way too early with us on this friday morning. "morning joe" starts right now. ♪ spent a lot of nights on the road ♪ good morning. beautiful shot there of the u.s. capitol before dawn on this friday morning. donald trump was busy again yesterday on his social media site, with several reposts including one about russian president vladimir putin that got some attention. we'll go through that and how their relationship could impact the future of the war in ukraine. also ahead, we'll bring you new comments from trump's border czar on family detention centers and the role that the facilities could have in deportation efforts. and we'll bring you a live report from israel, following idf air strikes targeting an iran-backed terror group in

yemen. good morning and welcome to "morning joe." it is friday, december 27th. we hope you are enjoying your holidays, thanks for starting today with us. i'm john that lemire with the bbc's katty kay. i'm happy to say, we're joined by co-host of "the weekend" on msnbc, symone sanders townsend, managing editor at the bulwark, sam stein, and columnist and associate editor for "the washington post," david ignatius. joe, mika and willie have the morning off. we'll dive right in. a lot of news to get to from overseas. we'll begin with the latest out of kazakhstan where a u.s. official is now echoing concerns that a russian antiaircraft system may have shot down the azerbaijan airlines flight that killed 38 people on christmas day. holes in the plane's fuselage led several experts and investigators to turn their attention to the possibility that russia's air defenses could have been the likely cause, despite early reports that the

plane hit a flock of birds. the kremlin, however, warned against making any immediate judgments about what happened before the investigation comes to a conclusion. the u.s. official, though, added that if early indications prove that russia was behind this, it would be yet more evidence of russia's recklessness in its war with ukraine. at least one airline says it is altering its flights in the region in light of the plane crash and israel's national carrier announced it is suspending its operations on the tel aviv/moscow route for the coming week and will assess when they may resume. katty, certainly, this is not the first time that russia has been accused of downing a civilian aircraft. >> no. certainly not. and there was some talk about how this may be birds, but those look suspicious, like gunshot or some kind of bullet holes in that plane. they do not look like the kind of things that birds would do. yeah, it has been a -- i hope

you had a good holiday, everybody. we did manage to get a little break, but it has been busy around the world and look at the war in ukraine. russian president vladimir putin last week signaled his willingness to engage in talks with president-elect trump. yesterday, trump shared on social media an article about those comments titled putin says he's ready for potential talks with trump during year-end news conference. that was a mega full hour news conference where he shared that idea. so, david igignatius, when you look at that headline, donald trump shared it as much as president putin said it, very few details yet, what is your initial reaction? >> my feeling is this is another statement of what we all sensed, which is that the season of negotiation is about to begin. president trump said through the campaign -- president-elect trump, he intends to negotiate,

can resolve this in 24 hours he claimed at one point. but more seriously, he's already designated his special emissary for ukraine, retired general kellogg, he'll be heading there, i'm told, in just over a week to do some fact-finding in ukraine. president trump himself, president-elect trump has met with ukrainian president zelenskyy in paris with the orchestration of french president macron. so, the discussions that will lead to a real negotiation have begun, here is putin explicitly saying he wants the talks to begin soon. i think the question we're all wondering is whether trump is going to resist perhaps his own instincts to do a quick deal that would involve big concessions by ukraine, a deal that might end up biting him in the end if it leaves ukraine unprotected against future russian aggression.

so, all eyes are on that negotiating space. i think even the current administration, the biden team, knows that negotiations are coming, trying to pump weapons in just to make sure ukraine has as much leverage going into negotiations as possible. >> so, sam stein, a key part of all this, of course, is the relationship between president-elect donald trump and russian president vladimir putin. we know that trump speaks flatteringly of putin, has for years. he was y ily deferential to putin. there are times when the senate will be tough on russia with sanctions, but trump himself always seemed to give putin the benefit of the doubt. he also fancied himself a dealmaker and hard negotiator. taking this all together, what is your read on how this relationship will impact what these negotiations could look like? it is between russia and ukraine to be sure, but the u.s. is going to play a role. >> right, and that was always the biden administration's line,

which is we have to have ukraine at the table. it is their country. we can't have direct negotiations with russia. donald trump is different than joe biden. he'll take a different approach here. he'll have direct negotiations or talks at least with putin. zelenskyy will be included, but my sense is that they'll probably end up giving him a take it or leave it type deal. what is interesting here, and david was talking about it, just the state that russia is in heading into the negotiations. i'm sure putin imagined he would have more of an upper hand at this juncture. surely he thought -- but what we have seen over the last couple of weeks is really a staggering setback for russia across the world what is happening in syria, iran, their economic situation if you read the headlines out of russia is fairly abysmal. all that said, it is, you know, that doesn't -- it is not a great hand that putin has to play and as david said, you know, the outgoing biden administration pumping weapons

into ukraine and weighing the possibility of additional sanctions to weaken russia further. trump could undo all of this, of course, but that would be a fairly politically precarious step to take right out of the gate. and so, yeah, i'm curious what he says directly with putin, but if history is any guide, you imagine he's going to give putin the benefit of the doubt, try to get a deal done, because he's on record saying he can get it done so quickly and then hand it to zelenskyy and say take it or leave it. >> there is an appetite for much of his base to end this conflict, but handing russia a victory might be a different matter. that's not, of course, the only foreign crisis that president-elect trump will inherit when he takes office. there is still the middle east. and israel elected strikes against yemen's houthi rebels targeting the capital and key infrastructure including the airport and power stations. according to "the wall street journal," the attacks aim to deter the iran-backed group, which israel says facilitates iranian weapons transfers.

the associated press reports that the world's health organization's director general was nearby during the strikes with a crew member injured. at least three people were killed, and dozens more were hurt in the airport attack. now, overnight, israel intercepted a houthi missile, following days of rocket launches that triggered air raid sirens there. prime minister benjamin netanyahu of israel warned the houthis would face consequences like other iranian proxies. now joining us live from tel aviv is nbc news international correspondent raf sanchez. good morning, raf, thank you for joining us. this seems like an escalation, a ratcheting up there. give us the latest on the ground from israel. >> reporter: jonathan, good morning. these are the most extensive israeli strikes we have seen against the iranian-backed houthi rebels in yemen so far. they targeted a number of seaports, several power stations, but critically they attacked the main international

airport in yemen in the capital, sanaa. israel says it was targeting military infrastructure belonging to the houthis inside of the airport. they say that was one of the main transit points for iranian weapons heading into yemen, but it is also one of the key places for funneling in desperately needed humanitarian aid into yemen. this is the poorest arab country in the middle east. it has been going through a rolling humanitarian crisis for basically a decade now. and as you said, the israeli strikes coming perilously close to the director general of the world health organization and his team. he says that they were preparing to take off when these israeli strikes hit meters away, according to him. he says that while his immediate team was not harmed, one of the crew members of the aircraft that they were supposed to take off from was injured and that the aircraft was not able to take off. the secretary-general of the united nations says he's alarmed

by this development. we asked the israeli military did you realize there was this team of humanitarians on the runway when the strikes came down. they did not respond to our request for comment. in terms of why now and why this escalation, jonathan, the houthis have really been ratcheting up their missile fire over the last ten days or so. two of their ballistic missiles, which israel says were partly supplied by iran, broke through israel's sophisticated air defenses, they hit here in the greater tel aviv area. one of them actually destroyed an elementary school. and what has been really striking is while iran's other proxies across the region, hamas and gaza, hezbollah and southern lebanon have been severely weakened, the houthis are very much undeterred and defiant and that is on the face of not just israeli strikes, but also waves of american strikes conducted in response to the houthis targeting international shipping vessels in the red sea. and just this morning, jonathan,

3:00 a.m. local time, a familiar sound for israelis in tel aviv, the sirens going off once again and the military says that was a response to yet another houthi missile. so it does not appear that these israeli strikes last night have accomplished their mission of deterring the houthis, at least not yet. >> the range is remarkable given how far yemen is from israel, right down the bottom of the red sea. there have been reports out of israel and here in the press too about israelis after the fall of assad, the degradation of hezbollah, iran, feeling emboldened to remake the middle east, this could be a moment that could be seized to fundamentally shift the region. getting rid of the houthis would be part of that or degrading the houthis would be part of that. do you feel that's what the israelis are feeling at the moment? >> reporter: i think there are definitely people around prime minister benjamin netanyahu who are advising him exactly this, this is a moment of historic

opportunity, that hezbollah who have long been a loaded gun pointed at israel turned out ultimately to be a little bit of a paper tiger there, vast rocket arsenal, decimated by israeli strikes, their leader, hassan nasrallah, killed and ultimately hezbollah had to sue for peace. and then iran itself, its air defenses, especially around tehran, appear to be very severely degraded by an israeli strike a little earlier this year. and so there are people around netanyahu who are telling him, this is the moment to strike iran itself this is the moment potentially to attack the nuclear facilities, to try to make sure that it cannot get to a nuclear weapon. i think the reality, katty, is that the israeli military for all of its firepower would probably struggle to carry out a comprehensive attack on iran's nuclear facilities, many of which are embedded inside of mountains. they would likely need

significant support from the united states in terms of refueling, in terms of heavy bunker-busting bombs. and so at this point, we have not yet seen netanyahu really, really ratchet up against iran the strikes he ordered against the iranians were relatively limited. but we will see. when the trump administration takes office, whether netanyahu newly emboldened decides this is the moment to go ahead and potentially whether he asks for american support. katty katty? >> raf sanchez, thank you for that. it is going to be an interesting moment for the trump administration to take over in january. south korean lawmakers meanwhile voted to impeach acting president just two weeks after voting to impeach the country's president. 192 lawmakers voted for the measure, more than the 151 votes needed for it to succeed. prime minister han took over the role after president yoon was

impeached during his failed attempt to impose martial law in the country earlier this month. the move comes after han refused demands to complete yoon's impeachment process. that development brings us to a new piece in "the new york times" which says president biden and his aides strengthened key u.s. alliances during his presidential term, but also called on leaders who undermined the power and the standing of the u.s. around the world. the article analyzes the alliances under biden and how his administration was caught by surprise when partners like south korea and israel have acted against u.s. interests. serious problems emerged with leaders in afghanistan, israel, south korea, and the uae. in each case, mr. biden and his aides were caught by surprise. and then stayed quiet when those leaders failed in their roles or rejected policy suggestions and diplomatic efforts by the americans. mr. biden's unwavering public support of an israel led by

prime minister benjamin netanyahu as it wages a deadly war against hamas in gaza has been costly in terms of american and global public opinion. it reads the partnerships that mr. biden promoted not only during his presidency but throughout his political career could prove unable to withstand new challenges during a second trump administration, but recent events have shown that the alliances were always shakier and more contentious than the vision painted by mr. biden and other proponents in washington. david, that's such -- it is such an interesting kind of counterintuitive argument because the biden administration has put so much effort into and been so proud of its efforts, especially in southeast asia, i think, in shoring up america's allies against china. do you buy the argument that actually this is -- we're going to look back at this with quite a revisionist view of the degree to which those supposed

purported allies were actually willing to act in america's best interests? >> you know, i think it is very premature to dismiss this network of allies and partners that the biden administration created. i haven't seen nato in decades as strong and forceful as it has been in responding to the russian invasion of ukraine. it got off to a slow start. it was pushed by the biden team to recognize the danger that was coming and european assistance to ukraine is now substantial, beginning to rival that of the united states. in asia, the same thing. i think the biden diplomacy focused initially on japan, a traditional very close ally, but then branching out to triangles that included japan, south korea, the united states, japan, the philippines, the united states, the aukus partnership

with australia, the quad. it is a whole network, all across the indo-pacific region aimed at buffering the competition. we all know it is a central foreign policy challenge with china. so, this was a centerpiece of how biden approached foreign policy. the idea that it was all based on kind of empty promises from the allies and that the relationships were much more frail, not ready to buy that yet. let's see how the partnerships fare under donald trump. if this fundamental alignment of interests between the u.s. and these other countries, they should continue into the future and trump himself should realize the benefit. if they were weak, we may see them begin to fray and fall apart. >> that's the central question here, does trump turn his back on his alliances. the first time, he almost pulled the united states out of nato where he repeatedly with bombastic rhetoric targeted the

united states' long time allies. we'll see what happens next. you know president biden and his approach so well, he does put alliances, personal relationships even in front of other world leaders at the center of his foreign policy and truly believes in transatlanticism and making inroads there in the pacific. how do you suspect history will judge his efforts? are they completely dependent on what happens next? >> i actually agree with david here. i don't think it is completely dependent on what happens next. i think each president is judged by what they do as president and their lasting legacy, how well what they have implemented essentially holds up. when it comes to the nato partnerships, particularly the countries within nato, strengthening the alliances, i mean, you talk to any world leader, any nato ally and they'll say that president biden did yeomans work to strengthen the coalition, to keep people together. yes, nato membership is

concerned about what america's role will now be with president-elect trump assuming the presidency yet again. but it is joe biden that made those alliances strong. i think "the new york times" report is very interesting because it seemingly says joe biden had all of these things he wanted to do and he talked to -- he talked positively about relationships. but there are all these -- this turmoil happening in different places around the world. and somehow he is to be blamed for situations that already existed. the united states, you go in to do diplomacy work, if you will, we're talking to our international partners, it is not the united states coming in with the heavy hand saying this is going to happen here and there and everywhere around the world. it is understanding where the alliances are, where the pieces are on the board and figuring out how best to work within those and staying strong and keeping strong our values. i think that's what joe biden and his administration sought to do. and did do. yes, there are challenges with

prime minister netanyahu to be clear. but the president had a long relationship with the prime minister. he's someone who says he's known prime minister netanyahu for i think 40 years. and so the way in which joe biden developed his foreign policy muscles, if you will, what you do in public versus what you do in private, that has held throughout his entire presidency. president trump does business a little differently. we're going to see a tale of two diplomacies, if you will, very shortly, in this new world order. >> yeah, and so many different global hot spots to address. all right, everybody, stay put. still ahead here on "morning joe," the first woman has entered the race to become the next leader of the democratic national committee. we'll tell you who it is. plus, we'll go through new reporting on trump voters who now fear that the president-elect may cut programs and resources that they depend on. and also ahead, we'll have the latest on efforts by trump

allies in the house to remove speaker mike johnson from his post. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. s post you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. mom where's my homework? mommy! hey hun - sometimes, you just need a moment. self-care has never been this easy. gummy vitamins from nature made, the #1 pharmacist recommended vitamin and supplement brand. go-friends, gather! keke! chris! jason! boop! friends. let's go, let's go, friends!

