oh yeah. steve young . under-rated come of course. kids today should remember that this man was a dual win quarterback and that was not common. do you want to explain steve young to people? i think you might be offended if i were to even try to do

this because he is so obvious and so large in our memory and before michael vick, who was my choice but michael vick would have been my nominee. steve young was the guy that michael vick looked up to. you know. like he just was ahead of his time. and if you are a 49ers fan right now wondering if it really going to be mediocrity? just queue up steve young. >> at youtube and just put in steve young. mika does this all of the time. >> up next we are joined by

david with how officials are getting lawyers just a head of the return of donald trump to office and what they anticipate people do. we are back in just two minutes. minutes. daddy's puppy. once we got on the farmer's dog he just attacks it, it's incredible. they're so tuned into you and they have such, such personality. being without a dog, i don't know, can't imagine it. ♪ ♪ ♪ something has changed within me ♪ ♪ it's time to try defying gravity ♪

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bring your own team together with custom gear. get started today at customink.com. just to take a step back because even i have known each other for a long time. you are a man of faith, a man of god, and a man of family with some of these nominees i wonder does it matter anymore for republicans to think of leaders as people who are moral in the personal life? is this still important to the republican party? >> sure . it is an important issue for anyone in leadership. this is what i will say about the nominees that the president has put forward on these are persons who will shake up the status quo. use the term in the opening

about of these are disruptors. they are paragraphing that is by design. any president has the right to name their own cabinet and nominate persons that they think will fulfill the agenda. the people on the list will do that. they will go into the agencies and reform but the majority of the american people understand that. you cannot have status quo appointments in a moment like this. >> and mika, nobody is denying that president trump won. in a convincing way across much of america has the right to put his own people in. the senate has the right to advise and consent and that is exactly what they are going to do but this is not the question if donald trump can put in anyone he wants to put in but

the question is whether those people will end up serving donald trump and serving america in a positive way and there is several that are causing deep concerned. not among the left and not among independents but upon republicans. and republicans are horrified by the tulsi gabbard selection and of course by the attorney general selection. i will just say you know i do not know mike johnson. jake tapper said he has known him for a long time. i will tell you there were a lot of people like mike johnson that would come up to me when i was in congress eating breakfast with my children on a saturday morning yelling how in the world can a man without

character be president of the united states? in fact, it was universal among republicans. how can you let bill clinton stay in office? god is going to condemn this country. it was nonstop. and now you have people who say character doesn't matter . we wrote books on character and virtues who say settle it doesn't matter. so does it matter? he cannot say it matters for years from now if a democrat or independent is president of the united states because you do not see now and we are being presented a false choice hereby people to say the president needs to put disruptors in. of course he is going to put disruptors and. he is a disruptor but you could put disruptors and that do not have these type of questions hanging over them but in the end not only will not serve the united states well but it will

not serve the administration or the incoming president well. it is that simple. >> we have correspondent for bbc news katty kay and managing editor sam stein with us and president-elect donald trump is facing potential headwinds to get preferred staff picks over the finish line and they face misconduct allegations. white house correspondent allie raffa has the latest. >> reporter: prepares for his own battle. new revelation said the choice for defense secretary paid a woman and had

her sign a nondisclosure agreement and the attorneys of pete hegseth said his complaint is innocent of what he calls a consensual encounter of the women's friends sent a memo to the trump team this week alleging pete hegseth raped the staffer in his room after drinking at a hotel bar and investigative incident when the woman filed a complaint. the local district attorney did not bring charges. >> we will figure out if he can get confirmed in an and i do think that pete is a good choice for this position. >> reporter: and matt gaetz raising more alarms into allegations of sexual misconduct and illicit drug use denied by the mr. trump.

mike johnson insisted should stay sealed. >> they will have a review process and they said it. they do not need to rely upon a draft report. >> reporter: sources familiar say that mr. trump is considering his economic advisor for secretary and elon musk writing business as usual choice and howard lutnick will enact change. the latest choice coming saturday , tapping the ceo chris right as energy secretary . >> a lot of choices have already been announced and donald trump moving at a rapid pace in setting up his next cabinet and we will see how that schools in the senate but there is three picks that right now are in the news because they're facing headwinds and we

have talked about the election selection for attorney general and department of defense. if you talk to republican senators quietly, that they are also deeply concerned about the selection of tulsi gabbard and deeply concerned about other countries , be it britain or france or any of our allies, sharing intel with her and with the united states government over fears that there might be leaks. talk to that if you will. the view from overseas. >> i did have a conversation with somebody senior on the security side who said exactly that that the real problem with tulsi gabbard is that she is not qualified not just in terms of the scandals but what of the qualifications that these people

bring? maybe they're thinking they do not need any qualifications. but you are still running a 3 million person outfit and in the case of tulsi gabbard the security officials said to me she is not known for keeping secrets pictures just been put in charge of the nation's secrets. if you had a source in north korea and he wanted to talk to the united states about that you might suddenly be very careful about the information that you shared with the united states. you would not want your so as to be compromised. there is the potential for allies to be at risk and importance networks to be disrupted. american security officials said they were absolutely convinced that there would be

jeopardy to intelligence sharing operations because of the selection of tulsi gabbard . >> and follow up on that, david ignatius. you so that there is great opportunities to make advances in the middle east to try to get a deal in ukraine that would guarantee safety. you say there is a lot of opportunities. you have also said deep concerns about the selection because they will get in the way of not only donald trump but the united states of america to be able to move forward in a positive way. >> these are two of the hardest management jobs in the country. running the pentagon is overlaid with bureaucracy and inefficiency. it takes a really strong manager. the best person that i have watched as secretary of defense was bob gates, who was tough and was a disruptor in the best

sense but he was a good manager and experience. be concerned that i have with people like tulsi gabbard and pete hegseth is they do not have the experience to be successful. the people who lead these agencies are responsible for individuals who are held at the strictest standards. is one four-star general under investigation for shoving a subordinate. in the military standards of conduct are absolutely. the same with the intelligence agencies tulsi gabbard would oversee . someone asked if these nominees could get a security clearance if they were ordinary employees and their

with the people who were being nominated to run the agencies. trump won a victory and choosing people who are wrecking balls as opposed to effective agency heads just seems like it lost opportunity for him and for our country. >> i wanted to talk to you about the news out of the biden administration. i am sorry, david ignatius, about joe biden y giving the go ahead for long-range missiles that could go into russia. it is interesting. it shows the ongoing give and take. you have people on one side to say this is a dangerous

escalation leading to world war iii and other say it has taken him to go long and he should've approved these long ago. i am curious your thoughts on the decision and also the potential concerns and threats. >> president biden has agonized over this question to use these missiles to strike for many months and worried it will lead to escalation and risk of russian use of what is. i think that he sees because trump is coming in as president stacked about having negotiations immediately to

resolve this where he needs to help ukraine be in as strong a position as possible as they enter into a period where there is likely to be negotiations. to push back the north koreans and strong enough to perhaps hold on to this little salient called kursk inside russia. secondly, finally , north korean troops are now aiding russia. it is extraordinary escalation by russia to bring in another country to fight this war and unprovoked and illegal invasion of ukraine. i think the biden administration decided it needed to make russia and north korea pay a price for the escalation. >> and this comes of course as we saw one of the worst attacks in ukraine by russia in months

and i would like to turn to you and your latest reporting, david rohde, about fbi officials in washington getting lawyers. tell us about it. >> multiple officials have been reaching out to lawyers in response to the nomination of gaetz and a sign he will control the justice department go after enemies. one former senior appear officials who did not want to be named because he things he could be investigated does not think that he could be convicted of anything and was surprised by this and said we did everything when they were investigating trump, but this is a new world. >> exactly. >> sam stein, you will not want to put in someone who will not dwell there or be able to serve your interests. some have said to me in recent days that might not be the point for donald trump. he has said that his

campaign was about retribution and getting back at the deep state. it starts with the department of justice. is perhaps not the point that trump is looking to destroy the administrative state and burn it all down ? >> i like that is a rhetorical question. easier for me to figure out. i know we were talking about steve young and i want to bring up another 90s friends and this is zoe baird parker nomination was ended because she had not paid social security taxes on her nanny. that was a big scandal back then but he did pull the nomination practicing of this

now in light of the gaetz nomination where there is a house ethics report that is information about illicit drug use. these are not on the same level. it is just not close. i cannot help but think that is talking about this stuff and raising concerns about the lack of experience and pete hegseth, tulsi gabbard, and even robert f. kennedy jr.. they are fueling trump world to double down on these nominees. what we see as legitimate concerns they look at as virtues . they want these people to not just disrupt government but to about the agencies that they are supposed to be running and does complimented with whatever elon musk and vivek ramaswamy are doing it will end up to be a

