0:02

Good morning and welcome to Morning

0:04

Joe. It is Monday,

0:06

September 18th. A live look at the

0:09

Capitol as a government shutdown

0:11

is looming over Capitol Hill this morning.

0:14

As House Republicans have a new

0:16

short-term solution, we'll explain

0:19

the major issues with their stopgap

0:22

measure. Meanwhile, it's

0:24

not if, but when

0:26

House Republicans will subpoena

0:28

Hunter Biden. That's according to House Speaker

0:31

Kevin McCarthy. His new comments on the impeachment

0:34

inquiry are just ahead. Plus,

0:36

Donald Trump is actually taking responsibility

0:38

for something related to the 2020 election.

0:41

Well, actually everything. Yeah. I mean, he actually

0:43

admitted, it's all my fault. Legally

0:46

problematic, but

0:48

that's what he does. We'll

0:50

show you what he said.

0:51

What he remembers, what he's saying. And

0:54

he remembers what year he's in. Oh boy,

0:56

also ahead. Did you see that speech? I did see

0:58

that. He thinks he's running against

1:00

Barack Obama.

1:01

And that World War II is looming. He

1:03

said Joe Biden could lead us into

1:05

World War II. That's gonna be a heck of a bumper

1:08

sticker for the 2024 campaign. Yeah.

1:11

But he has Obama on his mind still. Who's

1:13

too old? Three times, three

1:15

times. He can't even remember

1:17

Joe Biden's name. And he's saying that Joe

1:19

Biden is too old to

1:22

run for president. He can't even remember Joe

1:24

Biden's name.

1:24

I don't know. Does he know the era

1:27

we're in? Also ahead,

1:29

the latest on the United Auto Workers

1:31

strike against Detroit's big three and how

1:33

the White House is getting involved

1:36

in these negotiations. With us we

1:38

have the host of way too early, White

1:40

House Bureau Chief of Politico, Jonathan Lemire.

1:43

US special correspondent for BBC

1:45

News, Cady Kaye and president

1:47

emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations,

1:50

Richard

1:51

Hobbs. Now these are the people we wanna have. These

1:53

are the people we want to have. If

1:55

we're about to head into World War

1:57

II. God. If

1:59

we're about to. head in the world. I

2:02

mean Richard Haas will help

2:04

us know yeah what we need to do to avoid

2:07

heading into World War 2 Caddy Kay,

2:09

of course very concerned. Yeah, a lot

2:11

of friends and loved ones in Britain

2:13

in the Battle of Britain is looming. She wants

2:15

to be the first to know and Jonathan here

2:18

you cover this beat maybe you can tell

2:20

us why Donald Trump thinks that he's

2:23

running against Barack Obama and

2:25

we're about to enter World War 2. Spoiler

2:28

alert on World War 2. I like our chances. I

2:30

like our chances. I do. Yeah,

2:34

it does seem that the press for

2:36

president was rather confused in

2:38

the speech that he delivered Friday in Washington

2:40

don't make it as he mixed

2:42

up his post opponents with one another and then warned

2:45

that President Biden would lead the country into

2:47

a conflict that ended that nearly 80

2:49

short years ago. We should listen.

2:51

Yeah, this I can been as you know,

2:53

crooked Joe Biden and the radical left

2:56

of the have weaponized law

2:58

enforcement to arrest their leading

3:00

political opponent leading by a lot including

3:03

about what I'll tell you what you

3:05

take a look at Obama and take a look at some

3:07

of the things that he's done. This is the same

3:09

thing. The country is very divided and

3:12

we did with Obama. We

3:14

won an election that everyone said couldn't be

3:16

one.

3:18

We have a man who is totally

3:20

corrupt and the worst president in the

3:22

history of our country who

3:25

is cognitively impaired

3:27

in no condition to lead and

3:30

is now in charge of dealing with Russia

3:33

and possible nuclear war.

3:35

Think of it. We

3:37

would be the World

3:40

War 2.

3:43

He said too.

3:46

So dramatically. He's got

3:48

the music. It's almost

3:51

like

3:52

it's the summer of 1939 all

3:55

over again flakes and you

3:57

know, he is father's going to

3:59

a Nazi rally or something or a Klan

4:02

rally. I don't know which rally he did or didn't

4:04

go to. But, yeah, Jonathan

4:06

Lemire, you think they may want to take

4:09

out the cognitively impaired

4:11

part of his speeches from now on? Yeah,

4:14

that's sort of a tack line that the Republicans and Trump

4:16

love to use. But man, that

4:18

does seem like he was looking in the mirror just there. I

4:21

mean, and I think that we see these polls

4:23

that suggest that voters are more concerned

4:25

about President Biden's age than Donald Trump's

4:27

age. Trump is only three years younger

4:30

and anyone watching Trump day in, day out, just he's

4:32

changed too. He's definitely, you

4:35

know, slowed down a step. He's mixed as he's never,

4:37

not that he's ever been the most clearest of

4:40

thinkers. Not

4:42

that he ever perhaps was always someone

4:44

who wouldn't trip over his own words, but that has only

4:46

accelerated here. And the speech on Friday,

4:49

Joe, he gave back to back speeches in Washington.

4:51

That was fairly late in the day. Maybe

4:54

he was swept up in the dramatic music

4:56

that seemed to be almost playing him stage

4:58

there. Maybe that's what that was. The

5:00

age trying to say, Hey, wrap up, Mr. Former

5:03

president. You're just getting yourself in trouble

5:05

here. He did say, though, he'd be happy to take

5:07

another college test. He

5:09

thinks that's the key to election. So we can leave you with

5:11

man, woman, person, camera, TV, a

5:14

daily or whatever that was. You may not pass

5:16

that. You just did it again. I want

5:18

to see, let's play the clip again. Cause again,

5:20

I'm just, I'm trying to figure out what happened, especially the Obama

5:23

stuff, he starts to stutter and everything.

