Fracturing MAGA Base and Modern Masculinity

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Discover a day only Crayola could create a Crayola experience Get your Carle experience coupons today at participating Wendy's locations Lve shot of the white house there, of course, look all the construction cranes and the scaffolding at front of the executive mansion, President Trump will leave that building later today and head to the NATO summit. And our next guest is taking a closer look at how Trump is turning NATO into a cash machine Join us now. live, this running for in Kara Turkey. Heing on a reporter at Politico. Paul McCleare. Pul good to see you this morning. So talk to us. It's a fascinating report. Give us a sense of what you found Yeah, I mean talking to European diplomats and some defense officials and and other folks on both sides of the Atlantic. and the consensus really is here that This summit will be pretty light on nototions of collective security of democracy, democratic government, governance, and even on confronting Russia. The meat of this summit is going to be Money. That's what they're going to talk about. It's going to be contract awards for Europe to build up its weapon stockpiles It's going to be uh deals with U. S companies in particular because obviously President Trump wants is, you know, the made in America idea. he wants as much equipment built in the United States. So Allies are really going to be bending over backwards in order to show the president that they're open for business, they're ready for business, and then they're ready to spend on American weapons. Paul, Elise Jordan here How much more can these European countries do though, given that you could argue Trump was really successful in getting increases in spending of their GDP by certain nations when G did it. How much more is there to give That's the real question. Some countries are really really struggling. And you have countries like Germany who never incurred debt, you know,' post war existence and now it's going to start taking down some debt in order to buy weapons and to rearm Last year, we got the five percent pledge at the meeting in the Hague where Allies would spend five percent of GDP on defense Um They spent an additional one hundred and thirty odd billion dollars over this past year on weapons. The year before, it was an increase of ninety billion do. so It's a really big increase and I don't know how much capacity they have to go much more over that. I mean that's even though there's thirty One country you know other countries in the Alliance, that's still a lot of money particularly for countries with large social welfare programs, you know, the German economy, the manufacturing is in a little bit of trouble, the UK the same thing. There's not a lot of juice left to squeeze out of this, but they're going to put on as good as face and good as show. This week for Donald Trump that they can Hey Paul, it's Aly V Tali. When I hear you talk about the fact that it's going to be focused on cash, of course that makes sense. But when you talk about the ways that things like collective security, spreading small D democracy and not curtailing Putin are probably also central features, it makes me wonder what does that mean for the conversation that the president is going to have with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, given the ways that collective security, small de democracy, and curtailing Putin are quite important to him and his country. That's that's a big wildcard here, right? And Trump and Zelensky had a recent meeting that that went pretty well. So I think that there's some optimism that their relationship is been repaired or is pretty good and they're in a pretty good place. ButZelensky's going to want to talk weapons deals actually. so that I mean, that will kind of feed into what the president wants The larger questions over U. S. troop presence on the continent, further support for Ukraine, that's going to be pushed aside mostly in just getting European countries to sign deals. And the U.S side might try to push the Ukrainians to sign this drone deal that they've been trying to get done for better well over a year now. And they just haven't been able to get done. I think the US is making some demands on intellectual property for some Ukrainian technologies that the Ukrainians just aren't really willing to give up Pentagon reporter at Politico, Paul McCleary, thank you so much joining us live from the NATO summit there in Turkey. His latest reporting available online now. Thank you again Back to domestic politics, in a major shake upp for Michigan's Democratic Senate primary, state Senator Mallory McMurrow has announced that she's dropping out of the race. Today, I'm announcing that I am suspending my campaign for United States Senate And I'm doing it with a deep, deep sense of gratitude for our thousands of volunteers, for everyone who donated what you could builduing a campaign with zero corporate pact dollars for my staff who built this team up from nothing I thank you This leaves Congresswoman Haley Stevens and progressive candidate Dr. Abdul El Said as the two Democratic hopefuls fighting to replace outgoing Senator Gary Peters It's expected to be a very competitive August primary in a race that