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Transcript

00:00We're trying to get our arms around what jurisdiction we have, so we need to unpack the source of the

00:05funding.

00:05And that's our question to Todd Blanche is, where is this money coming from?

00:09Where is it being pulled from?

00:10Because we need to tie it back to an appropriation that passed this House and Senate

00:15and figure out what belt and suspenders we had around it and what they can and can't do with it.

00:20So that's going to be the first question.

00:23Ultimately, this will be followed up with legislation once we get to the root cause of what the source of

00:28the funds is.

00:30Republican Congressman Ryan Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania pushing back against the Trump administration

00:36attempting to create a nearly $1.8 billion fund without congressional approval.

00:44But will enough Republicans actually stand up to the president and block it from happening?

00:50We'll dig into that.

00:51Plus, we'll go through new reporting on a disagreement between President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister

00:57Benjamin Netanyahu on the next steps in the war with Iran.

01:02And we continue to follow the Trump administration's aggressive deportation tactics,

01:07including the story of a mother who was sent to Venezuela,

01:11arrested during a routine immigration appointment, leaving her children without her in Texas.

01:18And there's more to that.

01:20We'll have it ahead.

01:20Good morning and welcome to Morning Joe.

01:23It's Thursday, May 21st.

01:25With us, we have the co-host of our 9 a.m. hour, staff writer at The Atlantic, Jonathan Lemire,

01:30and President Emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations, Richard Haass.

01:35We'll get to the funding bill in just a moment.

01:37But first, we want to show you some new polling from Fox News showing President Trump's approval

01:44rating near a record low.

01:46We keep reporting on these lows.

01:48At this point, look at these numbers.

01:50His overall job performance is at 39 percent, down three points since last month and 10 points

01:58since his second term started.

02:00It's only one point above his lowest ever, which came in October of 2017 during his first term.

02:08However, his 61 percent disapproval rate is a record high.

02:14Meanwhile, voters are upset with his handling of the economy.

02:1871 percent disapprove of the job he is doing on that key issue.

02:24That is five points higher than just last month and 15 points higher than a year ago.

02:32The increase since last month includes a seven-point rise in disapproval among,

02:38and here's the key point here, Republicans.

02:41As for the war with Iran, two-thirds think the United States is winning,

02:46but 60 percent opposed the military action, which is an increase of five points since last month.

02:52That's a whole conversation within itself in terms of messaging.

02:56Jonathan Lemire, though, the numbers, especially among Republicans,

03:01you would think the White House might take note.

03:03Yeah, they have yet to issue any sort of course correction, though.

03:07And there's a Quinnipiac poll out this week as well, similar numbers.

03:10He even has a 34 percent approval, 34 percent.

03:13That's an extraordinary drop, four points since last month.

03:16In that poll, his approval among independents, just 26 percent.

03:21And that is what's setting off alarm bells for Republicans, of course, heading into this fall's midterms.

03:26But we're seeing the toll of the Iran war and the resulting economic impact.

03:30We have seen numbers, a number of surveys this week suggesting how unhappy Americans are about inflation,

03:37about rising prices, some of which connected to this war.

03:39And we are seeing, and we'll get into it as the show goes on,

03:42about Republicans, in small measures, distancing themselves from the president,

03:46pushing back, particularly on the ballroom and that funding,

03:48because there's a sense that Trump's priorities are simply not aligned with what Americans care about.

03:53He's not making their lives better.

03:54I mean, Willie, this number on the economy, 71 percent disapprove of the job he's doing on that key issue.

04:03Meanwhile, as you're about to report our top, top story,

04:06it appears the administration is interested and the president is interested in helping themselves, himself.

04:14Yeah, the American people have been screaming in poll after poll after poll at this president,

04:19this administration, help us on the economy.

04:20Now he's down in a Fox News poll in the 20s, as you point,

04:24dipping among his own supporters in the Republican Party.