5:25

Play play this one more time. And then when that's

5:27

Caddy, if she and her family, you know, crooked

5:29

Joe Biden and the radical left thugs

5:32

who have weaponized law enforcement

5:34

to arrest their leading political

5:36

opponent, leading by a lot, including

5:38

Obama. I'll tell you what you

5:41

take a look at Obama and take a look at some

5:43

of the things that he's done. This is the same

5:45

thing. The country is very divided. And

5:48

we did with Obama. We

5:50

won an election that everyone said couldn't be

5:52

won. We have a man who is totally

5:55

corrupt and the worst president in

5:57

the history of our country,

5:59

who is. In

6:02

no condition to lead and

6:04

is now in charge of dealing with Russia

6:06

and possible nuclear

6:09

war

6:12

We would be in

6:14

World War two

6:15

Just

6:19

how he says World War

6:21

Too he says it with such

6:24

self-insurance, you know, katty this

6:26

could happen to all of us And in fact, it happens

6:28

to me about 12 times a day after

6:30

like 3 in the afternoon So I'm

6:32

the last person to judge And

6:35

by the way, we're thinking and praying for your families

6:37

You guys prepare to batten down the hatches for

6:39

the next Battle of Britain but I

6:43

think the bigger issue here is when

6:45

anybody under 75 looks

6:48

at these videos and I'm dead serious

6:50

here You know

6:52

these men are in cognitive decline. They're just not

6:55

they're tired They're old they

6:57

campaign and at the end of the day, they start

6:59

to lose words We all as

7:01

we get older night you all you all are all very

7:04

young But as you get older sometimes

7:06

you just you wear down and you

7:08

lose words at the end of the day I'm

7:10

especially of like six legal cases against

7:12

you

7:12

and you feel like your head is gonna explode

7:14

every day trying to figure out how To get out of them, especially

7:17

when you committed the crimes, but that's an aside I

7:19

don't know if meek was being entirely

7:21

sincere there, but that is also something

7:24

if any of us had one Federal

7:27

charge against us that would be an unbearably

7:29

heavy load to bear This guy's got 91 counts

7:32

for indictments and and

7:35

it's got to be weighing down on him But the

7:37

question here caddy is that I

7:39

heard over the weekend after this tape was out It wasn't

7:42

like oh my god, Donald Trump's lost his mind.

7:44

Oh my god, Joe Biden's lost my mind Question

7:47

comes back to do we not have anybody

7:50

under the age of 75 That

7:52

can run for president the United States in America

7:55

and when?

7:56

Yeah, I mean in the country of 330 million people

7:59

you'd think that there would be people out there,

8:02

right? And all of the polls have

8:04

shown us that none of the country is

8:06

excited about the prospect of

8:08

a Trump-Biden rematch. And

8:11

yet, for a

8:13

multitude of reasons that many people

8:15

are disappointed with, that seems to be exactly where

8:18

we're heading again. I mean, on this thing, it'll

8:20

be really interesting to see whether, you know, videotape

8:23

like that one. First time I

8:25

heard it, I have to confess, I thought the network I was listening

8:28

to on had overplayed the music as a kind of

8:30

spoof, but it does add to that slightly surreal

8:32

quality of it. And perhaps that's why he was sort of whispering

8:35

in this weird way about World War II. But

8:37

I think the question is going to be, when people

8:40

hear that kind of videotape, where

8:43

it's hard to follow what Donald Trump is saying,

8:45

and he does seem to be kind of mumbling, will

8:48

it have any impact on all of those

8:50

polls that show that more people

8:52

think

8:52

Joe Biden is too old to run for

8:55

reelection than Donald Trump

8:58

is too old to run for reelection? And Trump

9:00

has somehow got away up until

9:02

now with projecting vigor or strength

9:04

or something. Actually, when you read

9:07

transcripts of Trump speeches for a long time

9:09

now, it's very difficult to follow them. He does meander

9:11

a lot. But polls

9:13

don't seem to reflect that. And it's going to be interesting

9:15

to see as people hear more of that kind of videotape.

9:18

The World War II, am I running

9:20

against Obama? The kind of meandering, does it make

9:22

a difference on the polls?

9:24

Well, and you know, Richard, the thing is, I've

9:26

always thought it so, I think

9:28

so. It's just

9:30

hilarious that you have people that actually support

9:32

Donald Trump have listened to what he

9:34

has said, the nonsense, the garble, the

9:36

word salad, and whatever you want to call

9:38

it, just the absolute insanity

9:40

if you follow the transcripts. And

9:43

then they look at Joe Biden and say, oh,

9:45

he's cognitively impaired. When

9:47

you follow any Joe Biden

9:50

press conference, as far

9:52

as actual facts, as far

9:54

as actual policy prescriptions,

9:57

and parent to just about any other Donald Trump. Trump

10:01

press conference. There's

10:03

just not a comparison. Yes, yes, we can.

10:05

I can. I can play five minutes of

10:08

tape that shows Donald Trump looking cognitively

10:12

declined. I could do the same for Joe

10:14

Biden at the end of the day,

10:16

though, if you cut down underneath

10:18

that and just talk about who

10:20

is cogent on policy. Donald

10:24

Trump loses by a landslide every time, doesn't

10:27

he? He does. But

10:29

what's interesting about Trump is every once in a while, I think there's

10:31

some method to his madness that

10:34

he's actually quite clever in crossing

10:36

lines about legal culpability or

10:40

policy issues, how he was fencing

10:42

with Kristin Welker yesterday on abortion,

10:45

or he throws out the nonsense about how we'd end

10:47

the war in Ukraine and just get these guys

10:49

in a room just like what he ended the North Korean

10:51

nuclear program. But he's in

10:54

his own way. He reduces his

10:56

own vulnerability. He kind of spins

10:58

just constantly. And

11:01

I'd say for his base, it

11:03

clearly works for them. It's

11:05

not conditional, the support. So he can get away with

11:07

this kind of stuff, Joe. And I just think

11:09

his supporters, they're kind of impervious

11:12

to this sort of thing. Yeah, they

11:14

really are. It's just

11:16

the fire hose of falsehoods, as

11:19

they say, Mika. And

11:21

they're very good at it. I mean, George

11:23

Orwell used to always talk about how

11:26

fascists were so much better at propaganda.

