Mike Barnicle on TV

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Tune in for this Morning Joe conversation Jonathan Lemire, Mike Barnicle and MS NOW reporter Josh Einiger who joins the program from Dubai to discuss the attacks on the United Arab Emirates’ by its Iranian neighbor that has caused the country to briefly close its airspace as Israel launched new strikes in war in the Middle East. “What's happening to people on the streets of Dubai?” asks Barnicle. Watch the discussion here.

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Dubai under attack

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"Let's put on your admiral's hat and talk about the war from that point of view. The Iranians are playing a home game in the Straits of Hormuz, and they can do whatever they want, whenever they want. What does that mean for the conclusion of this war, the fact that they can do whatever they want, when they want, in that strip of narrow waterway?” asks veteran columnist Mike Barnicle of U.S. Navy Rear Admiral (Ret.) John Kirby during a Morning Joe conversation regarding the Strait of Hormuz being effectively closed to most commercial traffic following a series of Iranian attacks on merchant vessels during an escalating conflict with the U.S. and Israel. Listen to Kirby’s response here on MSN NOW.

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Iran attacks ships in the Strait of Hormuz

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"In any business, it's a big jump from Triple-A to the Major Leagues, especially in politics. And the back and forth between these two potential presidential candidates, Marco Rubio and the incumbent vice president of the United States, it's striking to see both of them on TV next to each other. One looks like a trainee, the vice president, and the other, the secretary of state, looks like a legitimate major leaguer,” says veteran columnist Mike Barnicle during this Morning Joe conversation with Joe Scarborough and POLITICO Politics Bureau Chief Jonathan Martin about Secretary of State Marco Rubio being increasingly viewed as a top-tier rival to Vice President JD Vance for the 2028 GOP nomination. You can hear more from Martin on his new podcast series, "On the Road with Jonathan Martin.”

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Rubio v. Vance for 2028?

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Tune in on this Morning Joe conversation with Joe Scarborough, Jonathan Lemire and Mike Barnicle as they discuss the fallout in the country from the U.S.-Iran war as President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth are delivering conflicting messages regarding the duration and objectives of the 11-day-old military conflict. “Let's clear this up with basically getting down to the basics. In the country at large, I would submit that the issue is not necessarily the war. The issue now is gas and groceries—that's on everyone's mind. And the other issue, the one that you just raised, Gerry Baker, talks about it in a great column in the Wall Street Journal. His language, his appearances, doing a weave, describing war, describing combat, international combat, involving multiple countries, in the most aflame region in the world, the Middle East. Gerry Baker writes, ‘the failure to articulate a persuasive and inspiring case not only weakens support at home, our diplomatic efforts overseas, and our war fighting capabilities. The unseemly representation of necessary lethal battle as some sort of video game corrupts our national culture. We can't be expected to raise our eyes to the shining beacon of our noble ideals if we can't see through the acrid smoke of our leaders in temperate, incontinent, infantilizing verbiage.’ And he's talking about the president of the United States and the Secretary of Defense,” says Barnicle as he reads from Wall Street Journal editor at large Gerard Baker’s latest article titled, “In a War of Words, Trump Always Defeats Himself.” Watch the segment here.

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Iran War fallout: 'Gas and groceries'

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“Ed, in speaking of danger—danger politically or whatever level you're talking about—have you heard any repercussions about the fact that it seems that Bibi Netanyahu took Donald Trump by the hand and walked him right up to the window of war?” asks veteran columnist Mike Barnicle of Financial Times U.S. national editor Ed Luce who joins Morning Joe to discuss a new article about the United States and Israel being engaged in a major military conflict with Iran, following President Donald Trump explicitly denying that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu forced his hand. Listen to Luce’s response here.

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The window of war

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"Steve, Wall Street clearly does not like unpredictability or uncertainty. No one does. But on the global stage, there's no way of telling how long we will be actively involved on a daily basis in a war in Iran. What happens if this war lengthens out in terms of the United States' presence and participation in that war? What happens to those charts behind you right now?" asks veteran columnist Mike Barnicle of economic analyst Steve Rattner who joins Morning Joe to discuss the economic impact of the U.S. conflict with Iran. Listen to Rattner’s response here about the impact so far and the potential for oil prices, inflation, interest rates and the stock market.

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Economic impact of the war with Iran

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"Jake, does it bother you that so far in all of the explanations that the president has given in various phone calls to members of the media and off-the-cuff remarks at Medal of Honor ceremonies about the war, that there are three key questions that the military wonders about when it comes to fighting a war: When is the war going to start? Where are we going to fight it? And the big question that hasn't been answered by the president of the United States to the people of this country: Why are we there? Why? What is the objective? Does that bother you that there's been no outline of an objective here?” asks veteran columnist Mike Barnicle of former national security advisor Jake Sullivan who joins Morning Joe to discuss the Trump Administration’s mixed messaging on the country’s current war with Iran. Watch Sullivan’s response here.