04:27Americans want this president to focus on their day-to-day lives, gas, groceries.

04:31We talk about it every day.

04:33And he simply is not, does not, has said again this week,

04:36frankly, I'm not that worried about people's financial situations.

04:40He clearly isn't.

04:42And the American public is taking notice.

04:44What he is doing, though, is creating these funds, these, this money for people that he believes were wronged by

04:51the previous administration.

04:52Trump administration's newly announced $1.776 billion so-called anti-weaponization discretionary fund

05:00is getting pushback now from Republican lawmakers.

05:04Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania telling reporters yesterday he's going to try to, quote, kill it.

05:12Congressman, what are you making of this $1.7 billion fund for, you know, part of it?

05:17Bad news. We're going to try to kill it.

05:18You're going to try to kill it?

05:19Yeah.

05:19Wow. Okay. And how?

05:20Well, we're considering legislative options.

05:23We're going to write a letter to the AG to start, but we're considering a legislative option.

05:29Okay.

05:30We're trying to unpack exactly, you know, what the legal machinations are, but you can't do that.

05:35Right.

05:38You can't do that, says the congressman.

05:40And he sent acting attorney general Todd Blanche this letter yesterday demanding more information on the fund.

05:47The letter reads, in part,

05:48A massive discretionary fund with no oversight or approval from Congress represents a dangerous backsliding

05:54in the transparency of our institutions and our commitment to the American taxpayer.

05:59A number of Republican lawmakers in the Senate also now speaking out against the move.

06:04The fund would give the president the power to gift taxpayer dollars to allies who claim they were

06:10victims of an allegedly weaponized Justice Department under President Biden.

06:14The top issue lawmakers have with the idea is who exactly will be compensated.

06:19The acting attorney general was asked yesterday if January 6th insurrectionists who attacked police officers

06:26and were charged by the DOJ would be able to apply.

06:29The acting attorney general did not rule that out.

06:33Just to be clear, people that hurt police get money all the time, okay?

06:38There's a process where if you are, if you are, if you believe you have your rights violated,

06:44you can apply for funds, you can sue, you can file a claim, you can go to court.

06:48In some of those cases, the state, the government, the federal government settles those cases.

06:53It's abhorrent to ever, ever touch a law enforcement officer,

06:57which is why anytime anybody does that and it's a federal officer, we'll prosecute them.

07:02But that's a completely different question with whether an individual is allowed to apply for a claim.

07:06Whether they'll get a claim, who depends?

07:09I can't, it's not, it would not be appropriate for me to talk about absolutes, like absolutely not,

07:16under no circumstances.

07:17I mean, we can talk about hypotheticals till we're blue in the face,

07:20but that really wouldn't be fruitful.

07:24Congressman Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat in the House Judiciary Committee,

07:28introduced a bill yesterday that would block the fund entirely after his motion to subpoena

07:33the acting attorney general failed.

07:36So, Jonathan Lemire, it is abhorrent that people attack cops,

07:39and yet the President of the United States and his Justice Department last year

07:43let most of those people out of prison, just gave them pardons,

07:47commuted their sentences, and let them go free.

07:49The concern here, obviously, is that the acting attorney general

07:52is the President's personal attorney, has been in the past working on his behalf,

07:57and that, of course, he may tilt in favor of people who support the President of the United States,

08:03though he said in that hearing in the Senate a couple of days ago,

08:05no, everyone would be eligible for this.

08:07Maybe James Comey or Mark Kelly, or we can go down the line.

08:12I think it's a safe bet that James Comey and Mark Kelly and the like are not going to benefit

08:18from this particular fund.

08:20But you take my point.

08:21Yeah, the Senator Van Hollen and acting attorney general Todd Blanche actually had a memorable

08:27exchange earlier this week where the senator pointed out, indeed, as you just did, Willie,

08:31that Blanche used to work directly for the President as his personal lawyer,

08:34and now is clearly trying to get the acting removed from his title and just being come

08:39attorney general and is doing Trump's bidding.