massive revamping of the government and shuttering of agencies and i think we are underselling the transformation that might be coming. >> it is again you go back to what steve bannon said back in 2016. he said i want to destroy the state. we will see how that moves by what. because some of these selections, forget about what democrats are saying pictures look at what rupert murdoch says and what senators say. we talked about the wall street journal editorial page to be critical of these selections. even the new york post had an editorial talking about on

friday that called robert f. kennedy jr. a nut job with crazy ideas. it is like during the campaign . do not listen to what kamala harris is saying pickle is and what donald trump is a judge that i'm here with a do not listen to what democrats or the media is saying if you want to hear the critiques. listen to what the new york post is saying and what republican senators say right now. there is real concerns about selections. >> nbc news is learned president-elect donald trump has ordered staffers to be ready to open investigation into the deadly 2021 american withdrawal from afghanistan which could possibly result in court-martial for some military leaders. that is according to two sources with knowledge of the plan. nbc news correspondent

courtney kube has more. >> reporter: a list of military officers who were directly involved in the withdrawal from afghanistan to see whether or not any of them could be court-martialed or brought up on charges. this is according to two united states officials who are familiar with the planning what is not clear is the charges these officials could be looking at. the main criticisms that the transition team members and we have heard from have against that withdrawal was the attack that killed 13 united states service members and republicans have also been very critical of united states military air

strike that killed civilians we have heard from president-elect donald trump and senior advisors around him and even from his choice to be secretary of defense under him, pete hegseth. pete hegseth has said he believes people need to be fired for their involvement in the withdrawal the big question now is what charges could any of these people face? they were following their commander and chief at the time. some of the officials we spoke with said they could even talk about treason charges. it would be difficult to stick but one of the officials we spoke with said they tried to send a message looking at this at all.

>> it is a chilling message. >> it is a chilling message but it is a message and i will tell you why it is a message and it is not going to go anywhere. because i do not know if pete hegseth if he actually read the news during the withdrawal but the entire military was against it. general milley was against it and told joe biden not to do it . you had the head of the commander of the forces in afghanistan against it. we reported here the military up and down said do not withdraw. keep a couple thousand people there. a lot of people in the military said keep the air force base open. so the military up and down the line was advising this

president to keep military troops and to not withdraw. but we have a military that is run by civilian command. that is something that donald trump has talked about repeatedly. i do not know who these officials are. i would recommend. i pulled this up into seconds. of course you go to politico and they have an ad going. i was looking for today . go back and read and report from politico and the new york times and the wall street journal. fails say the military advisors told joe biden do not withdraw from afghanistan. he did because he believed leaders

were ripping us off and we were spending too much money there and that was basically some of they had set up there and 60% of americans they wanted us out of afghanistan. >> this is an amazing charge that somehow military leaders would be held for treason over decisions made by civilians and the difference between civilian control of the military. if there's anything probably should be the aftermath and how the american government did nothing to protect the men and women who worked for us for many years and we just left them after promising to take care of them if they were aligned with us. and what went wrong there with the political planning when it came to protecting our allies.

>> david? back at the justice department donald trump did nothing and the holding of what happened january 6 on the holding up 100 classified documents and that this was just a dereliction of duty in the doj and that just doesn't match my reporting. mistakes were made, but these people say they were following proper procedure. >> interesting. going back to this time it was something that the military was against and or something a lot of people were against. we set it at the time. you look at the withdrawal and the problems are caused. it was the first time after that withdrawal that the approval rating of joe biden 1 to 50%. there were already

consequences for the tragedy that unfolded but it is important to remember donald trump and a lot of republicans believed it was time to get out and there was a date certain of donald trump left the office the first time the troops were supposed to be withdrawn this reminds me. jfk always said success has 1000 fathers and failure is an orphan. whenever so many people in the trump administration and some money others who said it was

time to get out of afghanistan. joe biden agreed. his military generals did not. >> nbc news national security editor david rohde, thank you so much for coming in. his book is on sale now. it is time now for a look at some of the other stories making headlines. the first case of a more aggressive strain of mpox is been confirmed in california with public workers contacting people what contact with the patient but not concern or evidence it is currently spreading in california or the united states. gymnastics coach bela karolyi is died . not a cause

of death released. bela karolyi was 82 years old. spirit airlines has filed for bankruptcy protection and has been up against a deadline to negotiate payments. as will not impact operations and customers can continue to book flights. still to come on "morning joe," the geopolitical landscape in the middle east has changed in major ways since donald trump was in office. we will go live to tel aviv to talk about was second trump term could mean for the region . a spirit airlines flight was forced to divert after it was hit by gunfire from gangs trying to land in haiti. a setback for people who fly spirit to haiti.

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october 7 would have never happened. they never would have been attacked. but is what it is. it is a horrible thing that happened. let's get back to peace and stop killing people. they have got to finish and get it done . at the top was because you have to get back to normalcy and peace. >> one of the many times he

has claimed the october 7 attack would have never happened if he were president enjoying is now from tel aviv is nbc news international correspondent. raf sanchez . >> reporter: it is sometimes said that personnel is policy and we are getting a sense of the varying pro-israel people that he has put in and appointing as the new ms center , former arkansas governor mike huckabee and he is someone who is celebrated israeli settlements in the west bank in these are appointments who are being cheered on and there is an awareness that donald trump is not predictable and that the policy will depend on decisions made by him and by

israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu. in a middle east already on fire a new question. will a second term put out the flames or pouring gasoline on them? the answer might depend upon his relationship with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu who was thrilled at the victory calling it history's greatest comeback and said he has spoken to them at least three times since the election and is hoping to restore the warmth of the first moving the embassy to jerusalem and broker in the abraham accords agreement. four years ago while still claiming to have won the election, netanyahu congratulated joe biden. >> i still like bibi, but i

also like loyalty. >> reporter: since then trump supporting both israel and netanyahu throwing up restined by joe biden. >> this is on the occasion of the presidency. god bless american god bless israel. >> at your victory and get it over with. the killing has to stop. >> reporter: palestinian say they can only hope he means it . >> i hope you will bring peace here to gaza because we need. >> reporter: the families of hostages plead to work together toward a deal .

>> we have asked the president and his senior staff as well as the incoming administration to begin work to get there. >> if you're going to deal with donald trump we have to be very strict and you have to play by his rules. >> reporter: if he tells them to and they were would he comply? >> he would do his best. >> reporter: another question is iran. the war is in open, and it could bring the united states to war hitting the instance against promises. >> they said he will start a war. >> reporter: the political parallel between the two are uncanny. both fashion

themselves as champions of working people and still back in power. both aware of the politics. in 2019 name in the settlement in the golan heights after president trump. she came here with her husband and children. >> we came here for the quiet attend the green spaces. >> reporter: how did you feel moving to a place named after donald trump?. this is the first question i can't. it is a great town with a great view.

>> reporter: now for more years of trump for this place and the middle east . there isn't much indication that either hamas or netanyahu wants a deal . a quick diplomatic victory. >> raf sanchez reports came. thank you so much. your thoughts on this, katty kay? >> we know the one area you would like to have expended,

david ignatius. there has to be some pathway to security in a palestinian state and how does the re- election of donald trump change that puzzle? >> i am told that they remain is interested as a year ago when it seemed very close before the october is seven attack. trump would like to see this and is going to have to find a formula that would be acceptable that speaks of a pathway file word or some language that can be accepted by netanyahu. another issue looming is netanyahu supporters think the victory of trump means it will

be possible now to annex the west bank. if that policy is advanced, and he hopes of good relations with jordan go out the window. >> we will bring you in on this point, sam. that emboldened netanyahu and not only stay in power and sell but to look at the west bank and abandon cease-fire talk. >> reporter: i think the victory of trump and survival of netanyahu is an indication to annual leader if you just wait it out, this can come and go forward there is a likelihood you will survive. in terms of policy, there is nothing indicating trump or

mike huckabee or anyone will say to back off a little bit and the situation is too much. it will give them the green light for a period of time. there standpoint is let them do what they want to do and get over with and then cut a deal to end the war. what that means i do not know but it is notable that some of the forces who were so skeptical of the administration already expressed disappointment with the team of trump. this is exactly what their advertising and doing . >> thank you so much, sam stein. the hidden truth linking