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War on Iran: “No clear end game"

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Watch this Morning Joe conversation with Willie Geist, Jonathan Lemire and Mike Barnicle and New York Times investigative reporter Michael Schmidt about the details and fallout following multiple prestigious law firms having reached high-stakes settlements with the Trump Administration to rescind or preemptively avoid punitive executive orders. “Some of these law firms are global law firms, some of the most powerful law firms in the world…(and) they folded to the president of the United States….Any sense of the stain—the eternal stain—that's left on these firms?” asks Barnicle. Hear Schmidt’s assessment on MS NOW.

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Trump v. law firms

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"Senator Durbin, today Secretary Noem, Kristi Noem, is scheduled to appear before the Judiciary Committee. I'm wondering if you can ascertain or try and find out from her exactly how much money was spent to individual, potential recruits to ICE—$50,000 dollars, I’m told, was offered as bonuses to many of them. How much money in total was spent? What their training was? And why no one has cooperated with the Minneapolis Police Department in a homicide case?, asks veteran columnist Mike Barnicle of Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) during a Morning Joe conversation about Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee, which marks Noem’s first congressional appearance since the shooting deaths of two protesters, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis. Hear what Durbin has to say on MS NOW.

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Noem testifies about ICE

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MS NOW senior national security reporter David Rohde joined Morning Joe to discuss his latest piece “Was Jeffrey Epstein a spy? The world keeps asking,” which reports that despite growing political speculation, there is no evidence that Jeffrey Epstein was a spy for any foreign nation, though some officials debate whether foreign intelligence agencies may have targeted him because of his elite connections. "David, you mentioned when you were listing the potential secret operations of other countries looking at his emails—trying to look at his emails—you mentioned the Russians and the Chinese; but, isn’t it also possible that he could have been a clear target for some sophisticated countries like Israel, who are always looking for information about America and what’s happening in America? And this guy had treasure trove of information—confidential information—with some pretty high rolling people?” asks veteran columnist Mike Barnicle. Hear Rohde’s answer here.

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Was Jeffrey Epstein a spy?

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"There’s a phrase that is used in history to describe certain examples of leadership: it’s called pathfinder. And in the 1984 campaign, I would submit Jesse Jackson was a pathfinder. He was so electric as a candidate that he changed politics, not only Democratic politics, but politics in this country,” said veteran columnist and MS NOW contributor Mike Barnicle during this Morning Joe conversation with Joe Scarborough, Rev. Al Sharpton, Mika Brzezinski and Willie Geist as they remember the life and legacy of civil rights icon Rev. Jesse Jackson, who has died at 84 years old. In Jackson’s historic bid for the 1984 Democratic presidential nomination, he became the first African American candidate to win a major party state primary or caucus.

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Remembering Rev. Jesse Jackson

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Tune in for this Morning Joe segment with Jonathan Lemire and Mike Barnicle as they talk with American Jewish Committee CEO Ted Deutch who unveiled the AJC’s State of Antisemitism in America 2025 report, which reveals, among other facts, that 73 percent of American Jews have experienced antisemitism online. “…There’s a real sense of more anger out there and frustration in people’s lives. How does that add to it, do you think?” asks Barnicle. Hear what Deutch has to say about the contributing factors fueling antisemitism today and some of the possible solutions.

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New report on Antisemitism

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“It was depressing to watch that, actually, the entire hearing,” said MS NOW contributor Mike Barnicle during this Morning Joe conversation with Mika Brzezinski, Jonathan Lemire and Joe Scarborough and as they weigh in on “the lack of empathy” from Attorney General Pam Bondi, who faces intense criticism for her handling of the Jeffrey Epstein investigation files at a high-tension House Judiciary Committee oversight hearing where she also refused to personally acknowledge survivors in attendance. "It was also another building block in people's lack of confidence—the feeling that they have lack of confidence that the government operates for us, for ordinary people. Watching it and because of my age, my experiences, I started thinking about the Army-McCarthy hearings and Joseph Welch ‘have you no sense of decency, sir?,’ the Fulbright hearings on Vietnam, the Watergate hearings that resulted in Richard Nixon leaving the presidency, resigning from the presidency. All of these things, I think people felt, ‘well, they're doing something for us. They’re explaining things for us, for the people.’.…This hearing, yesterday, I think the only thing it did was cement the average person's accurate feeling that justice is a two-tiered system now in the United States of America. It protects the wealthy, protects the powerful like Epstein and his friends, Epstein and company. And the average person does not get the same treatment in the justice system in America now,” says Barnicle about the American judicial system.