08:42But there's a lot of pushback to this.

08:44And even yesterday, let's remember, President Trump issued those January 6th pardons on his

08:48first day in office.

08:49He was only president again for a few hours, and he sat in the Oval Office and took care of

08:53it.

08:53Against some of his advisors, you know, counsel, who said, look, you don't do widespread pardons.

08:59Make sure you exempt those who committed violent crimes.

09:01He went, nah, we're going to do them all.

09:02And yesterday, there were a few people who had been convicted for January 6th related

09:07crimes, taking to social media, saying they're going to seek millions of dollars.

09:11I saw one guy say he was going to seek $30 million from this fund.

09:15Now, I have no idea if that's going to happen, but that shows you the door that's been opened

09:19here, that people see this as an opportunity.

09:22And again, you know, Mika, it is a moment where there are Republicans who are willing to

09:27say, ah, we're not really sure we're for this.

09:29But I think the theme that's really emerging right now is even some in the GOP are seeing

09:34that Trump is putting his own interests ahead of the parties.

09:39Now, that's probably always been the case, but this is the most extreme we've ever seen

09:42it, where he's doing nothing to help them ahead of November, trying to turn around the

09:46economy, which most voters are going to judge them on.

09:47And instead, he's taking care of himself, his family, and those who've committed violent

09:51acts in his name.

09:52The IRS reportedly urged the Justice Department to fight President Trump's lawsuit over leaked

09:58tax records.

09:59But the administration settled the case anyway.

10:02And according to The New York Times, IRS lawyers drafted a 25-page memo arguing Trump's

10:09lawsuit had major flaws and should be dismissed.

10:13But Justice Department lawyers never challenged the case in court.

10:17Instead, the administration struck a deal creating that nearly $1.8 billion anti-weaponization

10:25fund.

10:26The Justice Department has not explained why it chose to settle.

10:31So Richard Haas, just kind of a big picture about, number one, the importance of American

10:38exceptionalism.

10:39I'm thinking of Ronald Reagan's 1989 farewell speech, a shining city on the hill, tall, proud

10:49city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity and doors open to anyone who

10:55will get there.

10:55We're going to get to some ice and immigration stories a little later in the show.

11:00But to this, as some would say, corruption, what do we look like as opposed to the way

11:09Ronald Reagan saw this country and the way other presidents tried to create for an example

11:14to the world?

11:16Well, the one word answer, Mika, would be unrecognizable.

11:19What we're seeing is the personalization of American government.

11:25There used to be clear lines, and the lines don't exist anymore.

11:28So whether it's using the Justice Department to weaponize or using the Justice Department

11:33to incentivize and reward, and the idea that it's discretionary, whatever happened to oversight,

11:38whatever happened to checks and balances, we're also seeing the president's total domination

11:43of his party.

11:44So we've never had this degree of concentrated power.

11:47You could say FDR had a lot of power, but there were two things going on then, a depression

11:51and World War II.

11:52The idea that you have this concentration of power in, quote, unquote, relatively normal

11:57times is truly, truly unprecedented.

12:00So here's the great irony.

12:01So you have Hungary after 16 years of Orban's rule.

12:04You see democracy reclaiming itself.

12:07And here we're becoming in a liberal democracy.

12:10We're devolving.

12:11It'd be really interesting to see if these Republicans, I'm skeptical, let's be blunt,

12:15if they decide, is there anything, any time that's too much?

12:19And the idea that you'd have this fund without congressional oversight essentially would give

12:23the entire appropriation and authorization process to the president.

12:27He would become Article I and Article II altogether.

12:30Is this something that will finally get them to say enough's enough?

12:34I don't know.

12:34And there's a fear that this fund could be used not just to, you know, reimburse those

12:39who are victims of weaponization, but it could be a green light to say, hey, do something

12:44in the future.

12:44We'll take care of you.

12:45That this could lead to further violence, further crimes, further terrible acts committed.