11:29

And there is no doubt that Donald Trump has

11:32

torn a page out of the fascist playbook

11:34

when it comes to propaganda. You

11:37

just load up

11:39

and filled this down with so many lies that

11:42

people become impervious to it. Well,

11:44

in this case, the fact that he thinks that he's

11:47

running against Barack Obama and we're about

11:49

to start World War II. His

11:50

supporters may be impervious to it. But

11:53

this next interview we're about to show you, I'm just not

11:55

sure prosecutors are going to

11:58

be impervious to the things that former

12:01

president Donald Trump says, including

12:03

taking responsibility for

12:05

trying to overturn the 2020 election. In

12:08

a wide ranging exclusive interview

12:10

with Meet the Press moderator, Kristen Welker,

12:13

Trump said it was his call

12:15

to believe the 2020 presidential

12:18

election was rigged.

12:21

You called some of your outside lawyers.

12:24

You said they had crazy theories. Why

12:26

were you listening to them? Were you listening to them because they were

12:29

telling you what you wanted to hear?

12:30

You know who I listened to myself. I saw

12:32

what happened.

12:33

I watched that election and I thought the election

12:35

was over at 10 o'clock in the evening.

12:37

Were you calling the shots then, Mr.

12:38

President, ultimately? As

12:40

to whether or not I believed it was rigged?

12:42

Oh, sure. It was my decision.

12:46

Let's bring it right now, former U.S. attorney

12:48

and senior FBI official Chuck Rosenberg.

12:50

You know, Chuck, it's like

12:52

it's one domino falls after

12:54

another for Donald Trump's propagandists.

12:58

You know, they used to say, oh, if Donald

13:00

Trump committed insurrection, then why hasn't anybody

13:03

been charged with sedition? Well, obviously

13:05

they then got charged. We've also heard

13:07

time and again, oh, he was just following

13:10

his attorneys, his attorney's advice.

13:13

Oh, you're saying

13:15

that a client can't follow attorney's advice

13:17

without getting sent to jail. Talk about

13:19

what this admission, like

13:22

legal impact this admission about

13:24

Donald Trump may have on him.

13:26

Yeah, great questions, Joe. So we've heard a lot

13:28

about this purported advice

13:31

of counsel defense. The idea here is

13:33

that if you have an attorney-client relationship

13:36

with someone and she gives you advice

13:39

and you rely on that advice in good faith

13:41

and you get indicted, you can deduce

13:44

that advice at trial to negate

13:47

this prove your intent. There's a whole

13:49

bunch of problems though, when you apply

13:51

it to Mr. Trump. I mean, first he's

13:54

taking advice from people who aren't his lawyers

13:57

in the fact that you meet somebody in a Walmart parking

13:59

lot. tell you that you can trade on inside

14:01

information, doesn't mean

14:03

that that person's your lawyer or that

14:06

you're allowed to rely on that advice. But

14:08

even if you get over that hurdle, Joe, even

14:10

if you get over that hurdle, you have to

14:12

be listening to the advice and hear what Mr.

14:15

Trump said to Kristen Welker, and I thought it was a great

14:17

exchange and all credit to her, is that

14:20

he wasn't listening to the advice. He

14:22

was relying on his own judgment.

14:25

That's the narcissist in him. He could

14:27

never admit that anybody told him anything

14:29

that was valuable to him. He does

14:32

what he thinks is right. And so also

14:34

that undercuts the advice to counsel defense.

14:37

But even if you get past that hurdle,

14:40

you would have to rely on the advice in good

14:42

faith. And even if you got past that

14:44

hurdle, the way you do all those things, Joe

14:46

and Mika, is by getting on the stand

14:48

and testifying to who told

14:51

you about the things you

14:53

could do or couldn't do. And

14:55

getting on the stand for Mr. Trump is a very,

14:57

very difficult proposition. I

15:00

just don't see

15:01

how,

15:02

if we get to that, that could possibly

15:04

go well for him.

15:05

Well, and again, I'm not making

15:07

too much light of what

15:10

was said this weekend about where he lost

15:12

his train of thought. He thought we were

15:14

going into World War II. You

15:18

could tell he was trying to remember who he was running

15:20

against, but Obama kept coming to mind.

15:23

This is a guy, like Chuck

15:25

said, you don't want to put this guy on the

15:27

stand for a variety of reasons. I

15:29

mean, the pressure obviously is catching up

15:32

to him. It's crushing

15:34

in on him. And

15:36

he's at times incoherent. And

15:39

as a lawyer, you just don't want to take that

15:42

chance of putting that person on the stand.

15:44

How exposing are these comments? Because

15:46

of course you can hear Trump talking out of both

15:48

sides of his mouth as well as his lawyers

15:51

and they don't have much to work with, but they

15:53

can say, well, is it against the law

15:55

to believe something?

15:57

Well, no, it's certainly not against the law.

16:00

could have believed something. But if what you

16:02

want to do is use an advice

16:04

of counsel or defense at your criminal

16:06

trial, then you have to have relied

16:08

on that advice and good faith. So again,

16:11

two problems here. One is

16:13

it doesn't seem to be good faith reliance.

16:16

And two, at least with respect

16:18

to Mr. Trump's answers to Kristen

16:20

Welker, it doesn't seem to be reliance

16:23

at all. In other words, I trust

16:25

my own instincts. I do what I think is

16:27

right. I'm always the smartest

16:29

guy in the room. If that's the case, I

16:31

don't need lawyers. I made the decisions

16:34

here. And if that's true, Mika,

16:36

it really isn't an advice of counsel

16:39

defense because there's no reliance

16:41

on counsel. I think it's not

16:44

dispositive on the issue, but

16:46

it certainly undercuts any notion that

16:49

he has a valid defense here.

16:51

So, Jack, late Friday, Jack

16:53

Smith in the federal election interference

16:56

case asked for a partial gag

16:58

order on Trump, a narrow gag

17:00

order to restrict what he can say,

17:02

to try to prevent him from doing any

17:04

sort of witness or jury intimidating.

17:07

Give us your read as to what Jack Smith asked

17:09

for and the Trump team has until the end of the week to

17:11

respond. And where do you see the judge landing?