could play a key role in determining control of the Senate The winner will face former Republican Cgressman Mike Rogers in November, and we should note, Cgresswoman Hailey Stevens will join us as a guest a little later this morning O morning, Joe Ally, let's get your take on this. The state Senator Rick Morrow is a real rising star a couple of years ago. G a lot of attention for some of the speeches she delivered. remarkable you Real Charisma, remarkable life story and the like you know, she, I think, in many people's eyes was the favorite in this race a handful of months ago What do we what's your sense as to what went wrong? Things started to shift, and I mean, look, we're talking about this race in the landscape of Democrats trying to figure out is the best way to win in these purplish seats to pull from the base and excite more people who might be Democrats, but are not excited by the kind of establishment candidates that they're seeing. That's sort of the Abdul al Sayed ethos of coming into this race and campaigning as an ultra prorogressive. We heard from him at the end of the week on this very program, you and I. And then also you've got someone like Congresswoman Hay Stevens that tests the more establishment lane of can I reach across the aisle? Can I take some disillusioned conservatives who might not be on board with Trump or MAGA aligned candidates? And can I bring them into the fold to ultimately flip this seat? That's sort of the Haley Stevens equation, especially as she's someone who is endorsed by the so called establishment. She's Schumer's pick in this race She's got the endorsement of former Michigan senator Debie Stavanaugh. And so all of that is important when you think about the lane that McMorrow had left to run in, I think, had just sort of run its course. She's someone who brought sort of the progressive sensibilities from that side of the aisle while also being someone who is electable who had a swingy state Senate seat who was part of the Michigan legislature that had flipped several years ago was part of describing how Democrats could do better in Michigan during that time, was endorsed by someone like Senator Elizabeth Warren. And so I think it just sort of became, according to the sources that I'm talking to, a sense of seeing the writing on the wall, watching the fact that the polling had sort of made this a two person race, and the fact that there is a big debate coming up this week in this Michigan Senate primary McMorrow, notably not endorsing on her way out the door, just sort of saying, hey, we got to coalesce behind whatever Democrat wins this ahead of November. But if we look ahead to the general heard some real concern from Democrats broadly in Michigan on the national stage that this is going to be a highly competitive race. I know it's listed as a toss up, but it is one that Democrats will have to hold ono. Gary Peters, of course, currently holds this seat, Democratic Senator from Michigan. It's one they'll have to h ono if they want to have even a shot of flipping the Senate And I think there is some real concern about that. So we'll see who ultimately comes out of this primary, but notable now that it's a one to one contest and not a three way split You know, the word Ali just mentioned Eise there electable. It makes me think of the interview we did on Friday here on this show with Dr. Abdul Al Sayed, who was Sharp and ready and echoing so many of the talking points that we've seen work certainly here in New York City. Under mayayor Zaran Mabdani, but he's talkings talking about affordability as a path to electibility. He's talking about artificial intelligence, billionaires, Silicon Valley. And also he was posting a video of himself doing karaoke to Taylor Swift over the weekend. Celebrating independence Day speaking to what does it look like to be maybe a progressive candidate in a Senate race. And so your temperature check on that wing of the Democratic Party would be what at this point? Well, I think that Dr. E Said is very impressive as a candidate and he is sharp. is That an element of the charisma that a candidate who's going to have views that are more outside of the mainstream of the Democratic establishment to get pass to be passable, But Republican strategists see this as a race that they're salivating over because then this becomes the Texas disaster that they have with Ken Packson. They think that they will be able to nationalize the more progressive stances that El Said holds in order to in order to win in Michigan and also tank the entire broader deemocratic brand with the ideas of deemocratic socialists. We'll be watching that race. And again, we have Congresswoman Stevens joining us a little later on the show. Next up here, we'll dig into a new analysis from the New York Times Titled Trump's Huge Windfall has few known Global Pcedents Plus Doge is officially done We'll talk about the impact of the Department of Government efffficiency as Several federal agencies began rehiring again could have seen that coming Morning Joe, the right back Beautiful life shot there. Chicago, onene of our great American cities it's six hundred twenty two AM central time, seven hundred twenty two here on the East Coast. Back to the news The formal mandate on Elon Musk's Doge initiative