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democratic national committee. in an open letter to dnc membership, williamson says the party needs to understand the emotional force of president-elect donald trump's appeal and, quote, create the energy to counter it. she also posted this video. >> i'm announcing i'm running for dnc chair because i feel that i can bring a level of expertise to the process of lifting up this possibility of victory over the next two and four years in a way that will not occur if we are only looking at traditional means of politicking in order to make that happen. >> williamson is the latest candidate and the first woman to jump into the race to succeed outgoing dnc chair jaime harrison. the 72-year-old may face an upward battle for the role as she's up against a handful of current and former party officials. the election will be held on february 1st. symone, do you think marianne williamson is what the

democratic party needs to turn things around? >> you know, jonathan, as i was reading this, this morning, i was wondering, who keeps telling marianne williamson to run for all these different positions. she ran for president, now dnc chair, maybe senate, i don't know, next cycle. it is very interesting to me. i don't know if marianne williamson is what the majority of dnc members will be looking for. i would bet my last dollar, i highly doubt it. however, this is going to -- she is a candidate, if she reaches the right number of signatures to be actual candidate for dnc chair, while she announced the question does she have the signatures. she needs 40, 40 different signatures from actual dnc members certified in order to be into -- in the race. there are other people who met that threshold. everyone who has met the threshold will have to participate in the candidate forums. the candidate forums will make things a lot clearer when it comes to what these candidates,

their vision is for the democratic national committee. but also how they're going to raise money. i think there is a common misconception the chair's job is to go on television and be a good talking head, but the reality is that the chair has to be able to raise money. and has to have the gravitas to work with the democratic leaders in the house and the senate. i don't know. i don't know if, you know, chuck schumer is taking his cues from marianne williamson in the senate. but, stranger things have happened. >> sam stein, i know you've been a long time and careful chronicler of marianne williamson's career. so, feel free to weigh in on her long shot bid here. but also more broadly, to symone's point here, what should democrats be looking for here in its new chair, symone laid out well what that person's responsibilities are. and this comes at a moment where, yes, margins were close. let's not overlook that. but democrats took some pretty crushing defeats come november.

>> thank you for establishing my credentials to talk about this. i don't think she's going to win. not breaking news here. i will be interested, though, in seeing how fellow democrats treat her. by that i mean we just left a cycle in which the left wing of the party, by left, i mean, sort of overstating it, but the people personified by marianne williamson so dismissed by establishing democrats and felt hurt by establishment democrats and felt the party was pushing them out and they went to connect with the maga movement. that's why you have rfk jr. serving potentially in the trump cabinet. marianne williamson is not a fellow ideological traveler with rfk jr., but close enough. i wonder if democrats will try to accommodate or at least

incorporate or at least treat with more respect, i guess, is the way to put it her candidacy without being outright dismiss of it. that said, the party is probably almost assuredly not going to go with her because the party needs a few things. one is a robust fund-raiser atop the party. the second is someone who can build actual party institutions. i did actually chronicle some of her candidacies. her campaigns were disastrous internally. a lot of infighting, very poor money management. that's not what the party is going to want. not what the party needs. and the third thing is just an understanding of how to handle this modern media ecosystem and the real debate happening now in the democratic party is where do you put your message and who are your messengers and can you build a media infrastructure on your own or do you need to push forward with the existing system and try to go on to conservative alt media and podcasts and things like that. these are three big questions that face the next dnc chair.

i don't think marianne williamson is going to have the answers that most of the party members want, but i'm curious to see how they treat her candidacy. >> i think that means a no. i interviewed her too. she's pretty thin skinned. when you challenge her, stories of staff being unhappy with her leadership, you don't get very far. she's pretty prickly about it. i don't think that's what the dnc chair needs to be right now. so let's look at another story. this caught my eye over the last couple of days. not full of holiday cheer. as the year comes to a close, gallup's latest monthly survey finds that only 19% of americans believe that the country is heading in the right direction. when broken down by party, the survey shows democrat satisfaction with the direction of the country fell 17 points between october and december, from 47% to 30%. that might have the election to do with that one.

on the republican side though, gop satisfaction rose to 16% from october to november, following the election, but it has fallen back down again to 9%. david ignatius, as americans look not just at their own role around the world, but the state of their own country, we get to the end of 2024, whatever the trump administration looks like it is going to bring in, with not many people having terribly high expectations. >> so, katty, i felt after the election that although the country was fairly evenly split, trump did better than expected, but it was a thin majority overall. the one thing on which there was overwhelming consensus in the united states, republicans and democrats across age groups, is that the country is heading in the wrong direction, that people are fundamentally dissatisfied and pessimistic about where the united states is heading. and i think that's the challenge

that joe biden wanted to meet, the trend was already visible in 2020 when he was elected but he couldn't, he couldn't find a way to take that desire for change and make it his theme. donald trump is the change candidate as he heads toward inauguration. but will he be able to satisfy this feeling? we're going in the wrong direction, our country isn't as strong as it has been. i think the poll that you cited, katty, illuminates what is really the most interesting fact about american politics today, which is beyond all our divisions, we're united on this one thing, the country is heading down and people are unhappy about it. >> trends troubling for any incumbent. we see that around the globe and most particularly here at home. david ignatius, thank you, david, and co-host of "the

weekend" on msnbc, symone sanders townsend, thank you, symone. some other headlines we're following this morning. many americans are capping off the holiday season with new debt. according to a survey from lending tree, 36% of american consumers took on holiday debt this year. the average balance was about $1200, up from just over a thousand dollars last year. experts say the higher prices caused by inflation were an issue for many individuals and families this year. now, winning the lottery, well, that would help with that debt and the jackpot for tonight's mega millions drawing has reached an estimated $1.15 billion. yeah. that would get rid of your debt. making it the fifth largest prize in the game's history. now, while the odds may not be in your favor, a winner could walk away with a lump sum payment of about $516 million

after taxes. with that, you can buy an nhl team. and new york city is gearing up to ring in the new year and that includes the iconic ball drop in times square. the famed crystal ball's installation will take place later this morning, the crossroads of the world. a local new york city company made the more than 2600 triangular crystals that aborn the ball, which measures is it feet in diameter and weighs more than 11,000 pounds. my midnight plans, i'll have been asleep for hours. coming up next here, we'll speak to pablo torre about netflix's record-breaking move into live streaming with two nfl games on christmas day. there he is. "morning joe" will be right back. there he is. "morning joe" will be right back 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.

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see what he does here. >> better get ten or it is good night, irene. it is intercepted. didn't matter interception or completion, all going to be the same. >> that was the game ending interception for the seattle seahawks against the chicago bears last night. both offenses struggled all evening with the teams combining for only nine points. the score at the bottom of the screen was right. 6-3. the field goal fest got started by seattle the first quarter. the bears would tie it late in the first half with a 42-yard field goal and jason myers hit a 50-yarder before halftime. we're showing you field goal highlights because we have

nothing else. there was no other scoring on the night. seahawks defense stood out, sacking caleb williams seven times. last night's win keeps the playoff hopes alive for now. joining us now, the host of "pablo torre finds out," pablo torre. we will not speak about that game last night other than to say yet another terrible thursday night football game. last week's was bad too. nfl seems like it is on every day right now, which i would want personally. it is overexposure. teams on short rest. the quality of play pretty poor. but america does not seem to mind because netflix set records with its football streams on christmas day. nielsen says that 65 million u.s. viewers tuned in for at least one minute of the two nfl games. both games averaged about 24 million viewers, beating the previous mark of 23 million for last season's afc wild card game

between the miami dolphins and kansas city chiefs that aired on peacock. viewership peaked on christmas day with the beyonce bowl. her nearly 13-minute halftime performance averaged over 27 million viewers. those games weren't great either. beyonce was. but america's watching all the same. >> yeah. america's demand for football is inelastic, economists like to say. when i say demand for football, i do mean that the nfl at this point could put a football on a table and get, like, 10 million people to watch it. bears/seahawks, the opposite, on any sort of cultural spectrum for what beyonce gave america. but we should not bury the lead here, which is that there are a lot of teams in the nfl that have played now three games in 11 days. the kansas city chiefs being one of them, steelers being another, steelers happened to have lost all of those games including the one to the chiefs on christmas as 25 million or so people and

200 plus countries watched. though i do want to get a list of, like, what 200 countries, because that's a lot of countries. i don't know how you get to 200 necessarily without counting some nation states. >> i think the u.n. recognizes 180 something so i'm not sure where the last few are coming from. >> a global demand that is outstripping maybe the actual globe itself at this point, which is very much the roger goodell strategy because to your point, n, when they go head to head against not just college football, which we alluded to last week, because, of course, they did that on the first weekend of the college football playoff, they go head to head against the nba on christmas day, which was the nba's holiday, leading, by the way, to one of the funnier post game addresses by lebron james after the lakers beat a really good game, by the way,

he declared christmas is our holiday, speaking of basketball and the nba, because there is a sense of the nfl eating the world, eating everything else. and it is working. i just don't think it is correlating to a great product right now. and i think at some point you probably have to wonder, when is the nfl fracking its own product? when are they get agency ting as they can get out of it and now it has deleterious effects? a brutal grinching experience for the nba. >> that's the back page of "the new york daily news" and lebron declares the nba owns christmas and the games averaged about 5 million viewers, so about one-fifth of what the nfl did. >> i want to point out, i was doing the thing which is hard to do of flipping between netflix and as well as my linear television, and the nba games were great. it is not a commentary on the

entertainment value. nba won the day on that level. they had five times fewer when it comes to the viewership. and so, yeah, i -- look, the nba thing, jon, we can talk about this for a while too, but just to summarize it, the nba has an issue where people are complaining about their product because it doesn't feel -- let's call it eventized is a term of art these days. the nfl has only so many games. the nba has 82. but you watch lebron, you watch steph and you're, like, this is the solution? and also the problem? because they need to have some stuff beyond lebron and steph and we got some of it, wembanyama, the knicks even, but it is an uphill road when it comes to getting the american attention back into their good graces. >> and the nba ranks decent on christmas, but you're right, there is a lot of concerns in that league right now, nobody is watching those games into igt to night to night, these are all the common complaints and the

idea they haven't been able to really cultivate that next generation of star, what do they do when lebron, curry, durant leave the stage? let's talk about this moment in sports culture where, you know, it is just -- it feels like the nfl is just this juggernaut that sort of stomps everything in its path. other sports had a good couple of years, soccer is on the rise, i'm an nhl fan, but it is football, and it is everything else. >> yeah. football is king. it is just -- it is the beast of american sports. people love it. we have an insatiable appetite for it. sometimes we can make the argument that things are cyclical and that will go back to loving baseball and basketball more, but truth of the matter is this is a multidecade trend here where people are gravitating toward football. i will say, i listened to a lot

of commentary about the nba's poor ratings, and the product that it is putting forth. and i agree with some of it, the league is -- there is so many three-pointers and so many drives and that's it. it becomes a product that is a little difficult to watch. if you watch wemby on christmas, which i did, you saw the future. this man is a freak. 7'4" freak and he's so good and he's going to revolutionize the game, but he might be too good almost because there is nothing he can't do. and so i'm not as totally bearish on the nba as others are. i think the product is pretty good. i think there is a future in which we have these incredible international stars, i think the international market for the nba is going to keep going up. but ultimately this is a football country. and maybe a football globe if we're talking about 200 countries which i agree, what are we talking about here? but, yeah, you know, this is a

problem adam silver is trying to deal with right now and some of the solutions could potentially be, you know, cutting down the actual size of the season. i don't know how you do that without hurting the sanctity of the record books, but you do need to make some changes if you're in the nba. not too many. wemby, unbelievable what he was doing on christmas. >> sam is right, like, wembanyama, somebody put it well, forgive me for not knowing who posted this, but if you were to describe victor wembanyama, who is from france, a teenager, 7 foot a zillion, if you describe him to somebody who doesn't know him, it is like you're describing your imaginary friend, victor, eight foot wingspan, can dunk and shoot threes and ballet dancer and monster truck and he can do anything and he's the future and it is all real. international point is interesting. the nba internationally is surging. the nfl is funny, as much as i say roger goodell sees the nfl

and the world as a risk to be won, it is not as successful as what adam silver has been doing in terms of exporting it outwards. we give the jaguars to the uk every year. don't know if that's necessarily getting the international market to our way of life like we would have hoped. but in the nba, i think there is this interesting double buy in where in america, yeah, it is not as big of a deal right now, but abroad it is the thing and it is the thing that the internet carried over. >> let me just say, giving london the jaguars every year is a violation of the geneva conventions. and we probably should be brought up to the icc for -- the game is never good. >> we thought donald trump would have an adversarial relation to our allies. i don't think they gave up too many games. they don't want to give up gate, they won't cut the season schedule and the other part is the international -- there are a lot of great international stars

in the nba now and bill simmons, you know, has been on this quite a bit from the ringer, bit those internationals, yokich or luka or wembanyama or even giannis, these are all guys who don't seem to be resonating with american audiences as much. at least not yet. there are so many of them. interesting to see where the league goes next. we'll turn the page now with this. if you had a toledo rockets highlight on your "morning joe" bingo card, you win. >> this team needs a conversion to tie it. and extend the game. desmond reed back into the game. here comes the pressure. douger, under duress! and there are no flags! toledo wins it in six ots. >> that's right. the toledo rockets win the game above sports bowl, in the same class as the rose bowl, after a bowl-record six overtimes. the rockets thought they had won

the game two periods earlier, when it appeared they had stopped pittsburgh's quarterback at the goal line and stormed the field in celebration. but the refs and coaches had to corral the player backs to the sideline as the play was reviewed and it led to two more overtimes and that eventual game-winning stop by toledo. devastated pittsburgh fans. we have one more story for you, pablo. in the realm of politics. and former presidential candidate vivek ramaswamy, now part of the doge effort with elon musk, he published a lengthy post in recent days about american workers. in this post, ramaswamy explained why he feels tech companies choose to hire foreign workers over americans. he boiled it all down to, quote, culture. he wrote in part this, our american culture has venerated mediocrity over excellence for way too long. that doesn't start in college. it starts young. a culture that celebrates the

prom queen over the math or olympiad champ or the jock over the valedictorian will not produce the best engineers. he continued, trump's election hopefully marks the beginning of a new golden era in america, but only if our culture fully wakes up a culture that once again prioritizes achievement over normalcy, excellence over mediocrity, nerdiness over conformity and hard work over laziness. and, pablo, you went to college with vivek ramaswamy. you've spoken about that experience a couple of times. give us your reaction to this because i don't know, it could be sure interpreted as a swipe at a lot of people who cast their ballots for donald trump. >> it is a remarkable heat check from a guy who is not good at speaking to, i believe, the reality of what is going on in america. i say that as my own subjective opinion, but this read -- at some point there is a line in this very long post which you

didn't quote, which i will, he says we need more creating, less chilling. and i say chilling with the g missing and it feels like, you know, a breakfast club speech written by a large language model and it is politically, i think, a horrible decision insofar as the coalition that he joined was mostly interested in him because of how he enabled their own grievances. and when i say they, i mean the core of the maga base, which is america first in a way that means white america first. and so he's going to talk to that base, a nativist base, the same way that, i don't know, white people have been talking to black people in america for a really long time, i don't think they're going to like it. and so what we're seeing now is this coalition that wasn't all that incentivized in the same direction when it came to does america first movement want and you can read past america first as elon has done. his co-head of doge to say this

is about america winning the game as if they are a sports team, as if we are a sports team, as if we are a business as opposed to a place that is supposed to prioritize as the base of america first would like it to be. white americans first. but i believe that this is a remarkable fracturing ahead of inauguration day of a coalition that didn't make a lot of logical sense and you get to the idea this guy is talking about tv shows being the cause of this. he's saying that america isn't sufficiently urkel enough, that's an argument he made. i'm, like, why is this guy trying to articulate a vision for america for anyone? that's the part i return to and have for 20 years. >> reading the post here, he not only takes a shot at friends, but praises screech and saved by the bell and the steve urkel character as well. make america urkel again might

have been the title of this post. we will see how that relationship develops in the months ahead. host of pablo torre finds out on meadowlark media, thank you, pablo. and sam stein, thank you as well, buddy, we appreciate it. next up here, with less than a month left in office, we'll look at president biden's final days as he prepares to address the country and the democratic party. msnbc's michele norris is standing by with her analysis. plus, we'll speak with the co-authors of a in book "kamala: her historic, joyful and auspicious sprint to the white house which follows her rise from california's district attorney to the presidential run." and also ahead, for the second time in a month, an unticketed passenger sneaks on board a delta airlines flight. we'll look at what happens when authorities realized this latest mistake. "morning joe" will be right back. don't go anywhere. "morning joe" will be right back don't go anywhere. or ga.

