with me to discuss, celebrated author and presidential historian michael beschloss. ork, in a bookshelf will full of, works is presidents of war. michael, it is always good so good to see. >> thank you, the same for me, alicia. -- >> so much has changed since president biden took office. a short two years. what stands out to you in that period of time? >> he's gotten a lot a very important laws passed. maybe more important than any president in half a century. at least back to lyndon johnson, maybe even more than that. i would think, the main thing, alicia, forgive me this is what historians do, let's go back to two years ago last night, october 19th, 2021 when donald trump was still president, joe biden had yet to come in. remember what that was like. that was 13 days after the insurrection and attack on congress that we now know could've led to martial law and confiscation of voting machines, violence, assassinations of leaders of congress. that's what we had two years ago. we also had a terrible pandemic with the president who is making governors in the united stat

always love to talk with you, michael beschloss. >> same here. be well. >> happy new year. >> up next, a study in contrasts. what the 118th congress looks like on the other side of the aisle, after this. this is the sound of better breathing. fasenra is an add-on treatment for asthma driven by eosinophils. it helps prevent asthma attacks, improve breathing, and lower use of oral steroids. fasenra is not a rescue medication or for other eosinophilic conditions. fasenra may cause allergic reactions. get help right away if you have swelling of your face, mouth and tongue, or trouble breathing. don't stop your asthma treatments unless your doctor tells you to. tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection or your asthma worsens. headache and sore throat may occur. ask your doctor about fasenra. i always want to know more about my family history. we sit down at the kitchen table, pull up the ancestry app, drink our coffee looking at all the information, all the tiny details. dad, check this out. colorize it. look at that. wow. everyone has color.

. >> it was just this summer that nbc's hyperventilating house historian michael beschloss suggests that donald trump deserved the death penalty for keeping classified documents mar-a-lago fried like the rosenbergs in the electric chair. >> former cia director michael hayden agreed. >> sounds about right. hayden wrote , these at this point is totally normal for cia directors to fantasize about killing american presidents. so just for fun, today we reached out to michael beschloss to ask what punishment he thinks joe biden deserves for keeping classified documents in his office. of course, specialists didn't respond to us. he was too busy applying pancake makeup in his living room for other msnbc hit. >> but to be fair, it wasn't just michael beschloss who claimed that trump was endangering america with those documents. they all said that watch the seriousness at the potential threat to national security information. >> i just don't know what to say. if he was in possession of classified documents, those are by definition potentially harmful to our national security. >> we have a presiden

joining us author and nbc news presidential historian, michael beschloss.. >> it is hard to believe it is the second anniversary of the january 6th assault and it's such a huge, traumatic, dark day that sometimes it's hard to keep things like this in historical perspective. give us your thoughts now as we are two years from that moment. >> well, jonathan, just as you say, been two years, let's go back two years, what if that insurrection, that attack on the capitol, on congress had succeeded? you know, let's say that the rioters were a little bit faster and put the lives of nancy pelosi, the then speaker and the vice president at the time mike pence in danger, they could have been killed. there could have been a hostage situation. there could have been more violence, there are signs donald trump might have declared martial law. there's some people who think that donald trump as president might have even talked about suspending the inauguration of joe biden in 2021. shows how much could have happened, what country would we be living in today if that insurrec

and michael beschloss, let me bring you in there. we have a year end wrap up, where we talked about democracy. but you see what happened on new year's eve and new year's day in ukraine. people sharing. and kyiv, for those fighting for their freedom. just remarkable. and my gosh, every american could and should be able to celebrate that loves this country, that loves the u.s. institution. that loves american democracy. that all the election deniers, all the people that wanted to say we won't recognize election outcomes unless our side wins, they all lost. 2022, i mean, you have to fight for democracy and freedom every day. in whatever way you can. but 2022, gave us a couple more years where at least the basics of madisonian democracy remain in tact. >> absolutely. totally. and happy new year, mika and joe and everyone else. let's celebrate today. we have had ample reason over the last seven years to say these are dangerous for democracy. but this morning i think we can say that the election of 2022 proved, as i always love to say, and

nbc news presidential historian michael beschloss. thank you very much, and the "washington post" jackie alemany, thank you for your reporting as well. >>> and still ahead on "morning joe," democratic congressman pete aguilar takes a slap at kevin mccarthy during speakership nominations yesterday. we'll show you those remarks that got thunderous applause. >>> plus, veteran democratic strategist james carville joins us with his takeaways from yesterday's speakership stalemate. also ahead, democratic governor andy beshear of kentucky will be our guest as president biden prepared to visit his state today in a bipartisan event with mitch mcconnell. and up next, we'll go live to the hospital in's cincinnati where damar hamlin remains in critical condition. what the family of the buffalo bills safety is saying about his health after suffering cardiac arrest on the field. >>> you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. did you know you can get discounts on your meds even if you don't have a medicare prescription drug plan? it's true.