12:50And I do think, you mentioned Orban.

12:52A couple of Democrats in the last few days have pointed out that a winning issue there in

12:56Hungary to defeat Orban was the corruption.

12:58That issue of corruption really sort of resonated with voters.

13:01And Democrats are starting to think that, yes, economy is always going to be first and

13:04foremost, but the idea of corruption could be a winning issue here as well, Willie, this

13:10November.

13:10That this could be something that they're able to run on and say, look, you know, not only

13:15is he not helping you, the American people, he's doing so at your expense as he enriches

13:21himself, his family, and his friends.

13:23Yeah, and these stories really are breaking through.

13:26We talk, Mika, all the time about this fire hose, which is done on purpose.

13:29It's strategic, just puts so much out there that there's no way for the public to possibly

13:34digest it all, be outraged about it, understand it in some cases.

13:38But this story really has broken through.

13:40And you're talking about a deal that looks corrupt to most people, where the former personal

13:45attorney to the president of the United States is now the acting attorney general, cuts this

13:49deal where they drop a lawsuit, hand him effectively a slush fund of nearly $2 billion to pay out

13:55people that the American public watched on January 6th, 2021, attack the Capitol, beat

14:01up cops, deface the Capitol, go into people's offices and ransack them.

14:06Everyone watched that.

14:07So if you're asking those people to give their taxpayer dollars potentially to those people

14:13to somehow compensate them for what, even though they've already been let out of prison,

14:18oftentimes when they shouldn't have been.

14:19This has broken through with the American people in a very real way.

14:24So Donald Trump Jr.'s venture capital firm has dramatically increased its assets over

14:30the past year.

14:31In the latest example of how companies with ties to President Trump's family are benefiting

14:37from his policies.

14:39The Financial Times is reporting the firm, 1789 Capital, has grown from $200 million to $3.5

14:48billion.

14:49That's a 17-fold increase.

14:52It's due in large part to deal-making with many privately held artificial intelligence companies.

14:59Hmm.

14:59I feel safe.

15:00One partner described the fund as being the first to commit, quote, patriotic capitalism.

15:08Their portfolio includes Elon Musk's XAI and SpaceX, as well as defense startups like Vulcan

15:16Elements and prediction market platform Polymarket.

15:21This all comes after recently released filings showed President Trump made thousands of stock

15:27trades on many companies whose profits have been impacted by his policies.

15:32The president insists his stocks are managed by his company, the Trump Organization, which

15:39says his trades are overseen by third-party financial institutions.

15:45And still ahead on Morning Joe, we'll get to the latest on the war in Iran, including an

15:50apparent disagreement between President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,

15:56what it means for future negotiations to end the conflict.

15:59Plus, as we approach Memorial Day, retired Army Lieutenant General Mark Hurtling will join

16:06us to discuss the sacrifices made by those who serve.

16:11And as we go to break, a quick look at the Traveler's forecast this Thursday morning from

16:16AccuWeather's Bernie Raynaud.

16:17Bernie, how's it looking?

16:20Mika, noticeably cooler today.

16:23Your exclusive AccuWeather forecast, clouds, breaks of sun in Portland, Boston.

16:28Just rain, Philadelphia, New York City, Washington, D.C.

16:32Some sunning cooler from Chicago towards St. Louis.

16:35No sign of any cooling across the southeast with spotty thunderstorms, Charlotte, Atlanta,

16:41Tampa, Miami.

16:42Some drenching thunderstorms around Houston and Dallas today.

16:45Do expect some delays.

16:46New York City, Philadelphia, D.C., Miami, and Atlanta.

16:51Stephen Colbert, whose last show ever is tonight.

16:55And we are told there is a massive surprise in store.

16:58You won't want to miss that.

16:59More on that coming up a little bit later.

17:01But as negotiations continue with Iran, there is new reporting about how both President Trump

17:06and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu view the future of the war.

