Mike Barnicle

Morning Joe’s veteran columnist Mike Barnicle talks with outgoing Republican Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake about the historic victory in his state for Sen.-Elect Kyrsten Sinema, the Democrat and former social worker. “Senator Flake, about the only one wish that President Trump has been granted recently is the fact that you are not going to return to the United States Senate. What’s your reaction now to the fact that you’re going to be replaced in the Senate by a Democrat, and what do you have to say to President Trump about that?” Listen to Flake’s response here about how Arizona is “no longer a Trump state.”

Listen in on the conversation between multi award-winning actor Bryan Cranston and Morning Joe’s veteran columnist Mike Barnicle about the differences between acting for television and live theater as the two talk about Cranston’s starring role on Broadway in the new adaptation of the 1976 classic Oscar-winning film, “Network.”

Listen in on the Morning Joe conversation on civility following the historic victory for Sen.-Elect Kyrsten Sinema, a Democrat and former social worker, in Arizona, defeating Republican Congresswoman Martha McSally, who conceded the race. “We just saw civility with Martha McSally. We saw civility with (Houston Congressman-elect) Mr. Crenshaw on Saturday Night Live. People have a yearning for civility in politics that has been missing for two years or more, but certainly for the past two years, and I think it was in evidenced in everything we’ve seen and talked about this morning out of Arizona.” Listen to more of the discussion here with Joe Scarborough.

While the Morning Joe panel talk about the Senate races in Arizona and Florida where votes are still continuing to be assessed, veteran columnist Mike Barnicle explains: “There’s a larger issue here that we haven’t focused on…enough: In this age where we are surrounded by such technological creations that stun us each and every day with their improvements, the fact that we as a nation don’t have a single voting system that is easy to use, that’s reliable, that doesn’t have to rely on paper ballots (and) recounts. We’re talking today as if in Broward and Palm Beach counties in Florida—same as we were talking about it in the year 2000—as if they have yet to discover electricity. I mean, it’s incredible that we’re still going through this after everything else in our lives is so easy, and so modernized and so technologically skillful.” Listen to more of the conversation here about the impact and outcome of the recounts.

“Donald Trump is a man of no history. He has no comprehension of what World War I meant to Europe and the world. He has no comprehension of the loss entailed and the dangers that World War I put back on the center stage. He has no comprehension of what happened in World War II. He stood in a city, on a boulevard, the Champs-Élysées, where Nazi troops marched down 75, 80 years ago—he has no sense of that,” says veteran columnist Mike Barnicle as the Morning Joe panel talks about President Donald Trump canceling a planned visit to a U.S. cemetery in France for Americans killed in World War I, citing bad weather grounded his helicopter. Listen to more of the discussion here of Trump’s weekend visit to Paris and his need for the spotlight.

“Are we continuing to make the mistake of trying to measure Trump’s achievements as well as his failures by normal standards? This is not a normal presidency. He’s an abnormal human being. He…did not wake up this morning thinking about, you know, ‘the guy I stood up for in Florida won and this guy won, and this guy without me.’ He woke up this morning thinking only about himself. He regards the Republican Party as his party. He regards this country as his America, and he’s going to continue to do what he wants to do. He’s going to continue to fight every day. That’s who he is,” says veteran columnist Mike Barnicle as the Morning Joe panel talks about President Donald Trump, following the Democratic Party taking the House of Representatives and the Republican Party retaining the Senate in the midterm elections. Listen to more of the conversation here.

“One of the more interesting aspects of last night’s results—the Trump victories, and they are Trump victories, bringing specific people into the United States Senate, defeating a couple of major all-stars—is the demographics of last night. Trump’s Republican Party is getting increasingly older, increasingly whiter, increasingly rural. In other words, almost getting close to life support,” says veteran columnist Mike Barnicle as the Morning Joe panel talks about the results of the midterm elections with the Democratic Party taking the House of Representatives and the Republican Party retaining the Senate. Listen to more of the discussion here.

Listen in on the Morning Joe panel analysis of the significant impact women are expected to have on the outcome of today’s midterm elections with veteran columnist Mike Barnicle, MSNBC Hardball’s Chris Matthews, NBC News Capitol Hill correspondent Kasie Hunt, and Morning Joe co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski. “Look at the long lines of people waiting to vote, most of them…the majority are women,” says Barnicle.

Listen in on the conversation between the Morning Joe panel and Rep. Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, about immigration. Asks veteran columnist: “Congressman, most people are familiar with President Trump’s immigration policy and it’s pretty ugly, as most people realize. But one question hangs out there continually: What’s the Democrats’ position on immigration?” Hear Luján’s response here about immigration reform that is “tough” and “fair.”

“I’m looking at something that Donald Trump has given the country that very few people have ever given the country: He’s gotten millions of people to vote who have never voted before. They’ve already voted….The early voting numbers are such that I think the Democrats are going to have a very, very big night,” says veteran columnist Mike Barnicle as the Morning Joe panel shares its outlook on today’s midterm elections. Listen to more here with Mika Brzezinski and Bob Woodward.

