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tv   Way Too Early With Jonathan Lemire  MSNBC  March 6, 2024 2:00am-3:00am PST

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i'm jack black. get tickets right now for kung fu panda. you don't have time for a drum solo. get tickets! [ screaming ] get tickets! skadoosh. get tickets! this was an amazing -- an amazing night and an amazing day. it's been on a netball period of
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time and on cutry's history bits in sad in many way. but i think it's going to be inspiring because we're going to coo something that frankly nobody's been able to do for a long time. >> donald trump opening his super tuesday victory speech with some words. we'll have much more analysis for youoon the former president's wins in several states and what the results could mean for the future of nikki haley's campaign. plus, we'll take a deep look at some of the major congressional races across the country that are now set for november. and we'll show you president joe biden's latest comments on the cease-fire negotiations between israel and hamas. they come as the u.s. airdrops more desperately needed aid to gaza. good morning and welcome to "way too early" on this
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wednesday, march 6th. i'm jonathan lemire. thanks for beginning your day with us. and we will start with some of the biggest take-aways from super tuesday as millions of americans took to the polls across 16 states and one territory. as expected donald trump dominated the republican contest yesterday bringing his total number of delegates to just about 1,000. that puts him about 150 away from clenching the gop nomination. there really weren't any major spriegzs except in vermont where nikki haley won with just over 50% of the vote. while historic, her win there, her first state, and her victory in washington, d.c. over the weekend, still puts her far, far behind trump in the race for delegates. on the democratic side, president biden cleaned up last night brings his total number of delegates to over 1,500. but biden did have his first 2024 loss last night, the
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american samoa democratic caucus was won by entrepreneur jason palmer. it's worth noting to be clear the overall vote count there was tiny, fewer than 100 ballots were cast. despite a strong super tuesday for his campaign, donald trump gave something of a dower victory speech at his mar-a-lago estate last night where he harped on the results of the last presidential election. >> a tragic thing happened during the election. it was a tragedy because you wouldn't have -- think of it all of the problems you be today, i don't think you would have any of them. we're a third world country at our borders, and we're a third world country at our elections, and we have to stop that. our cities are choking to death, our states are dying. our country is known as a joke. it's a joke. other leaders who i speak to,
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other leaders can't believe what happened to us. >> trump did not make mention of haley in his speech last night. and unlike her rival, nikki haley did not speak after last night's results came in. instead, sources told nbc news the former south carolina governor spent the night with staff at her campaign headquarters there in charleston, where we're told the vibe was upbet beat. in a statement that was put out late tuesday, haley's team did not signal the next steps for her campaign. instead writing this, today in state after state they remains a large block of republican primary voters expressing deep concerns about donald trump. that is not the unity our party needs for success. recall, of course, haley has said she'd stay in the race for super tuesday so we don't know what happens now. over on the democratic side president joe biden also released a statement after super tuesday. the president wrote this, tonight's results leave the american people with a clear choice. are we going to keep moving forward or allow donald trump to
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drag us back into chaos, division, squer the darkness that define his term in office? beyond the presidential contest and the other elections we watched last night, to california now where nbc news projects democratic congressman adam schiff will face-off against republican candidate and former baseball star steve garvey for that state's hotly contested senate seat. you'll recall california holds what is known as a jungle primary meaning the top two vote getters advance to general election regardless of party affiliation, and it appears schiff's strategy to elevate garvey's little known underdog presidency helped fend off other rivals like katie porter and barbara lee, keeping porter and lee out of the general election. now because he's facing dpavy schiff will avoid a contentious and intraparty fight this fall. he'll be considereded the heavy
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favorite in deep blue california. meanwhile democrats in texas are trying to unseat democratic congressman ted cruz. allred was first elect today the house in 2018 and has been viewed as a strong senate candidate and also posted robust. cruz has long been a top target for democrats especially with texas having the most restrictive states that holds the senate this year. allred has focused a large part of his early campaign messaging on reproductive rights. democrats hope the issue could lead them to victory in a state the party has argued is slowly turning blue. trump won texas in 2020 by nearly 6 points, but that was down from his 9-point win in 2016. in 2018 cruz won a close re-election beating democrat beto o'rourke by just 2.6
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percentage points. joining us now national politics reporter for the hill julia manchester. julia, thanks for starting us off early this morning. i know you like many of us were up late last night watching these results. let's start with the presidential contest on the republican side. trump cruised to victory almost everywhere, though he did drop vermont, so he was deny adclean sweep. what's your read, first of all, on trump's wins but some weaknesses we did see in this canvas? >> absolute wlaesh jonathan. i think this was a very big sweep for donald trump last night. he doesn't have that very crucial of half number of total allotted delegates, but he will get there in the next couple of weeks or at least he's on track. i think what this shows to state the obvious is he is the presumptive nominee. he has the wind at his back. however, there were clear warning signs for donald trump in a number of exit polls.