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welcome. donald trump won the white house again largely there is promises to crack down on immigration on the southern border and growth united states economy. a new investigation found the new york times reveals the political issues might be tied together. the paper details how manger corporations are using questionable staffing companies nationwide to fill roles that warehouse is not typically want by american workers reading and parent, quote, the broken border has been a lifeline for america's on demand economy, including the first term of mr. trump. thousands of companies have

brought workers from the ranks of unauthorized migrants, sometimes with impunity. join us now is one of the reporters behind the piece and what more did you find on this? i think a lot of people do not think about this from this angle. >> i am happy to talk about it. it begins with is looking at the issues of the broken border and who is benefiting from and? wendy border bill failed this year allowed us to answer comparing with american businesses to interrogate how it works and how it is migrants coming in to the country find work and this brought us into this investigation looking at the middleman role that a staffing agency can play. >> and these are companies that we know that people often make

orders to. >> and some of the companies that i've used these workers are ones that we would go to frequently like him goods and marshals can you check about the staffing agency that you used as the case study for looking into how it is gotten to where it is? >> focusing on case study and it is a company from southern california called baronhr . it had quite legal troubles over the time but had grown into this large outfit and what we found was when we talked to workers and the project, many

of them i baron hr what they told us about was not getting paid on time. having injuries and struggling to get their claims handled and talked about discrimination. we were able to look into the cleanse that baron hr would work with around the country. we began to try to about a world . >> so of donald trump puts into place the proposal set forth what kind of impact is this going to have in terms of the economy? >> what i can say is that this type of system when on all agencies are breaking the rules of engagement on this. a lot of companies do use it under the current and previous administration. it is a system that has been in place for a long time and has become

increasingly important. it is quite serious stuff. >> if there is a real crack down on the border or deportation of some people who are here illegally, what impact does it have on these companies were the united states economy? but you can see that companies are routinely turning to staffing agencies that are using this worker pull. that could be a potential ramifications affecting the movement of these type of goods and received this in the warehouses and factory settings and in logistics. >> investigative reporter for the new times, steve eder, thank you so much for coming in. still to come on "morning joe," a senator will be our

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we will give matt gaetz the same chance we give all nominees. >> of course it should be released. that's not just democrats saying that. you have seen senate republicans make clear who are on the senate judiciary committee or throughout that chamber say they want access to all available information so they can make a decision about whether the nominee for attorney general is qualified to serve in that office. >> a bipartisan call yesterday for the release. we will show you the response from mike johnson and look at where support for matt gaetz's

nomination stands. the latest on a sexual assault allegation against pete hegseth who trump selected as secretary of defense. in the final stretch of his term, president biden is making a major policy change, allowing ukraine to use american-made long-range missiles for strikes inside of russia. we will explain how it could impact the war. president biden held what is likely to be his final meeting with chinese president xi jinping over the weekend. we will have more about that and what the chinese leader had to say about the incoming administration. good morning and welcome to "morning joe." it's monday, november 18th. with us we have the host of "way too early," jonathan lemire, columnist and associate editor for "the washington post," david ignatius is with us, and

historian jon meacham. here is where we are. over the past week, we have heard from so many people, from political leaders to regular citizens ly dismayed by several of president-re-elect trump selections. we said we would appreciate the opportunity to speak with the president-elect. we were given the opportunity to do just that. joe and i went to mar-a-lago to meet personally with president-elect trump. it was the first time we have seen him in seven years. >> we talked about a lot of issues, including abortion, mass deportation, threats of political retribution against political opponents and media outlets. we talked about that a good bit. it's going to come as no surprise to anybody who watches this show, has watched it over

the past year or decade, that we didn't see eye to eye on a lot of issues. we told him so. >> what we did agree on was to restart communication. my father often spoke with world leaders with whom he and the united states profoundly disagreed. that's a task shared by reporters and commentators alike. we had not spoken to president trump since march of 2020 other than a personal call joe made to trump on the morning after the attempt on his life in butler, pennsylvania. in this meeting, president trump was cheerful, upbeat. he seemed interested in finding common ground with democrats on some of the most divisive issues. for those asking why we would go speak to the president-elect during such fraught times, especially between us, i guess i would ask back, why wouldn't we? five years of political warfare

has deeply divided washington and the country. we have been as clear as we know how in expressing our deep concerns about president trump's actions and words in public debate. for nearly 80 million americans, election denialism, public trials, january 6 were not as important as the issues that moved them to send donald trump back to the white house with their vote. joe and i realized it's time to do something different. that starts with not only talking about donald trump but also talking with him. >> as somebody close to donald trump told me this past weekend, this is a president who is not seeking re-election. so maybe, just maybe now could be the time for both parties to get to work. i owgiven the jarring headlines that we read every day, that may seem like a

stretch. think about this. of the 150 million votes cast, donald trump got 50%, kamala harris got about 49%. so i don't know. seems to make sense for leaders of both parties to seek common ground if it's possible at all. i will tell you, a lot of democratic leaders we talked to this past week, since the election, have told us, it's time for a new approach. when i say top democrats, i mean top democrats. they said, we are open -- this is before we talked to donald trump. they said, listen, we are open to working with the incoming president if the incoming president is open to working with us. >> yeah. the question is though, how do we get there? hyperbole and personal attacks

will not work. my hair on fire doesn't work. we have all seen that. what also does not work is threatening political opponents with arrest, harassment and even jail. that is a failed path. recent history has proven impeachments and trials turn those on trial into political martyrs and only make them more popular with the american people. just ask bill clinton and donald trump. we know this will be a consequential presidency. the question is whether it will be constructive. it will take a new approach from all sides, from both parties, and a leader who can bring them together. and only time will tell if donald trump is that leader. as for us, we also let him know that we will continue to speak truth to power and push back hard when called for, as we have with all presidents. >> don't be mistaken, we're not

here to defend or normalize donald trump. we are here to report on him and to hopefully provide you insights that are going to better equip all of us in understanding these deeply unsettling times. and i am reminded of what marty baron told his "washington post" reporters back in the first term. we're not going to war. we're going to work. so let's go to work now with david ignatius. david, i loved -- i told marty, i love what he said. we're not going to war. we're going to work. i tell you what, it has been very personal over the past eight years. it has been war on both sides, political war on both sides. i'm reminded of a conversation we had with you this summer after i called president trump after the assassination attempt.

i just talked to him and said, you know, politics is politics. we disagree on so many things. but just, i made a call like so many other people made a call and saying i was hoping he was doing all right. we had a discussion a couple of days later. you had a recommendation that kind of went along the lines of what marty told "the washington post" seven, eight years ago. you want to talk about that? >> we are in the news business, which means that we talk to people. that's how we -- part of how we do our jobs. we are also in the truth business. we have to hold people accountable when we see things that we think are wrong or going to hurt the country. we have to be very forthright in saying that. last week when president-elect trump named his nominees for key positions, i wrote a column saying some seemed reasonable choices, others seemed to be

coming at their jobs with a wrecking ball, going after the military intelligence agencies it seemed from their past statements in a way that would only harm those institutions. i have been a journalist for so many years. but i can remember when i covered the middle east, i would talk to arafat and a few weeks later i would be talking to the prime minister of israel in jerusalem. that's just part of what doing the job means. her own dad was always talking to people. we need to keep that in mind. we are in the news business and truth business. >> david, also, i remember during the first term at one point -- you may not remember this phone call. i was walking through the airport. you politely said, every day, joe, every day, it's the same thing on your show. when you can find common ground,

find common ground, talk about it. i notice you do that. i will tell you, when so many people were in shock and mika and i were surprised after the election result, your first column was talking about how donald trump had the possibility to move us closer to peace in the middle east. i think that was a very important column to write at the time. again, i thought i was a little surprised when i read it right after the election. then you follow that up with some really tough columns about the real dangers with his dod pick and also with tulsi gabbard. is that the type of balancing you are talking about? >> it is, joe. we in the news business in commentary need to call 'em as we see 'em. during donald trump's first term when he did something that i thought made sense, the abra abraham

accords, i said without hesitation that i thought this was good for the country, good for the region. i felt the same way about negotiating with north korea, try to reduce the risk of nuclear war. when he did things i thought hurt the country, i tried to be as emphatic as i could be. we're in the business of covering the world, trying to see it whole. if people think we are partisan on one side or the other, i think in the end, their confidence in our ability to tell the truth, to do our job declines. you see some of that in some of the poll numbers about people feel about journalism. i don't want to add to that. >> of course, you look at the results of the election, too. a new approach, i think, is needed where we speak truth to power, we push back hard like we push back hard whether it was with obama, whether it was with george w. bush, whether it was obviously with donald trump on joe biden. i want to ask you, jon meacham, bring you in here, we discussed

this last night. i was asking you your thoughts. you had said, you know, this is going to be a consequential presidency. it just is. one way or the other. the question is whether it's going to be constructive. i'm just curious your thoughts. we saw picks last week that were horrifying for a good many of americans, for many republicans as well. these are extraordinarily fraught times. i'm curious about where we stand right now in history, what you have seen. what is the best way forward not only for reporters but for all americans? what does history teach us about moments like these? >> it's the most significant

test of citizenship and of our -- really, i would argue our patriotic commitments as opposed to our nationalistic appetites. bear with me for a second. patriotism properly understood is an allegiance not just to one's only kind, folks who look like you, but to an idea. for us, that idea is the declaration of independence, and then the constitution as amended is the users' guide. i think america has always -- can judge itself on how fully or how incompletely we are in accord with the principles of the declaration. that's patriotism. you agree to that idea. nationalism is a loyalty to people who are already in your tribe, who are already in your clan with a c.