17:15

Yeah. So, this is a difficult path

17:17

for a judge to navigate, Jonathan.

17:20

What the judge wants and what the

17:22

prosecutors want are essentially the same thing,

17:25

a fair trial,

17:28

a jury pool that is not undermined

17:31

by Mr. Trump's comments. Mr.

17:33

Trump wants something very different. He

17:36

would love to have a jury pool that is

17:39

colored by his remarks, by

17:42

his comments, by his

17:45

criticisms. So, the

17:47

judge has to follow this narrow path. It's one

17:49

thing to craft a gag

17:52

order. It's even

17:54

relatively easy to impose

17:56

a gag order. It becomes really

17:58

hard to enforce a gag order. order.

18:00

And so if it's going to work at all, it has to be narrow.

18:03

There are things that a judge could do, perhaps

18:05

at the government's request, to make

18:07

sure that if he's posting on Truth Social

18:09

or some other social media platform,

18:12

perhaps his attorneys have to review anything

18:15

he posts, she could find him.

18:17

There are lots of things she could

18:19

try and do. But at the end of the

18:21

day, all that the judge wants and

18:23

all that the prosecutors want is a fair jury

18:26

pool. And trying to keep Mr. Trump

18:28

in line to preclude

18:30

him from undermining that is

18:33

going to be very, very difficult, really

18:35

difficult thing for a judge to do. We'll

18:37

see how it turns out.

18:40

All right, former US Attorney Chuck

18:42

Rosenberg, thank you very much. We'll

18:44

be talking to you again very soon.

18:46

Thank you, Chuck.

18:47

And Richard Osso, big week this

18:49

week in New York City for

18:51

the United Nations. Zelensky

18:53

coming to town, the New York

18:55

Times says, to make a case for

18:58

war aid and to say thank you.

19:02

What should we expect not only on the Ukraine-Russia

19:05

war, but what other news

19:07

do you expect to come out of this week?

19:09

A lot of people are coming to town, including

19:12

President Zelensky, Prime Minister Netanyahu,

19:15

President of South Korea. Also, Joe, a lot of people aren't

19:17

coming to town. We don't see Xi

19:19

Jinping. We obviously don't see Vladimir Putin.

19:22

We don't see the Prime Minister of the United

19:24

Kingdom or the President of France

19:26

or the Prime Minister of India. Look,

19:29

what always happens this week is not what happens

19:31

at the UN. Let me just be clear, it's

19:33

what happens around the UN. So

19:35

I think you'll have an interesting meeting you talked about

19:39

with Zelensky. In New York,

19:41

he's going to focus on getting international

19:43

support for Ukraine. When he goes to Washington,

19:46

that's where he's going to talk about accelerating

19:49

the quantity and quality of military aid

19:51

he gets. I think the bilateral between

19:53

President Biden and Prime Minister Netanyahu

19:55

here in New York, Bibi Netanyahu, did not get

19:57

the meeting he wanted in Washington.

19:59

be an interesting thing against the backdrop of

20:02

the Israeli political crisis.

20:05

But I'll be honest with you, I don't think this is going to be a critical

20:08

week in the history of the

20:10

world. It's just the

20:12

UN is not the center of an awful lot

20:15

of what goes on in the world nowadays. Yeah,

20:17

White House aides are optimistic because so many

20:19

other leaders are skipping this one. They do think

20:22

the president can make some inroads with some key

20:25

allies. His centerpiece speech at the UN

20:27

tomorrow morning. But Caddy Kay, domestic

20:29

politics are going to shadow this entire

20:31

week here, the president in New York doing

20:33

some fundraising as well. And

20:35

an audience, as much as he's pitching international

20:38

leaders on helping Ukraine, he's got to do it

20:40

back home. And it didn't escape attention

20:43

that the Republican CR, their

20:45

continuing resolution spending bill they proposed and

20:47

got done last night in the House, we'll

20:49

get into this later, it stands no chance

20:51

in the Senate, does not have any Ukraine

20:54

funding, which just underscores what an uphill

20:56

climb the president has here.

20:58

Yeah, polls have showed support for

21:00

funding Ukraine slipping, obviously amongst Republicans,

21:03

but also amongst Democrats during the course of the

21:05

last year. I mean, it's surprising to me

21:08

when I travel around the country how often Democrats

21:10

raise this as an issue, something that they

21:12

don't want to see happening, particularly when they're anxious

21:14

about economic time. So the president

21:17

has a lot of work to do with allies

21:19

to make sure they will carry on, particularly those European

21:21

countries. UK prime minister

21:24

not here, as Richard was saying, nor President Macron,

21:26

because King Charles is in France this week,

21:28

and so they're all skipping it. And they would be

21:30

key in that shoring up of European

21:32

support. But he also has to try and do something

21:34

to try and make this

21:36

more appealing

21:37

amongst American publics. And

21:39

he knows that everybody is conscious that Ukraine

21:42

is now on America's political timetable. And

21:45

heading into the election next year, if Republicans

21:47

do well, then support

21:49

for Ukraine in this country could, if

21:52

not dry up, evaporate by

21:54

the end of next year.

21:56

All right, a lot still to get to

21:57

here on Morning Joe, the United Auto- workers

22:00

strike continues

22:01

with no resolution in sight amid

22:03

possible layoffs for non striking

22:06

workers will take you live to

22:08

Toledo and the union's

22:10

president will join us here on Morning Joe.

22:13

What he wants to see happen now

22:15

plus China is preparing for

22:17

war with the U.S. that assessment

22:20

is coming from the Air Force. We'll discuss

22:22

how the United States is responding to

22:24

the move and we're joined by an Air

22:27

Force Major General. You're watching

22:29

Morning Joe. We'll be right back.

22:49

Seven past the hour the United

22:51

Auto Workers Strike against Detroit's big

22:53

three auto companies enters its

22:55

fourth day negotiations

22:58

with Ford, General Motors and

23:00

Stellantis resumed on Saturday nearly 13,000

23:02

employees

23:05

at three plants in Missouri, Michigan

23:08

and Ohio walked off the

23:10

job at midnight on Friday when their four-year

23:12

contracts expired. The

23:15

union is demanding up to 40 percent wage

23:17

hikes 40 percent over four

23:19

years along with shorter work

23:21

weeks and better benefits.

