In memorializing astronaut John Glenn and highlighting his longtime friendship with his military buddy, baseball Hall of Famer Ted Williams, Morning Joe senior contributor Mike Barnicle explains: “Ted Williams always said that if he had not been the greatest hitter who ever lived, he would have stayed in the Marine Corps and been the greatest fighter pilot the Marine Corps ever had. But John Glenn’s life was a trajectory of the ultimate American story: World War II, Korea, one of the seven original Mercury astronauts and a truly humble guy. They had a night for Ted Williams in Boston in 1988. John Glenn was there along with Joe DiMaggio, several other icons, and Glenn was electric in just his appearance; but, he never articulated anything about what he had done or who he was.” Hear much more about Glenn’s monumental legacy here in this tribute to the American hero who died on December 8, 2016 at age 95.
While the Morning Joe panel examines how the conservative cabinet choices of President-elect Donald Trump will impact certain government programs, such as Medicare and Social Security, senior contributor Mike Barnicle suggests: “The confirmation hearings, a couple of them, are going to be very, very interesting – especially the (health secretary Tom) Price confirmation.” Listen to more of the panel’s analysis of how the Trump administration is shaping up here.
“I grew up on a street where there were seven Gold Star families from World War II. It was a war that changed this country — I think much more so than September 11 did because the foundation of this country moved in a different direction, a more progressive direction because of the War. The big thing about the War is: We now communicate through cell phones, we have a million cable channels and the internet gives us access to everything — no matter where we live. But World War II is the connecting tissue, the connecting fiber of this country for many, many families,” said Morning Joe senior contributor Mike Barnicle during a conversation on the 75th anniversary of Pearl Harbor.” Jon Meacham, you have written about the culture of this country, the culture of our politics and how it’s changed, but one thing we had then that we don’t have now…is a sense of national service that began in conflict in the War but then sort of dissipated over the years to the detriment of this country. Listen in for more of the conversation between Barnicle and Random House Executive Editor Jon Meacham about how America’s involvement in World War II, following the Pearl Harbor attack on December 7, 1941, impacted and changed the country as a whole.
As President-Elect Donald Trump’s transition team continues to try and distance itself from Michael Flynn Jr., son of Trump’s National Security Adviser Gen. Michael Flynn, after causing “pizzagate,” Mike Barnicle says the elder Flynn is not immune from the controversy. “General Flynn has also forwarded, retweeted stuff that have to do with absolutely ludicrous conspiracy theories. He has done it multiple times. It gets to his position in the White House, which requires no confirmation. I can’t think of a more critical component of the presidency right now given the fact that Donald Trump has very little experience in foreign affairs, military affairs, fighting a war– than the national security adviser’s position.” Tune in to watch footage of a recent Morning Joe interview where Barnicle asks Vice President-elect Mike Pence about Michael Flynn Jr.’s involvement with the Trump transition team.
“I think it’s time to get past the tweets….I get it. I understand it. The fear of the future and a Trump presidency. But I would just remind people: 1968 was an absolutely horrendous year. We got through it. We survived it. It was the heart of the Vietnam war, the Tet offensive, the assassination of Martin Luther King, the assassination of Robert Kennedy, the Chicago riots. The country collapsing around us. We survived. We prospered. We’re America. So let’s stop it,” says Morning Joe senior contributor Mike Barnicle during a conversation about President-Elect Donald Trump. Hear more of the conversation here, including Bloomberg Politics Managing Editor John Heilemann sharing his thoughts on the “normalization” of Trump.
As the Morning Joe panel discusses a post-election poll from Bloomberg Politics that shows President-elect Donald Trump’s favorability has risen to 51 percent since August 2015, senior contributor Mike Barnicle says: “I think it’s helpful to stop this hand-wringing. We don’t know what’s going to happen. We don’t know where the Trump presidency is going to go. But this is still the United States of America. Let’s have a little hope that things will be okay.” Listen to more of the panel’s discussion here and comments made by Vice President Joe Biden in regard to Trump at the previous night’s Ripple of Hope Awards Dinner, which honored Biden.