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for example, i believe it was an nbc news exit poll out of virginia and north carolina that found that roughly 31% to 37% of, you know, voters said that if donald trump were to be convicted before november they would not vote for him. that's obviously a huge red flag for him due to the fact he's dealing with a number of legal issues. but also that college educated block, and we are seeing very much a party realignment here where you have the republican party continuing to trend more towards blue collar voters, democratic voters, trending more towards educated voters. but donald trump is not doing well with that college educated block in states like north carolina and virginia. and that could very well hurt him in the suburbs. we know that the suburbs of some of these major cities in the u.s. and obviously swing states have played deciding roles in the recent elections. so that weakness could hurt him
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going forward, so that's something his campaign needs to keep an eye on. >> julia, let's talk about nikki haley now. her campaign has remained tight-lipped about what happens next. she has said she'd stay in the race through super tuesday. that has come and gone? is it possible she could drop out in the near future? yes, it is. she's also possible she could forge forward. she's got the money do to it. what would be the rationale to keep her campaign afloat? >> you're right. if she has the money and continues to fund raise, she can theoretically stay in for as long as she wants. she has argued the rationale for her staying in is that she doesn't want this to be the longest general election in u.s. history, that republicans deserve another choice. and, you know, she was -- she didn't win these other states besides vermont, but there were definitely pluralities of republicans and maybe more moderate independents that came out for her, so i guess she could make that -- that
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argument, but she only won one state last night. she won vermont. and in states like north carolina and virginia, those were states where we thought that nikki haley could really run up the margins, for example in north carolina, macklenburg county, the suburbs of richmond, maybe the virginia beach hampton roads area, but that didn't really end up happening for her. it's hard to see how she can chart this path forward. i think it was interesting in her statement last night she sort of referenced donald trump's remarks calling for unity, saying we don't have unity in the republican party, so we don't really know what her path looks like going forward, but she clearly wants to represent this one part of the republican party that's very clearly a minority. >> julia, lastly and briefly, was there anything else that grabbed you last night either on the democratic side or perhaps down ballot race? >> the down ballot race in texas i thought was interesting.
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and this was sort of expected. we saw collin allred won that primary, the democratic primary will go onto face ted cruz. ted cruz and republicans were already itching to go after collin allred. we saw that yesterday before polls closed going after allred. in california we think we all were sort of predicting it would be a schiff-garvey matchup. we'll see how schiff performs in the general election. i don't think any surprises besides american samoa. going back to 2020 mike bloomberg won that territory, we were all it was the joke and last night it surprised us again. >> good call back. it was the one contest michael bloomberg won four years ago. national politics reporter for the hill, julia manchester, thank you for starting us off
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this morning. we really appreciate it. coming up on "way too early" we'll have much, much more on the results from super tuesday. plus what we're learning about a reported meeting between donald trump and elon musk. and the senate gop race to succeed minority leader mitch mcconnell is taking shape. we'll take a look at who's in and who's out. those stories and a check on sports and weather when we come right back. and weather when we right back
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welcome back. we'll have much more on the super tuesday results in just a moment, but some other political stories here now including how donald trump is looking to new mega-donors for campaign crash and one of the richest men in the world is among mem. the "the new york times" broke the news the former president met with elon musk sunday at mar-a-lago including along with
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a few other wealthy republican donors. that's according to three people briefed on the meeting. nbc news has not independently verified this reporting and neither trump nor musk responded to the paper's request for comment. musk has been at odds with trump in the past and has never endorsed him. but as "the times" points out, musk's recent social media posts suggest a conservative lean and also that he wants to see president biden defeated in november, something to watch. speaking of president biden we're now just one day away from his "state of the union" address, and we're getting an idea which notable guests were asked to show up as russia is set to be a key theme tomorrow night. russian opposition leader alexei navalny's widow was invited but according to the white house she can no longer attend. biden met with her a few days after her husband's death last month. meanwhile speaker mike johnson