17:10Axios is citing three sources who say the two leaders discussed a new effort to reach a deal

17:15with Iran in a tense call on Tuesday.

17:19MSNOW has confirmed that call took place.

17:21Sources telling Axios it comes as a revised peace memo was drafted by Qatar and Pakistan

17:27with input from the other regional mediators to try to bridge gaps between the United States and Iran.

17:33Axios goes on to report that Trump and Netanyahu, however, were in disagreement about the way forward.

17:38That's according to two Israeli sources.

17:40The outlet notes Netanyahu is highly skeptical about these negotiations, they're not alone in that,

17:46and wants to resume the war to further degrade Iran's military capabilities

17:51and weaken the regime by destroying its critical infrastructure.

17:54While President Trump continues to say he does think a deal can be reached,

17:58but that he's ready to resume the war if it isn't.

18:01Iran is reportedly reviewing the American response for its proposal for a deal.

18:06Here is some of what the president had to say to reporters about all this yesterday.

18:12What have you said to Prime Minister Netanyahu about Iran and how long to hold off on strike?

18:17He's fine. He'll do whatever I want him to do.

18:19He's a very good man.

18:22He'll do whatever I want him to do, and he's a great guy.

18:26To me, he's a great guy.

18:28Don't forget, he was a wartime prime minister,

18:31and he's not treated right in Israel, in my opinion.

18:34I'm right now at 99 percent in Israel.

18:37I could run for prime minister, so maybe after I do this, I'll go to Israel, run for prime minister.

18:45Richard, we can put that last bit to the side, but let's focus on what's important here.

18:49President Trump suggesting that he can tell Netanyahu to do whatever he wants to do.

18:54Many believe that is exactly 180 degrees opposite,

18:57that Prime Minister Netanyahu kind of led President Trump into this war

19:01and is trying to get him back into the fighting again.

19:05A lot to unpack there.

19:06I actually think Donald Trump can pretty much tell Bibi Netanyahu,

19:09the prime minister of Israel, what he needs to do.

19:11Bibi Netanyahu faces an election in the next few months.

19:15His strongest argument is that he has a great relationship with Donald Trump in the United States.

19:20So the idea that Netanyahu would pick a fight with the president

19:24or allow it to be depicted that way, I don't see how that strengthens his political hand.

19:30But there, Willie, I think the bigger story is there are profound differences

19:33and divergences that have evolved between the United States and Israel.

19:37Donald Trump wants a deal.

19:39Quite rightly, even if reluctantly, has come to the conclusion

19:42that more military force doesn't buy us a lot,

19:44plus it risks Iran attacking the energy infrastructure of all the neighbors.

19:50So President Trump wants a deal on the nuclear issue on the strait and will compromise.

19:56Bibi Netanyahu wants open-ended war,

19:59wants to continue to pound away to keep Iran on its back foot,

20:02plus is really worried not only that Donald Trump may accept some details on the nuclear

20:08that allow Iran some nuclear program,

20:11but also that the agreement probably won't include Iran's ballistic missile force

20:16or its drone force or its support for groups like Hamas and Hezbollah,

20:21that it will tie Israel's hand because there'll be a ceasefire.

20:24So that's the great irony here.

20:26Bibi Netanyahu came to Washington,

20:29persuaded Donald Trump in no small part to go to war.

20:32This is a war that might open up deep differences

20:35between the United States and Israel down the road.

20:39Richard, do you have any real sense of the people you talk to in the foreign policy community

20:43about where these negotiations, such that they are for peace or some kind of a deal,

20:48where they are?

20:49Because President Trump continues for six or seven times now to say,

20:52I had my finger on the trigger.

20:53We're about to resume the war.

20:55And I was convinced to back off to allow space for these negotiations.

20:59Are we really talking to the Iranians in a meaningful way?

21:04Well, again, I don't think the president is comfortable restarting the war.

21:07It's not clear to me what you'd accomplish militarily or politically.

