Trump's Shuttle Diplomacy Moment: Alaska Takes Center Stage in Russia-Ukraine War

Summary

2WAY Morning Meeting – Detailed Episode Summary

Podcast: 2WAY Morning Meeting
Host: Mark Halperin
Co-hosts: Sean Spicer, Dan Turrentine
Date: August 15, 2025
Episode Title: Trump's Shuttle Diplomacy Moment: Alaska Takes Center Stage in Russia-Ukraine War

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Episode Overview

This episode of the 2WAY Morning Meeting centers on President Trump's high-stakes summit in Alaska with Russian President Vladimir Putin, a critical moment for the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. The panel analyzes implications for U.S. diplomacy, global security, and domestic politics, while also touching on major U.S. stories, notably new federal interventions in D.C. policing and the evolving Senate landscape. Memorable moments include a candid six-minute media Q&A from President Trump aboard Air Force One, and a showcase of global reactions from figures like Hillary Clinton and Don Jr.

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Key Segments & Timestamps

1. Setting the Stage: The Alaska Summit

[00:00–04:31]

• Mark introduces the episode as historic, previewing full summit coverage and related stories.
• Brief mentions of D.C. police shakeup and new federal moves on immigration enforcement.

"This is an historic moment for America. ... We have lots to tell you about the summit." -- Mark [00:00]

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2. President Trump's Air Force One Press Conference

[04:31–09:56]
(Full Trump Q&A played live – key points below)

Main Takeaways

• On U.S.-NATO Arms and Economic Leverage:

  "They're buying our weapons, we're sending them to NATO, and NATO is sending us big, beautiful checks... But what I do care about is they lost... over 7,000 soldiers. It's crazy." — President Trump [04:31]

• On Meeting Putin Face-to-Face:

  "Look, he's a smart guy... but so have I. Been doing it for a long time. ... There's a good respect level on both sides." — President Trump [05:12]

• On Russia’s Recent Escalation:

  "I think they're trying to negotiate. ... He thinks that makes him... gives him strength in negotiating. I think it hurts him." — President Trump [06:37]

• On Territorial Swaps and U.S. Security Guarantees:

  "They'll be discussed, but I've got to let Ukraine make that decision... There are certain things that aren't going to happen." — President Trump [07:12] "Economically severe? Yes, it will be very severe. ... I'm doing this to save a lot of lives." — President Trump [09:44]

• On Economic Pressure and Tariffs:

  "We're the hottest... We were a dead country... Now we have the hottest country. ... I'm going to have a rate that is going to be lower at the beginning. Then... very high after a certain period of time." — President Trump [05:45 & 08:05]

Notable Moment:

• Trump says Russia is economically weak and Putin seeks to engage with the “hot Trump economy.”
• Hints that manufacturing investment and tariffs will be incentives/cudgels in diplomacy.

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3. Framing and World Reaction

[10:03–14:16]

• Review of media coverage in U.S. and abroad: focus is on Trump’s expected role as peacemaker.

  "Ukraine's fate hangs in the balance. And it all hinges on the self-proclaimed dealmaker in chief going one on one with the Russian leader." — Mark [11:00]

• Hillary Clinton Soundbite: (debate over whether serious or sarcastic)

  "If President Trump were the architect of that, I'd nominate him for a Nobel Peace Prize." — Hillary Clinton [12:09]

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4. U.S. Delegation Drama & Protocol

[14:16–15:28]

• Discussion over who’s on Air Force One: names like Secretary Bessant, J.D. Vance, absent Defense Secretary, and possible Vice President presence.
• Debate on authenticity of leaked lists and protocol of VP and President not flying together.

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5. Panel Analysis: Trump's Mindset, Strategy & Stakes

[15:28–21:56]

• Is Trump nervous?

  "I've never seen the guy nervous. ... What I would say that I heard a little bit more that was interesting is a little bit more on the deals than the peace." — Sean [16:03]

• Raising of expectations: Trump now aiming for a grand “showman” moment; speculation about whether real “peace” will be achieved vs. just optics/show.
• Putin’s probable interests: Flattery, economic concessions, formalizing territorial gains.

  "Putin is such a good strategic thinker and he understands flattery as well as anybody." — Dan [17:58]

• Possible structure: private meeting, luncheon, and joint press conference if warranted.

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6. Intelligence Briefing & Trump’s Preparation Style

[19:24–21:56]

• Discussion on whether Trump takes traditional intelligence briefings before summits.

  "There was not prep. I just don't know if it was one on one with the CIA briefer or... on the plane." — Sean [20:21]

• Amusing anecdote: Putin bringing a dog to unnerve Merkel at a past summit.

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7. What Does Putin Want?

[21:56–24:09]

• Putin seeks recognition of territorial gains, assurance Ukraine won’t join NATO, and some symbolic economic arrangement.

  "An acknowledgment that he gets the land that he's taken, an agreement that there's no peacekeeping... a commitment that Ukraine will never join NATO... and some kind of economic thing to show... we're back." — Sean [23:31]

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8. Media Coverage & Press Corps Incentives

[24:09–26:56]

• Speculation on what narrative the media desires: Triumph for Trump or a story of "selling out" to Russia?