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will bring detained wall street journal's even gerschkovich's parents as guests. writing this by hosting evan's parents congress will shine a spotlight on the unlawful detainment of their son. he was arrested a year ago on espionage charges which the united states has vehemently denied. the first lady of ukraine declined an invitation to uh-uh tend the speech due to scheduling conflicts. meanwhile, donald trump is now commenting on the war in gaza, something he's largely avoided throughout the conflict. the gop front-runner told fox news yesterday he supports israel but stopped short of offering any specific thoughts about a possible cease-fire. take a listen. >> are you onboard with the way the idf is taking the fight to gaza -- in gaza? >> you've got to finish the problem. you had a horrible invasion that took place that would have never happened if i was president, by the way. as you know iran was broke, they
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were broke. they had no money for hamas, for hezbollah. they were broke. and for another reason, they wouldn't have done it to me. they did this because they have no respect for biden, and frankly they got soft, and what happened here is incredible. >> mr. president, what did you feel about kamala harris calling for a cease-fire in gaza? is that something that you support? is that something that is totally off the table right now for you? >> look, i hate seeing what's happening. again, it would have never happened. israel's counter attack, which is what it is, would never have happened if i was president, and you know that lawrence. >> trump still largely dodging the issues there. meanwhile, president biden is calling on hamas to accept a cease-fire proposal. the president told reporters yesterday that there is a deal in place to pause the fighting in time for the muslim holy month of ramadan, put they're still waiting on hamas to
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accept. this comes as negotiators are in cairo hammering out the details of the potential six-week truce. >> it's in the hand of hamas right now. the israelis, they're cooperating. there's an offer out there that's rational. we'll know in a couple of days. it's going to happen, but we need a cease-fire. well, there's got to be a cease-fire because ramadan, if you get into a circumstance where this continues through ramadan, israel and jerusalem -- it could be very, very dangerous, so we're trying hard for that cease-fire. >> the administration that leaned on israel heavily in recent weeks to accept the cease-fire, they have suggested they will. next up here we'll turn to sports and show you the overturned call that snapped the boston celtics 11-game winning streak. plus we'll go through all the
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big moves happening in the nfl as teams get ready for the start of free agency. that's all straight ahead. he stt of free agency that's all straight ahead. no, my denture's uncomfortable! dracula, let's fight back against discomfort. with new poligrip power max hold & comfort. it has superior hold plus keeps us comfy all day with it's pressure absording layer. time for a bite! if your mouth could talk it would ask for... poligrip. here's to getting better with age. here's to beating these two every thursday. help fuel today with boost high protein, complete nutrition you need... ...without the stuff you don't. so, here's to now. boost.
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seven seconds left, tatum. tatum fades. it is no good. and a foul called with point 7. >> but that foul call in the final second was overturn after replay review. it was the right call, and which cleveland cavaliers escape to a 105-104 victory over the boston celtics. cleveland's dean wade outscored the celtics by himself in the fourth quarter putting up 20 in the period as the cavs erased a 20-point deficit. down two starters, terrible loss for the celtics who as good as they are, still have real questions at the end of games, coaching and tatum's ability to
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close. championship week is under way in college basketball, and last night illinois third ranked perdue wrapped up the conference. and became the first team in almost two decades to 1 consecutive outright big ten championships. congrats to them. number 7 north carolina topped notre dame 84-51 to clench at least a share of what would be the tarhill's 33rd regular season acc title. with the nfl new year now just one week away, nine teams opted by yesterday's deadline to designate a player with either a franchise or transition tag. the latter which is pretty rare, was doled out by the new england patriots miking safety kyle dugger just the sixth player to receive it. they left untagged star running back saquan barclay to become a free agent if another deal is not reached with big blue.