21:10And again, it risks Iranian retaliation.

21:12As bad as this crisis is, Willie,

21:15if you saw the destruction of the region's energy infrastructure in Qatar,

21:19in the United Arab Emirates, in Saudi,

21:21you would turn this into a global depression.

21:23So let's just be honest about that.

21:26Look, there's been a big gap between the two sides,

21:28between the U.S. and Iran.

21:30Both sides have been staking out maximal positions.

21:33My sense is both see some of the weaknesses there.

21:36Iran is feeling the pressure.

21:37The United States is clearly feeling the pressure of higher prices.

21:41We began the show with the polls.

21:43So my sense is we're narrowing the differences.

21:45And I think we're going to probably end up with a deal

21:47after a few more weeks or a month or so where the strait reopens.

21:51Iran has more influence over it than it had before the war.

21:54On the nuclear, yeah, we'll probably have some agreement

21:57where we get this enriched uranium out.

21:59My guess is Iran will agree to some type of a several-year moratorium

22:04on no enrichment, but at some point it will be able to enrich again.

22:07It's not going to zero out their nuclear program.

22:10It's going to put a ceiling on it again.

22:12And if it looks a little bit like the deal that Barack Obama negotiated

22:16and Donald Trump ripped up in his first term,

22:18it's because it will look a little bit like that deal.

22:22That's going to be the real criticism here.

22:24We went to war.

22:26We ended up with a strait that's less open.

22:28We ended up with a nuclear agreement, kind of like the one we had before.

22:32And Iran has much more influence than it ever had before.

22:35That's going to be Donald Trump's burden to carry.

22:38We will see.

22:39And as we enter this Memorial Day weekend,

22:41President Trump yesterday was talking about some of the costs of the war,

22:44specifically about the number of U.S. service members lost in the war in Iran.

22:50We lost hundreds of thousands of soldiers in these various wars.

22:54In two wars, Venezuela, where we lost nobody, and here, we lost 13 people.

23:02Now, 13 people is 13 too much, but we lost 13 people.

23:06In other wars, you lost hundreds of thousands of people.

23:10So people don't like it when you say, oh, do you know you've lost 13?

23:16We've lost in two major wars.

23:18We took over Venezuela.

23:19We essentially took over Iran, and we've lost so far 13 people.

23:26Some other, somebody else would have lost 100,000 people, okay?

23:33But I get a kick when I look at somebody on television.

23:36He's lost 13 people.

23:38I lost 13 people.

23:40They lost 13 people leaving an airport.

23:44It's President Trump talking about the 13 American service members killed in this war so far.

23:49Let's bring in decorated combat veteran, former commander of U.S. Army Europe,

23:52retired Army Lieutenant General Mark Hurdling.

23:55He is an MSNOW military analyst.

23:58General, always good to see you.

23:59Obviously, President Trump is comparing this war to massive, years-long ground wars in Europe,

24:06in Asia, and around the world.

24:08But I'm curious, just first of all, before we start talking about Memorial Day,

24:13and I really want to get your thoughts about that, just about the state of this war

24:17and what you hope is the best possible outcome of a negotiation here.

24:23Well, you know, it was interesting listening to Admiral Cooper testify the other day,

24:28because he repeatedly talked about the potential for new military operations during his congressional

24:34testimony.

24:35In each one of the cases where he was asked about how do we end this,

24:40he said, well, we've got different courses of action.

24:42We're prepared to do whatever the president wants us to do.

24:45In the Gulf, we have military courses of action.

24:48But when he was pressed on exactly the question you asked me, Willie,

24:53he was hesitant to answer.

24:54He said, well, those are policy decisions.

24:56I don't get into policy.

24:57I just get into military action.

24:58And truthfully, he's right on target to a degree.

25:01But you also have to understand, as a military commander, you have to continue to think about

25:06the end state.

25:08What are we trying to achieve?

25:09What course of action will get you there?