officially reached its end on july fourth And new reporting reveals that the Trump administration is increasingly reiring federal workers After its sweeping cuts created staffing shortages across government agencies. Officials say the focus has shifted from reducing the size of government to Reshaping the federal workforce with agencies, including the IRS and HHS now seeking thousands of new employees. Doge claimed it saved two hundred fifteen billion dollars amid its cuts, but that figure has been roundly disputed Now, some administration officials are acknowledging that some of the workforce cuts may have gone too far. And at least, I mean, Doge feels like a million years ago Be we've had so many new cycles We've had so many new cycles since. But let's remember, Elon Musk came in as a borderline co president for a few months. He was giving the sweeping mandate to slash the federal workforce. You know, some of these things are obviously temporary and they're being fixed, but did real damage in terms of particularly federal foreign aid you know, that has that by some estimates have potentially impacted millions of lives around the globe. Well, and Elon Musk was welcomed positively in a lot of quarters because, oh, this mission of cutting waste in the U.S government. everyone can support that. That's a bipartisan calluse. But the problem was he just made a big, big mess. Only imagine if Eline had focused on, you know, innovating with the nation's tech This instead of just slashing and burning with U. S. aid and imperiling All of the great work that has been done around the globe. And I'm the first person to say that USAid needed a lot of cuts and it needed there was plenty of mismanagement going around, but there were a lot of things that US Aid did like preventing the spread of screwworms from getting into our cattle that that was a positive for the American economy and the American people Just to throw out some proper names that we had to learn because of those, Big balls. remember him. Remember him?. It's just interesting that Speaking of the arc of this, right? So Elon Musk comes in and is like, ah, a guy who doesn't need the U.S government because he's so rich All we got to do is trust him to be optimizing all of our bureaucracies. And then he emerges on the backackend, having also Gone on Twitter on X, the everything app and said, oh, by the way, BTWubs don't up to the Epstein files and then go back around to them once again sitting together at all of these Giant ceremonies participating, of course in the administration and now by the way, he's a trillionaire It boggles the mind as the last thing I heard to replace US aid was via Marco Rubio and Dana White talking about we're going export the UFC abroad to bring American values to the global village. And I'm like, Yeah, Big balls, Big Balls was the future, I guess. Yeah. and certainly Democrats are still going to feature Elon Musk, particularly that image with him in the golden chainsaw. in campaign ads. They won't let this doj work be forgotten. Meanwhile, a new analysis in the New York Times argues that President Trump's unprecedented windfall during his first year back in office has broken the mold for any previous leader of a liberal democracy around the globe. Trump reported in his financial disclosure forms that he made at least two point two billion dollars last year including one point four billion dollars from cryptocurrency ventures The report highlights. that as president, Trump oversees the regulation of the crypto industry which he also profits from Now while the president has denied engaging in conflicts of interest and maintains that others manage his money Experts say it's now easier for other global leaders to question why they should regulate their own behavior when even the greatest power in the world is not doing so. The scale of Trump's profits have drawn comparisons with Vladimir Putin We played a bite last hour of former New Jersey Republican Governor Chris Chrisie making that connection during an appearance yesterday on ABC News Critics say Putin has made himself one of the richest people peopleople in the world through his network of oligarchs and state power. Well, the U.S. has traditionally set the standard for international anti corruption norms. The New York Times Finds Trump is, quote demolishing Democratic guardrails and clearing the way for others conflicts of interest. And Pablo back to this point We just were' conversation we're just having with Elon and Doge And this story does seem to be resonating where so much of this country Per polling suggests they're worried about their people are worried about their economic wellbeing. Yeah. And yet we're seeing the richest of the rich achieve Astronomical wealth including the president of the United States who sits in a position that was originally meant to be one of public service, of self sacrifice, Jimmy Carter had to sell his peanut farm. Donald Trump not doing that The entire story that has resulted by the way over the weekend in the president's speech about communism. I think this is the context to see that speech. It's the idea that there has never been a greater perversion of capitalism under the guise of the free market than what this administration is doing with crypto and sovereign wealth