so of, course there is no one better to explain it all than nbc news presidential historian, michael beschlossing 24 hours to speak to you about this. all right so give us your impressions, i literally you are the one. talk to us about what unfolded in the house last, night how we got here and now it will be remembered in history? >> yeah so i think the main thing i would say simone sadly is that you know we often are very aware of what a president can do and sometimes, the damage that a president can do what you saw during the last four years of the previous president. but in history, also congressional leaders can do a lot of damage. i hope it is not the case with kevin mccarthy but when you have a weak speaker, sometimes you have more damage than other times. and you know you are talking quite rightly about other cases in history where you know the majority party and the house could not make a decision. hundred years ago, gillett you know they went to nine ballots just as you are saying, it seems like 16 but 18, 58 and 59. there is a guy named william pennington who became speaker of the ho

i was having a conversation with michael beschloss about this. we may not see a civil war, he said, in america anytime in our near future, but what you will see are these outbreaks of violence and what you see over these last months is exactly that. this was an individual who had lost in a landslide but what you saw was go and take deliberate actions to individuals to shoot up the homes of four public officials. four individuals who won their elections, something this than did not do and instead of going back and running for office again, this man tried to take physical violence and tried to use that as a source of finding that option for him to find as the alternative path forward. >> vaughn, thank you very much for that. garrett, thanks to you and your reporting. >> m coing up on the show, we've got new info out of the "washington post" on some big details of january 6 committee declined to include in its report. the post reporter will join us live. but first, house republicans wrapping up committee assignments today. george santos, he's going

of course, this is to impress michael beschloss, an actual historian, with our little bit of history this morning. >> you. did it was wonderful. >> thank you. this one made it into the history. books it was up there and it was contentious battles for the speakership. can someone tell, you that is fine. that is how messy democracy sometimes works. but the viewers were to sort of and do that by saying, are you better off but we just saw, or worse off because of what just happened? >> we are worse off. and i thought you would say that beautifully. i can barely add anything to what you have said. so eloquently. but, ali here is why we are worse off. you mentioned that there were also ballot elections for speaker. 1850, 8:44 ballots. we are struggling over ugly divisions -- it was an ugly time. nine ballots because in the 1923, that he was probably the peak of the influence of the ku klux klan in america. and the statues were going up all over the south. another ugly time. but you got not only the ugly divisions in 2023, you got a spectacular week, lying kevin mccarthy, who does not have

with us to kick off the new year, we have author and nbc news presidential historian, michael beschlossral, james stap

dir and that's whyec a former ciad director and michael beschloss, the historian, suggestede ti it could be time for donald trump to be executed by electric chair. and for sure, and this was the consensus in washington once these documents were discovered, this crime wasered noearthe, thd, there was no possibility donald trump could ever again run for office. >> you need to gald trumo. neee every person connected to the biden administration toldminist us that, including joe bidenra himself. what data wains thercludine in e that may compromise sources and methods? >> biden asked. >> so as biden was saying thatd it turns out that he was you'lln be shocked to hear this doing exactly the same thing that he accused donald trump of doing.sn joe biden was storingfied classified documents in a private office at a fakek ta think tank that has been set up for him at the university pennsylvania that think, think think tank is called the penn biden center for diplomacy and global engagement at the university of pennsylvania. t univenow, we should tell youe don't know exactly what these classified do

it was reagan that said we need not just patriotism but informed patriotism. >> michael beschloss, youeds to learn, not just one civics course but at least a couple, as they go out into the world, into the work force as citizens, they understand how this country works? >> total true. i assume, mika and you were not expecting me to say that they shouldn't learn history in sort of a disposable item, of course they should, and the founders assumed they would. when lincoln said, for instance, since we're quoting dead presidents, 1861 in his inaugural address, talked about the chords of memory that stretched back to every patriot. this is 1861, not too many americans alive remember the revolutionary war. he assumed that people because of either talking to their friends and relatives or studying would know what the history of this country was and what it stood for. when i was growing up in illinois, we assumed if this country was going to go down, it was going to go down probably because soviet missiles struck chicago, in my case. never that there would be americans who would turn on their o

healing a nation, killing ourselves, and michael beschloss, the author of presidents of war. ill start with you, taking a step back how did we get to this point with the modern republican party? >> well, you've got activists, especially in republican primaries who are extreme and demanded certain things of people who were elected to congress and other republicans, plus, and the result is we've got huge numbers of people who supported these certifying joe biden's election in 2020, and in some cases supporting the insurrection, in some cases, with shadowy ties to hostile foreign governments. and we have got a situation, just of you have been saying, where kevin mccarthy is handing out important committee positions like -- to some of these people. god knows where the classified information given to members of the homeland security committee will go with met numbers like that. and if i might make a historical reference, much is a combination of let's make a deal and help the god show. we have no idea what kind of secret deals mccarthy has made with some of these extreme members, a

any and everything by doris kearns goodwin, michael beschloss, jon meacham, doug brickley, robert l, hite, david mccullough, dave renda, michael dobbs, robert massey, lynne lynn olson, rick atkinson, david maraniss and anne applebaum. unsure of her getting some remarkable books so as a say in congress, i reserve the right to revise and extend my remarks. susan plasters response. louisa may alcott, little women. what is it about that book that so many, and its women basically who really like that book trent opposition of your ask about nonfiction or fiction so obviously peter assumed at your by that answer your question, everyio single author -- [laughing] that he likes. colonel we will show you others but i realized that. >> guest: there's a question that for every bookish young woman for a century, right, they have delighted in thehe story of joe and her sisters. i love that book so much that i would read it again and again as a child. in the book they talk about reading again and again a book but, in fact, that's what i was doing with little women. i would finish it and just start a

any and everything by doris kearnsth goodwin, michael beschloss, jon meacham, doug brinkley, robert dowling, rob glcm david mccullough, ron chernow, david renda, michael dobbs, robert massey, lynne olson, rick atkinson, david maraniss, and anne applebaum. i'm sure i'm forgetting some remarkable books comes on as a say in congress, i reserve the right to revise and extend my remarks. susan glasser is response. louisa may alcott, little women. what is it about that book that so many, and its women basically who really like that book. >> guest: i wasn't sure if you're asking about nonfiction or fiction. >> host: we could care less attractive. has chosen as as a you questn mark that answer your question, listing everything author that he likes speed we will leave this program here to continue are over 40 year commitment to coverage of congress. we will return to this event after what we believe will be a short pro forma session of the u.s. senate. the presiding officer: the senate will come to order. the clerk will read a communication to the senate. the clerk: washington, d.c., january 17, 202