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delta airlines is investigating how an individual without a ticket was able to sneak on board a flight from seattle to hawaii on christmas eve. this all comes just one month after a woman was caught on a delta flight to france, also without a ticket. nbc news correspondent morgan chesky has the latest. >> reporter: it is seattle's

sea-tac airport, portion over security protocol after someone snuck on a delta flight without a boarding pass. police dispatching officers to a gate on christmas eve after the delta flight crew discovered an unidentified passenger turning the plane around, just before takeoff. delta stating their staff followed procedures to have an unticketed passenger removed from the flight, and apprehended. tsa confirming the individual did go through standard screening and did not possess any prohibited items. but then bypassed the identity verification and boarding status stations. somehow getting on the plane without a boarding pass. the incident happened on the same day that crews in maui found a body inside the wheel well of a united flight that had traveled from chicago. and over thanksgiving, authorities say svetlana dali now faces federal charges after sneaking past security checkpoints at jfk to board a delta flight to paris with no passport or ticket. >> that's concerning. >> reporter: former tsa safety

director keith jeffries tells nbc news no security system is perfect. do these incidents as a whole raise new security questions? >> first of all, i will tell you that anytime someone passes the ticket document checker location without being properly checked, that's a concern for tsa. it has happened way too many times in a short period of time. >> okay, only two cases that we know, but it is still pretty weird. nbc's morgan chesky reporting for us there. coming up, house speaker mike johnson's future remains in the balance as his own colleagues now question whether he should keep his role in the new year. plus, donald trump voters are growing concerned that he will soon cut benefits that they rely on once he's back in office. we're going to break down the key groups targeted and the major impact. we're back in 90 seconds. the major impact we're back in 90 seconds

(intercom) t minus 10... (janet) so much space! that open kitchen! (tanya) ...definitely the one! (ethan) but how can you sell your house when we're stuck on a space station for months???!!! (brian) opendoor gives you the flexibility to sell and buy on your timeline. (janet) nice! (intercom) flightdeck, see you at the house warming.

♪♪ beautiful shot of midtown manhattan, including our home there at 30 rock. sun coming up in new york city, 7:00 here on the east coast. welcome back to "morning joe." it is friday, december 27th. i'm jonathan lemire along with the bbc's katty kay. we're in for joe, mika and willie. joining the conversation now, we have president of the national action network and host of msnbc's "politics nation," the reverend al sharmen en tosharp

congressman of florida, carlos curbelo. we begin with new details about the trump administration's plans to deport undocumented immigrants in a large scale. in an interview with nbc news, the incoming border czar tom homan hinted that a battle could be shipping up between federal and local authorities. nbc news correspondent sam brock has the details. >> reporter: the impending clash between the incoming administration and sanctuary cities looks closer to combustion after san diego's board of supervisors approved a measure requiring the feds obtain a judicial warrant for undocumented migrants already in their jails. >> bottom line is i'm shocked what san diego did and bottom line we're still coming to san diego and we're doing our job. look, it is more difficult, but we're still doing it. >> reporter: thomas homan is president-elect trouble's border czar and the former director of i.c.e. you see san diego's recent actions as having no legal

muster and you're going to move right through that? >> i think san diego's legal action will be in litigation. >> reporter: it is the latest salvo in a showdown over immigration policy that affects cities like san francisco, chicago, and new york. >> it is unfathomable to hear that the incoming administration wants to devastate over 28 million american families in this country who live in mixed status households. >> reporter: murad is president of the new york immigration coalition. he's also concerned that trump's controversial family detention policy may be back on the table. >> you need to understand, it is not -- we're saying detention, but not in a jail setting. this is an open air campus, family type facility that is open air, right? we're not talking about razor wire and penal institution and things like that, child care, education programs. >> there is no such thing as a soft detention site, there is no humane way of detaining children

in prisons, because that's what it ends up becoming, even if it is a tent structure. >> reporter: president-elect trump has promised deportation on a mass scale, starting as soon as he steps into office as concerns over family separations remain high. do you worry that you will actually be separating children from parents and punishing children for the actions of their parents? >> we have no plans to separate children from parents. parents have to make a decision. that's parenting 101. if you choose to have a child here in the united states while you know you're here illegally and you know you're under court order to deport, that's on you. >> reporter: a 2023 decree banned family separations for eight years. do you believe the decree needs to be re-examined? >> i think we need to reexam that, it makes sense from our national security perspective. >> that was nbc's sam brock with that report. carlos, let's get your reaction

to this. a way to describe these detention centers, the way of understanding that implicitly that this is going to really change the fabric of american society if indeed they move to this deportation plan, the numbers they have promised. what is your early read here, now just a month until trump takes office and apparently puts these policies into effect? >> jonathan, i think we have to understand that right now president trump and his incoming team, they have a lot of momentum on the migration issue. this was probably trump's strongest issue during the campaign. it was the weakest issue for joe biden, kamala harris, and democrats. democrats are on defense on this issue. they moved just months ago to supporting one of the most conservative immigration measures in congress, in recent years. so, the narrative here has changed. the public's position has changed. i would tell you that five, ten

years ago, there was a greater tolerance, acceptance of illegal immigration in the country. right now, even in large cities, despite what you hear from immigration activists, a lot of the public wants to see this issue dealt with. so i think the incoming administration, the incoming president, and his team, will have a lot of latitude, a lot of leeway. of course, can they overstep, can they overreach, can they come across as cruel the way trump did during the first administration with the child separation policy? yes. and at that time things might change. but for now, i think we have to understand that the american people broadly speaking want to see some strong action on immigration. >> yeah. certainly true the country has moved to the right. people didn't love it when they saw families being separated during the first trump administration, it is going to be interesting to see if there is more tolerance for that should it happen even with a country that has become more draconian on illegal immigrants.

meanwhile, politico has a new report that california farmers who voted for donald trump are now worried that he could deport half of their workers. quote, california farmers could soon enjoy bumper crops thanks to president-elect donald trump's pledge to lift water restrictions, but who is going to pick them if he follows through on his deportation threats? at the same time, "the wall street journal" is out with a new report about the u.s. car industry having a big case of anxiety about the president-elect's proposed 25% tariff on imports from both mexico and canada. the journal points out, quote, finding an affordable car in the u.s. has already become a challenge for many budget constrained americans. new import tariffs on mexican-built vehicles threaten to make the problem worse. there is also a new report in "the washington post" on a growing number of low income americans who also voted for donald trump who now say they are hoping he won't slash the

government benefits on which they depend. many are concerned about the president keeping their benefits in tact after several of his cabinet picks and republican lawmakers have called on trump to reduce federal spending. that includes elon musk and vivek ramaswamy who are leading the new department of government efficiency that we spoke about earlier. "the washington post" points out that the two have said they want to cut $2 trillion from the government's annual budget. some experts say the only way that can actually be accomplished is by slashing entitlement programs. so, rev, there was a lot of discussion of this during the campaign, how much people might vote for donald trump, and then realize that some of his policies may not actually benefit them in the way they thought they would. i think there was so much conversation during the campaign about the kinds of things that donald trump was proposing whether it was deportations that affect farmers, tariffs that affect people who are buying cars, that it is hard to say to

voters this should come as a surprise to you, isn't it? >> it should not come to voters as a surprise. but i think when the rubber meets the road, now that we're actually talking about mass deportations on detention centers that are going to have to be paid for, extra personnel that is going to have to be paid, states that are going to tie this up in court and then from there to tariffs and the impact of that. people are starting to say, wait a minute, like you say, the people in california, who is going to deal with the whole system of how i do my business on the farms? how are we going to handle these things on a practical matter? so when the emotions come out of the campaign, and the reality sets in, i think that it will be predictable that the trump administration, incoming administration will overstep the

bounds of where people thought it wouldn't impact them and you get to entitlement programs, they have to be talked about to pay for some of this. you can have an outright rebellion, which leads to politically to midterm elections being a disaster for him when they're just at a razor thin margin now of being ahead in the house and even small degree in the senate. >> so let's bring into the conversation award winning journalist and author michele norris, msnbc senior contributing editor. good morning, michele. let's get you in on this conversation first, this idea that trump voters, maybe even parts of his hard core base may have voted against their self-interests, some would argue they did last time as well, but if trump's proposals go through, whether it is about the social safety net or about some economic policies, they could really pay the price, but do you think that would change their loyalty to him at all?

>> you know, it remains to be seen whether it changes their loyalty, but it will be a pressure point for a lot of people. first of all, good morning, thank you for having me. it is interesting because, a, there are contradictions. the messaging that is coming out around immigration on one hand, you know, homan talking about like he's the new sheriff in town, the new deportation centers. on the other hand, over the same period of time, you have ramaswamy and musk talking about increasing h1b visas. when you talk about the pain points, it is not just the voters who will feel maybe that they were duped in some way, but there are a lot of people who voted for this who thought maybe they would get an exception, including the farmers, including business men who -- business people who run meat-packing plants. this will have a down the line effect if they're deporting large numbers of people and then suddenly there is not enough people to pick produce, not enough people to work in

meatpacking plants or construction. the narrative that comes out of this is likely to be pain and chaos and it might not change voters loyalty to him in the short run, but i think ref is right, that it is going to create real problems for the democratic party in trying to attract those voters again for the midterm elections. and that's go to be a pain point for the republicans themselves. >> thinking about the voting coalitions. a new piece in "the new york times" argues that trump's re-election defines a new era of american politics. the times chief political analyst nate cohn writes this. when barack obama won re-election in 2012, it seemed to mark the beginning of a new era of democratic dominance, one propelled by the rise of a new generation of young, secular and nonwhite voters. with hindsight, the 2012 election looks more like the end of an era, the final triumph of the social movements of the 1960s over the once dominant reagan republicans. instead, it is the three trump

elections in 2016, 2020, and 2024 that look as if they have the makings of a new era of politics, one defined by donald j. trump's brand of conservative populism. whether you call it a realignment or not, american politics hasn't been the same since mr. trump won his party's nomination. until mr. trump, there was a lot about american politics that you could take for granted. the meaning of the two parties seemed clear. that all changed when mr. trump came down the escalator. on some issues it can even seem as if the parties have switched places. after three trump elections, the partisan gap between white and nonwhite voters is now smaller than at any time since the enactment of the 1964 civil rights acts. the partisan generation gap has fallen by two-thirds and perhaps most strikingly, the old class divide between rich and poor and capital and labor has seemingly vanished. a realignment usually means one party obtains a significant

political advantage for decades. by this measure, the trump elections plainly fall short. nonetheless, the trump elections have two features of realignment, they changed the basic political conflict between the two parties and they led to corresponding changes in the two coalitions. whether you call it a realignment or not, it is a new era of politics and, rev, let's get your take on this. i thought it was a thoughtful analysis the last couple of days from "the times." this idea that the parties don't necessarily fit in the same boxes, the nice easy packages that they used to. trump has changed things. and but in many ways the divides between the two parties -- the divides are strong in some areas and have grown in others. >> i think it is clearly a realignment. the question is whether the lines will end up settling. i think it is too early to tell. clearly the election of donald trump has reset the void.

when biden stopped the re-election of him, four years ago, it reset the board. i think some of the leadership on both sides are going to define in the coming months and maybe year into the midterms where this will really cement itself. if hakeem jeffries becomes speaker, what does that mean and where does that bring the house? and who is the person who becomes the standard bearer post trump. is trump a moment or a movement? we'll have to see. because people said that when he won in '16, and he ended up being defeated in '20. where as i see a realignment, i don't know how permanent it is and how much legs it has. and, michele, i think it is important, and i would like your perspective in not trying to act like what we're seeing is historic until it survives a cycle or two because a lot of this may have been generated by the personality of donald trump and not the politics of trump

where we always had the backlash conservative movement, he personified that. i don't know if you have that kind of star in the making to continue that. >> you raise an interesting point. is this really about donald trump or is this about the movement he represents? and in that very smart analysis, it is interesting, as you were reading that, i kept wanting to insert the word federal or national in front of the word politics because there is definitely a realignment at the national level in politics, but if you look at in this last election cycle, the way that so many voters approached the ballot almost in an a la carte basis, they supported donald trump, but they also in many cases supported ballot measures that are completely antithetical to the things that donald trump represents. i think you see a realignment at the national level, but i'm not sure that trickles all the way down to state politics and local politics. if you're talking about a long-term realignment, usually see the hardening of those lines

deeper into the system that is evident in the last election cycle. and i think that's always dangerous to make these kinds of predictions this early on. you remember karl rove was saying things like this after the election in -- after george bush won, this was going to be a realignment and republicans were going to run the table for the next 24 years and it didn't happen. it is dangerous to make those kinds of early predictions. >> the party gap between white and nonwhite voters as the article says is at its smallest at any time since 1964. what happens after trump is also go to be interesting and how the parties respond to the shrinking that gap. let's get more politics now, because a week from today house lawmakers will decide whether to re-elect mike johnson as the speaker of the house. the vote comes as some republicans voice skepticism about his future after johnson faced a contentious vote to avert a government shutdown

earlier this month. congressman thomas massie of kentucky is the first republican to promise to vote for a different speaker candidate than several other lawmakers have also said they're undecided about supporting johnson. but others are still backing him, saying a long fight for house speaker will be a distraction for a caucus with a razor thin house majority. >> to have a speaker battle, all that does is a distraction, and it delays getting the american first policy through. the promise made is that it should be the promise kept. and the house has to do their part. they cannot do the part without a speaker. >> you obviously support mike johnson? >> i do. he's the most conservative speaker. right now he has trump's blessing, per se, if that's the right term. but also you're dealing with a few members that just have to put the media in front of the

country. >> house republicans famously had that difficulty finding a speaker last year. it took them more than three weeks for the conference to select johnson after ousting congressman kevin mccarthy. carlos, you know, obviously the trump administration wants to hit the ground running, they want speedy confirmations for all of their candidates, for cabinet positions, they really don't want to get distracted by a long house speaker fight, they want the government to stay open, it looks like. how do they manage this with johnson looking so weakened by what happened just before the christmas holidays? >> that was definitely a blow to his standing with house republicans. but i'll tell you, the best thing he has going for him is that there is no credible alternative. the man who would be in position to challenge johnson, steve scalise, jim jordan, tom emert, these are men who tried to ascend to the speakership and

failed just a few months ago. so johnson has that going for him. the reason he got elected is because he really had no strong enemies inside the house republican conference and even though some people like thomas massie are upset, they really don't have any where to go. so i do think that that combined with the fact that republicans are still traumatized from all their speaker drama during this congress bodes well for johnson and i think he's very likely to stay in his position if he decides to stand for re-election as speaker, which everything indicates he will. but without a ubt, when it comes to whipping for votes, especially for big legislation like tax policy, which republicans need to do, it is going to be very difficult with such a slim majority. i remind people, when i was in congress, and we passed the first iteration, the current tax cuts and jobs act, we lost quite a number of members on the floor including most if not all of the new york delegation.