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Empathy Absent, Trust Eroded

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Watch this Morning Joe conversation between MS NOW contributor and veteran columnist Mike Barnicle and Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) about the ongoing, controversial ICE operations under President Donald Trump, after Liam Conejo Ramos—a 5-year-old boy “detained" by ICE in Minneapolis—was finally released. "Liam and the other children in that facility with him have in effect been kidnapped,” says Barnicle. "You are a member of the United States Senate, 100 strong, the House of Representatives, 435 strong. Are you telling us, the nation, that there is nothing you can do about this—nothing?” Hear Murphy’s response” “We are not powerless,” he says in describing what methods lawmakers have to stop the “murder” of American citizens and the tear-gassing of schools.

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ICE under fire

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Tune in on this Morning Joe conversation with Mika Brzezinski, Willie Geist, Jonathan Lemire and Mike Barnicle as they discuss President Donald Trump continuing to insist he "didn't make a mistake" and refusing to apologize for his Truth Social video post that included racist imagery of former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama, which has received bipartisan backlash. “When you realize what it was and people see it, and you understand the president's reaction to it—that he's not going to apologize, that he's not going to admit a mistake—he defines himself even further as to who he is: Are we really surprised?” says Barnicle.

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Trump refuses to apologize for racist post

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"Peter Baker, you've been covering Washington, D.C. for quite some time. So on this particular never-ending story, the Epstein files, do you get the sense that it's the intent, the plan, the plot of the Trump Administration to just run out the clock on this—by redacting so many names, keep sending up papers that are meaningless, really, with no proof, no real hard evidence that you can talk about publicly—just run out the clock on it?” asks veteran columnist Mike Barnicle of New York Times chief White House correspondent Peter Baker as the Morning Joe panel discusses President Donald Trump's rollout of the Jeffrey Epstein files, which has been marked by accusations of cover-up, noncompliance, heavy redactions, and political deflection. Listen to Baker’s response here.

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Epstein file continued fallout

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Tune in for this Morning Joe conversation with Willie Geist, Jonathan Lemire, Eugene Robinson and Mike Barnicle as they weigh in on President Donald Trump having called U.S. Olympic skier Hunter Hess a "real loser” after the athlete exercised his First Amendment rights by expressing "mixed emotions" about representing the United States in the current political climate. “The most American thing you can do is say: I love America. I'm a member of the United States of America. I'm a citizen. My family has grown up here. I love this country. I just wish that we would stop putting five-year-olds in refugee camps and taking them out of their homes and off the streets of the cities that they live in. There’s nothing more American than that,” says Barnicle.

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Trump attacks olympic skier for his opinions

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“One of the problems in this country, I would submit, is the lack—the death—of so many local newspapers where people would get their news about what's happening in their state or their small town or their city that they live in,” said veteran columnist Mike Barnicle during this Morning Joe conversation with Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski about the state of journalism today and how major outlets like The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Atlantic, are providing hope because they’re thriving under strong leadership and proving that high-quality journalism can still succeed if done right. “There are a few papers still doing the job….My old paper, The Boston Globe, is doing very well. It's doing very well under the ownership of John W. Henry. His wife, Linda, helps run the paper. She does run the paper...and it's a dominant newspaper and it can happen. The death of the small papers in this country are part of the slow diminution of people's appreciation of government, of democracy, and we need more healthy newspapers."

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Great journalism is not dead

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Tune in for this Morning Joe segment as veteran columnist Mike Barnicle and former New Jersey governor Chris Christie address Donald Trump’s call to “nationalize” U.S. elections—with Christie positing that the Founders deliberately placed elections in the hands of the states to protect accountability and public trust, and that state-run elections help keep power closer to the people who actually vote. “I think most people think our elections are free and fair…but having one entity, the federal government, running an election, a national election, as opposed to 50 states running their elections—boy, you can see something easily done by putting your finger on the ballot, literally from the national level, and taking care of it, rigging it one time, rather than 50 states doing it in charge,” says Barnicle.

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Free and fair elections

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Tune in for this Morning Joe segment as veteran columnist Mike Barnicle and former Atlanta Mayor and 2026 Georgia gubernatorial candidate Keisha Lance Bottoms discuss the FBI having executed a search warrant at the Fulton County Elections Hub and Operations Center in Georgia as it probes alleged voter fraud in the 2020 election.

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