“We’ve covered a lot of races, but, in a sense, we haven’t paid enough attention to the internals of what’s going on in that Georgia governor’s race. I mean, Brian Kemp, the secretary of state, horrific conflict of interest: He is in charge of the election. He has been in charge of trying to suppress the vote in Georgia for several years, and with no proof at all over the weekend he charges the Democrats’ campaign for governor with trying to alter the vote, with trying to fix—bag the election. No proof at all two days before the election,” says veteran columnist Mike Barnicle as the Morning Joe panel discusses President Donald Trump stumping for midterm candidates. Listen to more of the discussion here only on MSNBC.

While the Morning Joe panel talks about President Donald Trump’s chronic dishonesty as he has campaigned for Republicans heading into the midterm elections, veteran columnist Mike Barnicle explains: “You take all the lies about the wall, building the wall; you take what he has said to further divide the country numerous times.…Package all of that in one bundle, set it to the side and then think about this: Imagine what we would be talking about today in terms of the horse race in these various districts and in various states, governorships, senatorial seats, if he had stuck to the economy.” Listen to more of the discussion on here.

Listen in on the Morning Joe conversation about President Donald Trump’s suggestion that he may send up to 15,000 U.S. troops to the border as migrant caravans travel toward the U.S.-Mexico border as the countdown to the midterm elections continue. “The United States Army along the border—to do what? To combat a group of basically homeless people? This is America? This is America? This is truly, truly sad,” says veteran columnist Mike Barnicle. Watch the discussion here.

Listen in on the Morning Joe conversation between the Rev. Al Sharpton and veteran columnist Mike Barnicle about how President Donald Trump callously underestimated the impact of the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in recent United States history in Pittsburgh in his “totally insensitive” effort to turn the page and move on to the issue of immigration just days before the mid-term elections. Hear more of the conversation now.

“Given the language and the tone of the president’s campaign over just the past few days and the temperature of the crowds that he speaks to and that he raises the temperature. Speak not just to the danger of the law that this latest proposal is, but to the danger of the country—this rich diverse country,” asks veteran columnist Mike Barnicle of Georgetown University professor Neal Katyal about an op-ed Katyal co-authored in The Washington Post about President Donald Trump’s “unconstitutional” proposal to end birthright citizenship for babies born in the U.S. to noncitizens. Listen to Katyal’s response here.

“You know what is most rewarding about both teams and this year’s World Series played in the city where it was played? It’s a true reflection of what this country is all about today. The inclusiveness of both clubs, the rosters of both clubs, people from countries all over the world literally playing for both teams in a city where you can have an Iranian cab driver, and you can have a German waiter at a restaurant. The inclusiveness of the city—it represents what America is today, and specifically what we talk about here quite a bit, a President of the United States who seems to be fighting the reality that this country is so inclusive, so great, so big, so expansive. You know, I wish he were more a part of it,” says veteran columnist Mike Barnicle about the city of Los Angeles and President Donald Trump as the Morning Joe panel talks about the Boston Red Sox defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series. Listen to more of the discussion here.

“This is a changing country, everybody is aware of it. The basic appeal, to put it on the table bluntly, is whiteness; that’s what the President seems to be doing. So, my question to you, after your conversation with Vice President Pence: Is there any awareness from the vice president or others in the Administration that President Trump had thought this out, had talked to others about it before dropping this—let’s repeal basically the 14th Amendment of the Constitution? Was there anything at all, any dialogue at all, within the White House?” asks veteran columnist Mike Barnicle of Politico senior writer Jake Sherman during a conversation about President Donald Trump declaring another hardline immigration move, this time that he wants to order an end to the constitutional right to citizenship for babies born in the U.S. to non-citizens, days before the midterm elections. Listen to Sherman’s response here.

“I’ve known Bob Mueller for a long, long time, and this alleged plot let by Jack Burkman to accuse Bob Mueller of harassment is ludicrous to begin with—and that’s putting it mildly. Heidi, what can you tell us, though, about Jack Burkman?” asks veteran columnist Mike Barnicle of NBC News national political reporter Heidi Przybyla as the Morning Joe panel talks about an apparent plot involving lobbyist Burkman, who had reportedly offered to pay a woman to make false sexual misconduct allegations against Mueller. Listen to Przybyla’s response here about the findings of her reporting. Only on Morning Joe.

“The country is not, I don’t think, anecdotally, as divided as we think it is. People want community restored. They want calmness restored. As John Heilemann pointed out: This particular president has injected himself into this campaign to the point where he said: ‘I’m on the ballot. This is a vote for me.’ So, we’re going to find out a lot about the country, the direction of the country going forward, next Tuesday,” says veteran columnist Mike Barnicle during a conversation with Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough about President Donald Trump’s rhetoric leading up to the midterm elections, following the mass anti-Semitic shooting in Pittsburgh where 11 congregants were killed inside a synagogue. Hear the conversation now.

“(POTUS) fears children on trucks coming from Honduras and Guatemala and what they might do to the country, in his thinking, more than he fears what it does to this country when he erodes the fabric of the country by aligning himself with a potential accessory to murder, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia,” says veteran columnist Mike Barnicle, as he speaks on President Donald Trump defense of Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the Jamal Khashoggi murder case and his threatening on Twitter to shut down the southern U.S. border if Mexico doesn’t stop the “onslaught” of migrants fleeing Honduras. Hear more Morning Joe final thoughts here.