Donald Trump’s convention speech did exactly what it was supposed to do, MSNBC “Morning Joe” host Joe Scarborough declared Friday.
“It just may be the speech that millions and millions of people in middle America have been waiting to hear for a very long time,” the former congressman said before a live audience in Cleveland Friday morning.
“I don’t know if they expected sunshine and flowers,” he continued. “It was a dark speech. We have been saying for two months now, with everybody’s low approval ratings that you’re not going to win the presidency. You’re going to disqualify the other candidate . . . Everybody is acting so shocked that conventions are sometimes negative.”
Veteran columnist and Morning Joe contributor Mike Barnicle, however, said that he found that Trump focused on fear, and he thought that was “tough to handle.”
“It’s tough to read,” said Barnicle. “There’s a lot of anxiety in the country. People feel they have lost a lot. They have lost 401(k)s here in Cleveland. They were decimated in 2008 and 2009. The foreclosure crisis, no doubt about that. You want to feel a little hope for your children. That’s where the fear thing comes into play.”
Still, Barnicle said, “you can’t cover the country in a blanket of fear.”
Live from Cleveland, the Morning Joe panel continues the discussion about Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s “dark” acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention that attempted to tap into the emotions of fearful or anxious citizens. Says veteran columnist Mike Barnicle: “My instinct is that … crime, people getting killed — it’s been going on for decades right in front of us. But we have never had Twitter…Instagram. We have never had things popping up in a second (on social media). And we have never had a country where the majority of people walking around are staring at their phones instead of looking at the country around them.” Hear the rest of the conversation and with whom Trump’s messages most resonated — and why. Only on MSNBC.
On Morning Joe live from Cleveland, Joe Scarborough, Mike Barnicle and the panel talk about Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s dark, fear-focused acceptance speech last night at the Republican National Convention. “He played to type last night,” said Barnicle. “There are no surprises in what he said, nor where there any surprises really in how he said it. That’s how he has won thus far, and clearly, that’s his plan to win in the fall. The fear thing, I think, is tough to read. There’s a lot of anxiety in the country. People feel they have lost a lot. They have lost 401(k)s here in Cleveland. They were decimated in 2008 and 2009. The foreclosure crisis, no doubt about that. You want to feel a little hope for your children. That’s where the fear thing comes into play.” Listen in for more of the conversation here.
On Morning Joe, veteran columnist and contributor Mike Barnicle and the Morning Joe panel talk about the response from political leaders to Senator Ted Cruz’s speech at the Republican National Convention. Without endorsing Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, Cruz delivers a speech in which he “stepped all over the Mike Pence story” and even drew boos from the crowd. Follow the conversation here on Trump and his vice presidential running mate Indiana Gov. Pence.
Veteran columnist and MSNBC contributor Mike Barnicle and the Morning Joe panel discuss last night’s speech by Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) on Night Three of the Republican National Convention saying that Cruz “was oozing smugness.” During his speech, Cruz goes so far as to draw boos from the crowd present at the convention. Listen in on the conversation here.
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump sets off alarm bells in the political world with recent NATO comments that America would only intervene if those allied countries had “fulfilled their obligations to us.” His foreign policy approach counters the mutual defense stated in NATO, which was invoked after 9-11. Veteran columnist and Morning Joe panelist Mike Barnicle weighs in on the recent remark by opining that “Trump is focusing on the political level” as compared to the strategic level, which resonates with voters. Hear more of the conversation here.
With a recent poll in Michigan showing Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton leading her Republican challenger Donald Trump by 42% to 39%, Morning Joe’s veteran columnist and contributor Mike Barnicle describes this presidential race as the “unpopularity contest” in which America is waiting “to see which of these two hugely unpopular candidates emerges with the presidency.” Follow along with the conversation here.
In the aftermath of the assassination of three Baton Rouge police officers, Mike Barnicle and the Morning Joe panel talk about how this season’s political figures have responded to the recent spate of attacks on police, including Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s criticism of the current leadership. Barnicle disagrees, referencing President Barack Obama’s recent speeches that call for unity in the wake of police shootings: “You should be glad he’s the President of the United States because he sets the right tone.” Listen in to the conversation here, only on MSNBC.
On Morning Joe, veteran columnist and contributor Mike Barnicle and the panel discuss Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s “untraditional” campaign and candidacy. “It’s all him, all the time,” says Barnicle. But the panel gives credit where it is due: Trump’s message is clearly resonating with a large portion of the population, as he has made enormous strides in his bid for the White House. Hear the rest of the discussion here.