23:24

Union officials say since negotiations

23:26

resume they have quote reasonably productive

23:29

talks with Ford and plan to meet

23:31

with GM as well.

23:34

Both of those companies

23:36

along with Stellantis have offered 20

23:38

percent pay raises. The

23:41

union however has rejected

23:43

that. Now the White House is

23:45

stepping in to help President Biden dispatch

23:47

the team to support talks between

23:50

the union and the automakers. Biden spoke

23:52

about the issue on Friday saying he

23:54

understands the workers frustrations.

23:58

I've been in touch with both parties over since

24:01

this began over the last few

24:03

weeks and over the past decade,

24:06

auto companies have seen

24:08

record profits, including the last

24:10

few years because of the extraordinary skill and

24:13

sacrifices of UAW workers. Those

24:16

record profits have not been shared

24:18

fairly, in my view, with those workers.

24:20

Let's be clear. No one wants a strike.

24:23

Say it again. No one wants a strike. But

24:26

I respect workers' right to use their options under

24:28

the collective bargaining system. And I understand

24:30

the workers' frustration. Over generations,

24:33

auto workers sacrifice so much to keep the industry

24:35

alive and strong, especially to the economic

24:38

crisis and the pandemic. Workers

24:40

deserve a fair share of the benefits they helped

24:42

create for an enterprise. All

24:44

right. With us now from outside the Salinas

24:47

plant in Toledo, Ohio, is CBC Auto

24:49

and airline industry reporter Phil LaBeau. Phil, thank

24:51

you so much for being with us. So the

24:53

company's offered a 20 percent

24:56

pay increase, and the union said

24:58

not enough. Are we getting close? I

25:01

don't think we're close. I think that this goes

25:04

for a while. And here's the reason why. It's

25:06

not just the fact that the UAW wants 40 percent

25:08

over four and a half years, and then you've

25:11

got Ford and Salinas at 21 percent, GM at 20 percent. That's

25:15

going to end up being somewhere closer to 25, 26 percent. At

25:18

least that's the prediction of most people who are

25:20

close to the talks. There are a lot of other

25:22

issues here. 32-hour workweek,

25:24

that's a no-go with the automakers. I

25:27

mean, from their perspective, let's

25:29

say you give these guys or you ultimately

25:32

agree to 25 percent

25:34

over four and a half years, and then you're going to give

25:37

them a 32-hour workweek. That's essentially

25:39

in the eyes of the automakers, another 20 percent raise.

25:41

So that's a no-go in their opinion. The restoration

25:44

of a defined benefit pension is something

25:46

that they're hesitant to do. That was stripped

25:49

out when you had the bankruptcies of GM and Chrysler,

25:51

and you had to work on the finances of the company

25:54

coming back in 2009, 2010. They

25:57

also would like cost of living adjustments.

26:00

Now that is an area where I

26:02

think that the UAW will get movement

26:05

from the automakers. They used to have COLAs

26:07

in the previous contract all the

26:09

way up through 2009, got stripped out

26:12

and in the last two years, if you talk

26:15

with the people who are behind me picketing, they'll

26:17

tell you, inflation has killed our paycheck.

26:20

We need more of an adjustment,

26:22

a cost of living adjustment, some type of

26:24

inflation adjustment in this

26:27

contract. So still a number of issues

26:29

there. It's not just about pay. So

26:32

you're saying though, as far as pay goes,

26:35

they want a 40% increase

26:38

in their pay. They want to cut from 40 hours a week

26:40

to 32 hours a week. That's

26:44

another 20% pay increase in

26:47

the automakers' minds. So you're basically saying

26:49

the automakers are looking at this as

26:52

a 60% increase in these

26:55

workers' pay. Do

26:57

they just think they can't afford that?

27:02

They can't go all the way to where the UAW

27:04

wants them to leave. In their minds, that's

27:07

too far. There is a limit. We heard

27:09

from Ford CEO Jim Farley last week. He said

27:11

there is a limit. Now he didn't say what the

27:13

limit was, but there is a point where they

27:15

believe they can't go any further. The

27:18

interesting thing to keep in mind here is that

27:20

not only do the automakers have to think about,

27:22

okay, what do we need to do to lock in a contract?

27:25

Remember, they already all

27:27

in with wages and benefits. The average

27:30

UAW worker makes between $64 and $66 an

27:32

hour. Compare

27:35

that with foreign automakers in this

27:37

country. Their line workers make

27:39

about $55 an hour. Then compare

27:41

that with Tesla line workers who

27:43

make an estimated $45 an hour. It

27:47

doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out if you are

27:49

the CEO of GM.

27:52

You're paying these guys $66 an hour. Your

27:55

chief competitor in terms of electric vehicles, Tesla,

27:57

is at $45. I mean, that's a gap that's going

27:59

to work. widen after this contract.

28:02

CNBC Auto and airline

28:04

industry reporter, Philip O. Thank you

28:06

so much for being on. We will talk to you

28:08

again soon. And coming up, ESPN's

28:11

Pablo Torre joins us to recap

28:13

the second Sunday of the NFL

28:16

regular

28:17

season. Well, a crazy

28:19

week and I think Richard's

28:21

going to want to talk about the Giants. What a comeback

28:23

there. Also, we're

28:25

going to be talking about something

28:28

that happened in a Colorado

28:30

theater where... Oh, I'm supposed

28:32

to be watching

28:33

video shows. Off-stage sports here.

28:35

Saw some major storylines in Major

28:36

League Baseball's Hunt for

28:38

October. Learning shows. We'll be right

28:40

back. Second

29:01

last

29:05

number for Strahm.

29:08

Keeping

29:11

his Richardson. An

29:15

amp of the Richardson into the end zone

29:17

for a second touchdown

29:19

of the day. Second

29:22

and 15.

29:31

Going

29:35

to launch it. Launch it. Wilson.

