“Thank God for some of these governors. They know how government operates and they know how to get things done using the state governments….We have a 35-year history in this country, in the politics of this country, of trying to diminish the role of government at the federal level….I resent the attack on government because government comes down the street to provide testing if testing is available. It’s all one thing encompassed in the word ‘government’ and we don’t have enough of it at the federal level,” says Morning Joe veteran columnist Mike Barnicle during a discussion with Willie Geist about a group of governors from across the political spectrum that is publicly challenging the Trump Administration’s assertion that the United States is well-stocked and well-prepared to test people for the coronavirus and care for the sickest patients, including New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo who criticized the federal government for fueling an “eBay” style bidding war for much needed ventilators.
Listen in on this Morning Joe conversation between Willie Geist and Mike Barnicle about government leadership amid the coronavirus pandemic, after President Donald Trump warned Americans to brace for a “hell of a bad two weeks” ahead as the White House projected there could be 100,000 to 240,000 deaths in the U.S. from the pandemic even if current social distancing guidelines are upheld. “The definition of leadership, I think, has now changed in this country, especially when it comes to: Who is the government, who represents us, who leads us….The government is Dr. (Anthony) Fauci. The government are the ER nurses and the doctors and hospitals. The government are the EMTs who knowing the danger, the police officers, knowing the danger—the potentially lethal danger—go at the virus to help people, to help us American citizens.” Hear more of the discussion now.
“Every doctor tells you testing, testing, testing; that’s the most critical component. But when we’re testing NBA players before we’re testing nurses who are working every day, police officers working every day, public safety officials out there, EMTs working every day, there’s something wrong with our priorities,” says Morning Joe veteran columnist Mike Barnicle during a conversation with Joe Scarborough, Mike Brzezinski and Jonathan Lemire about President Donald Trump’s handling of the COVID-19 crisis in the US and the lack of widespread testing available here.
“Walking Dead” actor Daniel Newman joined Morning Joe remotely this morning to talk with Mika Brzezinski and Mike Barnicle about his difficulty in obtaining a COVID-19 test after having mild symptoms and having been exposed to the life-threatening virus. Hear the conversation and read his New York Times op-ed: https://nyti.ms/2UAgwJg
Morning Joe veteran columnist Mike Barnicle and Dr. Patrice Harris, president of the American Medical Association, discuss the widespread shortage of medical supplies in America amid the coronavirus pandemic. “How is it that given the warnings and the signs…from November and December: How is it that these hospitals, so many of them are without critical things like face masks?” asks Barnicle.
Listen in on this Morning Joe conversation between Joe Scarborough and Mike Barnicle about President Donald Trump not “aggressively” trying to stop the spread of COVID-19 in America, our need for “fact-based truth” from public officials and “total buy in from the American public.” Says Barnicle: “But it’s hard to get total buy in from the American public when the people, the person, asking for that total buy in is Donald Trump who has spent 40 months dividing the country….We’ve all gone back and looked at the talk of the past four, five weeks: ‘Hoaxes, it’s a myth, it’s going to go away, only 15 people have it,’ all of that. We have to fight ourselves and put that in the background because there’s a vehicle to take care of all the lies and all the incompetence that the American public has been dealt. And that vehicle is called an election, and it’s held in November.”
Listen in on this Morning Joe conversation with contributor Mike Barnicle and Dr. Amesh Adalja, senior scholar at the John Hopkins Center for Health Security, about the measures and precautions that are being taken or need to be taken to handle the global pandemic coronavirus outbreak in the United States. Hear more of the conversation now about the reality of hospital bed availability and other current concerns.
“Joe is Joe. He does get up off the mat. He’s done it repeatedly throughout his life. And again, harkening back to South Carolina: I think one of the big things that people saw who were on the fence about Joe given his losses in Iowa and in New Hampshire was—the first thing they saw quite visibly, quite emotionally on television, which is like a national MRI—they saw humanity, and it’s been missing in the Oval Office since January 20th, 2017….Joe, you know this better than anybody—you’ve been on the ballot. Politics is a people business at its root. And I think you saw hundreds and thousands of people coming out coast to coast—Democrats—and one thing ruled above all: They are not willing to roll the dice on the future of this country by wasting a vote. They want to win. They want someone who can beat Donald Trump, and I think many of them feel strongly now that in Joe Biden they have that candidate,” says Morning Joe veteran columnist Mike Barnicle during a conversation with Joe Scarborough about the resiliency of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden after he was “knocked down” in the New Hampshire primary and is “pulling himself back up” with a huge victory on Super Tuesday.
Listen in on this Morning Joe conversation with Joe Scarborough, Willie Geist and Mike Barnicle about presidential candidate Joe Biden’s “shocking” victory on Super Tuesday as the former vice president racked up big wins in delegate-rich states like Texas, North Carolina and Virginia while establishing himself as the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination despite his very slow start to the 2020 primary and caucus season. “It was incredible. I’ve never heard of anything like it. I don’t think any of us have ever heard of anything like it….(Voters) saw his humanity. They saw the fact that he’s a candidate with purpose and they came back to him,” says Barnicle about Biden’s huge triumph on Super Tuesday. Join the conversation here.
“Where do I go now at 7 o’clock at night for an honest, heart-on-my-sleeve reaction to politics in America, not just electoral politics today, but the politics of every day? Where do I go? My friend, your friend, Chris Matthews is not dead. He has retired from Hardball, but he will still be around, and I hope to see him as a guest many times right here on Morning Joe. But, the thing that I fear most, Joe, about what happened yesterday—Chris’s resignation, is it opens the door further to an element in our culture that I find disturbing. No matter how valid the complaints were or may have been about Chris, there’s a sense of easy outrage in this country that is fed largely by Twitter sometimes, and the outrage quickly becomes toxic, and that toxic outrage has the opportunity, the chance, and often results in something that we saw last night—Chris’s resignation,” says Barnicle about the bigger picture behind Hardball host Chris Matthews’ abrupt resignation and the need for society to “pump the brakes on the easily obtained outrage and live our lives.”