to me, those are competing impulses. they have been competing impulses from the beginning of the american project. they will continue to be. to me, the great test is, how do those of us who fundamentally believe that the incoming administration is so likely to be out of sync with the constitutional norms, the ethos that so many of us grew up with? the fact that so many of us, and everybody that we are talking to this morning has been part of this. ignatius is totally into this. we argued again and again and again that a second trump presidency was not worth the

risk of the chaos and the unconstitutionalism. but guess what? those of us who believe in democracy have to obey the verdicts of that democracy. as you pointed out, a dispositive number of american voters decided to try this one more time. so we have a patriotic question. what do we do? we can't leave the arena, because that would be pre-emptive surrender and defeat. so we have to stay in the arena and patriotically stand for what we believe in. so i think that's where a lot of the country is. i'm very worried that -- i suspect y'all are hearing the same thing. so many people seem so worn out by this struggle. it's not mindless opposition. let's be clear. but it's also -- it does require, as jefferson said,

eternal vigilance. i would argue that the most important thing we can do at this point is enable the folks who stand on the guardrails. and in this immediate case, it's the senate. right? we need to -- if you believe that some of these picks are extreme, and they are, you have to -- because we all act as lincoln said -- all people act on incentive. we need to signal to those who have a stake in this, who have the vote on this, that there are people who believe that they are extreme. so removing ourselves from the arena, tuning out, i think would be the worst possible result. >> i mean, republicans will tell you that some of the picks are extreme. i think it's important to look at the first week when susie wiles was selected. there were a lot of people that applauded that selection.

when marco rubio was selected -- a lot of people didn't agree with marco rubio at all said, okay, well, that's a secretary of state pick that -- he will be able to work with both sides because he was a senator and certainly worked with both sides with mark warner on the intel committee. you can look at other picks, john radcliffe, a lot of democrats in the media were opposed to several years ago said, okay, that's also -- seems to be within the guardrails. some of these selections have not been in the guardrails, david ignatius. you talked about it. i think it's a good balance. it reminds me after ronald reagan got elected -- you and i are actually -- you probably aren't. but i'm old enough to remember when ronald reagan got elected, he had a massive landslide. he was on "good morning america" the next day. they asked him, what do you do now? he said, we're the loyal opposition.

we're going to fight him where it is necessary to fight him. not making it personal. but fight him on political issues. and where we can agree, we will agree. i think that's very important. i think it's also obviously very important -- there are a lot of people that are very scared by the selection of his attorney general. a lot of republicans scared by it. there are a lot of republicans who are scared as well as democrats by the selection of tulsi gabbard because of her connections with syria, because she's at times in the ukrainian war, she's echoed the words of vladimir putin and russia. there are a lot of people that are concerned that donald trump and his administration will not get the intel they need, because you can -- you can speak to this very well. there will be other countries that are not going to share information and sensitive intel with tulsi gabbard.

as i said last week repeatedly, a pick like tulsi gabbard or a pick like matt gaetz for ag, that's not just bad for the republican party, that's not just bad for america, it's bad for donald trump because it makes him less effective. i understand he wants to find loyalists that will go in and overturn the rocks and see what's underneath, in all of these bureaucracies. most americans say, that's good. not political retribution and not the selections that will end up hurting him and make him less effective and make the united states less effective. >> joe, as you know well, the military, the intelligence agencies are full of thousands of people who want to serve

their country. that's why they're doing it. they want to --be professional d they want to be respected. i get nervous when i see a nominee who has been making headlines for years as pete hegseth has by attacking military leadership. i worry that's going to produce chaos and the opposite of what the country wants. there are going to be so many issues coming up where donald trump is going to make decisions that really matter for america and the world. what he does on ukraine, whether rewards vladimir putin's aggression, whether he leaves the ukrainians in terrible danger is a crucial issue. we need to cover that. we need to know a lot about the decisions he is making. same thing with finding peace in the middle east wars. same thing with iran and where our policy toward iran is going. all these areas, it's important that we do our work as journalists. when we see mistakes being made,

poor choices being made, when we hear from allies around the world these policies are hurting us, we need to get that information to the american public and to the white house, for that matter, as readers because that's part of how the system works. people try to implement policies. journalists and commentators comment, criticize and hopefully the result comes out better. >>. the fbi is investigating hateful text messages telling latino people they have been selected for deportation. what investigators are saying about that is straight ahead. we are back in 90 seconds.

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that help keep the tree intact, and monkey good and grounded. for low prices... for holidays with pets, there's chewy. we're going to get to the latest reporting surrounding donald trump's cabinet picks in a moment. first, a look at some of the other stories making headlines. a new wave of offensive text messages hit phones nationwide. these ones targeted hispanic people and the lgbtq community. it comes days after black people in over a dozen states received texts with racial information.

a pollster is retiring. her latest presidential poll missed badly. trump won iowa by 13 points despite her numbers showing kamala harris ahead just days before the vote. coming up, a live report from capitol hill where both republicans and democrats want the house ethics committee to release its report on the misconduct allegations against matt gaetz. the latest on the former congressman's nomination to become attorney general. it's next on "morning joe." ♪ (animatronic santa) ho, ho, ho! (vo) time to move? make it easy with opendoor. sell your home in any season, for any reason. (animatronic santa) look at me! i am festive!

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all aboard! come with me to meet the wizard. why couldn't possibly. this is your moment. i'm coming. if you think that's something to see, wait til you see this. ♪ ♪ you're good. -very good. welcome back. a majority of senate republicans have told nbc news that matt

gaetz does not have enough support to be confirmed as attorney general. more than half of senate republicans, including some in senior leadership positions, privately say they don't see a path for the former republican congressman. nbc news spoke to more than 15 additional republican sources who agreed that there are not enough votes to confirm gaetz. some estimated that closer to 30 republicans consider him unqualified. gaetz had been under investigation for allegations he may have engaged in sexual misconduct, illegal drug use, and accepted improper gifts. he abruptly resigned last week, just before the panel was set to vote on whether to release its findings. gaetz, who was investigated by the department of justice, has always denied the allegations and has never been criminally charged. speaker mike johnson doesn't

want the report released, arguing it would be a breach of protocol. >> the comments about this being -- there's a precedent for releasing reports is not exactly accurate. there are two breaches of the tradition in the past under extraordinary circumstances. i don't think this meets that criteria. there's a very important reason for the tradition and the rule that we always -- have almost always followed, and that is that we don't issue investigations and ethics reports on people who are not members of congress. i'm afraid that would open a pandora's box because the jurisdiction of the ethics committee is limited to those serving in the institution. that's its very purpose. i think this would be a breach of protocol that could be dangerous for us going forward in the future. >> my understanding is that the report is not finished. it's in a rough draft form. was not yet ready to be released. since matt gaetz left the congress, i don't think it's appropriate to do so. >> joe, i'm not sure that's

all -- i think other investigations have been released in the past in scenarios in which -- >> yeah. they certainly have. a couple things here. the reporting has been that they were going to release it on friday. he resigned a couple of days beforehand. i don't know how rough a draft it was. it's not like monkeys with typewriters had been typing this up and humans had to come in and fix it. it was almost ready to be released. he abruptly resigned. it appears -- republicans in the senate believe he abruptly resigned so it wouldn't be released. jonathan lemire, let me come to you. this is something -- mike johnson and every other member of the house can say whatever they want to say. but you look at republican senators and what they have been saying, they are not going to

vote on him, it appears, until they read that report. and what is in that report, according to the 17 -- the woman who was 17 years old and a high school junior when she testified under oath that she had sex with the nominee, that's going to come out. again, there's no way -- there is no way that is going to survive in the united states senate. i'm curious, you are hearing over the weekend people saying, he is going to tight to the very end on this. this is one thing we can report directly from it. he expressed surprise about the ethics report, about the testimony. so i just don't know how this nomination goes forward in a way

that doesn't hurt the administration. also, that doesn't make matters even worse for the ag nominee. >> yeah. first, the lawyer of the 17-year-old girl says that they had sex and there are witnesses to this and that's all going to be detailed in this report. let's be clear, it was in its final stages. maybe there is one last spell check that needed to be done. it was on the brink of coming out. republicans have made clear, they will see it. even some who have been staunch trump allies. senator mullen of oklahoma, who is up and down, supports what the now president-elect wants to do. on this, we need to see this report before we really consider this nomination. as nbc and others have reported over the weekend, there's doubts gaetz has near enough votes to get confirmed. this raises the possibility, does donald trump try to force

recess appointments, take on the senate, try to break the senate early on? we will see. there are institutionalists there. john thune is the new leader. of course, the house, that's not their call. it's an early test. there's a sense, mika, that a lot of the picks are in controversy. we will get to the department of defense in a moment. they all likely won't get through. assuming there's any sort of backbone there, we will need to have a draw line and fight on wound two of them. if gaetz is the one, if he were defeated, odds are that donald trump could put in someone just as conservative, just as loyal, but not as controversial. that may be where we end up going. >> joe? >> that's what advise and consent is all about. the fact is, donald trump won the presidency. donald trump can put the people in that he thinks will help him out the most.