25:12And as you just, as Richard Haas just said, there is the potential for both sides walking

25:19away from their maximalist demands, which are at the very opposite ends of the spectrum.

25:25But it's going to be very difficult, and it's going to take a lot of diplomatic pressure.

25:30Effectiveness and efficiency in war, especially with the U.S. military machining,

25:35can happen very quickly.

25:37Wars can start easily.

25:39They can consume a lot of resources and equipment and a lot of manpower.

25:43They can do the things the president wants them to do very fast.

25:48But in this case, we're talking about an end to the war.

25:51And no matter how quickly you start a war, wars take a long time to end.

25:56And what we're talking about now is diplomatic actions, like Richard just said.

26:01Those could take months or years.

26:03And they're not going to come together just because of an intimidation campaign or continued

26:08threats to use more military force.

26:11We haven't seen that work so far.

26:13There have been some, certainly, deterioration of Iran's military.

26:21But that's not enough.

26:22And it's only hardened them to stand up longer to us.

26:27Yeah.

26:27And Mika, I'm told by senior advisors, the president has not ruled out resuming hostilities,

26:32but it's very clear he doesn't want to do that.

26:34And now he's going to have to try to come to some sort of deal that he can spin as

26:39a win.

26:39Now, let's be clear.

26:40He will say anything he gets will be a win.

26:42That's what he does.

26:42But if he ends up settling for something that really resembles what the Obama administration

26:48had agreed to a decade ago, that is going to be a hard one for him to live with.

26:53And I do think, to Richard's point, at this point, it is inevitable that Iran will have

26:57more control, either explicit or implicit, over the Strait of Hormuz.

27:01And first of all, it will be months before energy prices return to where they were before the war.

27:05And Iran may benefit from this.

27:08They may profit off of control of the Strait.

27:10And at minimum, they now know at any time they want to close it, they can.

27:15And they can inflict real economic pain on the rest of the world.

27:18So it is a hard to see an end to this war, which President Trump is desperate to achieve,

27:23that leaves us in a better place than where it began.

27:26I mean, it may end with Iran having more leverage and energy prices up and tens of billions of dollars

27:35spent on it.

27:36You just wonder how this lends politically, even with Trump's base, when polls are showing his handling of the economy,

27:46people are thumbs down, 71 percent disapprove of the job he's doing on the economy,

27:52five points higher than last month, 15 points higher than a year ago.

27:59So it'll be interesting to see if his base or Republicans in general are on board with this,

28:05which appears to be going in the wrong direction.

28:09General, you reflect on Memorial Day in a new piece for The Bulwark titled,

28:14The Last Full Measure Quietly Remembered.

28:17And you write, quote,

28:18I watch as most of America marks the weekend as the unofficial beginning of summer,

28:24cookouts and baseball games, long weekends, beaches, family gatherings,

28:30flags fluttering from porches and social media posts wishing everyone a happy Memorial Day.

28:37And there is nothing wrong with any of that.

28:40But for some Americans, especially the veterans who have stood in combat zones,

28:45besides those who sacrificed it all and family members who suffered the pain of the knock on a door,

28:53it arrives very differently.

28:54For those who have attended memorial ceremonies on dusty airfields in Iraq, Afghanistan,

29:01and even still Vietnam, or who escorted transfer cases draped in flags,

29:07or who listened to bagpipes while rifles stood inverted beside combat boots and helmets under a fading sunset,

29:17Memorial Day is not abstract patriotism.

29:21It is deeply personal.

29:24Perhaps on this Memorial Day, as Americans from every background gather,

29:29we might do something that's becoming rare in our divided age.

29:33Come together quietly as one nation and reflect on what courageous sacrifice for one another truly means.

29:42Remember them.

29:44Remember them.

29:44Honor them.

29:45And above all, make it happen.

29:48Hmm.

29:49Hmm.

29:50Hmm.

Morning Joe 52126 ️ Breaking News Today May 21, 2026

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