29:37

And it's intercepted.

29:40

He's got to cover everything. Here's Samuel.

29:43

To the edge. Steps through

29:44

a tackle. Now cuts it back. He goes.

29:48

Touchdown. Misses the throw.

29:53

Washington runs away.

29:54

Walk it down for the end zone. It's

29:56

over. The Seahawks win it. Let's

30:00

see what happens. That's for it. Her

30:02

play, Jabin. Jabin Jabin, touchdown

30:05

Tampa. Mahomes, on

30:08

third down and sixth. Mahomes

30:10

stops, floats it up. It is caught

30:12

wide open. Guy Moore. Been

30:15

a couple jacks this way. Some

30:18

trickery to go. Here comes the Smith. Ritter

30:21

going deep for Hollins.

30:23

He's got it.

30:26

On first down, the Mar Jackson. On

30:29

the attack, taking a deep shot for Powers.

30:31

And Powers has it.

30:35

How's swinging it to the end zone? Oh,

30:38

was it tough? Yes,

30:40

McLaurin. Touchdown.

30:44

Jones throws,

30:45

end zone shot. It's caught

30:47

by Huggins for the touchdown.

30:50

Man, Baker Mayfield. 2-0,

30:53

the Bengals. 0-2.

30:58

Crazy. And the Atlanta Falcons. I mean,

31:00

if I start stammering around and start talking

31:03

about World War I just being around

31:05

the corner, it's probably because my Atlanta Falcons

31:07

are 2-0 for the first time, well,

31:10

since before World War I. Those were some of the

31:12

biggest plays by winning teams across the NFL yesterday,

31:15

including the game-time touchdown, that

31:17

brought the New York Giants back from 21

31:19

points. 21 points

31:22

in the third quarter. If your goal completed

31:24

the Giants 31-28 victory over there is on a card. So

31:27

let's bring in now ESPN's

31:29

Pablo Torre. He's a host of the new podcast

31:32

for Metal Art Media that all the kids are

31:34

talking about. I mean, they love it.

31:36

They love it. And older people love it

31:38

too, like me. It actually, I don't

31:40

know how he does it. It's so great.

31:43

It actually reverses male pattern baldness.

31:45

I don't know how it happened, but that's why I keep

31:48

living things. Pablo Torre finds

31:50

out, it's the name of it, Pablo. Pablo,

31:53

this is what we found out. We found out a couple

31:55

of things. And I'm not

31:57

just saying this because... Then

32:00

I'm wearing New York, right? I'm

32:02

saying this because y'all are in New York saying

32:05

this because we did find out that

32:07

the Jets obviously weren't just

32:09

what you said the Jets were last week. Even

32:12

though they still had flashes of brilliance

32:14

on defense and the Giants

32:16

man, they're

32:19

not not as bad

32:21

as we thought. That was a heck of a comeback.

32:24

That's a hell of a valedictory

32:26

address. Not as bad as we thought. Richard,

32:28

I'm sitting next to Richard. Richard has been aesthetically

32:31

fist-pumping these highlights because he escaped,

32:33

because his Giants escaped against the Cardinals. Just

32:36

for context for people who may not be aware, the

32:38

Cardinals are supposed to be trying to lose

32:40

every game they play. The Cardinals have

32:42

Caleb Williams out of USC in their eye. They

32:44

have two top draft picks next year

32:47

and the Giants escape. They escape

32:49

after a first half that can only be described as existential

32:52

dread. They come and pull it out

32:54

to do what we're watching now. Here we have Giants

32:56

fans feeling like the bar is so low

32:58

that they can feel a little bit better.

33:01

Yes, there is success, but also my

33:04

lord, like between the Jets and the Giants, I don't think

33:06

anybody should be feeling all that good. I'm again

33:08

staring right at Richard to my right. Yeah,

33:10

you really throw some cold water

33:13

on it, baby. I'm going to name two quarterbacks

33:16

and you talked about them. Baker Mayfield and

33:18

Joe Burrow. What's going on? Yeah, Joe

33:20

Burrow banged up again. This is Cincinnati Bengals.

33:23

The week one experience was Joe Burrow never beat

33:25

the Browns. Like, you know, this is

33:27

the problem for him, but the Ravens, this

33:30

is a team that should be a Super Bowl contender.

33:32

The Bengals, we've gotten to the point

33:34

where we knew them as capitalists

33:37

and now we know them as a team that disappoints us.

33:39

Hana Lautz, Altea who brings in a B-minus,

33:41

we know they should be an A student. But Baker

33:43

Mayfield, Joe, Baker Mayfield was the delinquent.

33:46

Baker Mayfield has long been the number one overall

33:48

pick that we were disappointed in because

33:50

he couldn't do anything right. And here he is

33:53

in Tampa Bay and I'm watching

33:55

these clips and not just the games, but the

33:57

stuff afterwards, the locker room. And he has

33:59

time. Tom Brady's old team feeling

34:01

like maybe they got something special. And

34:03

Baker Mayfield has always over indexed on,

34:06

let's say, political charisma. He's always

34:08

been, in my opinion, Nick Stapain Manning

34:10

is the greatest commercial actor in professional

34:13

sports. Baker Mayfield, amazing

34:16

at commercials, but now he has, he's

34:18

living in advertisement for what it means to actually

34:20

maybe get a third chance. And that to me is

34:22

pretty phenomenal. You know, so you're talking about Joe

34:24

Broad. Joe Broad is going to come back. Joe Broad's

34:27

great. We all know that. I got to say

34:29

it's shocking

34:29

that the Bengals are 0-2 right now. But

34:34

Baker Mayfield, I agree with you. It's not

34:36

just that he put together a couple of games.

34:39

It's almost like he's starting to believe in himself

34:41

again. People around him starting to believe in

34:43

him. It's fascinating. Let's talk about

34:45

a couple other games. I'm just a Falcons fan.

34:48

I know they're 2-0. They may end up 2-14. I

34:51

understand. Well, I think they

34:53

came through, they came back, they won. And also

34:55

the Lions. A fascinating team.