again, susie wiles as chief of staff had a lot of people on hill going, okay, not perfect that he is going to be the president, but this is somebody that ran -- brought order to the campaign structure at least, even if the campaign itself at times was far from orderly. the same thing with marco rubio. a lot of people in washington, d.c. had different policies issues and debates with marco rubio. but that was a selection the people said, all right, well, he is going to be the president, that's his prerogative. let's face it, there are three picks right now that i think senate republicans are going to have real trouble with. of course, we talked about one. but also tulsi gabbard and also the selection for dod, which of course, again, people on the inside in the trump transition team know that the dod selection

is going to be a rocky ride. a conversation with congressman gallego who won. o w. with dexcom g7, managing your diabetes just got easier. so, what's your glucose number right now? good thing you don't need to fingerstick. how's all that food affect your glucose? oh, the answers on your phone. what if you're heading low at night? [phone beeps] wow, it can alert you?! and you can even track your goals. manage your diabetes with confidence with dexcom g7. the most accurate cgm. ♪♪ learn more at dexcom.com as americans,

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♪♪ former fox news host pete hegseth's attorney confirmed to nbc news that hegseth, president-elect donald trump's nominee, paid a woman after she accused him of sexual assault. the lawyer deny ied this.

that statement comes after "the washington post" reported a friend of hegseth's accuser sent a four-page memo to the trump transition team detailing the allegations. nbc news has not independently reviewed that memo. but hegseth's attorney confirmed it's related to an encounter hegseth and the unnamed woman had in california during a conference in 2017. the memo said the woman was at the conference and she was there with her husband and her children and didn't remember anything until she was in hegseth's hotel room and then stumbling to find her own hotel room on the night in question. hegseth's attorney denied the allegations saying this is a situation where a consensual

encounter occurred and unfortunately the woman had to come up with a lie to explain why the woman had not come back to her husband's room that night. adding that it was fully investigated by police and video surveillance as well as multiple eyewitness statements show that she was the aggressor. authorities in monterey investigated the allegation in 2017 and did not file charges against hegseth. joining us now, congressional investigation reporter for "the washington post" jackie alemany. she's part of the reporting team out with a new piece entitled "trump won, the celebration started, and then the trouble began." tell us more about what is happening in reaction to these nominations. >> yeah, mika, i would say the reaction so far by some of the more professionalized staff around donald trump has not necessarily been positive. those close to him don't really see him at least in this moment

right now pulling back or withdrawing some of these more controversial nominees. you gleaned some information from your conversation with trump over the weekend. but i think what we are seeing in terms of the broader trend is lessons that trump learned in 2016 and things he is trying to avoid repeating, such as picking appointments, people who are trump loyalists willing to execute some of these more expansive and unorthodox and controversial plans he has for institutions that he is trying to blow up. people like gaetz, hegseth and gabbard. people who are not well received. the decision making process has been pretty chaotic and dysfunctional. as one trump advisor put to us, there's no decision making process. trump is throwing out names and whichever one sort of sticks the

most he lands on. another trump advisor told us if you had been paying attention to him throughout the primary and the campaign, these are names that he has consistently gravitated toward. they have been in the mix. people who have been close, giving advice, people he trusts to execute his agenda. yes, they seem like shocking picks, but to those who have been listening to trump, people outside of the professionalized staff of the transition team who have put together all of these lists and tried to vet people themselves, might not be familiar with. >> good morning. president-elect is rolling through with remarkable speed these nominations. there are few big posts still vacant. none bigger than secretary of the treasury, something trump cares deeply about. you have reporting about some of the disputes behind the scenes, the role elon musk is trying to play. give us the latest on this

important post. >> this has turned into a remarkable internal knife fight between some of the nominees and people under consideration right now by trump with the two main contenders, howard lutnik and his allies sort of scraping with scott bessent and some of his allies. another hedge fund executive under consideration and visited mar-a-lago friday for an interview. lutnik has been presenting himself as a change maker. he has barely left his side throughout the transition process. that is to grate on some of his allies who think that he has

been acting self-serving, a distraction from his job at hand, which is to help with the transition process and some of the major appointments. another wild card factor that we have to think about here is elon musk. the other person who has been by trump's side nonstop who took a remarkable turn over the weekend and weighed in on the treasury appointment before trump has really made his decision, which is sort of a little bit of a switch and lack of deference we have seen musk play to trump. we had a number of people -- my colleague over the weekend -- they started to opine on the role that this co-president, as someone said to us, has taken when it comes to decision making processes, especially something like the treasury, which is going to be extremely important for trump's administration and determine the economic path forward here.

>> "the washington post" jackie alemany, thank you for reporting. fascinating, especially on treasure secretary pick and what's happening there. jonathan lemire, you covered donald trump. we have covered him through the years. you know, people keep talking about elon musk as a co-president. i don't know that that's helping elon musk's standing. i was surprised he tweeted out basically weighing in publicly on x who he supported for treasury secretary and also on the issue of tariffs, which was sort of the centerpiece of donald trump's economic agenda on his economic campaign, basically agreeing that he thought tariffs were not good for economies worldwide. i don't know if that ends well

for elon musk or anybody that's doing that publicly. >> there's only room for one star in donald trump's sky. it has to be donald trump. we know this is a man who would fire advisors if they got on a magazine cover. he does not like sharing the spotlight with anyone. he has in recent days -- he has couched them as jokes, but he flashed some irritation that elon musk is always around. he said that a couple imes at mar-a-lago, won't leave. they say, that's real, trump is flattered that the world's richest man seems to like him. trump is impressed with wealth. at a certain point, musk didn't win a single vote. donald trump did. musk is going to have to restrain himself, this person said to me, if he wants to stay in trump's orbit. otherwise, odds are, there will

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coming up on "morning joe" -- >> the campaign was all about retribution. think of the opportunity you have to rise above and reach across the aisle and use your personality to better lives of all americans. >> i think we'll be doing retribution, but that's very interesting. >> remember this, you got off easy. we both know if i was in the race, i would have beat you like a drum. >> joe, that's one of the craziest things i have heard anyone say. for that reason, i would like to

offer you a position in my cabinet. >> no can do. need to take time off from this place. >> what do you think you'll do next? will you retire? >> i'll do what every worn down old guy does. i'm going to fight jake paul. >> snl's take on meeting between president biden and president-elect trump. we will talk about the white house transition and the new names being added to the incoming administration. "morning joe" is coming right back. with dexcom g7, managing your diabetes just got easier. so, what's your glucose number right now? good thing you don't need to fingerstick. how's all that food affect your glucose? oh, the answers on your phone. what if you're heading low at night? [phone beeps] wow, it can alert you?!

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it's our son, he is always up in our business. it's the verizon 5g home internet i got us. oh... he used to be a competitive gamer but with the higher lag, he can't keep up with his squad. so now we're his “squad”. what are kevin's plans for the fall? he's going to college. out of state, yeah. -yeah in the fall. change of plans, i've decided to stay local. oh excellent! oh that's great! why would i ever leave this? -aw! we will do anything to get him gaming again. you and kevin need to fix this internet situation.

heard my name! i swear to god, kevin! -we told you to wait in the car. everyone in my old squad has xfinity. less lag, better gaming! i'm gonna need to charge you for three people. first brain worm survivor nominated to a cabinet level position. kennedy, whose skin is always cooked to a perfect medium rare, will lead the department of health and human services. i know he doesn't have a lot of experience, but i say we give him a shot. >> welcome to the fourth hour of "morning joe." it's 6:00 a.m. on the west coast, 9:00 a.m. on the east. we launch into the fourth hour. >> i have a couple things i want to talk about. i want to say thank you for the people that reached out. we have a lot of great calls, comments, texts from republicans, from democrats, from members of the media. i think that's a good sign.

listen, it's going to be a rocky road. it's going to be rough. right? i appreciate, again, to a person, people reaching out and saying, let's try to figure out a way forward. these are dangerous times. these are frightening times. give it our best effort. again, keep going even when things are rough and rocky. first of all, thank you there. i also heard online things are crazy. hold on a second. let's see if i care. no! i don't care. what i care more about, jonathan lemire, than what's online is that there are people that want to figure out a way to move forward and hopefully get some things done over the next four years. number two, i care more about what i think is the media story of the year.