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meanwhile the seattle sea hawks are set to save space with a major roster shakeup. jamal adams once the highest paid in the position but a disappointment in the pacific north west. now to major league baseball and a reunion on the spring training diamonds in arizona. shohei ohtani greeted his former teammates yesterday. you just saw it there, shared a hug and posted photos with mike trout before the first pitch. ohtani who entered yesterday's exhibition 5 for 7 this spring he struck out his first two bats and flat out for his third and time appearance. angels beat the dodgers. their pitcher injured, likely to miss the whole season. time now for the weather and let's go to meteorologist angie
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lassman for the forecast. and lots of rainout there. >> yeah, a soggy one. i hope you brought your umbrella. if you didn't, you're going to be sorry. we've got a whole lot of rain we're expecting and not just parts of the north east, the mid-atlantic, it's really the whole east coast stretching into ohio and portions of of tennessee valleys, that's where we're dealing with it right now. we do have flood alerts in effect across portions of of the north east, new york, boston, major cities included in that. but we've got many people included in the flood alerts through tomorrow, and here's why. that big push of moisture works its way into parts of the midatlantic and north east as we go through the day today. we're talking moderate, even heavy rain as the day goes on. this is going to create a problem for the i-95 corridor. the flash flooding is something we'll watch even into tomorrow. here's it deal as we get into your day, though, we'll start to see the system moving out, and the rain kind of lingers and beyond that we'll see quieter
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conditions. >> thank you very much. talk to you again tomorrow. still ahead we'll bring you far more on the biggest takes away for super tuesday. plus independent senator kirsten sinema of arizona has announced he's not be seeking re-election. what that could mean in arizona in that critical swing state. we'll bring you more of that when we come right back. g you mt enwh we come right back. (psst) ahhh! with flonase, allergies don't have to be scary. spray flonase sensimist daily for non-drowsy long lasting relief in a scent free, gentle mist. flonase all good. also, try our allergy headache and nighttime pills. here's to getting better with age. here's to beating these two every thursday. help fuel today with boost high protein, complete nutrition you need... ...without the stuff you don't. so, here's to now. boost. - bye, bye cough. - later chest congestion. hello 12 hours of relief. 12 hours!! mucinex dm gives you 12 hours of relief from chest congestion and any cough, day or night.
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i'm jack black. get tickets right now for kung fu panda. you don't have time for a drum solo. get tickets! [ screaming ] get tickets! skadoosh. get tickets! welcome back to "way too early." it is precisely 5:30 a.m. here
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on the east coast, 2:30 out west on this wednesday morning. i'm jonathan lemire. thanks for being with us. reacting to last night's super tuesday results a senior advisor to george w. bush warned donald trump could be in trouble in november if he can't bring nikki haley voters back to his camp. >> team trump ought to be concerned about unifying the republican party because as we see in the -- in these states a third of the vote in virginia, 43% of the vote in massachusetts going to nikki haley, a quarter of the vote in north carolina. maine has now dropped down to about a quarter of the vote, but it was 31% for nikki haley, vermont, 48%. there's still some work to be done to unify the republican party. >> delivering that message last night on fox news. meanwhile independent senator kirsten sinema of arizona says she will not run for re-election
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this november. she explained her decision in a video posted on social media late yesterday. >> i believe in my approach, but it's not what america wants right now. i love arizona, and i am so proud of what we delivered. because i choose civility, understanding, listening, working together to get stuff done, i will leave the senate at the end of this year. >> sinema was first elected in 2019 as a democrat but left the party and became an independent in 2022. she most recently served as one of the lead negotiators on the failed bipartisan border bill and appeared to be facing an uphill re-election battle. democratic congressman ruben diego is running for heher soon to be open senate seat. joining us now co-founder of punch bowl news, jake sherman. he's also an msnbc political
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contributor. and his morning newsletter just landed in my inbox. jay, good to see you. let's start with senator sinema, not someone popular with democrats but did gain praise at times working across the aisle to get things done. give us a snapshot of her legacy, but more importantly what does it mean now for the battle for her in that open seat? >> jonathan, let's start with the latter. the battle for the head to head seat will not be an open battle. i was talking to some arizona republicans yesterday predisposed to kari lake and like kari. lake. independents are the second largest voting block and broke for sinema in the past and will they break for or more dangerously stay home, and i think that's the big question. we could call them for shorthand