As the Morning Joe panel begins the show by reflecting on Vice President Joe Biden’s comment that he might be interested in running for the presidency in 2020, senior contributor Mike Barnicle teasingly says: “I want to see the New Hampshire primary between Joe Biden and John Kerry. Both going around in walkers up there in the snow…[Biden] is in New York tonight. Maybe he’ll really kick off the campaign,” Barnicle says with a chuckle. Tune in to listen to more of the panel’s thoughts on Biden’s potential bid for the presidency.
As the Morning Joe panel continues to discuss President-elect Donald Trump’s ongoing search for a Secretary of State, veteran columnist Mike Barnicle explains: “The consensus is that the (General James) Mattis appointment is a home run. The appointment of a new Secretary of State is really critical. And again, the consensus in terms of the people I spoke with is it’s a good thing he’s taking this long to appoint a Secretary of State. (My sources) always throw in there that you’ve got Mattis, a strong Secretary of State (and) you’re going to need that to counterbalance the potential negative influence of (National security advisor) General (Michael) Flynn.” Listen to more of the panel’s conversation on the candidates Trump is considering for Administration positions.
Morning Joe senior contributor Mike Barnicle asks U.S Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) about the problems in the Democratic Party. “Congressman, why do you think the Democrats have been losing their majority consistently in the House over the last three elections?” Hear Swalwell’s answer here.
While Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough leads the panel in a discussion about “fake news” and how most of the mainstream and Democrats on the left overlooked the huge support President-Elect Donald Trump had from voters throughout the campaigning, senior contributor Mike Barnicle explains: “They somehow lost the innate ability to do a critical thing when you are gathering news or looking for votes: Listen. Listen to the people you are trying to represent if you are a politician. Listen to the people you are trying to record what their feelings are for a news story. Listen to them.” Tune in to listen to more of the discussion here. Only on MSNBC.
As the Morning Joe panel switches gears to discuss the media’s poor and unbalanced coverage throughout the 2016 election cycle, senior contributor Mike Barnicle says: “It saddens me to say this, but the media took a bigger hit in this year’s election process and over the past two years than any of the political parties. There is a reason why people are going to Facebook for news, unfortunately. I really regret saying that, but you can’t ignore the facts.” Listen to Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough give his thoughts on the media’s coverage during the election cycle and the poor performance of the political parties.
As the Morning Joe panel reflects on yesterday’s Capitol Hill speech by Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), senior contributor Mike Barnicle comments: “Every day, she’s clearly a candidate for president of the United States She’s clearly running for president, and good for her. She leads a significant portion of the Democratic party. The interesting thing is going to be if there’s a (Democratic Senator) Chuck Schumer party in the Senate and an Elizabeth Warren party in the Senate.” Tune in to watch a highlight of Warren’s speech here.
Responding to news that North Korea is developing nuclear weapons capable of reaching the United States, Morning Joe’s veteran columnist Mike Barnicle says: “President-elect Trump has put together his NSC appointment, his CIA appointment, and yet he has the two pivot points of this North Korea story — Department of Defense and Department of State (positions) — still open, and they are all intertwined. I don’t know that as president-elect he has yet received his first really full intelligence briefing, but I would assume when he does he will be told ‘President-Elect Trump sometime within the first tenure of your administration, you’re going to have a North Korean regime with the capability of reaching Seattle with a nuclear head missile.’ You’re going to need a strong Secretary of State as well as your intelligence team.” Hear more from the Morning Joe panel on this topic here.
The bureaucracy of the State Department is front and center as President-Elect Donald Trump considers candidates for Secretary of State. Says Morning Joe’s senior contributor Mike Barnicle: “You need a strong secretary of state — someone who can manage that bureaucracy — a strong under-secretary of state because the word in the State Department — more so than any other department in Washington— is that the titular heads — the secretary of state, the under-secretary, the political appointees — the bureaucracy refers to them as the `Christmas help.’ They are just there for a while.” Listen in on more of the discussion on Trump finding the right leader for the State Department.