if something like that happens during the next congress, there is no bill. it will fail. so, this is going to be complicated for mike johnson and republicans. and, by the way, the senate, even though that majority is a little healthier, 53-47, that's not going to be easy either. >> people i've talked to in trump's orbit down in mar-a-lago say there is increased unhappiness from the president-elect toward speaker johnson, though. we'll see if he really tries to push for his ouster. former republican congressman carlos curbelo, thank you for joining us. michele, i want to turn to president biden down to his last weeks in office on a little christmas, new year's holiday now. he's heading to the vatican next month for his final foreign trip. and the times wrote about it this way, he's seeking some, quote, relief, sort of a final blessing, if you will, from the pontiff before he leaves office and exits the world stage. what are your thoughts here about president biden at this moment in his waning days of his

term? >> i'm really interested in how he will use his own pulpit in the last stretch of this. he's got three and a half weeks. and whether he feels like he has in some sense an obligation to address the nation and maybe the democratic party. and talk a little bit about the decision that he made to run for office again and whether or not he feels like he needs to explain or even apologize for that. i've been thinking about how other presidents have left. you remember when barack obama left, there was a huge degree of pageantry with this big event at the mccormick center and sort of, you know, talking about what he did and it was a way to -- for him to shape his legacy and to buck up the party. and prepare them for, you know, four years that were going to be very difficult. not sure that biden is the person that can be the one to actually buck up the party right now. but it is a chance for him to massage his legacy a little bit.

it is a chance for him to maybe talk about how truths. it would be interesting if he decided to talk about, you know, hunter biden and the decision to pardon him, and also, you know, how difficult it is to be a parent of someone who is struggling with addiction. people might actually relate to that in some way. if he could talk about the importance of public service, you know, as someone who is dedicated his life to that, he is starting to reveal certain things and some of the statements he's making at the brookings institution, he was talking about how people often joke with him that he was the poorest member of the least wealthiest member of the senate, and he would always sort of take that joke lightly and the brookings comments that suggested that that started a sting a little bit. and thinking about his life after the presidency. so is he willing to talk about the importance of public service? he has this period where he can address the party, and address the public, and, you know, beyond his trip to the vatican, which will certainly be very emotional for him, i wonder how

he's willing to use that. and i think it is an important opportunity, it may feel luke a little bit of a burden, but i think it is also a very big opportunity for him to make a strong statement. >> white house aides suggested the president will make a few high profile appearances once the calendar turns to 2025 and his last three weeks in office. msnbc senior contributing editor michele norris, thank you for joining us. still ahead here on "morning joe," russia is warning against speculation that its forces could be to blame for bringing down an azerbaijan airlines flight. we'll bring you the latest on the investigation into that deadly crash. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. t deadly crash you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. 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.

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christmas is over, but the tree is still up. last chance to see it in new york city outside 30 rock, looking just as beautiful and sparkly as it was when it first went up. a company in oregon is recalling its pet food after a batch of the product was found to be contaminated with bird flu. this comes amid growing concerns over a rise in bird flu cases across parts of the country. nbc news correspondent david noriega has the latest. >> reporter: the nationwide voluntary recall of pet food linked to bird flu, with the oregon department of agriculture blaming a raw pet food product for the death of a house cat. the case prompting northwest

naturals to recall a batch of its feline turkey recipe product, telling consumers across 12 states to toss any two-pound frozen bags with sell by dates in may or june of 2026. it is only the latest case of a domestic cat catching the virus. >> viruses are very sneaky. they mutate very easily. viruses are always looking for the next species that they can enter into. >> reporter: with health authorities in los angeles still investigating the death of two cats linked to bird flu in raw milk. experts say this strain of avian influenza can be deadly to mammals and ts are vulnerable, that includes big cats. what should pet owners do to protect their pets, especially their cats from bird flu? >> the most common thing is if you have an indoor cat, keep them indoors. you have eliminated the majority of the sources there. also, you do not want the raw foods that we have out there. >> reporter: with raw food a

tiny fraction of the pet food market, most pet owners can rest easy. >> worrying time for people with cats and tigers, if you happen to have one. nbc's david noriega with that reporting. coming up, we'll dive in a new book that captures the challenges, joys and triumphs of kamala harris' historic presidential campaign. "morning joe" will be right back. presidential campaign. "morning joe" will be right back

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shot of the white house this

morning. 7:35 east coast time. and 2024 was filled with unexpected developments. perhaps none more so than vice president kamala harris' campaign for the white house. now, a new photographic biography is recounting harris' most recent presidential bid along with the rest of the vice president's life. the book is titled "kamala," the book's co-authors join us now. kevin merida and deborah willis. thank you for being here this morning. deborah, let's start with you, you're chair of the new york university's tisch school of the arts. what led you to this? what is the inspiration for this book? >> good morning and thank you. it is a pleasure to be here. the inspiration was the story. it was an important story to follow through my interest in

photography as well as to tell a photo iographical moment for the vice president who had a desire to run for office and to begin this story. we were invited to both -- both kevin and i were invited to collaborate on how to move this forward and we began by looking at historical photographs as well as contemporary photographs and then the history of her work in california to washington, d.c. so my interest, i was really interested in looking for ways to tell the story through community and through that expression. >> so, kevin merida, you're a contributing essayist at "the washington post" and former executive editor of the los angeles times, kamala harris a familiar subject to those on the west coast. talk to us about some of the

themes you're presenting in this book. >> i think the beautiful thing about photography is that photographers are background players. they can capture moments and they're able to capture dispositions and personas and moods. and one of the things we just try to study the complexity of her through photography. there are some -- there are shots, everything from capturing her with president biden in a very private moment after he has decided to leave the race at the white house, everything from that to just the way she takes selfies and, you know, what i would call her selfie game, that's become, of course, part of the digital culture. but to show her and how she takes selfies, how she shakes -- how she hugs, the way in which

she waves, the different kind of moods in her face, whether she's grilling someone on the senate hearing, or speaking to a little kid and bending down, so you try to put all that together to really capture both a historic campaign, and but also the rise of someone who was able to make that history. >> deborah, as you being yourself really a renowned photo historian, one of the things that struck me in the years i've known the vice president is that she represented a new kind of move, a movement. but she was very loyal to the historic tradition she came from.

she brought me in a private office at the white house and showed she had a portrait of thorogood marshall over her desk and leafing through this book that you have put together with kevin, you give us a balance of that, her being connected, but at the same time a new innovation. talk about that as one who has mastered what you do in terms of photo history. >> it is really important for us, for me as well as for us as readers to look at this history and to walk through with photographers and to curate this and to connect through the historical images to see what the vice president wanted to experience in her rise, in her encounters. when we -- i was fascinated to see a photograph of shirley chisholm, a painting of shirley

chisholm as the vice president walked past and i was fascinated also with the way that the photographers were able to capture moments, quiet moments, respectful moments, but wanted to also reflect on that exchange that the vice president offered the community. you know, that touch, that sense of community that she felt broadened her campaign, her ideas and her career. we also have photographs when she was the district attorney, when she -- the swearing in ceremonies, it was important for us to find these images and when i located some of them, i found joy throughout. there was a connection to joy throughout all of the images that we experienced. her mother proudly standing and witnessing important moments of her life. >> kevin, many people may feel

they have seen a lot of kamala harris this year. was there something that surprised you that you felt was new in what you found putting this book together? >> well, you know, i was struck by just how often -- just the way she -- she would hug on the campaign trail, the -- i know that joy became a campaign theme. sometimes you can, you know, it became a course of political football and people mock it, but we all love joy, right? i think everyone finds the joy in their own lives. that's not really political. it is a universal feeling. and so you're looking for ways that that manifests itself. and the connection that you can make with others. the other thing was to just -- just the muralist and others who created art around her.

including, you know, deborah's son hank willis thomas, and also the billboard that carrie may weems did, there were other representations of her by other artists. and that was an interesting thing, the way others saw her. i think it was, you know, when you kind of put it all together in totality, i have to just kind of, you know, bow down to the visual artist. that form is such an important form, and it really shows us things that words don't. >> the new photographic biography "kamala had her historic joyful and auspicious sprint to the white house." kevin merida and deborah willis,

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♪♪ now to an event that grabbed our collective imagination this year and had us all looking up to the skies. nbc nightly news anchor "lester holt" has this look back at one of the top stories of 2024, the great north american eclipse. to great north american eclipse >> reporter: it didn't matter where you were. the reactions were the same. >> the diamond ring! >> reporter: joy, awe, and wonder. a shared experience for millions of people who had a front row seat to history on the horizon. >> just seeing how it got dark, that is an experience that is unforgettable. >> i'm glad to be a part of something like this. >> reporter: people flocked to the path of totality, wider than it was in 2017, and stretching across 15 states from the

pacific to the atlantic. our correspondents were spread across it, as the moon's shadow moved from the southwest to the northeast. morgan chesky in his hometown of occurville, texas. >> everyone is in awe right now of this four minutes and 24 seconds, which i have to tell you is feeling like an eternity right now. the buildup was so strong as we saw the moon slide in front of the sun, when it finally happened, you had to pinch yourself. >> there it goes. >> reporter: in dallas, al roker. >> yeah! whoo! oh! there are the beads! there are the beads! we saw -- oh, look at this! look at this! >> reporter: and in maine -- >> five, four, three, two, one. >> reporter: -- kate snow surrounded by thousands.

>> i've done this once before and i got emotional then and i feel myself getting emotional now. it is just something about it that is so incredibly special. i think it is the commonality that we're all experiencing one thing at the same exact time. >> reporter: despite concerns about the cloudy forecast, the views did not disappoint. >> you can see the bottom corner coming out. >> it is coming out right now. >> there you go. right there on the right. >> yeah. >> reporter: pure magic, inviting all of us who paused for a few minutes and simply looked up. what was the emotion you guys experienced? >> it was breathtaking. >> reporter: we were at the indianapolis speedway with more than 50,000 other eclipse chasers. it is sliding away. you know, tom, you and i cover a lot of difficult things to report sometimes, but this is -- this is magical. and as the sky quickly darkened, i think we're in totality, we took off our glasses. >> like exciting, happy, like my

heart beating so fast. >> reporter: i'm so glad you guys got to experience this. it is so neat. a special and powerful moment that connected all of us. >> my mom always promised me a trip to the moon, this is as close as we get. 1969, watching the first moon landing together, she made it an event we would never forget. this is to her. >> reporter: she's with you today. >> thank you. >> that was nbc's lester holt with that report. another major moment this year was the collapse of the francis scott key bridge in baltimore back in march. nbc news senior national correspondent tom llamas was on the ground just hours after that deadly incident. >> reporter: at 1:30 a.m. on march 26th, a camera capturing

the moment baltimore's francis scott key bridge collapsed, in just seconds. >> the whole bridge just fell down. >> reporter: moments before you could see the blinking lights of a construction crew on the bridge. a container ship named the dalai starts to approach getting close and then slams into it. the impact sending the massive bridge and the crew into the water. >> there is no bridge. there is no bridge. >> reporter: the bridge reduced to piles of twisted metal, knocking out a major roadway and blocking access to one of the busiest ports in the country. hours later, we were there. from up here you get a sense of how big this ship is. it is about 950 feet long and to put that into perspective, it is about the size of the empire state building. when you look at the deck, nearly every inch of is covered with container ships. at the time of the collapse, the construction crew were on a break, eating in their vehicles, on the bridge, fixing potholes

early that morning when it went down. the only survivor, julio suarez who stayed afloat despite not knowing how to swim. the remaining six missing workers died. among them, his nephew. he witnessed them plunge into the river one by one. and then so did he. do you remember what was going through your head as you're falling into the water? in an exclusive interview, he told us he thought he was going to die. did you pray? did you scream? he says he thanked god for his family, asked him to take care of them and asked for forgiveness. in october, the ship's owner and operator agreeing to pay more than $100 million in cleanup costs and to settle a civil lawsuit with the justice department. but denying liability. meanwhile, dozens of civil claims still remain, including from the victims' families and the only survivor from that construction crew. that was nbc's tom llamas with

that look back. still ahead here, we're just days away from the start of 2025, but americans are not feeling all that optimistic about the direction of the country. we'll go through some new findings. also ahead, new details on how an unticketed passenger was able to sneak aboard a delta airlines flight. plus, we'll get insight on new air strikes by israeli forces in yemen targeting an iran-backed terror group that is a relatively new enemy for the idf. "morning joe" is back in just a moment. for the idf. "morning joe" is back in just a moment are you looking for a walk-in tub, for you, or someone you love?