After a series of deadly terror attacks worldwide, veteran columnist Mike Barnicle and the Morning Joe panel discuss the impact to the U.S. and the 2016 presidential race. “These pictures that America is watching from coast-to-coast today. These pictures erase logic,” Barnicle says of the international attacks. “So when a candidate for the presidency of the United States says we need to declare war, it resonates out there.” Hear the rest of the conversation only on MSNBC.
Robert Costa from The Washington Post joins veteran columnist Mike Barnicle on MSNBC’s Morning Joe to talk about what message Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is sending with his selection of Indiana Governor Mike Pence as his Vice Presidential running mate. Asks Barnicle: At a basic level does the selection of Pence not signal to the Republican party that “Donald Trump is sort of normal?” Watch the conversation here. On MSNBC.
Morning Joe’s Mike Barnicle and the show’s panel of experts discuss safety concerns in the United States and worldwide following the recent terrorist attacks. What are we OK doing and what should we avoid? How can we reduce the odds of another terrorist attack stateside? Hear what former FBI Executive Asst. Director Shawn Henry had to say here.
On Morning Joe, veteran columnist and contributor Mike Barnicle talks with Don Borelli, former FBI Special Agent in Charge in the New York Joint Terrorism Task Force, about the attack in Nice, France, where 84 people were killed by a truck driver who plowed into a crowded celebration. Asks Barnicle: “Is this attack related to ISIS or inspired by ISIS? And what can law enforcement do about the lack of human intelligence inside cells like ISIS.” Hear Borelli’s answer here. On MSNBC.
Following a series of deadly attacks worldwide, MSNBC contributor and veteran columnist Mike Barnicle speaks with Michael Leiter, former director of the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center, about what can be done to crack the incubators for terrorist activity and combat terrorism globally. “Why can they succeed and we cannot combat their success,” asks Barnicle on Morning Joe. Listen in on the conversation about what world leaders are doing to combat and prepare for possible future attacks.
On MSNBC’s Morning Joe this morning, panelists commented on the “extraordinary” role race has played during the Democratic primaries and throughout the 2016 presidential campaign. Veteran columnist Mike Barnicle points out: “One of the great absences in the national conversation—if you can call it that…is that volatile combination of the mix of race and class. You cannot separate them.” It’s an issue, he says, that cannot be ignored, yet “we continue to ignore it.” Watch the conversation here.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s vanishing lead over Republican challenger Donald J. Trump was a topic of discussion on Morning Joe, where the new McClatchy/Marist poll was cited, showing Clinton at 42 percent over Trump’s 39 percent. “You cannot underestimate the fact that two weeks ago the director of the FBI basically told the American people, (Hillary Clinton has) been lying to you for two years. It just reinforced so many negatives that she had coming into this race. You look at those numbers, you hear the anecdotal evidence. I am convinced that a Joe Biden or a John Kerry (running for president) would have been 70-30,” said veteran columnist and Morning Joe panelist Mike Barnicle. Only on MSNBC.
Today’s Morning Joe conversation revolved around Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s selection for Vice President, slated to be officially announced Friday although Trump’s campaign by Thursday afternoon indicated his selection would be Indiana Governor Pence. Said veteran columnist and Morning Joe panelist Mike Barnicle: “It will come down to, can the person who is selected succeed Donald Trump if anything were to happen? If Trump agitates Congress to the point where they decide to impeach him, can the vice president succeed the president?” While the media focuses on Trump’s choice, Barnicle points out that, “The Democratic selection for Vice President, though, is kind of even more interesting because of the presence of former President Bill Clinton in the White House.” Watch the conversation here.
Charlie Rose talks with veteran columnist Mike Barnicle about the impact of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s selection of Indiana Governor Mike Pence as his Vice Presidential running mate. in discussing the potential reasoning and ramifications behind the choice of Pence, Barnicle says: Pence is “off-brand from Trump” and “pretty boring.” See the rest of the conversation on Charlie Rose.
On MSNBC’s Morning Joe, panelists discussed Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s challenge to overcome her Republican challenger Donald Trump’s marketing advantage as the “change candidate.” “Voters are seeking change; they also want something different,” notes veteran columnist Mike Barnicle. “Trump is standing on a stage with people on both sides of the aisle—people running in the democratic primary, in the republican primary—he’s the only one who’s different.”
During the ongoing Morning Joe conversation about the memorial service for the five fallen officers in Dallas, veteran columnist Mike Barnicle zeroed in on President Obama’s statement that we “ask too much of police officers and too little of ourselves.” And putting the memorial service and the words said into context, Barnicle summarized: “Both presidents yesterday on that stage made the current election process and both candidates running for president seem small.”