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mccain republicans, she was a progressive democrat in the house. she shifted and what she said is true. she believes in bipartisan compromises, that's something she believes very strongly, and she worked on the good abill, infrastructure, the inflation reduction act. she aligned herself with people like joe manchin. we saw a lot of republicans coming out yesterday and praising kyrsten sinema for her work. there's no question she had inserted herself and was a key player in a lot of these legislative battles over the first two years of the administration and even more recently. her big legacy will be for democrats she helped mitch mcconnell rescue the filibuster, and democrats had said that ad nauseam. she did not believe in eliminating that 60-vote threshold, and that for many democrats would be her legacy. >> also an odd character there up on capitol hill, jake, as you
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well know. let's shift to super tuesday, and just give us a few of your biggest take-aways from the results last night. >> well, the presidential contest is well-covered. joe biden and donald trump seem to be racing towards their nominations. the california senate race, adam schiff is going to face steve garvey in that senate race in november. he got that republican candidate. he boosted that republican candidate because he didn't want to face a general election in that top two situation you seeoon the screen. listen, schiff, will be heavily favored against steve garvey in november in that deep blue state. number two, we saw the results of a member on member primary in alabama where republican barry moore against republican jerry carl. he came out victorious there. these are the results of a redistricting process that gave
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democrats another seat in alabama where you had two candidates rushing to the right, muddying each other up in the primary election, which is a big deal. we're saying good-bye to jerry carl who was a favorite of the d.c. establishment in favor of barry moore who, by the way, ran ads saying he was a trump republican. >> co-founder of punch bowl news and msnbc political contributor jake sherman, thanks very much. watching for that. still ahead, we'll be joined by our friends at cnbc for a look at this morning's business headlines, plus some insights on the markets which appear to be bouncing back before the bell. we'll be right back. bouncing back before the bell. we'll be right back.
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time now for business, and for that lts bring in cnbc's arabile gumede who joins us live from london. good morning. stock futures are up this morning following what was a sharp sell-off yesterday for all three major averages. what's the sense as to what we can expect today? >> yeah, so good morning to you, john. it's certainly perhaps a rebound we're seeing off of those lows we saw then, and apple leaving the declines around 3% down yesterday. of course there have been a few question marks around some of the tech players as well and beginning to diverge a bit and really four big tech names moving higher. we did see nvidia manage to gain higher despite tech players moving into negative tear continue in yesterday's trade. today, though, we're anticipating a bit of a rebound. all eyes will still be on fed chair jerome powell who will be
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speaking today and tomorrow. congressional testimony that will happen and perhaps a rate of interest rate cuts will be another factor to look out for but sentiment remains but of course we'll await that meeting level. we do have job opening numbers that out a little later on today, plus we have adp employment data and nonfarm payrolls coming out. bitcoin reached an all-time record high yesterday but then tumbled sharply. tell us how that happened? >> yeah, i mean that high of around 69,000 then, what was the big mark to really look out for, that's dropped off quite considerably now, around 68,570 is odd is where we're seeing the price of bitcoin.
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etf managers managing to get into this as well has managed to push the price higher. significantly, it felt like that was just the market. markets needed to leech off bitcoin and dropped off at 12% in some stages and has been on a tear for quite some time now. whether that is going to happen for an extended period, 73 million up since 2010. the question is this formal trade or is there more to this pull run? >> all right, cnbc's arabile gumede, keeping an eye on that for us. live from london as always. thank you. we'll talk to you again tomorrow. still ahead here on "way too early," president ejobiden dominated yesterday's democratic elections but did have to deal with a swath of uncommitted votes. we'll take a look what that means for his re-election bid when we come right back. s re-el when we come right back. e. here's to beating these two every thursday. help fuel today with boost high protein,
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welcome back. as we tone our super tuesday coverage, president biden won almost all of the democratic nomitting contests yesterday. he dropped american samoa, but he also faced an unusual contender in some states, an uncommitted vote. about half of the states in yesterday's races had an uncommitted line or no preferential option on the ballots including in minnesota where the protests there about gaza drew a significant share. 19% of democratic voters in the state of minnesota chose uncommitted therefore winning eight del dpts. this comes after 100,000 voters in the democratic primary cast uncommitted ballots in michigan last week. joining us now democratic congressman becka ballant of vermont. great to see you this morning. let's start there with those uncommitted voters. there's certainly a decent turnout last night particularly in minnesota.