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♪♪ good morning. beautiful shot there of the u.s. capitol on this friday morning. donald trump was busy again yesterday on his social media site, with several reposts including one about russian president vladimir putin that got some attention. we'll go through that and how their relationship could impact the future of the war in ukraine. also ahead, we'll bring you new comments from trump's border czar on family detention centers and the role that the facilities could have in deportation efforts. and we'll bring you a live report from israel, following idf air strikes targeting an iran-backed terror group in yemen. good morning and welcome to "morning joe." it is friday, december 27th. we hope you are enjoying your

holidays. thanks for starting today with us. i'm jonathan lemire with the bbc's katty kay. and i'm happy to say we're joined by co-host of "the weekend" on msnbc symone sanders townsend, and managing editor at bulwark, sam stein and columnist and associate editor for "the washington post," david ignatius, joe, mika and willie have the morning off. we're grateful to have this group with us. we'll dive right in. a lot of news to get to from overseas. we'll begin with the latest out of kazakhstan, where a u.s. official is now echoing concerns that a russian antiaircraft system may have shot down the azerbaijan airlines flight that killed 38 people on christmas day. holes in the plane's fuselage have led several experts and investigators to turn their attention to the possibility that russia's air defenses could have been the likely cause despite early reports that the plane hit a flock of birds. the kremlin, however, warned against making any immediate

judgments about what happened before the investigation comes to a conclusion. the u.s. official, though, added that if early indications prove that russia was behind this, it would be yet more evidence of russia's recklessness in its war with ukraine. at least one airline says it is altering its flights in the region in light of the plane crash, and israel's national carrier announced it is suspending its operations on the tel aviv/moscow route for the coming week and will assess when they may resume. this is not the first time that russia has been accused of downing a civilian aircraft. >> no. certainly not. and there were some talk about how this may be birds, but those look suspiciously like gunshot or some kind of bullet holes in that plane. they do not look like the kind of things birds would do. i hope you all had a very good holiday, everybody. we did manage to get a little break, but it has been busy around the world. look at the war in ukraine.

russian president vladimir putin last week signaled his willingness to engage in talks with president-elect trump. yesterday, trump shared on social media an article about those comments titled "putin says he's ready for potential talks with trump during year-end news conference." that was, of course, that kind of mega full hour news conference where he shared that idea. so, david ignatius, when you look at that headline and the fact, i guess what is interesting is that donald trump shared it as much as that president putin said it, very few details yet, what is your initial reaction? my feeling is this is another statement of what we all sensed that the season of negotiation is about to begin. president-elect trump said through the campaign he intends to negotiate, can resolve this in 24 hours, he claimed at one point.

but more seriously he designated his special emissary for ukraine, retired general kellogg is going to be heading there, i'm told, in just over a week to do some fact finding in ukraine. president-elect trump has met with ukrainian president zelenskyy in paris with orchestration of french president macron. so, the discussions that will lead to a real negotiation have begun. here's putin explicitly saying he wants these talks to begin soon. i think the question we're all wondering is whether trump is going to resist perhaps his own instincts to do a quick deal that would involve big concessions by ukraine. a deal that might end up biting him in

the end if it leaves ukraine unprotected against future russian aggression. so, all eyes are on that negotiating space. i think even the current administration, the biden team, knows that negotiations are coming, trying to pump weapons in just to make sure ukraine has as much leverage going into negotiations as possible. >> so, sam stein, a key part of all this, of course, is the relationship between president-elect donald trump and russian president vladimir putin. we know that trump speaks flatteringly of putin, has for years. he was extraordinarily deferential to putin. in that helsinki news conference. there were times when his administration, the u.s. senate will be tough on russia with sanctions, but trump himself always seemed to give putin the benefit of the doubt. he also fancied himself a dealmaker and hard negotiator. taking this all together, what is your read on how this relationship will impact what these negotiations could look like? it is between russia and ukraine to be sure, but the u.s. is going to play a role. >> right, and that was always the biden administration's line, which is we have to have ukraine at the table. it is their country. we can't have direct negotiations with russia. donald trump is different than joe biden.

he'll take a different approach here. he'll have direct negotiations or talks at least with putin. zelenskyy will be included, but my sense is that they'll probably end up giving him a take it or leave it type deal. what is interesting here, and david was talking about it, just the state that russia is in heading into the negotiations. i'm sure putin imagined he would have more of an upper hand at this juncture. surely he thought -- but what we have seen over the last couple of weeks is really a staggering setback for russia across the world, what is happening in syria, iran, their economic situation if you read the headlines out of russia is fairly abysmal. all that said, it is, you know, that doesn't -- it is not a great hand that putin has to play and as david said, you know, the outgoing biden administration pumping weapons into ukraine and weighing the possibility of additional sanctions to weaken russia further. trump could undo all of this, of

course, but that would be a fairly politically precarious step to take right out of the gate. and so, yeah, i'm curious what he says directly with putin, but if history is any guide, you imagine he's going to give putin the benefit of the doubt, try to get a deal done, because he's on record saying he can get it done so quickly and then hand it to zelenskyy and say take it or leave it. >> there is an appetite for much of his base to end this conflict, but handing russia a victory might be a different matter. that's not, of course, the only foreign crisis that president-elect trump will inherit when he takes office. there is still the middle east. and israel elected strikes against yemen's houthi rebels targeting the capital and key infrastructure including the airport and power stations. according to "the wall street journal," the attacks aim to deter the iran-backed group, which israel says facilitates iranian weapons transfers. the associated press reports that the world's health organization's director general

was nearby during the strikes with a crew member injured. at least three people were killed, and dozens more were hurt in the airport attack. now, overnight, israel intercepted a houthi missile, following days of rocket launches that triggered air raid sirens there. prime minister benjamin netanyahu of israel warned the houthis would face consequences like other iranian proxies. now joining us live from tel aviv is nbc news international correspondent raf sanchez. good morning, raf, thank you for joining us. this seems like an escalation, a ratcheting up there. give us the latest on the ground from israel. >> reporter: jonathan, good morning. these are the most extensive israeli strikes we have seen against the iranian-backed houthi rebels in yemen so far. they targeted a number of seaports, several power stations, but critically they attacked the main international airport in yemen in the capital, sanaa. israel says it was targeting military infrastructure belonging to the houthis inside

of the airport. they say that was one of the main transit points for iranian weapons heading into yemen, but it is also one of the key places for funneling in desperately needed humanitarian aid into yemen. this is the poorest arab country in the middle east. it has been going through a rolling humanitarian crisis for basically a decade now. and as you said, the israeli strikes coming perilously close to the director general of the world health organization and his team. he says that they were preparing to take off when these israeli strikes hit meters away, according to him. he says that while his immediate team was not harmed, one of the crew members of the aircraft that they were supposed to take off from was injured and that the aircraft was not able to take off. the secretary-general of the united nations says he's alarmed by this development. we asked the israeli military did you realize there was this team of humanitarians on the runway when the strikes came down.

they did not respond to our request for comment. in terms of why now and why this escalation, jonathan, the houthis have really been ratcheting up their missile fire over the last ten days or so. two of their ballistic missiles, which israel says were partly supplied by iran, broke through israel's sophisticated air defenses, they hit here in the greater tel aviv area. one of them actually destroyed an elementary school. and what has been really striking is while iran's other proxies across the region, hamas and gaza, hezbollah and southern lebanon have been severely weakened, the houthis are very much undeterred and defiant and that is on the face of not just israeli strikes, but also waves of american strikes conducted in response to the houthis targeting international shipping vessels in the red sea. and just this morning, jonathan, 3:00 a.m. local time, a familiar sound for israelis in tel aviv, the sirens going off once again

and the military says that was a response to yet another houthi missile. so it does not appear that these israeli strikes last night have accomplished their mission of deterring the houthis, at least not yet. >> the range is remarkable given how far yemen is from israel, right down the bottom of the red sea. there have been reports out of israel and here in the press too about israelis after the fall of assad, the degradation of hezbollah, iran, feeling emboldened to remake the middle east, this could be a moment that could be seized to fundamentally shift the region. getting rid of the houthis would be part of that or degrading the houthis would be part of that. do you feel that's what the israelis are feeling at the moment? >> reporter: i think there are definitely people around prime minister benjamin netanyahu who are advising him exactly this, this is a moment of historic opportunity, that hezbollah who have long been a loaded gun pointed at israel turned out ultimately to be a little bit of

a paper tiger there, vast rocket arsenal, decimated by israeli strikes, their leader, hassan nasrallah, killed and ultimately hezbollah had to sue for peace. and then iran itself, its air defenses, especially around tehran, appear to be very severely degraded by an israeli strike a little earlier this year. and so there are people around netanyahu who are telling him, this is the moment to strike iran itself this is the moment potentially to attack the nuclear facilities, to try to make sure that it cannot get to a nuclear weapon. i think the reality, katty, is that the israeli military for all of its firepower would probably struggle to carry out a comprehensive attack on iran's nuclear facilities, many of which are embedded inside of mountains. they would likely need significant support from the united states in terms of refueling, in terms of heavy bunker-busting bombs. and so at this point, we have

not yet seen netanyahu really, really ratchet up against iran the strikes he ordered against the iranians were relatively limited. but we will see. when the trump administration takes office, whether netanyahu newly emboldened decides this is the moment to go ahead and potentially whether he asks for american support. katty? >> raf sanchez, thank you for that. it is going to be an interesting moment for the trump administration to take over in january. south korean lawmakers meanwhile voted to impeach acting president han duck-soo just two weeks after voting to impeach the country's president. 192 lawmakers voted for the measure, more than the 151 votes needed for it to succeed. prime minister han took over the role after president yoon was impeached during his failed attempt to impose martial law in the country earlier this month. the move comes after han refused demands to complete yoon's

impeachment process. that development brings us to a new piece in "the new york times" which says president biden and his aides strengthened key u.s. alliances during his presidential term, but also courted leaders who undermine the power and the standing of the u.s. around the world. the article analyzes the alliances under biden and how his administration was caught by surprise when partners like south korea and israel have acted against u.s. interests. as "the times" notes serious problems emerged with leaders in afghanistan, israel, south korea, and the uae. in each case, mr. biden and his aides were caught by surprise. and then stayed quiet when those leaders failed in their roles or rejected policy suggestions and diplomatic efforts by the americans. mr. biden's unwavering public support of an israel led by prime minister benjamin netanyahu as it wages a deadly war against hamas in gaza has

been costly in terms of american and global public opinion. it reads the partnerships that mr. biden promoted not only during his presidency but throughout his political career could prove unable to withstand new challenges during a second trump administration, but recent events have shown that the alliances were always shakier and more contentious than the vision painted by mr. biden and other proponents in washington. david, that's such -- it is such an interesting kind of counterintuitive argument because the biden administration has put so much effort into and been so proud of its efforts, especially in southeast asia, i think, in shoring up america's allies against china. do you buy the argument that actually this is -- we're going to look back at this with quite a revisionist view of the degree to which those supposed purported allies were actually willing to act in america's best interests? >> you know, i think it is very

premature to dismiss this network of allies and partners that the biden administration created. i haven't seen nato in decades as strong and forceful as it has been in responding to the russian invasion of ukraine. it got off to a slow start. it was pushed by the biden team to recognize the danger that was coming and european assistance to ukraine is now substantial, beginning to rival that of the united states. in asia, the same thing. i think the biden diplomacy focused initially on japan, a traditional very close ally, but then branching out to triangles that included japan, south korea, the united states, japan, the philippines, the united states, the aukus partnership with australia, the quad. it is a whole network, all across the indo-pacific region aimed at buffering the

competition. we all know it is a central foreign policy challenge with china. so, this was a centerpiece of how biden approached foreign policy. the idea that it was all based on kind of empty promises from the allies and that the relationships were much more frail, not ready to buy that yet. let's see how the partnerships fare under donald trump. if this fundamental alignment of interests between the u.s. and these other countries, they should continue into the future and trump himself should realize the benefit. if they were weak, we may see them begin to fray and fall apart. >> that's the central question here, does trump turn his back on his alliances. the first time, he almost pulled the united states out of nato where he repeatedly with bombastic rhetoric targeted the united states' long time allies. we'll see what happens next. you know president biden and his approach so well, he does put

alliances, personal relationships even in front of other world leaders at the center of his foreign policy and truly believes in transatlanticism and making inroads there in the pacific. how do you suspect history will judge his efforts? are they completely dependent on what happens next? >> i actually agree with david here. i don't think it is completely dependent on what happens next. i think each president is judged by what they do as president and their lasting legacy, how well what they have implemented essentially holds up. when it comes to the nato partnerships, particularly the countries within nato, strengthening the alliances, i mean, you talk to any world leader, any nato ally and they'll say that president biden did yeomans work to strengthen the coalition, to keep people together. yes, nato membership is concerned about what america's role will now be with president-elect trump assuming the presidency yet again.

but it is joe biden that made those alliances strong. i think "the new york times" report is very interesting because it seemingly says joe biden had all of these things he wanted to do and he talked to -- he talked positively about relationships. but there are all these -- this turmoil happening in different places around the world. and somehow he is to be blamed for situations that already existed. the united states, you go in to do diplomacy work, if you will, we're talking to our international partners, it is not the united states coming in with the heavy hand saying this is going to happen here and there and everywhere around the world. it is understanding where the alliances are, where the pieces are on the board and figuring out how best to work within those and staying strong and keeping strong our values. i think that's what joe biden and his administration sought to do. and did do. yes, there are challenges with prime minister netanyahu to be clear. but the president had a long relationship with the prime minister. he's someone who says he's known prime minister netanyahu for i think 40 years.

and so the way in which joe biden developed his foreign policy muscles, if you will, how you do business with folks, how you negotiate, what you do in public versus what you do in private, that has held throughout his entire presidency. president trump does business a little differently. we're going to see a tale of two diplomacies, if you will, very shortly, in this new world order. coming up, the first woman has entered the race to become the next leader of the democratic national committee. we'll tell you who it is. plus, as we wrap up the year, americans are feeling more pessimistic about the direction of our country. we'll break down those new numbers next on "morning joe." 'w numbers next on "morning joe."

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for dnc chair because i feel that i can bring a level of expertise to the process of lifting up this possibility of victory over the next two and four years in a way that will not occur if we are only looking at traditional means of politicking in order to make that happen. >> williamson is the latest candidate and the first woman to jump into the race to succeed outgoing dnc chair jaime harrison. the 72-year-old may face an upward battle for the role as she's up against a handful of current and former party officials. the election will be held on february 1st. symone, do you think marianne williamson is what the democratic party needs to turn things around? >> you know, jonathan, as i was reading this, this morning, i was wondering, who keeps telling marianne williamson to run for all these different positions. she ran for president, now dnc chair, maybe senate, i don't know, next cycle. it is very interesting to me.

i don't know if marianne williamson is what the majority of dnc members will be looking for. i would bet my last dollar, i highly doubt it. however, this is going to -- she is a candidate, if she reaches the right number of signatures to be actual candidate for dnc chair, while she announced the question does she have the signatures. she needs 40, 40 different signatures from actual dnc members certified in order to be into -- in the race. there are other people who met that threshold. everyone who has met the threshold will have to participate in the candidate forums. the candidate forums will make things a lot clearer when it comes to what these candidates, their vision is for the democratic national committee. but also how they're going to raise money. i think there is a common misconception the chair's job is to go on television and be a good talking head, but the reality is that the chair has to be able to raise money. and has to have the gravitas to work with the democratic leaders in the house and the senate. i don't know.