34:58

What a great game the Lions and the Seahawks put

35:00

on for everybody. Yeah, did you

35:02

get your Bijon Robinson jersey stitched

35:04

onto your back already, Joe? I mean, the Falcons.

35:09

That kid out of Texas, okay, like we're

35:11

talking about all the time in sports, the death

35:13

of the running back. That's the story across the league.

35:16

They drafted this kid early. And yes,

35:18

on a rookie contract, he provides tremendous value

35:20

just economically. But when you watch

35:22

him, he's special. He catches, he runs.

35:25

He is somebody that, again, you mentioned it

35:27

before. I believe you got to go back to what is it? Is

35:29

it the Civil War to find a Falcons playoff

35:32

berth, you said before, I believe, right? French

35:34

warfare against him? Yeah, Steve

35:36

Barkowski right after the Civil

35:38

War, exactly. That's right. Absolutely.

35:41

So feel good about that. The Lions, I think,

35:43

yeah, an encouraging story in their own right. So

35:46

it's only two weeks, but it seems like

35:48

some of the best teams in the league are NFC, right?

35:51

Eagles, Cowboys,

35:52

49ers all look really good. They're NFC. We

35:54

mentioned the Ravens. They're 2-0. Chiefs,

35:56

they'll be fine. And they actually seem to have a very good defense, even

35:58

though they'll off.

35:59

weapons around my home aren't quite as good. Let's talk

36:02

about the Miami Dolphins who beat up my Patriots last night.

36:04

In a game that the Pacs

36:06

were like they had to have. Who was

36:08

good the Pacs didn't make enough play. Who

36:10

is undefeated against Bill Belichick,

36:12

John and I hate to just rub it in here. Everyone's

36:16

face gets rubbed into the mud here at this

36:18

table. Apparently, Bill Belichick.

36:21

Did

36:22

you see that thing with the flag? So

36:24

he tries to challenge a spot

36:26

placement of the ball and he takes this challenge

36:29

flag in his hand and he throws it down looking

36:31

not like a 71 year old greatest coach of all time

36:33

but like my three year old who doesn't want to go to bed. Just

36:36

dumps it onto the floor, slams it down and this

36:38

is the frustration of what it means to not have

36:40

Tom Brady anymore. The Dolphins are so

36:42

good. Mike McDaniel is a schematic wizard

36:45

but the story here is that the A of C

36:47

used to be the most predictable division in

36:50

all of sports for two decades. And

36:52

now you have the Dolphins atop it. You have the

36:54

Bills looking better. The Jets, well

36:56

the Jets you can feel better about but the Patriots

36:58

man are the bottom of the division right now. The A of C East.

37:01

That is surrealistic for anybody who's followed

37:03

sports since 1990. Bob, let's circle back

37:05

to my team. To the Giants. Has

37:07

Daniel Jones now the way he played yesterday

37:10

basically 160 million dollar contract.

37:12

Doesn't he basically show that he deserves it and

37:14

he's now getting close to being an elite

37:17

quarterback. I mean Daniel

37:19

Jones they had to pay him. This

37:21

is one of those answers that's going to sound like a compliment

37:23

for four seconds and then will turn into an insult. You

37:26

have to pay him because he is actually

37:28

deserving of that money. But anytime

37:31

a star quarterback or a would be star quarterback comes

37:33

up and their contract is on the table you

37:35

got to pay him because that's what these guys make. So

37:37

to keep Daniel Jones you got to pay him 160 million

37:40

dollars. Do you actually feel great about

37:42

giving him 160 million dollars in

37:44

the second half of last night's game? The answer is yes.

37:46

In the first half and much of the season the answer is

37:48

probably going to be no. Man, you're a

37:50

downer. Sorry. Well,

37:54

let's do this. Let's go from one area that that

38:00

causes great pain to Richard

38:02

to another. And everybody at

38:04

the table. Baseball, we're

38:07

wrapping it up. And right

38:09

now it's the Red Sox and the

38:11

Yankees fighting for last place in the A-L-Es.

38:14

What else you seeing out there? Yeah, I'm

38:16

seeing a bunch of teams that can finally relax at

38:18

a point in the calendar where they didn't used to, right?

38:20

I made fun of the Orioles the last time I was on the show

38:22

with you guys. So many furious

38:25

Orioles fans, Joe, not just your son, have reached

38:27

out saying, look at this. How do you like them

38:29

apples? 93 wins. Note it. But the

38:31

Red Sox being at the very bottom of that thing, the

38:33

Yankees just sneaking ahead of them. Look, it's

38:35

a pathetic race, not for the wild card but for

38:37

our human dignity. Like that's what we're fighting for

38:39

here. So congrats to, of course, the Braves.

38:42

And that's to Indiana, all the Dodgers.

38:44

Yes, the Rays, like you guys are in this. It's

38:47

all but settled. But my lord,

38:49

man, it's hard down at the bottom.

38:52

Yeah, you just talked about,

38:55

or John, Jonathan just talked about

38:57

the NFC being the strongest. Are

38:59

we looking at a World Series where the Braves

39:02

or the Dodgers are the most likely winners in

39:05

the National League? Yeah, it's feeling that way,

39:07

Joe. And again, it's one of those situations

39:09

where money doesn't buy everything.

39:12

But when you're the Dodgers, it helps to have

39:14

it as well as have the behavior

39:16

of a team that's a spendthrift. Like this is a

39:18

team that used to be essentially inspired

39:22

by the Rays from afar. Then they got the Rays

39:24

management. The Rays are the team that has always

39:27

been cheap, moneyball-ish.

39:29

And now you combine the money with the moneyball.

39:31

And it seems like I'd be very afraid of

39:33

the Dodgers if I have anybody else in Major League Baseball

39:35

right now.

39:36

All right, we'll be listening to the new podcast,

39:39

Pablo Torre. Finds out, Pablo

39:41

Torre. Thank you so much for being on

39:43

this Monday morning. We appreciate it. And

39:46

still ahead on Morning Joe, an alarming

39:49

warning from a senior military official.

39:51

China, preparing for war with

39:53

the United States. We'll talk to a major

39:56

general with the Air Force about that.

39:58

Plus, we'll show you.