that is how netflix melted down during the paul/tyson fight. i'm serious, by the way. why is he talking about that? netflix, who is always seen as the example for all other streaming services -- >> the future. >> and the future. they get this fight that they have been promoting six months, nine months. it's really their first time doing something this big. for the life of me, i cannot figure out how it melted down. i can't figure it out because peacock, the first time they did this with chiefs and dolphins, that went extremely well. you see other streaming -- amazon has stepped in. they figured out a way to do this. for the life of me, i cannot

understand how netflix, who i think you told me is going to try to stream some nfl games later in the year, i have no idea how they were so ill equipped to step up and take care of this. >> this perhaps is the one thing that can bring our divided nation together, people mad about what happened saturday night. the fight itself being so lackluster and then the netflix glitches, buffering, delays. people were very, very upset. yes, netflix is trying to make a bid into the live events marketplace. we have seen peacock, we are all men and women here, do so well with the olympics. amazon prime figured out "thursday night football." netflix has some nfl games coming up. they have to get their act together and improve this or there's going to be a lot -- it's one thing late on a saturday night on a sport that -- this drew a big

audience. boxing is not at the forefront. the nfl is. if they botch that, there will be real problems. >> real problems. mika, now to the news. >> president-elect donald trump has confirmed he is prepared to declare a national emergency and use the military to carry out mass deportations. nbc news senior washington correspondent hallie jackson has the latest. >> reporter: president-elect trump signaling a major move on immigration, responding true to a post on his social media platform saying he will declare a national emergency and use military assets for a mass deportation program, a program he pledged to implement during his campaign, which focused in part on immigration and the southern border. >> the republican platform promises to launch the largest deportation operation in the history of our country. >> reporter: he promised to use the military as endorsement in

the past. >> we must use any and all resources needed to stop the invasion, including moving thousands of troops currently overseas. >> reporter: as mr. trump nods to his immigration plans and prepares for office, he is facing a fight in washington on some of the picks for his new administration. after taking in a different fight at a ufc match with allies this weekend. the spotlight now on his choice to lead the pentagon, pete hegseth, his attorney confirms hegseth paid a settlement to a woman last year after she accused him of sexual assault in 2017. the attorney says hegseth maintains his innocence and that the encounter was consensual. >> could this sink hegseth's nomination? >> it could. we will figure out if he can get confirmed. i think pete is a good pick. >> reporter: mr. trump plans to stand by hegseth after a recent conversation with his nominee.

according to "the new york times," citing two people briefed on discussion. facing new backlash, matt gaetz to lead the department of justice with multiple sources telling nbc news he faces a very difficult path to confirmation. gaetz resigned his seat last week, ending a house ethics committee investigation into whether he engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, allegations he denies. some want the committee to release the report, mike johnson disagrees saying gaetz is now a private citizen. >> i think that would be a pandora's box. >> let's bring in ali vitali. how are republicans on capitol hill handling all of this? >> reporter: we got to see some of the reaction real time over the weekend. we continue to see a sort of drip, drip, drip of more research on these nominees. that doesn't just include hegseth, but fallout here on capitol hill regarding

congressman matt gaetz as the nominee for attorney general. i think in all of these cases, whether it's hegseth or gaetz or even rfk junior, the confirmation battles are the first thing that people talked about here on capitol hill as these nominees were made public. the open question is, can they make it through a confirmation battle given the controversial points in their resume or lack of resume that would make them the right pick for this position? it speaks to the larger dynamics of congress. you and i talked about this, this is a congress that is more remade in trump's image than the one he stepped in with in 2017. that's one of the key points that makes the 2025 start of the term different than the last time that trump was here in washington. the house, we talk about often, remade in his image. ally upon ally there. you see house speaker mike johnson backing this thing up and saying, we should not be

releasing ethics reports after someone is no longer a member of congress. typically, that's the way that it goes. there are a few exceptions. senators on both sides of the aisle are calling for that ethics report to be released. we will keep following up on that on the house side as members come back. then notice senate, it's the same story. it's more of a body that's been remade in trump's image. while there might be senators saying now either on background or publicly that they might not want to vote for someone like gaetz or hegseth, i think it's going to be difficult for many of them coming from bright red states to go home and explain that to their constituents. i'm not sure republicans in the senate have the appetite of going in say, we want the trump agenda but we're not going to let him have his people and that's where we draw the line. this is a test of how maga is washington now with trump coming back to office. >> ali vitali, thank you very much.

joining ing us now, we hav nichols. jonathan lemire? >> it's been a dizzying array of nominations. tulsi gabbard has particularly concerned you. give us your thoughts as to your objections to some of these sh but more than that, zero in on the stress test that donald trump is putting forward with the senate by trying to push forth recessed appointments. it's not clear it will be successful. if he does, what does that mean? is he trying to completely break the upper chamber to his whims? >> it's hard to break the institutions of american government and american society. what you have been seeing for the past few weeks is an all fronts assault on american democracy, especially with these nominations. the idea that we are even sitting here talking about

attorney general matt gaetz would have been so fantastic, such science fiction even a year ago, even six weeks ago, that it tells you how much he is really just trying to flood the system. i think the most dangerous of these nominations is actually hegseth. i'm startled that we are not sitting here talking more about taking a morning fox host and sticking him in the nuclear chain of command to lead the largest -- one of the largest bureaucracies in the united states and in the world, including the person that's supposed to look after the most powerful fighting force on the planet. this is not just an attack on the senate. although, the recess appointments issue, again, something that conservatives used to hate. they took obama to court for this. now saying, okay, the senate, we will turn our back.

we will sort of head to the men's room when nominations are supposed to come up. i can't imagine that the united states senate, the men and women of the united states senate think their job is to go home and plug their ears while donald trump fills the cabinet with completely unqualified and deeply dangerous nominations. this is the first test of a major constitutional issue. if trump decides to go ahead that way, along with his attack on the military that your network, that nbc is reporting he has in the works, it's great to talk about moving forward, but it's also important to recognize that we could be in the first phases of a major constitutional crisis even before trump is sworn in. >> it's interesting, some of the appointments have got so much appointment that we haven't talked about the nomination for the environmental protection agency, chris wright, who said there's no climate crisis. that one seems to -- because there's so much attention on

others. let's talk more about pete hegseth. some people have said to me that there are things that need to be done in the department of defense, that there are inefficiencies there. people would broadly accept that within the federal government, there is room for making it more efficient. but why is pete heg seth not ied to do that? >> you are right, we're not talking about some of the other nominations because they could not be involved in potentially apocalyptic decisions that could happen in inside of oval office. the reason we are talking about hegseth -- to go back to your point, he has no experience. none. he was a major in the army. i taught hundreds of majors in the course of my career. that doesn't make you qualified to be secretary of state.

he has no serious executive experience. he has no serious foreign policy experience. he has no serious national security experience. you can't just throw a guy that you happen to like from tv into leading this gigantic bureaucracy and this incredibly powerful fighting force. again, i keep saying it. insert him into the chain of command for the release of nuclear weapons. the idea that -- of course it's true. of course it's true the pentagon has problems. i was a dod employee for 25 years. there are plenty of things that could get done. taking a guy you saw on tv and saying, go fix the dod, is not an answer to those problems. that's trolling america. that's mocking not just the other -- the voters who didn't vote for you, it's mocking your own voters. >> we will see how republicans deal with this in the senate, especially. these picks will be dealing with a lot of issues, including the

war in ukraine. where we go next. russia has carried out its largest wave of air strikes on ukraine in months, targeting energy infrastructure across the country. it comes as president biden authorizes ukraine to use long-range american missiles inside russia. keir simmons has the latest. >> reporter: they were fighting more fires overnight, counting 11 dead, including two children in just one ukrainian city. a weekend that saw the largest russian air strike in almost three cutting off power and water. president biden agreed to allow ukraine to use western long-range weapons, according to two u.s. officials. it's a policy shift from the united states that ukraine had

been pushing for. the biden resisting until now. it was driven by the arrival of north korean troops and by a determination to help ukraine hold on to territory ahead of expected negotiations. president zelenskyy declaring the missiles will speak for themselves. president putin has warned the precision rockets, including u.s. atacms, would mean nato countries would be involved in the country. president trump's son writing on x, the military industrial complex seems to want to make sure they get world war iii before my father has a chance to create peace and save lives. president-elect trump has said he would end the war in ukraine in 24 hours and pushed for an end to the fighting. >> i will end the war in ukraine. >> reporter: tomorrow will mark 1,000 days of the ukraine war. the g7 reiterating over the