i don't know if, you know, chuck schumer is taking his cues from marianne williamson in the senate. but, stranger things have happened. >> sam stein, i know you've been a long time and careful chronicler of marianne williamson's career. so, feel free to weigh in on her long shot bid here. but also more broadly, to symone's point here, what should democrats be looking for here in its new chair, symone laid out well what that person's responsibilities are. and this comes at a moment where, yes, margins were close. let's not overlook that. but democrats took some pretty crushing defeats come november. >> thank you for establishing my credentials to talk about this. i don't think she's going to win. not breaking news here. i will be interested, though, in seeing how fellow democrats treat her. by that i mean we just left a

cycle in which the left wing of the party, by left, i mean, sort of overstating it, but the people personified by marianne williamson, robert f. kennedy jr., felt dismissed by establishment democrats and felt hurt by establishment democrats and felt the party was pushing them out and they went to connect with the maga movement. that's why you have rfk jr. serving potentially in the trump cabinet. marianne williamson is not a fellow ideological traveler with rfk jr., but close enough. i wonder if democrats will try to accommodate or at least incorporate or at least treat with more respect, i guess, is the way to put it her candidacy without being outright dismiss of it. that said, the party is probably almost assuredly not going to go with her because the party needs a few things. one is a robust fund-raiser atop the party. the second is someone who can

build actual party institutions. i did actually chronicle some of her candidacies. her campaigns were disastrous internally. a lot of infighting, very poor money management. that's not what the party is going to want. not what the party needs. and the third thing is just an understanding of how to handle this modern media ecosystem and the real debate happening now in the democratic party is where do you put your message and who are your messengers and can you build a media infrastructure on your own or do you need to push forward with the existing system and try to go on to conservative alt media and podcasts and things like that. these are three big questions that face the next dnc chair. i don't think marianne williamson is going to have the answers that most of the party members want, but i'm curious to see how they treat her candidacy. >> i think that means a no. i interviewed her too. she's pretty thin skinned.

when you challenge her, stories of staff being unhappy with her leadership, you don't get very far. she's pretty prickly about it. i don't think that's what the dnc chair needs to be right now. so let's look at another story. this caught my eye over the last couple of days. not full of holiday cheer. as the year comes to a close, gallup's latest monthly survey finds that only 19% of americans believe that the country is heading in the right direction. when broken down by party, the survey shows democrat satisfaction with the direction of the country fell 17 points between october and december, from 47% to 30%. that might have the election to do with that one. on the republican side though, gop satisfaction rose to 16% from october to november, following the election, but it has fallen back down again to 9%. david ignatius, as americans look not just at their own role around the world, but the state of their own country, we get to

the end of 2024, whatever the trump administration looks like it is going to bring in, with not many people having terribly high expectations. >> so, katty, i felt after the election that although the country was fairly evenly split, trump did better than expected, but it was a thin majority overall. the one thing on which there was overwhelming consensus in the united states, republicans and democrats across age groups, is that the country is heading in the wrong direction, that people are fundamentally dissatisfied and pessimistic about where the united states is heading. and i think that's the challenge that joe biden wanted to meet, the trend was already visible in 2020 when he was elected but he couldn't, he couldn't find a way to take that desire for change and make it his theme. donald trump is the change

candidate as he heads toward inauguration. but will he be able to satisfy this feeling? we're going in the wrong direction, our country isn't as strong as it has been. i think the poll that you cited, katty, illuminates what is really the most interesting fact about american politics today, which is beyond all our divisions, we're united on this one thing, the country is heading down and people are unhappy about it. coming up, netflix made history this holiday season with a record-breaking nfl streaming debut. how two high stakes games and a spectacular beyonce halftime show sent viewership through the roof. we'll talk about it next on "morning joe." gh the roof we'll talk about it next on "morning joe." jon hamm: in this family, we choose to be here for each other. because here at st. jude, we believe there are families who were born into and families you choose, families who choose to show up, lift up and never give up.

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night, irene. it is intercepted. didn't matter interception or incompletion, all going to be the same. >> that was the game ending interception for the seattle seahawks against the chicago bears last night. both offenses struggled all evening with the teams combining for only nine points. the score at the bottom of the screen was right. 6-3. the field goal fest got started by seattle the first quarter. the bears would tie it late in the first half with a 42-yard field goal and jason myers hit a 50-yarder before halftime. we're showing you field goal highlights because we have nothing else. there was no other scoring on the night. seahawks defense stood out, sacking caleb williams seven times. last night's win keeps seattle's playoff hopes alive for now. joining us now, the host of "pablo torre finds out," pablo torre. we will not speak about that

game last night other than to say yet another terrible thursday night football game. last week's was bad too. nfl seems like it is on every day right now, which i would want personally. it is overexposure. teams on short rest. the quality of play pretty poor. but america does not seem to mind because netflix set records with its football streams on christmas day. nielsen says that 65 million u.s. viewers tuned in for at least one minute of the two nfl games. both games averaged about 24 million viewers, beating the previous mark of 23 million for last season's afc wild card game between the miami dolphins and kansas city chiefs that aired on peacock. viewership peaked on christmas day with the beyonce bowl. her nearly 13-minute halftime performance averaged over 27 million viewers. those games weren't great either. beyonce was. but america's watching all the same. >> yeah.

america's demand for football is inelastic, economists like to say. when i say demand for football, i do mean that the nfl at this point could put a football on a table and get, like, 10 million people to watch it. bears/seahawks, the opposite, on any sort of cultural spectrum for what beyonce gave america. but we should not bury the lead here, which is that there are a lot of teams in the nfl that have played now three games in 11 days. the kansas city chiefs being one of them, steelers being another, steelers happened to have lost all of those games including the one to the chiefs on christmas as 25 million or so people and allegedly 200 plus countries watched. though i do want to get a list of, like, what 200 countries, because that's a lot of countries. i don't know how you get to 200 necessarily without counting some nation states. >> i think the u.n. recognizes 180 something so i'm not sure where the last few are coming from. >> a global demand that is

outstripping maybe the actual globe itself at this point, which is very much the roger goodell strategy because to your point, jon, when they go head to head against not just college football, which we alluded to last week, because, of course, they did that on the first weekend of the college football playoff, they go head to head against the nba on christmas day, which was the nba's holiday, leading, by the way, to one of the funnier post game addresses by lebron james after the lakers beat the warriors in a really good game, by the way, he declared christmas is our holiday, speaking of basketball and the nba, because there is a sense of the nfl eating the world, eating everything else. and it is working. i just don't think it is correlating to a great product right now. and i think at some point you probably have to wonder, when is the nfl fracking its own

product? when are they getting as much as they can get out of it and now it has deleterious effects? as, yes, in a league that stole christmas, a brutal grinching experience for the nba. >> that's the back page of "the new york daily news" and lebron declares the nba owns christmas and the games averaged about 5 million viewers, so about one-fifth of what the nfl did. >> i want to point out, i was doing the thing which is hard to do of flipping between netflix and as well as my linear television, and the nba games were great. it is not a commentary on the entertainment value. nba won the day on that level. they had five times fewer when it comes to the viewership. and so, yeah, i -- look, the nba thing, jon, we can talk about this for a while too, but just to summarize it, the nba has an issue where people are complaining about their product because it doesn't feel -- let's

call it eventized is a term of art these days. the nfl has only so many games. the nba has 82. but you watch lebron, you watch steph and you're, like, this is the solution? and also the problem? because they need to have some stuff beyond lebron and steph and we got some of it, wembanyama, the knicks even, but it is an uphill road when it comes to getting the american attention back into their good graces. >> and the nba ranks decent on christmas, but you're right, there is a lot of concerns in that league right now, nobody is watching those games night to night, too much inventory, too many players changing teams, too many three-pointers, these are all the common complaints and the idea they haven't been able to really cultivate that next generation of star, what do they do when lebron, curry, durant leave the stage? sam stein, i won't talk about the celtics on christmas, that was a dreadful performance. let's talk about this moment in sports culture where, you know, it is just -- it feels like the nfl is just this juggernaut that

sort of stomps everything in its path. other sports are healthy, baseball if a good couple of years after the rule changes, soccer is on the rise, i'm an nhl fan, but it is football and it is everything else. >> yeah. football is king. it is just -- it is the beast of american sports. people love it. we have an insatiable appetite for it. sometimes we can make the argument that things are cyclical and that will go back to loving baseball and basketball more, but truth of the matter is this is a multidecade trend here where people are gravitating toward football. i will say, i listened to a lot of commentary about the nba's poor ratings, and the product that it is putting forth. and i agree with some of it, the league is -- there is so many three-pointers and so many drives and that's it. it becomes a product that is a little difficult to watch.

if you watch wemby on christmas, which i did, you saw the future. this man is a freak. 7'4" freak and he's so good and he's going to revolutionize the game, but he might be too good almost because there is nothing he can't do. and so i'm not as totally bearish on the nba as others are. i think the product is pretty good. i think there is a future in which we have these incredible international stars, i think the international market for the nba is going to keep going up. but ultimately this is a football country. and maybe a football globe if we're talking about 200 countries which i agree, what are we talking about here? but, yeah, you know, this is a problem adam silver is trying to deal with right now and some of the solutions could potentially be, you know, cutting down the actual size of the season. i don't know how you do that without hurting the sanctity of the record books, but you do need to make some changes if you're in the nba. not too many. wemby, unbelievable what he was doing on christmas.

>> sam is right, like, wembanyama, somebody put it well, forgive me for not knowing who posted this, but if you were to describe victor wembanyama, who is from france, a teenager, 7 foot a zillion, if you describe him to somebody who doesn't know him, it is like you're describing your imaginary friend, victor, eight foot wingspan, can dunk and shoot threes and ballet dancer and monster truck and he can do anything and he's the future and it is all real. i do think the international point is interesting. the nba internationally is surging. the nfl is funny, as much as i say roger goodell sees the nfl and the world as a risk to be won, it is not as successful as what adam silver has been doing in terms of exporting it outwards. we give the jaguars to the uk every year. don't know if that's necessarily getting the international market to our way of life like we would have hoped. but in the nba, i think there is this interesting double buy in

where in america, yeah, it is not as big of a deal right now, but abroad it is the thing and it is the thing that the internet carried over. coming up, for the second time in a month, an unticketed passenger sneaks on board a delta airlines flight. we'll take a look what happened when authorities realized this latest mistake. happened when authorities realized this latest mistake i've lost 228 pounds on golo. i'm able to enjoy my life and keep off the weight. that's why golo works so well for me. golo has been really empowering for me. i just recently purchased

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♪♪ so here is an old story. delta airlines is investigating how an individual without a

ticket was able to sneak on board a flight from seattle to hawaii on christmas eve. this all comes just one month after a woman was caught on a delta flight to france, also without a ticket. nbc news correspondent morgan chesky has the latest. >> reporter: it is seattle's sea-tac army, federal investigators pouring over security protocol after someone snuck on a delta flight without a boarding pass. police dispatching officers to a gate on christmas eve after the delta flight crew discovered an unidentified passenger turning the plane around, just before takeoff. delta stating their staff followed procedures to have an unticketed passenger removed from the flight, and apprehended. tsa confirming the individual did go through standard screening and did not possess any prohibited items. but then bypassed the identity verification and boarding status stations. somehow getting on the plane without a boarding pass. the incident happened on the

same day that crews in maui found a body inside the wheel well of a united flight that had traveled from chicago. and over thanksgiving, authorities say svetlana dali now faces federal charges after sneaking past security checkpoints at jfk to board a delta flight to paris with no passport or ticket. >> that's concerning. >> reporter: former tsa safety director keith jeffries tells nbc news no security system is perfect. do these incidents as a whole raise new security questions? >> first of all, i will tell you that anytime someone passes the ticket document checker location without being properly checked, that's a concern for tsa. it has happened way too many times in a short period of time. >> okay, only two cases that we know, but it is still pretty weird. nbc's morgan chesky reporting for us there. coming up, julian castro joins us to weigh in on president-elect trump's plans

for mass deportations and the potential impact to u.s. immigration policy. "morning joe" back in a moment. y "morning joe" back in a moment bent finger appointment in 30 minutes. you got this. one — remember, i don't want surgery for my dupuytren's contracture. two — i don't want to wait for my contracture to get worse. three — i want a treatment with minimal downtime. four — i want a nonsurgical treatment. and five... and if nonsurgical treatment isn't offered? i'll get a second opinion. let's go! take charge of your treatment. if you can't lay your hand flat, visit findahandspecialist.com to get started. ♪♪ (agent) we've always said never sell a house in the winter. that's not true. to get started.

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♪ how many times must a man look up ♪ ♪ before he can see the sky ♪ ♪ how many errors must one man have ♪ ♪ before he can hear people cry ♪ ♪ how many deaths will it take until he knows ♪ ♪ that too many people have died ♪ ♪ the answer my friend ♪

♪ is blowing in the wind the answer is is blowing in the wind ♪ >> coming up, with 2024 coming to a close, we're taking a look back at some of the biggest movies of the year. we'll be joined by "new york times" film critic straight ahead on "morning joe." "new yok times" film critic straight ahead on "morning joe.

a live shot of times square. yes, that is the ball that will be dropped on new year's eve, just a few days away at this point. workers there getting it ready. it will be in position in time, and you can see it, 2025, the numbers there, will be illuminated when we do, in fact, ring in the new year in just a couple of days. welcome to the fourth hour of "morning joe." it is 6:00 a.m. out on the west coast, 9:00 here in the east and in times square. i'm jonathan lemire along with katty kay and the reverend al sharpton.

we will begin this hour with the extreme weather across the country that's threatening to disrupt what's expected to be one of the busiest travel weekends of the year. nbc news correspondent sam brock will bring us the details. >> reporter: a terrifying funnel cloud churned through the fields northwest of dayton, texas, one of at least eight reported in the region, including in louisiana, the day after christmas. >> it's on the water right now. >> reporter: this twister reportedly captured at lake houston in crosby, texas, about 30 miles northeast of houston. and in el campo the powerful shear of this one leaving witnesses awe struck. the lone star state also getting pummeled by an intense hail shower, making it hard to just walk outside. just days after the first white christmas in 15 years in new york city, all eyes are on the forecast for the big new year's celebration in times square with expected rainfall threatening to put a damper on the party. meanwhile, for the holiday travelers still returning home millions facing severe weather

and dangerous driving conditions all across the country. floodwaters continuing to cause concerns in dallas and fort worth. much farther west in northern california, an area that's already seen record-breaking rainfall, they are expecting another round of heavy snow and rain this weekend. snowfall totals for the cascades and sierra nevada can range anywhere from 5 to 18 inches and over the rockies up to 3 feet. all of that just the stormy crescendo for a week that's seen california lose a pier in popular santa cruz on monday. speaking of the sierra, drivers forced to take it slow while the area struggles to dig out from more than a half foot of fresh powder that snarled holiday traffic. >> that was nbc's sam brock with that report and certainly good luck to all of those travel this weekend. now to president-elect trump's incoming border czar, tom homan, who is providing new details on the administration's immigration policies. in an interview he gave to nbc news homan says it will be up to

the undocumented parents of u.s.-born children on whether or not to break up their families. >> we won't separate parents and children. the parents will have to make a decision. that's parenting 101. but you -- i'm going to say it again, if you choose to have a child here in the united states when you know you are here illegally and court or theed to deport, that's on you. i think most families will keep families together. we see detention, but it's not a jail setting. this is an open-air campus, a family-type facility that is open air, right? we are not talking about razor wire and a penal institution, things like that. they have child care, they have education. >> meanwhile, in a separate interview with the "washington post" homan says that only trained law enforcement officers will be able to make immigration arrests, but that national guard troops could provide other

support functions. homan says the administration will conduct targeted campaigns for people through records rather than sweeps through neighborhoods. the incoming border czar said he will not put a hard number on target deportations saying the amount would depend on immigration and custom enforcement resources. he says he would, quote, be setting myself up for disappointment by providing a hard number. joining the conversation we have former u.s. secretary of housing and urban development julian castro, an msnbc political analyst and the co-founder of "all in together" lauren leader. >> your reaction to what tom homan the incoming border czar has to say on two things, first how he described these open-air detention centers and then secondly this idea of putting onus on parents, saying it's up to them how many members of their families get deported.