funds and all the rest. And so the idea of who is tempting fate, Wh is daring democratic socialism into existence, it's this administration They have no one else to blame if they actually want to blame communism, which is not the same as socialism, but nonetheless, if they want to blame that wing The reason they're doing it is because they're doing the thing that dares people to say What about us I mean, the economy slluggishness speaks for itself and the inflation that just is not going away anytime soon. Democrats really don't even have to hammer away at the terrible economy that could have had an amazing economy had he not done tariffs, the war in Iran. but All they have to do is hammer this corruption issue because The rich are getting richer and they are Trump's cronies especially getting way richer, gettingitt way richer. And these stories altogether have combined to give Trump historically poor poll numbers right now But coming up, his administration is taking aim at another American institution. We're going to go through the new report callalling the leadership at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History Radical activists 'll get into that. Plus, we've got new reporting on President Trump's fracturing base MS Now reporter David Norga spoke with several former Trumps supporters about why they're no longer part of the president's movement Morning Joe, we right back with that and more Here's what happened when one journalist reported on DEI programs I decided to just focus on the University of Michigan. I obtained internal documents that showed that the school had spent about a quarter of a billion dollars on DI programs. I spent two weeks in Ann Arbor talking to everybody I could find The unintended consequences of these programs, they had sort of left everybody dissatisfied And this expensive machinery the school had built just imploded If you're a journalist, you are not on anyone's team All you're trying to do is figure out as many of the facts as you can gather. The facts are going to guide you to where the story lands. You're not taking sides I'm Nickom Vasori. I'm an investigations reporter for the New York Times Journalists like Nick follow the facts wherever they lead They go where news breaks. Get answers firsthand and publish what they find That's fact based reporting Seek it out if you don't already In the US, there's a break in every twenty six seconds, but when intruders step near, simply safe home security steps up. Stop. This is simly safe Police are on the way. Using AI alerts, US. based live agents help deter break ins. Simplyafe, no long term contracts. Save fifty percent on your new system with professional monitoring at simppllysafe d. com slash SXM or with promo code SXM. Outdoor deterce requires a simply safe, active guuard outdoor protection plan starting for nine a month. Visitpsafeot com slash licens for alar license information Tennsee two zero one two Monday. com AI agents took over my work. And I absolutely love it. Chasing deadlines, writing status reports, updating stakeholders. Agents handle the daily grime now. I stay in the loop only when it matters. Create your own AI agent in minutes on Monday. com. Welcome back. The White House is slamming the leadership of the Smithsonian Institute. for in their words, extreme political activism. The administration's criticisms come in a new, one hundred and sixty two page report titled Saving America's Story It was posted online over the july fourth holiday weekend by the White House Domestic Policy Council. The report blasts the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History for what it describes as a failure to celebrate the nation's heritage It also labels the Institute's leadership as radical activists who can't be trusted The AP categorizes the move as an indication that President Trump may be preparing to install his own team The Smithsonian did not immediately respond Requests for comment Meanwhile, there have been some signs of late that President Trump's MAGA base might be fracturing. MS Now correspondent David Norga. recently with a group of former Trump supporters who are now separating from the president about what pushed them out of the Magaboo When you were a part of the MAGA movevement, how deep were you? I was as deep as anyone could have been. I was an aspiring MAGa pundit. I had byelines in places like Fox and the Federalists. I spoke at Trump groups. I was a donor on the campaign. I was unapologetically A MAGA and Trump supporter, Rich Logis is the founder and CEO of Leaving MAGA, a nonprofit for those disillusioned by the movement which Logus says is funded entirely by small donors, provides support groups, deradicalization resources, and a platform for members to share their experiences To get a better understanding of what makes people leave MAGA, we heard from an array of the group's members. I grew up really poor. So a lot of my friend' parents would be responsible for helping me get to prom or making sure I had, you know new shoes for school And they were all MAGA. And it was very much this constant conversation of, if you want to have nice things Be a Republican. I really wanted acceptance with my father And my father was very much into Fox News. so that was something that we would connect