Listen in on this Morning Joe conversation with Willie Geist, John Heilemann, and Mike Barnicle as they preview Super Tuesday, including how presidential candidate Joe Biden will fare on the day when the greatest number of states hold their primary elections and caucuses after the former vice president’s blowout victory in the South Carolina primary. “Suddenly, after Saturday in South Carolina, it was as if Joe Biden had made his entry into the presidential race. Massive amounts of free media that he got on Saturday, Sunday, yesterday, and including this morning. And what happened in that free media? Joe Biden looked like an ordinary empathetic, humble, compassionate human being. A striking contrast to the President of the United States, and I think a lot of people paid attention to it. They saw him. They like him. They liked him anyway and they liked him even more after they see him in these settings. So, what happens today? Nobody knows what’s going to happen today, but I would expect that he will have a much, much, much better day today than he ever dreamed of having last Friday,” says Barnicle as he gives his prediction for Biden on Super Tuesday. Join the conversation here.
Listen in on this Morning Joe conversation with Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski, Willie Geist and Mike Barnicle as they discuss President Donald Trump’s campaign continuing view that presidential candidate Joe Biden is the “biggest threat” to him in a general election. “The one thing about the Biden campaign with regard to Donald Trump and other campaigns….What you hear is the spectacular data gathering operation of the Trump campaign. Brad Parscale, genius at data, and the data clearly shows Joe Biden, `uh-oh, is a problem’ for Donald Trump,” says Barnicle about the polling conducted by President Trump’s campaign manager Brad Parscale. Hear more of the discussion here.
The Morning Joe panel assesses the possible reasons behind Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s continued attacks on former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg during Democratic presidential debates instead of directing her energy toward “the unstoppable freight train” thus far in the race for the Democratic nomination, Sen. Bernie Sanders. “She is a skillful, highly disciplined debater. Maybe the best debater certainly on that stage. Yet in this case, now twice with Mike Bloomberg to her right, both times her discipline disappears,” says Barnicle. Hear more of the discussion here. Only on MSNBC.
Listen in on this Morning Joe review of the Democratic presidential debate in South Carolina, where the presidential candidates eagerly savaged one another, seeking an advantage before the pivotal South Carolina primary. “I almost clicked over to a Cactus League baseball game given the chaos at the beginning of that debate when…I couldn’t understand who was saying what—they were all yelling at one another,” says veteran columnist Mike Barnicle. The panel’s overall assessment: Joe Biden had his best night of all the debates, Elizabeth Warren’s attacks on Mike Bloomberg, Bloomberg’s highlight regarding what he did in New York City about the Coronavirus and Bernie Sanders appearing “rattled” for the first time. Join the conversation here.
The Morning Joe panel discusses presidential candidate and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ clear economic message that resonates with voters. “If you listen to Bernie Sanders at any one of his rallies…he gets into something that I have not heard the other candidates get into: It’s the paycheck-to-paycheck economy. The take-home pay of people who know when they look at their paycheck, they hear all the talk about the roaring stock market—except for yesterday—and they know that they’re not doing as well as they did in 1995, on a per capita basis. Bernie talks about that,” says Barnicle ahead of the Democratic presidential debate in South Carolina.
Morning Joe’s Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski talk with John Heilemann and Mike Barnicle about presidential candidate and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders doubling down on his praise of Fidel Castro, the former Cuban dictator. “Bernie Sanders on his feet is a spectacular candidate. He’s been doing this for 40 years. He knows how to take a turn. He knows how to deflect. He’s good on his feet—better than almost all the other candidates involved, and he’s still doing it,” says Barnicle about the prowess of Sanders as a presidential candidate. More of the conversation here.
Listen in on this Morning Joe conversation between Joe Scarborough and Mike Barnicle as they discuss the state of Egypt and the life of former Egyptian Leader Hosni Mubarak, who has died at 91 years old. “It’s still one of the most unstable, volatile countries in the Middle East. And what happened with Hosni Mubarak, when he was arrested and deposed, I mean that was the beginning, the kernels, of the unrest in the Middle East in Egypt right there,” says Barnicle. Join the conversation here.
Morning Joe’s Mika Brzezinski and Willie Geist are joined by Adrienne Elrod and Mike Barnicle to discuss presidential candidate and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s serious, issue-oriented Super Bowl ad, which his campaign says will air just after halftime. “This ad is fine. It’s factual. It gets the job done in terms of what Mike Bloomberg stands for. But the oddity of the placement strikes me a little,” says Barnicle. Join the conversation here.
Listen in as the Morning Joe panel discusses what’s next in the Senate impeachment trial of President Donald Trump after former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly lent his support to former National Security Adviser John Bolton’s reported claim that President Trump overtly sought to condition Ukrainian aid on the Kiev government’s willingness to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter. Join the conversation here.
“The narrative is very compelling, and at the end of the day people understand two things: Trials with no evidence and no witnesses is a bag job. That’s part of what they’re carrying to the country in Colorado, in Iowa, in North Carolina, Thom Tillis. That’s a tough task to carry to voters, unless you’re willing to cop to the truth: ‘I’m also in the satchel. I am in the bag to the President.’ Try explaining that to your voters in a town hall meeting,” says Morning Joe contributor Mike Barnicle during a conversation with Joe Scarborough about Senate Republicans clinging to President Donald Trump’s “coattails” during the Senate impeachment trial of President Trump.