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what sort of warning sign do you perceive that to be for president biden? >> i think it's important we think about what it is they're trying to say. they're giving voices in this war, this horrible war needs to come to an end, the suffering needs to come to an end, we need to see a very strong message coming from the president. we certainly saw that with the vice president a couple days ago. really pushing the netanyahu government to end the suffering, so it's very important that their voices are heard, so actually it's an opportunity for the president to do what the president does best, which is he has to buckle down, do that retail politics, listen deeply to what these voters are saying, and i believe in the end he is the person who will do the hard work in the region to bring about finally a two-state solution in the region. and so i think that will -- that will emerge. but it's unquestionable, you
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have a situation right now where americans are absolutely horrified by what they're seeing in terms of the suffering in gaza, and they want a change of direction. >> i know you just recently returned from a trip there to the region. what you're saying the president should do is the moment for that tomorrow night's "state of the union"? what should he say in. >> i would certainly like to hear that from am president. as you said i got back from the region, was in israel the and palestinian territories. it's clear israelis are deeply, deeply distrustful of prime minister netanyahu. zen between 75 and 8 a% don't trust him in the way he's handling this war. they don't necessarily feel they are safer from this war in gaza. so it's very important that the president reassures americans that he's hearing this message, this strong message that the
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humanitarian aid must get through. we should be getting 500 trucks in conjunction with humanitarian aid organizations into gaza. we're nowhere near that right now, and that's what the tone i believe that the president needs to strike because that's what americans want to hear. >> congresswoman, we're now staring at another government shutdown deadline. what is your confidence or worry about a deal getting done to keep congress open which has to happen first before your chamber there can move onto things like aid to ukraine and humanitarian aid to gaza? >> i don't have a high level of confidence in the speaker as i said to others. he is the least experienced speaker in the 140 years in this country, and it shows. he's still very much beholden to the extremists in his party. they are clearly not understanding they are in the slimmest of majorities.
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they don't hold the cards. they have to work with democrats to come to spending bills to keep the government open. this is the lowest amount of responsibility that we have as members of congress. keep the government open. if we can't even do that, you know, it falls directly at the feet of speaker johnson at & the extremists in his party. >> all right, we appreciate you being with us this morning, democratic congresswoman of vermont, thank you and speak to you again soon. >> always happy to join you. up next on "way too early" the race to replace senate minority leader mitch mcconnell is starting to take place. who's in, who's out, and where the republican leadership battle is heading next. and then coming up on "morning joe" president closer officially clinching their party's nominations after dominating on super tuesday. while nikki haley who did win vermont now weighs the future of her campaign.
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steve kornacki will break down the results. and member of the biden/harris national advisory board wes moore will join the conversation. "morning joe" just a few short moments away. s away here's to getting better with age. here's to beating these two every thursday. help fuel today with boost high protein, complete nutrition you need... ...without the stuff you don't. so, here's to now. boost. [dog whimpers] [thinking] why always the couch? does he need to go to puppy school? get his little puppy diploma? how much have i been spending on this little guy?