>> i will start there. you know, i didn't agree much with him but george w. bush when he was governor of texas used to say that family values don't end -- don't stop at the rio grande meaning that these were families that were coming to the united states trying to leave desperate conditions, lack of safety, trying to flee for violence, sometimes hunger. so these are parents that are trying to do the right thing for their children and for their family. they're doing it out of love. they're not picking up and leaving and moving somewhere thousands of miles away just on a whim. so for tom homan to say that i think just -- it just shows you, again, the heart of cruelty, the dark heart, that he and the trump administration folks have for these migrants. they like to dehumanize them and the way that he speaks there is also very clinical and bureaucratic, disconnected from the real life of these people, of these human beings.

so i think that what we are in for is we're in for cruelty part 2 in this administration. >> lauren, talk about the numbers. i mean, it's interesting to hear tom homan really resisting the idea of putting any numbers on this, but to some extent numbers do matter, every president has deported some people during the course of their administration, barack obama famously deported actually more people than donald trump has done. there have been numbers floated of up to a million per year for the next four years of the trump administration, which would far outstrip previous presidents and would get us beyond the idea of just deporting people who have committed crimes outside of being here illegally. so where do you -- have you heard anything more on actual numbers and how important are the numbers, do you think? >> well, they are important, but i don't think they know, and i think he's equivocating for a reason, and that is that there are just a vast amount of sort of unknowables. first of all, we don't know the extent to which governors and

state law enforcement will or will not participate. i think that's going to depend a lot on what they're being asked to do. i think democratic governors are in a really complicated position because on the one hand they certainly don't -- most of them certainly would not agree with family separations, on the other hand they're also under pressure from their own constituents around safety and crime. where there are truly targeted deportations on folks who are criminals, but that's not what tom homan is saying. i think that's what makes it so disturbing. they see anyone who has entered the country as having committed a crime and i think most americans don't see it that way. we have families who have been here for decades who are law abiding, tax paying noncitizens who have citizen children. i think the reality of this -- and also frankly what it could do to the american economy if you consider what this would do to the labor force. we've also seen a huge disruption in florida where

they've done raids on immigrant communities. the numbers matter, they have no idea, i think that's why he's equivocating. this is going to be a lot of chaos for the next few months in they're serious about this. >> secretary castro, one of the things that we're beginning to also hear is some people that voted for trump are now concerned about those that have farms that a lot of the undocumented immigrants have worked on their farms, have done other types of things that are needed from an agricultural business point of view or other points of view and they're starting to say, wait a minute, if this mass deportation happens who is going to do this work? how do we do that? secondly, their concern is that in order to finance a lot of this they're going to have to find the money somewhere, which could also impact entitlement programs and a lot of people are saying, wait a minute, i don't want to see a huge budget here

that would impact medicare, medicaid, social security or whatever comes about. you ran hud, you have been a member of the cabinet. how do we govern this and how do we finance this without some people in america being hurt by it? >> yeah, reverend, i mean, this is a real source of concern. it's, you know, a problem for the united states, whether you are talking about the ag industry or we are talking about the construction industry, the hospitality industry. the american economy and people with like it or not, but those are the facts -- the american economy is dependent in part on the labor of undocumented immigrants. and in certain industries like agriculture, that's true in a very big way. and so when we talk about mass deportation, when trump talks about that, to actually do that

would decimate the american economy. on top of that it's estimated and i think y'all showed the figure, that it could cost up to a trillion dollars to do. that means you would lose the revenue that these folks produce and the positive effect on the economy and you would also have americans paying for it by the high cost of mass deportation. on top of that in the long term you have a united states where the birth rate is declining and the number of baby boomers, as a big generation turning 65 and taking out their well-earned social security and medicare and so you have the need for a greater labor force that these folks in part could help supply. so we're going in the wrong direction. we need to find a sensible way to have immigration reform but mass deportation is not the answer and we're going to find out the hard way as a country if trump actually goes forward with it. >> lauren, president biden has deliberately sort of been off stage since the election. he's delivered a few speeches

meant to burn i ish his legacy,t he is an institutionalist, he doesn't want to be seen as getting in the way. aides say he will be more present in the last few weeks of his term. what would you like to see him do here, particularly as we just talked about, the fact that so much potentially is going to change for this nation come noon on january 20th. what can president biden do between now and then? those three, three and a half weeks. to ready the nation and prepare us for what's coming? >> that is such a hard question, jonathan, because i'm not sure there is a good answer. i mean, the fact is that many of the actions that president biden has tried to take have been overturned by the courts. certainly like any action that can be taken to try to protect dreamer in a more significant way i think will be important. i'm not sure what choice he has, the courts have limited his power on that front. it will be interesting to see if

there are additional clemency and pardons in the last few days. yes, he's been exceptionally quiet. i wonder since you mention foreign policy that he may try to accelerate arms to the ukraine knowing that the trump administration seems unsupportive of, you know, ukrainian prosecution of the war against russia. i think the biggest issue is whether or not biden is going to make any progress on getting the israeli hostages out before he leaves office which i'm sure is weighing heavily on him. i know that blinken is working overtime to try to make some progress there. that would be the most significant progress that he could make is to secure at least some hostage releases before he leaves office. there's a few weeks to go, one hopes. >> lauren, back to you also for the idea of vice president harris. we talked about her earlier in the show, there is a new photo book out here. talk to us about how you see her legacy, the history that she

made over the past four years even though she didn't quite win the oval office. >> i've really been thinking about this because i think in a lot of ways the fact that she did lose the election has overshadowed what was so extraordinary and important about her accomplishments as the first female vice president. i think history is going to look kindly on her term. she was an extraordinary advocate on issues that mattered to women in ways that we have never seen before. i think like many women and really anyone who is the first, who is a trail blazer, they carry an extra heavy load and the burden s you know, really upon them. it is an incredibly difficult road to, you know -- path to walk but she has done it with grace. i think she's made some really important strides on behalf of women in the country. i think the ways in which especially she defined the abortion rights issue as a freedom issue in this time will be looked back on as defining and i hope we take a moment to acknowledge her extraordinary

history-making contributions and not just leave her soul legacy as having lost the presidency because there was so much more that she accomplished in her time. >> secretary castro, let me take the last question to you here. let's get your overall thoughts on the combined biden/harris legacy. four years in office, monumental time for this nation. how do you think this team will be remembered? >> they came to power, they came into leadership at a time when america desperately needed moral leadership and competence in the white house and they provided that. when you compare where our economy was in the united states in january of 2021 to where we are now, compared to the rest of the world, especially america has done very well. they moved away from things like family separation and the cruelty of the trump administration. there was an adult back in the

oval office, which is what people had voted for in 2020. i think that's one of the reasons -- main reasons that biden won. people wanted an end to the chaos back then of trump that we're about to see again. so this is a team that i think will be remembered for righting the ship in a lot of ways. obviously there were disappointments, failures, even, like there is for any administration. part of biden's legacy also will be that he did not step aside sooner and perhaps give the vice president, i think, an even better shot at winning and continuing on his legacy. but historians will take all that have and we will get a better view as the years go by, but they came at a time when america desperately needed real leadership and in so many ways provided that. >> former u.s. secretary of housing and urban development, julian castro and co-founder and

ceo of "all in together" lauren leader. there are mounting questions this morning after a passenger jet crashed overseas in kazakhstan killing 38 people on christmas day. a u.s. official says early indications suggest a russian anti-aircraft system may have downed the plane. steve patterson has the latest. >> reporter: this morning new clues about what may have brought down this azerbaijan passenger jet in a fiery crash killing 38 people on board. new tote analogy shows holes in the jet's fuselage and what appears to be shrapnel damage, evidence that the plane may have been downed by russian forces. a theory conflicting with the kremlin's narrative that a flu strike caused the crash. the azerbaijan air passenger jet with 62 passengers and 5 crew on board had taken off from baku, azerbaijan, heading to grazny in

southern russia. russian officials say bad weather diverted the aircraft across the caspian sea. they say the plane experienced a failure in its control systems and an oxygen tank exploded in the cabin. this video from inside the plane in the air shows people calm, even after oxygen masks dropped then the plane lost altitude before crashing in a fireball in a kazakhstan field, some of the injured airlifted to baku overnight. a u.s. official tells nbc news there are early indications the plane may have been hit by a russian anti-aircraft system. this aviation expert reviewed the footage and agrees. >> the likely cause of the event is a misidentification and damage sustained from that. >> reporter: this comes after a dutch court recently concluded

that a malaysian airlines flight was brought down in 2014 over ukraine by a missile fired by pro-russian fighters. ukrainian officials immediately blaming russia for this crash, too. the kremlin responding, it would be incorrect to make any hypothesis before the investigation comes to conclusions. >> different points of view there on what happened. nbc's steve patterson with that report. israel has escalated strikes against yemen's houthi rebels targeting the capital and key temperature including the airport and power stations. raf sanchez has the latest on that story. >> reporter: this morning new fallout from israeli strikes against iran-backed houthi rebels in yemen. an attack that devastated the country's main international airport. israel says its jets were targeting military infrastructure used by the houthis to smuggle weapons. prime minister benjamin netanyahu overseeing the strike from a command center, saying,

we're determined to root out this terrorist arm of iran's axis of evil. but among those at the yemeni airport during the strike, the head of the world health organization. he says israeli bombs hit just a few meters from where we were, injuring one of his aircraft's crew members. since the start of the gaza war the houthis have been targeting commercial ships in the red sea. and firing ballistic missiles at israel. one of them destroying this elementary school in tel aviv just last week, israel says. this happened early in the morning before school started but the question many israelis are asking today is what if children had been inside? >> yeah, i think we are all in a little bit of shock because it's so close, it could have been us. >> reporter: while iran's other proxies, hamas and hezbollah have been badly weakened from fighting israel, the houthis appeared defiant and undeterred.

neither american more israeli strikes bringing an end to their repeated missile fire. which set off sirens in tel aviv this morning once again. >> it has been a very busy couple of days around the world. nbc's raf sanchez reporting from tel aviv for us. coming up on "morning joe," an american icon is turning 100 years old. nbc news correspondent jesse kirsch gives us an inside look on a flight aboard a good year blimp. a 35-year-old crime was in the spotlight this year thanks to a netflix series. we will update you on where the case stands. and movie critic for "the new york times" joins us with her top films of 2024. "morning joe" is coming right back. fou lms of 2024. "morning joe" is coming right back . fo

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so we are all used to seeing aerial shots during big games on television and years ago that started with the iconic good year blimp which is now celebrating a milestone birthday. joining us live from pompano beach, florida, nbc news correspondent jesse kirsch. jesse, what more can you tell us about that blimp, which i can see just over your shoulder. >> reporter: if you have a ever been to a major sporting event or watched one on tv odds are you have seen this in the background. big birthday coming up. how big? 100 years. that is how old the goodyear blimp is. we are turning the camera around on this iconic air ship to celebrate that major milestone. from nascar to super bowls, san francisco and sin city, when americans look up, the goodyear blimp is there. >> are you ready to go? >> yeah. >> all right. let's do it. >> reporter: the goodyear blimp has witnessed more than 2,500

events since its first flight and has flown about a half million passengers including president ronald reagan as well as trailblazers from charles lindbergh to charles barkley. now this air ship is about to make history again by turning 100 years old. and we helped kick off the big celebration over florida. takeoff feels like someone just let go of a floon that happens to fill about 80% of a football field and fly at top speed of 73 miles per hour. >> we can hover, we can hold it in place, the maneuverability is fantastic. >> have you ever been on an airport that feels like this? >> no. >> reporter: just like most flights up here we have reclining seats, we have the tray tables and they even have a bathroom, but have you ever seen one of these that's now as the lou with a view. air conditioning the old fashioned way. >> is there any billboard that could ever come close?

>> absolutely not. >> reporter: the ceo mark stewart says the original vision for the blimp went far beyond just selling more tires. >> it was getting ready for luxury air travel. the war came and then it became a very, very useful thing for the military to protect our folks. >> reporter: amelia earhart christened an air ship. sally ride another, and in 1955 one of the blimp's provided the first ever nationally televised live aerial from above the tournament of roses. along the way the fleet became one of the most enduring advertising vehicles of all time and also provided a public service after hurricane andrew in 1992, the blimp beamed messages down to survivors. one of the pilots flying those messages back then, larry chambers who found love in the sky when his wife faye came aboard. >> were you concerned that the pilot seemed to be paying more attention to you than flying the

blimp? >> i liked it. >> reporter: within a few years larry and faye were married, where else, but on the blimp. larry spent 40 years at the controls, but some of us are rookies. >> it does feel kind of like i'm playing one of those fighter jess video games. unbelievable. >> what does the goodyear blimp mean to this country? >> it's kind of like apple pie, everybody loves the goodyear blimp. >> reporter: a true slice of a mare can in a still going strong 100 years young. you might be wondering if it goes around 70 miles an hour how does it get to stuff all over the country. there are actually multiple goodyear blimps. this is winged foot 2 based in florida, there are three scattered across the u.s., another one in europe. if you have blimp fever, i have good news for you, there is going to be a flyover scheduled in all 50 states over the next year to celebrate this big birthday. so plenty of opportunities to look up and see the goodyear blimp coming up. i have to tell you when they let me take the controls in there i

was inching it to the left and the pilot was like, no, go further to the left and it steered more. i cannot believe they let me fly this thing but i promise you there was adult supervision the entire time. you have to be invited to go up in this so truly a once in a lifetime opportunity i'm never going to forget. back to you. >> i've always had blimp fever, to be clear. nbc's jessie kirsch, thank you so much. we will keep our eyes skyward when the blimps take to the air next summer for that 50 state extravaganza. we continue our look to some of the other top stories of 2024. here is one that centered around a crime dating back decades. the case against the menendez brothers seemed opened and shut but a hit tv show and social media brought it back into the spotlight. "dateline's" keith morrison has this look-back. >> reporter: one of the biggest crime stories of the year is 35 years old, the murder fd kitty

and isaiah menendez popping up all over tiktok. >> they should be walking free on the squawks. >> reporter: the supporters go beyond social media to hollywood. here is kim kardashian speaking to "variety." >> i feel like they never had that fair chance and imagine if no one believed you. >> reporter: interest in the case ballooned with the release of the dramatized netflix series "monsters, the lysle and eric menendez story" which hit more than 4 billion minutes viewed in the first ten days. the real story began august 20th, 1989. >> i killed my parents. >> reporter: initially lysle and eric menendez pointed the finger at the mob but by march of 1990 beverly hills police had enough to arrest the boys. but then the niece said loyal

confessed to her. >> did he offer you any explanation? >> no, not at the time. >> joseph lyle menendez. >> reporter: at trial the explanation would come out for the first time, in graphic, emotional terms. about what the brothers said were the darkest secrets of their family. >> between the ages of 6 and 8 did your father have sexual contact with you? >> yes. >> they testified they had been sexually abused by their father. >> he would have me give -- give me oral sex. >> reporter: loyal said it boiled over three days before the murders when he confronted jose. >> i told him i would tell everybody everything about him, i would tell the police and that i would tell the family. >> reporter: in 2017 lysle told me that weekend he was afraid of what his dad might do in preparation he and his brother had secretly purchased shotguns because, he said -- >> we knew that we were in grave danger.