weekend, russia is the sole obstacle to a just and lasting peace. >> keir simmons with that report. tom, let's go back to you. i have been struck since the beginning of the war between russia and ukraine, the fact that the biden administration is damned if they do, do, damned they don't. there are people saying he is doing too much. there are people saying he is not doing enough. he approves weapon systems that can go deep into the heart of russia. i'm curious, is this something that you think he should have approved a long time ago? or is this a dangerous escalation? >> he should have approved it way before this. at the beginning of the war, i was cautious and a i applauded e

biden administration for being cautious. there was chaos in the first six months where the russians hadn't accepted the reality that this war was lost, that we're going to kyiv in three days plan, which was their only plan and it was a stupid plan, fell apart so quickly. i think that the administration's go slow approach let them understand that they are failing, they will take huge casualties, the first sixes you had to be careful. within a year it was time to say, they're going to have to pay the price. if we're giving ukraine weapons, we have to let them use the weapons in a way that's meaningful. the russians haven't been observing any limits on what they strike. barely any limits. they stayed away from the nuclear plant. thank god. they have been engaging in war crimes and outright murder of civilians and butchering left

and right. i think the worry about escalation probably should have been less of a worry once it was clear that the russians were the ones that had no fear of escalation and they were engaging in it at will. president biden met with xi jinping on saturday. while in peru for the summit. the meeting included discussions over key issues, including cybercrime, trade and the use of ai with nuclear weapons. biden emphasized the need for the two global powers to build a sustainable relationship. >> we haven't always agreed, but our conversations have always been candid and always been frank. we have never kidded one another. we have been level with one another. i think that's vital. these conversations prevent miscalculations and they ensure the competition between our two countries will not veer into conflict. be competition, not conflict. that's our responsibility to our

people and as you indicated to the people around the world. we are the most important alliance and most important relationship in the entire world. how we get along will impact the rest of the world. >> president xi said china plans to work with president-elect donald trump to maintain communication, expand cooperation and manage differences. joe? >> one of the fascinating things about the last several years, there has been a focus, not only in america but also across the west on russia because of the war in ukraine, because of their invasion of ukraine. that's ps what any strategic thinker would say is the most important thing relationship for the united states for decades to come, and that is the relationship with china. we know that joe biden had a

long relationship with president xi. at times they were able to speak, more forward in positive ways. i guess the big question mark for a lot of people, not only in the u.s. but across the west is, how is that relationship going to change with donald trump? >> you are right. ever since obama tried to do the pivot to asia, successive american presidents have tried to focus on china. they haven't been able to put the commitment they want. one thing that's not going to change from the second trump term to the current biden administration is the policy towards china. president biden took donald trump's hawkish position on china and ratcheted it up. i think you will see a continuation of that. look around all of the people that donald trump has put -- has chosen for his national security positions, and there are some differences between these

people. marco rubio is not tulsi gabbard, but they share one thing in common, a hawkishness on china. marco rubio believes america has to continue its tough policies on china. what does donald trump do about america's allies in the south pacific region? joe biden has put an enormous amount of effort into making sure that america stays close to the south koreans, to the japanese, the filipinos. what will donald trump do about that? if he puts tariffs on those countries, it could hamper the relationship to contain china. >> tom, i want to talk about that and talk about how joe biden's policies over the past four years line up with donald trump's policies over the next four years. the very hawkish nature of so many of the pointees toward china. look at joe biden with the pivot

to asia. you have seen a toughening up of american defenses, whether it's in australia, japan, south korea, up to the philippines and guam. the united states has really flexed its muscle in the region militarily. i'm curious, how does that line up with the incoming trump administration where the president will most likely be more focused on economic issues and tariffs. some of his cabinet picks, like marco rubio, if they get through, very hawkish on china. >> there's a basic problem, which is that joe biden believes in alliances and donald trump doesn't. when you are dealing with the chinese or the russians, that's a problem. the idea that somehow the americans are just going to go it alone, because really america

first always turns into america alone and that we're going to impose tariffs and disrupt economic relations and somehow keep that separate from security relationships is just wishful thinking. i'm concerned that as usual, donald trump, who was running for office for donald trump's reasons, to save donald trump, that as usual, they haven't thought this stuff through. this goes back to the discussion we were having earlier about nominations. if there's a crisis with china, if there's a problem with china, i'm sorry, who is in the oval office advising donald trump about threading his way through this? marco rubio? fine. a guy with experience. he can disagree with him. he has experience in foreign affairs as a senator. trump turns to who? to tulsi gabbard, to pete hegseth to say, what do i do

about this thing that i didn't think would happen because i didn't really thought about this stuff and i thought putting tariffs on things magically made the world better? that's what i'm really worried about. i'm not just worried about trump and his lack of attention. i'm worried about the fact that there's no team around him with the exception of maybe -- maybe his incoming national security advisor and secretary of state who can help him navigate through this. >> tom nichols, thank you very much. tom's latest piece is available to read online right now. time to take a look at some of the other stories making headlines this morning. india's defense minister says his country has successfully tested a domestic hypersonic missile with a range exceeding 900 miles. a milestone that puts india in a small group of nations to test

the technology. the u.s., russia, china and north korea have all tested hypersonic missiles and several others are developing the technology. a new study finds that stress can disrupt memory formation and lead to needless anxiety. okay. researchers using mice determined that stress alters the way the brain forms memories resulting in an unnecessary fear response. the new findings published in the journal "cells" could help people suffering from ptsd. i could have helped them with that. late betty white will be memorialized in a new postage stamp next year. the u.s. postal service announced one of its 2025 forever stamp offering will include an illustration of white calling her an icon of american television who shared her warmth

with viewers for seven decades. white died in 2021. just weeks shy of her 100th birthday. coming up, fresh off his victory in a battleground donald trump won, senator senator-eleco will discussion how his campaign with be a blueprint for democrats nationwide. ted danson will discuss "a man on the inside." you are watching "morning joe." we will be right back.

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of munchkin land. >> we are sending millions and billions to the wizard. the munchkins are living paycheck to paycheck. >> "wicked" opens nationwide this friday. back to politics. one of the few bright spots for democrats this election came in arizona where democratic congressman gallego won the open senate seat despite the fact that trump beat kamala harris there. the marine combat veteran performed better than harris with latinos and particularly with latino men. a group that nationwide favored trump and senator-elect gallego joins us now. he is the first latino to represent arizona in the upper chamber of congress. congratulations. >> thank you. >> i have so many questions. i'm curious, what about your campaign did you do differently

that you think might be transferable to campaigns across the country for democrats? >> i think i had one advantage. i started this campaign 23 months before the election. for a lot of reasons, i had to do that. i used that time to go out and talk to everyone. i'm talking democrats, republicans, independents. we ended winning 12% of republicans, a lot of interests. we targeted latino men from day one as a swing vote, because coming from my background, growing up working class poor, i knew and hearing from men in my community, they were feeling the effects of the economy, especially inflation. we decided that we had to target them from day one or they were going to not be coming out to vote and/or voting against me. i had 23 months do that. other campaigns maybe did not have that. something we should be thinking about going forward to make sure we are talking to people and talking to them about what they are hearing, what they are

feeling, not what we want them to feel and/or see. >> mr. senator, congratulations. want your take on this news this morning that perhaps -- >> a lot of news. >> at 4:03 a.m., yes, 4:03 a.m., president-elect donald trump posted on truth social, true, when response to someone's comments here that the administration will be preparing to declare a national emergency and will use military assets as part of its mass deportation program. can you give us your reaction to that? which would be a remarkable escalation in use of power. >> i don't think americans want to replace the chaos at the border with chaos in our communities. the idea that soldiers are going to carry out these deportations, number one, it's not something that we in the united states are used to seeing. number two, you will really

diminish the scope and the trust that people have for our military forces when they are being used against u.s. citizens potentially. let's not forget we have mixed families. there's proper ways to work together. i think there's a loud, clear message that people are unhappy with the security at the border. i think with due process and with actual -- actually following our american values, we can have a secure border, we can make sure we get rid of some of the illegal immigrants that have criminal backgrounds and are dangerous. involving the military is not going to make us a stronger country. it's a very dangerous situation that the president will put our military and military readiness as well as what people believe the military is to the united states. >> senator, that's one of the ways we have come out of the election is with data that has been going around democratic circles saying we should think about latino voters as american voters, many of whom are working

class. you have been making one distinction which is that of latino men and talking about the role latino men specifically seem to have durl culturally of feeling they should be the primary breadwinner and they are not able to do that. how do you square that circle? is that something you think is unique to latino men or is that an issue democrats should think about with all men in the united states? >> it's not unique to latino men. this is the thing that all men across the country feel. there happens to be a lot in arizona. i have a viewpoint into that growing up working class, latino, as a veteran. i was able to tap into a lot of the sentiment that i heard from all the men growing up, all the carpenters, the cooks, janitors, mechanics that were trying to live the american dream, make sure they kept a roof over the

head or do simple things like take a vacation and live well. this is something that is across the country, whether you are an african american father in georgia or you are a white man in appalachia. you want to provide for economic security for your family and physical security. it doesn't diminish the role of women and mothers. i was raised by a single mother. thank god, she had that much strength and power. but we can't just deny that there's something out there that is pulling men away from the party that does provide economic security to someone like donald trump and the republican party that doesn't provide that. >> i would love to get you to weigh in on some of the latest nominations, especially as a veteran yourself, on the picks for dod and other national security positions. >> look, any national security position has to begin with question number one, are you

going to protect the constitution of the united states? number two, are you going to be integral and part of our national security apparatus to the point we feel you are going to take care and protect us and our service members? two of the picks are questionable. they will have to answer hard questions. why? because we have millions of member and women that will be on the charge of the secretary of defense and potentially for dni, tulsi gabbard, have to talk to a lot of our allies. if our allies are questioning our ability to keep top secrets or whether or not we are going to be there in the end when push comes to shove, it actually really deteriorates our own base security in general. they both have to answer some tough questions, in addition to some of the things we have heard them say and/or do in the past. >> senator, congratulations on your win.