39:59

So, President Biden's sarcastic

40:02

response to the House Republicans

40:04

who have launched an impeachment

40:06

inquiry into him, Morning Joe,

40:08

we'll be

40:09

right back.

40:16

Welcome back to Morning Joe. It

40:19

is 52 past the hour. The White House's

40:21

National Security Advisor has met with

40:23

China's foreign minister. Jake

40:26

Sullivan secretly met with China's top

40:28

diplomat in Europe

40:29

over the weekend. Officials

40:32

say the meeting was part of a larger effort

40:34

to improve U.S.-China relations and

40:36

quote, maintain open lines of communication.

40:40

It comes as the Secretary of

40:42

the Air Force Frank Kendall is warning

40:45

that China has been modernizing its

40:47

military to quote, design

40:49

a force with the intention of having

40:51

the ability to deter

40:54

and if necessary defeat U.S.

40:57

intervention in the Western

40:59

Pacific. Let's bring it right now, Major General

41:01

Julian Cheater. He's the Assistant Deputy under

41:05

the Secretary of the Air Force and International

41:07

Affairs. Thank you so much, General, for being with us. All

41:09

right, so lay it out for us. What's China preparing

41:12

for?

41:13

Well, first of all, good morning, Joe. Mika, thank you for having

41:15

me on the show, especially on the Air Force birthday. You

41:18

know, whatever China is preparing, we will

41:20

be 76 years young. The

41:23

United States will be ready. And, you

41:25

know, one thing to keep in mind is that we have strong

41:28

alliances with our allies and partners who

41:30

are able to deter aggression and certainly

41:32

conflict is not inevitable in this region. But

41:35

it is concerning about this aggressive

41:37

behavior and we want to follow international rules-based

41:40

system.

41:41

So talk about the aggressive behavior

41:43

that concerns you the most.

41:45

Yeah, you know, from our perspective,

41:48

any type of intrusion towards Taiwan is

41:50

certainly concerning the modernization efforts.

41:53

So for those reasons, you know, we are

41:55

certainly creating more interoperability

41:57

throughout the region. We have lots of

41:59

examples of that. exchange programs. So,

42:01

for example, we have F-35

42:03

pilots right now embedded with Australia teaching

42:06

there, but across the region.

42:08

And if you look at, you know, fifth generation

42:11

fighters being flown out of Japan, South Korea,

42:13

Australia and others, those

42:16

provide a foundation for strong deterrence. So,

42:19

the key to remember is that we're much stronger

42:22

together and we can deter aggressive behavior

42:24

in that region. Well, the goal, obviously, general,

42:26

is to deter. Meanwhile, though, China is spending,

42:29

what, 6, 7% a year increasing on defense.

42:31

They have the advantage of geography. Taiwan's

42:34

only spending about 2%, 2.5%. We've

42:36

got global responsibilities that limit

42:38

what we can do there. Are you at all worried

42:41

that while our goal is deterrence and

42:43

if necessary defense, that we're simply

42:46

not where we need to be? There's still a gap between

42:48

where we are and where we need to be. So,

42:51

from my perspective, I think

42:53

the center of gravity here is that

42:55

we have so many strong allies and partners. So, alone,

42:59

it's difficult to do it, you know, especially

43:02

in a force like that. But when you look

43:04

at what each country brings to the fight

43:06

and they certainly have a vested interest in deterring

43:09

aggression,

43:10

I think we're in a

43:12

good shape there. But certainly, investing

43:15

and modernizing and looking to the future makes

43:18

sense for all of us. So, the president has been

43:20

certainly making that pitch, the idea of looking

43:23

to the other

43:23

nations, including those in Asia, and saying, hey,

43:26

we're the way to do it. Come with America and its allies rather

43:28

than just relying on Beijing. That was his message to G20 in

43:30

India. We're going to hear from that again this week at

43:32

the United Nations. There's also been some brand new

43:34

reporting in The New York Times over the weekend outlining

43:37

just how escalated both

43:39

countries' efforts are to spy on the other.

43:42

Just what's your level of concern between

43:44

this and the lack of communication on the military level

43:47

between Washington and Beijing that something could flare?

43:49

You know, there's always the chance of miscommunication.

43:52

But as we see with meeting at the higher levels

43:54

over this past weekend between National

43:57

Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and

43:59

his counter... part, that is a

44:01

positive step to making sure that there is no

44:03

miscommunication. We have seen some

44:07

unprofessional behavior as far as intercepts throughout

44:09

the region there, so it is concerning. Certainly

44:13

China doesn't want to have,

44:16

I think, an incident,

44:20

but increasing those communication flows is helpful.

44:23

General, one of the things that America's

44:25

adversaries look at is the political dysfunction

44:28

in this country, and you've got a prime example

44:30

of it going on in the military sphere at the moment with

44:32

Senator Tuberville, the Republican

44:34

trying to hold up, hold blocking military

44:37

promotions at the most senior

44:39

levels of the Pentagon. How concerned

44:41

are you about those blockages and whether

44:44

they're causing an effect on your ability

44:46

to do your job and the health

44:48

and safety of the people who serve under

44:50

you?

44:51

So certainly this is outside of my

44:54

lane, more in the political realm, but our

44:56

service secretaries have been unified

44:58

in their responses, and Secretary Austin as well,

45:00

to explain that it does undermine overall

45:03

readiness. Just this last weekend,

45:05

I was talking with an attache

45:08

at an event, and he remarked that it is

45:10

a little bit confusing as you look to the future

45:13

when they try to set up long-range meetings

45:15

with their senior members of their militaries,

45:18

who is it that they're going to meet with? And

45:20

so it does create some uncertainty. I'm

45:22

sure we'll work through it, but I think our

45:25

political leaders have articulated that

45:29

it is a threat.

45:30

All right, Assistant Deputy Under

45:33

Secretary of the Air Force and

45:35

International Affairs Major General Julian

45:37

Cheater, thank you so

45:38

much. Thank you, General. It's been a long

45:40

day. Thank you for your service, and happy birthday.

45:43

Happy birthday to the Air Force. Thank you, Joe.