>> reporter: the jurors were torn. the trial was hung. two years later when they were tried again, evidence of sexual assault was contested and restricted and the brothers were convicted. >> guilty on all counts. >> reporter: they were sentenced to life without the possibility of parole, case closed. until 2024 when new generations who have grown up after me, too, got interested. >> the menendez brothers should be free. >> reporter: then the los angeles district attorney george gascon said loyal and eric's sentence should be reduced based solely on their exemplary behavior in prison. >> we're going to recommend to the court that the life without the possibility of parole be removed. >> reporter: but before that could happen george gascon was voted out of office and the new da, nathan hoffman said, hold on. >> i will do a thorough review of the facts. >> reporter: and after the brothers menendez will rejoin

the great wide world or stay where they are in their small one. >> our thanks to "dateline's" keith morrison for bringing us that report. so while the menendez brothers' netflix show was one of the massive streaming hits on the small screen this year, 2024 was also a big year for movies filled with must see blockbustersers, indies and documentaries. joining us to recap, movie critic alyssa wilkinson, she recently released her top ten movies of the year. thanks for joining us. let's start with your big picture thoughts on the year -- in the year in movies as people -- are people fully returning to the theaters now post-pandemic? >> we're getting to numbers that match last year's numbers so it's nothing like pre-pandemic but one thing we have to remember is that there was this huge streaming boom right as the pandemic started and so the streamers have kind of grabbed some of that, you know, that air space, but box office returns have been pretty good this year,

even without a "barbie," "oppenheimer" situation. >> certainly big hits. let's go through your list, top ten. you have a movie that just came out, has not received a lot of attention but i suspect that's going to change, "nickel boys" is number one. >> this is an incredible movie. i love it. i think it's radical for an american movie it's based on the novel "the nickel boys." it's about a young boy who is taken to reform school and it's about him later in his life grappling with what happened. it's an interesting movie because while the novel is in third person, so it's kind of om nis ent, this one is in pov so you're actually seeing what the characters are seeing during the movie and that helps you to connect to the movie in a different way than we typically think of when we watch this kind of movie. >> tell us about a couple others on the list that seem like smaller films. >> one of them is "union."

so it is a documentary that i think is really relevant right now. it's about the unionization effort at the amazon warehouses in staten island over the past few years. the filmmakers spent a lot of time with the organizers and the workers there, kind of on the inside, seeing what goes into this effort, seeing them kind of work with what is the biggest corporation that you can possibly imagine and the results are mixed, right? it's not an easy fight to unionize. this movie also had trouble getting distribution. so the filmmakers were told that they would not be -- that streamers wouldn't be interested in them because they are not interested in social issue documentaries anymore and it's actually one of three short listed oscar documentaries that have struggled to find distribution this year. >> your top ten list features a trio of documentaries. those are on the smaller end of movie making let's talk about some of the blockbusters this year, maybe they didn't make

your top ten list but were hits, "wicked," "deadpool." tell us lessons that you think studios are learned from this year about what's working. >> it's hard to tell because this is a weird year. we had covid delays are still causing problems and then we had the strikes last year. there's been strange delays. we had a quiet summer, but, you know, we have sequels are still working and things based on ip are still working. "wicked" is a huge hit. "deadpool" was a big hit. the i goest movie is "inside out 2" which is a sequel of its own. that's one lesson that i think the studios are always going to be taking. another lesson is people want to go back to the theater. people enjoy going to a movie theater. it's cheaper than going to a concert, cheaper than going to a play. you can partake in it and have fun with your friends and families. that's something that companies have started to talk b maybe we should reprioritize the theater

and not just send everything straight to streaming. >> alyssa, what strikes me when i see your list, starting with "nickel boys," are you seeing in this kind of polarized 2024, the election and all, are you seeing people gravitate away from message kind of movies because "nickel boys" had segregation in it and all. >> sure. >> are you seeing people saying i just want to be entertained, i don't want to think about -- are you seeing people saying, no i want to see the illumination of things that i think should be discussed? >> it's a funny question to think about because "wicked" is one of the biggest movies of the year by far and if you watch that movie, it is just about fascism. that's what it's about. it's not even subtle about it, right? so i think people are looking for -- to be entertained but there's a lot of space for filmmakers who want to combine the entertainment with the message and sort of slip it in

sideways, which is something that art has always been really good at doing, but sometimes we get a little heavy handed about it. the better ones are the ones that bring you into the story, give you an emotional connection and then slip in whatever they're trying to communicate. >> we will have to see how the trump era fuels art like it did the last time around. to your point about the experience at theaters, i don't get to too many movies these days but saw "conclave" which is great and also to be there and have other people react to it as well. that's some of the experience. we suggest people make their way to the multiplexes. the year's best movies is on line now. alyssa wilkinson, thank you so much. coming up here, many americans are capping off the holidays with new debt balances. we will break down those startling numbers. plus, as the crisis in south korea deepens, the political uncertainty has now caused the currency there to plunge. we will dig into what that means. and also ahead, we're looking back at the amazing year

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♪♪ the christmas tree at 30 rock still looking so pretty. less pretty is the debt that americans have been building up, 36% of americans took on holiday debt this year. that's according to a survey from lending tree. the average balances were about $1,200, that's up more than $100 since last year's average. let's bring in cnbc's global markets reporter seema mody to take a look at this. give us more detail on this. is this just a purely kind of massive credit card spend we've been going through over the holidays, seema? >> katty, i think you're right.

this data is staggering in some ways because we are talking about nearly 40% of americans taking on debt over $1100, $1,200 on average according to lending tree. what's notable is that most consumers weren't even expecting to do so as the holidays were approaching, which sort of underscores how this period of time, yes, festive, but also can put increased pressure on americans' finances, especially at a time where inflation is, yes, coming down, but still high when you look at certain goods, autos, groceries, toys, for example, as well. and there is this pressure as we know to spend and gift. in fact, when you look at the data on who was spending the most and most likely to take on debt, the season, it's parents of young children where we know the pressure can often be high to spend and gift. >> those kids want their toys over the holidays but many of the purchases are soon going to be followed by returns, we're heading into return season now. what can you tell us about this new phenomenon of -- have i got

this right -- return-uary, is that right? >> it doesn't quite have a ring to it, but we can leave it up to the audience to decide. december is peak shopping season, january is all about returns. there's new data from the national retail federation that explains that returns are becoming increasingly more prevalent, about 17% of all merchandise sales are being returned. about $890 billion in returned goods and that's up from last year. what's really fueling this, katty, is this pivot to online shopping. not always knowing if you're going to like what you buy online. and what was also striking about this data is that there are a lot of people who are wardrobing, which is a term that basically can be described as people going to buy something online and then wearing it -- wearing it to an event and then quickly returning it the next

day. so this is going to be a reality check for the retail industry, right, to figure out how they can handle returns and not make it so easy that people can do this and take advantage of the system. >> right. because of course those returns cost them money. lastly, you've been following the economic fallout surrounding the martial law declaration in south korea. what's the latest on that? >> so this is a fascinating development overnight, south korea's acting president impeached by does send the country into a deepening political crisis. there was just an impeachment of their president a couple weeks ago. so now power is in the constitutional court to whether they dismiss or reinstate the acting president that was impeached. i think the big story here is that this is really tarnishing south korea's international image. a u.s. ally, a rising economic power across asia where a number of semiconductor and technology companies are growing and becoming increasingly reliant on u.s. support. so i think the political

backdrop of course not a great setup as we enter 2025. i would just point out when we look across europe with what's happening in france, a growing budget deficit, where lawmakers there are unable to pass a budget and that's been weakening their leadership. germany earlier this week facing their own political troubles. so for a lot of these countries that started the year on a strong note they're ending the year on a weaker one. >> yeah, a lot of tricky spots around the world at the moment. cnbc global markets reporter seema mody. thank you for that. there is no obvious transition to let's drive in. a tiny hippo who became a viral sensation this year is closing out the holiday season with a massive splash. nbc news international correspondent janis mackey frayer has more. >> reporter: moo deng heads into the new year bigger than ever. both in the flesh and online. and marking milestones along the way. now five months old and over 100

pounds. year-end lists naming her one of the biggest viral sensations of the year. >> it's undeniable. >> reporter: her breakout highlighted in google's year in search. and "the new york times" naming her most stylish. her likeness dominated bangkok's end of year light festival. >> she is this way. >> reporter: we first met this pudgy little internet sensation in september when thousands of visitors captured every adorable moment of her rolling around, taking a batting, gnawing on the zookeeper's boots and of course napping. anything moo deng does gets a reaction. the adorable reactions with counting memes. inspiring an "snl" cameo. >> i'm your favorite hippo's favorite hippo. >> reporter: the name means bouncing pig owes her fame to the zookeeper. super fans like molly from new

york traveling all the way to thailand to catch a glimpse. not once, but twice. >> i flew 18 1/2 hours. everybody needs a little bit more joy in their life and she's perfect for it. >> reporter: and rocking her moo deng pjs molly telling us she's not done yet. >> my goal is actually to return for her first birthday. >> reporter: moo deng's clumsy escapades building new business. her image a registered trademark in thailand with local media saying branding collaborations could generate as much as $4.3 million by march while also boosting awareness with pigmy hippos considered an endangered species this little girl unaware of how much the world adores her. or other adorable animals like this penguin, biscuits the seal pup and the celebrity panda. back in thailand the zoo looking to keep the magic going with a

holiday proposing tear moan that will see his older brother matched with a female pigmy hippo hoping for new little ones in the new year. but for moo deng making a splash online is one thing. staying close to mom joanna still the top priority. happily unbothered this unlikely icon wiggling her way into a new year. >> okay. very cute. nbc's janis mackey frayer with that report. but two flights to thailand, john? >> yeah, my eyebrows went up at that as well. that's twice going 18 hours. huge, adorable, big star. that still may be a lot. >> still a long way to go. >> may be a lot. but, yes, year of moo deng to be sure. coming up next here the star and creator of the off broadway show "mind play." mentalist denny delponto joins

us in studio. delponto joins us in studio (♪♪)

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welcome back. so the critics say you've never seen anything like it. the new off-broadway show "mindplay" is an interactive mind-bending production featuring vinny deponto. it is described as a magical theater experience in which deponto guides participants on a jaw-dropping interactive journey as he reads audience members' minds while revealing the working of his own, all the while blurring the line between illusion and reality. how is that for a setup. joining us now creator of "mindplay" vinny deponto. good to see you this morning. the show is in previews now, heads to off-broadway theater at the greenwich house theater on january 13th. already had runs in d.c., l.a., boston. explain to us what exactly is it? >> it's a theatrical experience, i'm a mentalist, it's a mentalism show, theatrical mentalism show which means that

i'm using the audience's thoughts as a way to kind of fuel the show. so it's a different show every single night, depending on the texture of thoughts that are in the room with me that night. >> how do you prepare for a show like that? and just how wildly do audience members' thoughts vary from night to night? >> i mean, they vary quite a bit. the show like i said sort of has a skeleton and there's ways that i can do the particular tricks and experiences to hit certain points, but depending on what people are thinking it can either be -- we sort of call the show a rorschach test, there is a certain ink blot that you see, you will see something but it depends on your mindset every night. sometimes it's incredibly moving, people come up and sort of admit things that they've maybe never said out loud before and sometimes it's incredibly funny because of the same reasons, you know, they have stories or thoughts that they didn't think you would reveal in front of strangers in a room.

>> i grew up in a pentecostal church in brooklyn where i became baptist and we had people come through that said they had the gift of prophecy, some were good and some were phonies. how do you -- how do you deal with -- as a mentalist -- those that really have this gift of reading people's minds which the play is about, or the people that kind of put things in people's minds and kind of make them feel that's what they would think when they really weren't thinking? how do you draw the line? >> to me theater is a trick and i am using tricks, right? i say this in the show. heater is a trick to kind of unlock certain channels in our mind, right, unlock doors in our minds. i'm using the same techniques to try to do that for people's thoughts. you would think being up there on stage people feel kind of nervous but actually there is an odd thing that happens and they are able to kind of release something, they're able to talk about something that maybe they weren't able to before. so for me i saw that they are

tricks. i can't hear the voice inside people's heads, i think i would be a billionaire, but i can sort of use these techniques to try to unlock certain things in people's minds. >> and give us our last minute, give us a great story from the audience that you did. >> oh, my gosh. i mean, we've had somebody just recently come up on stage and just could not believe it. he kept kind of -- there is a part where i blindfold someone and he kept lifting his blindfold and looking at me. as he walked off the stage he just shouted "you are a demon" and just walked off. i was like, no, i promise, this is just a show. he had an amazing experience, he was saying it in a very positive way. >> people scream "you are a demon" at me all the time, that's usually just the crew, rev. that sounds terrific. we can't wait to see it. "mindplay" began a limited engagement with previews on december 15th at greenwich house theater. opening night january 139 with the show running through april

20th. you will want to see this. vinny deponto, thank you so much. >> thank you. and that does it for us this morning. thank you for watching. christina ra feeney picks up the coverage on msnbc in just one minute. on msnbc in just one minute ...with my psoriatic arthritis symptoms. but just ok isn't ok. and i was done settling. if you still have symptoms after trying a tnf blocker like humira or enbrel, rinvoq works differently. rinvoq is a once-daily pill that can rapidly relieve joint pain, stiffness, and swelling as fast as 2 weeks for some. and even at the 3-year mark, many people felt this relief. rinvoq can stop joint damage. and in psa, can leave skin clear or almost clear. rinvoq can lower ability to fight infections. before treatment, test for tb and do bloodwork. serious infections, blood clots, some fatal; ...cancers, including lymphoma and skin; serious allergic reactions; gi tears; death; heart attack; and stroke occurred. cv event risk increases in age 50 plus with a heart disease risk factor. tell your doctor if you've had these events,

infection, hep b or c, smoked, are pregnant or planning. don't take if allergic or have an infection. done settling? ask your rheumatologist for rinvoq. and take back what's yours. (♪♪) good morning. it is 10:00 a.m. eastern, 7:00 a.m. pacific. i'm christina ffini in washington, d.c. this hour, post-holiday moves. what we can expect on one of the busiest holiday travel days of the year and how the weather might come into play. and another stowaway. a passenger is caught sneaking on to a plane without a ticket, just after a different passenger was apprehended on a flight to paris. how does this keep happening? and immigration crackdown. we'll speak with the leading immigration lawyer who sued the

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