As the Morning Joe conversation shifts to the regularity in which a president-elect selects for his cabinet perceived rivals over others considered close supporters, veteran columnist Mike Barnicle comments: “In 2008, when incoming President-Elect [Barack] Obama selected Hillary Clinton, there was a level of consternation among his close supporters that he was going to choose Hillary Clinton for secretary of state. The odds were it was going to be John Kerry… It didn’t happen.” Listen to the rest of the conversation here by the panel and Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough. Only on MSNBC.
As the Morning Joe team discusses President-Elect Donald Trump’s sense of loyalty toward staffers and particularly campaign manager and adviser Kellyanne Conway, in light of her scathing comments against former Gov. Mitt Romney being considered for Secretary of State, veteran columnist Mike Barnicle cites an article in The New York Times by Maggie Haberman and says Trump has an “unwavering sense of loyalty. No matter what happens. No matter what (Conway) did, what he said.”
“This goes on in every transition…It went on in 2008 in the Obama [administration with] Secretary of State… John Kerry gave Barack Obama the podium in 2004 to help put him on the ascendancy and endorsed him early. [Kerry] does not get Secretary of State – said nothing, went quietly into the night back into the Senate. But there has never, ever been anything quite as remarkable as Kellyanne Conway’s [comments],” explains Morning Joe senior contributor Mike Barnicle as the panel analyzes the scrutiny that Trump detractor and former Governor Mitt Romney is receiving from other political figures, especially President Elect-Donald Trump’s campaign manager and adviser Kellyanne Conway, as he is being considered as a candidate for Trump’s secretary of state, proving that supporting a potential presidential nominee doesn’t guarantee a position in his cabinet. Listen to more of the discussion here.
In discussing world leaders’ mixed reactions to the weekend death of the controversial former Cuban leader Fidel Castro, Morning Joe senior contributor Mike Barnicle recalled covering the mass emigration of Cubans in 1980 juxtaposed with a statement by Canadian Prime Minster Justin Trudeau, who described Castro as a “larger than life leader who served his people for almost half a century.” Said Barnicle: “I can remember covering the Mariel Harbor evacuation in 1980. I was in Key West, Florida. We rented a boat and went out to meet the flotilla. It was the flotilla of many, many ships coming across the bay. To see, hear and speak to people…who risk their lives and the lives of their children to flee that island [about] why they wanted to flee that island would put a whole new twist on Prime Minster Trudeau’s statement.” Watch more on the story here.
During the ongoing conversation about President-Elect Donald Trump’s cabinet choices, host Joe Scarborough insists – despite all the jockeying by those around Trump – that he alone will make the decisions. Veteran columnist Mike Barnicle adds that for the position of Secretary of State, Trump has some “pretty good choices. In addition to Governor [Mitt] Romney, there is General [David] Petraeus and General [John] Kelly. General Kelly is a terrific candidate … and would accrue to the value of the Trump administration on the continuing war on terror because Secretary of State is much more now than just going around the world shaking hands with diplomats. There’s a internal security component that is vital, and John Kelly would be a terrific asset.” Watch more of the discussion here.
During the Morning Joe conversation about the possibility of President-Elect Donald Trump choosing his staunch and vocal adversary, former Gov. Mitt Romney, as his Secretary of State, senior contributor Mike Barnicle said: “I can report from sources close to Governor Romney that he will not be apologizing. I can also report that the problem wouldn’t be a rogue Secretary of State. The bureaucracy within the state department is of its own weight. It is something that is difficult to move. There is one way to clear this up: For Donald Trump to appoint the secretary of state today.” Listen in on what the panel thinks is the likelihood of Romney being selected and when that might or might not happen. Only on MSNBC.