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welcome back. the race is on to replace mitch mcconnell. and what was a three man campaign has now shrunk to just two after john barrasso announced that he would not run for the position. in a letter to his colleagues, barrasso, third most powerful republican in the senate, announced that instead he would run for the number two position of whip. the race for the top spot is now between john thune of south dakota and former whip john cornyn of texas. yes, all the men have the first name john. those two cornyn and thune have both formally announced they are running for mcconnell's job. the election for the gop conference chair is also shaping up to be a close fight. joni ernst who is considering a run for the position called out her colleague senator tom cotton
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yesterday after he announced a bid without giving his party a head's up. >> i want to be in whatever role i can help my fellow senators and president biden best achieve our shared goals for the american people. some colleagues have approached me about the conference chair job. i'm focusing on that position right now. >> elections for senate republican leadership will be held behind closed doors this november. joining us now, communication strategist, brendan buck. also an msnbc political analyst. good to see you this morning. so let's get your overview of the senate leadership races and what sort of role do you think donald trump will play. >> i think that he could play a really important role. to that point, i think i would be surprised if it ends up being just john thune and john cornyn in the race. it was a bit of a surprise john barrasso decided to run for the number two spot.
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the reminder that the way this works, you only need a simple majority. so if it is just those two, it would be a pretty straightforward election. but there is a pretty significant bloc of senate republicans who are pretty disgruntled, taking shots at mcconnell and they are much more of the maga wing of the party. it would surprise me if they don't recruit someone if only to serve to block one of those two johns and at least have a seat at the table in the election behind closed doors. whether that is someone like steve daines who currently chairs the party committee, there is a group who want to go in a completely different direction than what mitch mcconnell has gone in and the two johns that remain pretty establishment standard republicans. john cornyn was in leadership for ten years. john thune currently the number two. so i imagine we'll have a little more drama to this race, which is going to last eight months as understand november, that is an extremely long time for a leadership race.
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could get ugly and personal. and i imagine donald trump at the end could have a big say if there is someone he doesn't want to be the republican leader, i imagine he has the power to make that happen. >> safe bet it will be ugly and personal. i want to dig a little deeper in some of the developments yesterday in a couple key battleground states. first of all arizona, kyrsten sinema says she won't run for re-election so we have kari lake being the republican. and then north carolina the one state trump won last time that democrats think they can pick up this time around, republicans have nominated mark robinson for governor, a holocaust denier and has said a number of deeply offensive things about several groups. what is your read here as to what we saw yesterday could impact november in those two states? >> it is a big deal. obviously in an election year top of the ticket will drive most things. if we're mostly focused on whether biden or trump will win north carolina, i don't know
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that the governor in the race is really going to decide that, but it could matter on the margins. either state could be razor thing margins and everything could sway the outcome. if you have a situation where you are a nikki haley republican and you are just sort of fed up with the direction of the party and you see that that is your governor nominee, you might be inclined to stay home and that could be enough to swing the state one way or the other. obviously in arizona i think democrats are pleased that they have got a much clearer path and much clearer situation that they are dealing with. they clearly see kari lake as a toxic candidate and it makes it a much easier dynamic for them to play with. but again, we're talking about razor thin margins that could decide the president so all of these developments are really important in the bigger context. >> a race expected to be super, super close. so you mentioned nikki haley. she did post one win last night, and put unreasonably impressive
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showings in a few other states. but trump now just about 150 delegates away from clinching the nomination. haley had said she would stay in through super tuesday. it is now the day after. what do you anticipate she will do next? >> i anticipated her to drop out long before now. she has served as a protest candidate. i still sort of expected this is winding down and she knows it, the math is clear that she is not going to win. the big question is not necessarily whether she drops out or stays in, it is what does she signal to people who voted for her. i don't think nikki haley necessarily commands every one of those people votes. those are clearly i think anti-trump votes. but if she tries to signal to those people that it is okay to come back to donald trump and come back in the fold, we need to unify, do the standard politician thing, that would be interesting. but i'm more interested if she wants to lead the party in a
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different direction. i don't think there is a real post trump future for her or anybody near term, but if she wants to stand on morals and principles and say it is okay not to vote for donald trump this time around, i think she would have a significant legacy and impact on the race in november. >> and her team very tight lipped last night. we didn't hear from haley personally. no speech. we'll see what happens in the days ahead if she weighs her future. brendan buck, thank you for being with us. and thanks to all of you for getting up "way too early" with us on this wednesday morning, a jam parked morning. "morning joe" starts right now. biden and trump won the most delegates but stickers said i reluctantly voted. meanwhile today taylor swift got on instagram and encouraged her 282 million followers to vote. yeah, which backfired when everyone voted for the blank space. >> all right. super tuesday in

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