on. I became heavily indoctrinated into tradwife culture. We were all absolutely fine with household voting. that So just to clarify, for people who don't know household voting means the woman does not vote. So the Sve act, in essence, is to take that right away from women In twenty fifteen and sixteen, I felt that the two parties were the same and even though Trump ran as a Republican. I was very enticed by his outsider status. When you heard claim that the election had been stolen. Were any of you like, yeah, they stole this election? Trump won. Yeah, yeah. I did believe that the election was stolen. I believe that the riots were actually those were patriots until I actually switched off Fox News and started getting my news from O places, my information. that's when it's It finally hit Diversifying their news turned out to be a common factor in leaving MAGA. I met my now husband in twenty twenty one and they made me watch a documentary on january sixth, and I didn't even know what happened on january sixth prior to the PBS documentary. And I looked at him and I said, Scott, did that really happen? And he was like Where have you been It's not easy to believe something firmly and then come to the conclusion that you've been wrong for many years Was that hard for you? Yes, Yes. That was something that I just couldn't swear. because I couldn't be wrong because I consider myself intelligent. You know, I had believed that When Trump ran that he would be somebody who would be different as an outsider. I think that he was correct in pointing out a lot of the flaws of our political system. It just turned out unfortunately that he didn't try to solve those or remedy those ills that he exacerbated them Hearing you guys talk about MAGA and about supporting Trump, it sounds like you're talking often about like a cult that's damaged He's the president of the United States and it's not a cult. It's like the dominant political ideology of the United States in this moment. And what MAGA does provide is a place where people feel seen and heard and validated. We used to say, we're not in the cult. the outside world is the cult. and we're not the crazies. the outside world are the crazies Pip says that leaving MAGA often means losing relationships with loved ones, but it also teaches them to approach those loved ones with empathy When I left MAGA, like I said, I kicked the door open and jumped through, I had a heartful of hate. So I would just go on the offensive and attack anybody and everybody that still supported it. And I've learned over time that that's not going to change anybody. In fact, it's going to push people over. So I've learned to be that empathy, that voice, of concern, that caring voice. You can do this. I did it MS now correspondent David Norgo with that report and at least a fascinating one. you know President Trp has undeniably broken a lot of signature campaign promises about trying to manage the economy to no foreign wars. And that's just the start of a lengthy list as to why so many of his supporters are finally abandoning him. I would say though, I would hesitate to call this a widespread trend at all because you look at the polling and his hardcore Mga base is overall not leaving him. But this is an interesting sliver and subset of showing just the earthquakes that have happened. Really, I attribute it primarily to the war in Iran and that big promise that was broken that has led through a global economic ripple effect of chaos. Epstein files too. And you're right, most of his base still staying with him But if he's losing some of his face that shows that so much of those independents, those swing voters, they've definitely left. And that's why Republicans are so nervous about this November All right, time now for some of the other stories being headlines this morning Beginning with Delta Airlines, saying that a flight arriving at Chicago's Midway International airport made contact with a firework on the fourth of July That seems bad. The pilot notified that air traffic air traffic controllers just before landing Saturday night that a firework hit the plane during its descent In an audio recording that was shared online, the pilot described feeling a big bang on the plane The FAA and Delta says the plane did land safely and thankfully no one was injured If you somehow didn't hear this next story, let's provide you a a significant update. The world's biggest pop star, Yes, Taylor Swift and Kansasity Chief's tight end, Travis Kelsey tied the knot, never heard of them. They did it quietly with no publicity whatsoever The param made it official in front of about a thousand friends and family members in a ceremony offfficiated by Cedian Adam Sandler at Mascow Garden on Friday night. That was a mad liib sentence The couple wore looks created by Christian An Doir with custom Christian Louboutin shoes, and the brididees team confirmed that she was bejewelleled in Cartier A source tells people that the couple's vows were about twenty minutes each The star studded event featured big names in attendance and included performances from the likes of Paul McCartney and Stevie Nicks. Well, our congratulations to the happy couple And to a little more sports now in London, Naomi Osaka is headed to the Wimbledon quuarterfinals for the first