thank you very much for coming on the show. >> thank you. have a good one. >> take care. coming up, spirit airlines filed for bankruptcy after five years of failing to turn a profit. this comes as aaa projects nearly 80 million americans are expected to travel over thanksgiving. a record number that exceeds pre-pandemic numbers. shares of tell sla soared o the news that president-elect donald trump wants to relax regulations on self-driving cars. we have the latest details next. y comfortable socks, slippers you'll float in, and underwear and tees that feel like clouds... no, bunnies. visit bombas.com and shop our big holiday sale. customize and save with liberty mutual. customize and sa— (balloon doug pops & deflates) and then i wake up. is limu with you in all your dreams?

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♪ ♪ you're good. -very good. 43 past the hour. welcome back. tesla shares soared this morning after bloomberg reported the incoming trump administration is planning to prioritize developing a federal framework to regulate self-driving vehicles. let's bring in the co-anchor of

squawk box and "new york times" columnist andrew sorkin. tell us about tesla. >> this stock has been on a wild ride. up 30% since the election. the bump this morning on the back of the news -- i thought this was part of the expectation, which is to say that the group that oversees vehicles on the road would create a framework or better or different framework that would make it easier for tesla to get on the road and clearly this report suggesting that that is what is in the offing. that's one of the reasons the stock has taken off. tariffs in china are another reason. it means there's less likely chance that there will be chinese ev makers producing cars here. less likely a chance that there's help in the form of subsidies to other carmakers

given the strength of tesla to ford or gm. >> andrew, one of the other things that elon musk is doing is providing counsel on donald trump including his choice for treasury secretary. we have been commenting how quickly trump filled or nominated people to fill so many positions in his cabinet. treasury secretary is a big one. he is not there yet. there's reporting of dissent at mar-a-lago. >> this is a fascinating development over the weekend. it all just spilled out into the public in large part because you did see reports and elon musk taking to twitter to discuss his favorite candidate, who is howard lutnick, who has been on the transition team and pushing aggressively for that position. it appears maybe he was pushing too aggressively for that position. now may have a lesser chance of getting it. scott bessent was the other candidate. it appears that trump may be

taking his time and deciding neither candidate is going to get that job. marc rowan happens to be in asia will fly back to the u.s. this week to meet with trump. then there's kevin walsh, he is now in play as well. we will see how this plays out. fascinating to see elon musk tweeting about his favorite position. at the same time that he is sitting next to trump at madison square garden watching the fight or on the airplane we saw the pictures of. there's a question whether what he was tweeting was a signal that trump wanted to send more broadly or whether he was freelancing on his own. there's a lot of tea leaf reading going on.

"the wall street journal" saying unlike musk's comment on twitter, which was he was arguing you need somebody to shake up the treasury department, that the country is going bankrupt and his argument was he thought howard lutnick was that person, "the wall street journal" said this is one department you don't want to shake up. it's important the markets and the global economy try to stay at least somewhat intact and really trying to scramble things could really scramble things. >> speaking of going bankrupt, spirit airlines, tell us about it. >> spirit airlines, this has been expected. filing for bankruptcy. for those who have tickets, this is not going to impact you. this is a company that was over leveraged, too much debt. could not pay it. the company will continue to operate. it will be interesting to see whether they get taken over or how it works out. there had been a takeover

attempt blocked by the government. this is happening as we get ready for thanksgiving. thanksgiving this year apparently is seeing more people on the road traveling than ever before. 71 some odd million people. that's higher than pandemic levels, which was at a height. good news is that gasoline prices in large parts of the country are materially down from there. get ready for traffic. >> it sounds like it. andrew ross sorkin, thank you very much. up next right here on "morning joe," actor ted danson is live in studio to talk about "a man on the inside" which follows a retired professor who goes undercover in a retirement community. why? he will explain next on "morning joe." i'm the team mascot, and boy, am i running late.

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your first job is to lay low, meet people, start compiling a list of suspected. >> hello. get out of my room. >> i don't do yoga. i'm naturally flexible. >> i don't want any. >> don't want any what? >> bless me father, for i have sinned. >> a few bumps in the road today if i'm being honest. >> the majority of seniors, the biggest threat isn't an accident or health, it's loneliness. our res idents are vibrant and well taken care of. >> happy hour starts at 3:00. >> this place is insane. it's like high school. >> when i said to lay low, what did that mean to you? >> i was very discreet. blended right in. >> there's a pizza stuck to your back. >> thank god. i'm starving. >> wow. that was a look now for something completely different

at the new netflix series "a man on the inside" starting ted danson. the eight-episode comedy was adapted from the documentary the mole agent which follows an 83-year-old man hired to go undercover in a nursing home. in the new series, danson's character, a retired widower finds new meaning in his life when he is hired by a private investigator to infiltrate a san francisco rement community and investigate the theft of a resident's family heirloom. this looks so fun. >> it is. >> i'm trying to think -- when you go into the pitch for this, you are saying, picture what show and what show mixed with what show? >> it's tough. mike shore, who did "the good place" created this.

he is very good at that trojan horse thing of making you laugh. isn't this funny? it is funny to see someone my age trying to be good with camera glasses and phones. then, you start talking about aging. you start talking a real conversation which we don't have in this country about aging. i'm so happy. >> what an untapped well of opportunity for laughs. that is people who are at a later stage in life who have a different attitude towards things. >> it is. but it is never at them, the laughter never comes at their expense. we go deep. we go memory loss. it's really, really sweet. people after they see this immediately call their parents, which is a good sign. >> my gosh, i love that. >> your resume is without compare. been a fan forever. "cheers" is a defining show for

me. this is something you are working on. you are a young man. is that something that drew you to the set? does that resonate with you? >> yes. two or three years ago i decided i would love -- not decided. realized i wanted to find out what it's like to be funny at every age of my life. it gets harder and harder. age is not necessarily -- aging is not necessarily easy. i met jane fonda about the same time i was turning 70. she was turning 80. my wife mary was about to work with her on a film. i was thinking, find a landing spot. i watched her. she has her foot on the gas pedal. she's 86. all she does is -- she goes out into the world and tries to make things better. oh, yeah, there's not an expiration date. >> there's a long runway. i've been trying to prove this to women. i do the 50 over 50 list.

we have women in their 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, over 100 who are still reaching their greatest success later in life. >> it's a great message for young women, young men. you can be creative and contribute to life until forever. watch me. >> exactly. it's the message for the younger generation. let's look at a clip. you were talking about trying to handle your spyglasses. here is your character charles testing out some of your new spy gear. >> engage the fruit guy in conversation. remember, casual. confident. >> hello. i was wondering if you could answer a question i had about your peaches. >> sure. i'm happy to. >> you do not need to be that close. >> sorry. you see, i travel the world. looking for great peaches. i'm part of the peach club.

>> why are you always in a club in. >> i don't know. stop talking to me. >> stop talking to me. you are talking to no one. >> sorry. i just love peaches, man. matter of fact, i will take all your peaches. >> really? >> yeah. >> did you just buy all of his peaches? >> yeah. >> i'm not reimbursing you for this. >> my gosh, so fun. what do you hope -- i love people call their parents after this. is that what you hope people take away from this? >> yes. we tell our kids, you can be anything you want. then we stop saying that to ourselves. there's no age limit to that. keep going. >> thank you for that message. the new show "a man on the inside" premieres thursday on netflix. emmy and golden globe award winning actor ted danson, thank you very much for coming in. that looks great. that does it for us this morning. ana cabrera picks up the

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