time After she upset, world number one, Arena Sabalenka in straight sets Osaka snapped an O thirteen record against top ten players on non hard courts Andard first wayne over world number one sinces all the way back in twenty nineteen Savalenka, who had She beaten Oosaka three times already this year, admitted that she was simply overpowered Osaka fired eight aces, one in under ninety minutes, and said that it was the most fun she'd had on a court in a long time She'll face Karolina Mkova next for a spot in the Wimbledon semif fininals Pabo a quick take there. you know, the Sabalenka has been the top player on the women's side for a while. She loses. We had a lot of invested in the Serena Williams comeback. It ended quickly sadly. And then on the men's side, you know, Novak Djokovic still trudging along. Novak Djokovic refuses to go away and it's for the betterment of the sport. I think he inserts himself every major into a conversation that we thought was going to be okay. Well, we're talking about the next generation. We're talking about sinner, we're talking about Alcaraz. Nope, there is. And by the way, Osaka very quickly I first watched her when she was a teenager at the US Open, which is coming up not so far away from now. And she has had this roller coaster career in which she has been visibly miserable so often due to injury, due to mental health struggles, due to not enjoying the public spotlight. And so when she says, this is the most fun I've had in a long time I believe it. And it's just rare to have someone who's fallen off of the public platform that is celebrity like that justust Eating the number one in this way on a stage like Wimbledon. So it's good to see. Yeah, I was there at USOA last year when she beat Coco Gf Steamroller And she had a good run at the US. Open setting up potentially another really good one now Wimleded American Taylor Fritz on the court shortly there in London on the men's side Coming up here on Morning Joe, thrilling tales of modern men and author, Danny McBride joins us for a look at his new collection of short stories onn the meaning of masculinity in today's world That's next right here. on want to Joe. This land is your land. But have you really seen it? Maybe it's time to slow down and enjoy the ride. America is calling. Explore it with omni hotels and resorts. Book now and save up to twenty perents, plus kids eat free In the US, there's a break in every twenty six seconds, but when intruders step near, simply safe homeome security steps up. Stop. This is simply safe. Police are on the way Using AI alerts, US based live agents help deter break ins. Simply Safe, no long term contracts. Save fifty percent on your new system with professional monitoring at simppllysafe d. com slash SXM or with promo code SXM. Outdoor deterce requires simply safe active guard outdoor protection plan starting at forty nine month. Vis simpsafeot com slash licenses for alarm license information.ennsee two zero one two This is a Monday. com ad the same Monday. com helping people worldwide, getting work done faster and better The same Monday. com designed for every team and every industry. The same Mondayot com with built in AI, scaling your work from day one the same Monday. com that your team will actually love using The same Monday. com with an easy and intuitive setup Go to Monday. com and try it for free. Yes, the same Monday. com Our next guest is known for bringing to life iconic characters we love to hate. From the fououth washashed up pitcher Kenny Powers in the famed HBO comedy Eastbound and Down to the morally questionable preacher, Jesse Gemstone in the Reous Gemstones, Danny McBride has mastered satire showing critical view of manhood. Now he's taking on the concept of what it means to be masculine in America and much muchuch, much more with his new book of short stories titled Thrreating Tales of Modern Men Danny joins us now. we are delighted to have you here. Thank you for being here. Congratulations. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. So why a book? Why a collection of short stories? You know, I really want it to do what I've been doing in TV now for almost twenty years and take those sort of stories focusing on those kind of characters and put it into a format And so I wanted to deliver to audiences what they have come to expect from me in television in the written word. Well, you even you just the process of you sitting down here before this cracked up half the staff. So certainly you have a command on that, but it's obviously a very different medium when you're choosing the writing. I love the description here It explores the fragile masculinity that has become an inescapable part of modern American culture, expand on that. You know, I think that these are like a lot of the characters I've explored on TV, these guys all sort of have an inflated sense of self. They might be a little selfish. They might be a little confused about how the world works and their place in it. And you know with all these stories, these different men with different backgrounds will find themselves in a world that seems a little upside down and things begin to turn thrilling for them as they try to get back on track. So let me just sum up a couple of the protagonists here in these short stories