  "They want Trump to buy into something that they can say that he sold out." — Sean [24:31] "I actually think the press is rooting for success... it's a great story if there's a deal." — Mark [25:58]

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9. D.C. Police Takeover Lawsuit & Federal Overreach

[26:56–30:53]

• D.C. sues Trump admin over federal takeover of Metropolitan Police; panel discusses optics, legality, and political risks.

  "This is the gravest threat to home rule D.C. has ever faced..." — Mark (citing lawsuit) [26:56]

• Critique of Trump’s visible but possibly symbolic use of force (e.g., focusing on downtown rather than high-crime neighborhoods).

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10. Political Roundup: Newsom, Redistricting, Senate

[30:53–37:16]

• Quickfire debate: Will Newsom’s ballot initiative pass? How will it affect House/Senate prospects for both parties?

  "If theoretically... they could win it. If we go through all this in net zero, ... this is not good for the party." — Sean [32:48]

• Key Senate races: Potential pickups in Maine, Kentucky, and lingering Democratic vulnerability in Georgia and Ohio.

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11. Winners & Losers of the Week

[38:51–44:59]

Winners

• Dan: Kirsten Gillibrand (for strong Senate recruitment)
• Sean: Florida orange growers (regulatory change boosting U.S. agriculture)
• Mark: Swifties (Taylor Swift fans, humorously)

Losers

• Dan: Israel (eroding bipartisan support in U.S.)
• Sean: The Baileys (fictional Schumer "average family," mocked on John Oliver)
• Mark: Critics of Trump/Vance’s Europe policy (relation with Europe stronger than critics claim)

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12. Listener Q&A Highlights

[47:00–59:03]

• Q: Could Trump replicate the D.C. federal policing model in other cities, e.g., for LA Olympics?

  "It would be a little bit harder in like LA or Chicago... D.C. is a very unique situation because of home rule." — Sean [48:03]

• Q: Why are tariffs done by country not industry?

  "It's hard to negotiate with a sector. ... There has been some sector targeting, but that's my explanation." — Mark [51:07]

• Q: Multi-member districts as a fix for gerrymandering?
  • Some state flexibility, but rarely practiced for Congress; would face legal and practical barriers.

Memorable Audience Contribution:

• Michelle from Rochester: Emotional testimony on urban crime and need for bipartisan solutions, linking policy back to family experiences.

  "I would like to see more politicians... address urban issues without trying to make inroads for their party." — Michelle [55:39] "Sean: I'm sorry to hear what your family's experienced... we've got to at least at some point feel like these discussions are worth having." [56:45/57:00]

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• Trump on the stakes of the Alaska summit:

  "I'm doing this to save a lot of lives. Yeah, very severe. Thank you very much." — [09:44]

• Hillary Clinton's Nobel sarcasm:

  "If President Trump were the architect of that, I'd nominate him for a Nobel Peace Prize." — [12:09]

• Panel on Trump’s approach:

  "He's the greatest showman on earth. ... I think he's in his element. He loves this." — Dan [17:58]

• Putin's purported strategy:

  "His goal is to flatter, ... try to establish a working relationship and just flatter Trump and see if he can get Trump to agree..." — Dan [21:56]

• On media incentives:

  "I actually think the press is rooting for success not because they want the president to succeed, but because they do want, they do want that outcome. And also it's a great story if there's a deal." — Mark [25:58]

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Style and Tone

• Mark anchors with a blend of gravitas and humor; frequent asides and banter to lighten heavy news.
• Sean and Dan offer sharp, sometimes playful analysis but trade on deep experience—Sean from the Trump White House, Dan from Democratic campaign strategy.
• Genuine moments: candid acknowledgment of family loss from listener, and the team’s willingness to address hard urban policy challenges.
• Competitive undercurrent: repeated encouragement to boost the podcast’s Apple rating, mock-competitions with other media personalities.

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Conclusion & What to Watch

• The Alaska summit is depicted as a possible turning point in the war and in Trump’s presidency, with stakes for Ukraine, Europe, and U.S. politics.
• Both public optics and tactical substance are in play; world and media reaction remain key unknowns.
• The domestic story of D.C. policing hints at bigger confrontations over federal power and the role of cities.
• Listeners are urged to watch Rubio’s Sunday interviews, keep an eye on Senate recruitment, and look for any surprise developments (including, humorously, the "arrest" of Putin).
• The episode closes with a lighthearted contest over potential new country theme songs for the show.

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For full episode insight:

• [04:31–09:56]: President Trump's raw thoughts from Air Force One
• [16:03]: Panel’s read on Trump's mindset
• [21:56]: What Putin likely wants from the summit
• [24:31, 25:58]: How the media might frame the outcome
• [55:39]: Michelle’s heartfelt commentary on urban violence and policy

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Bottom Line:
If you missed the Alaska summit or want to understand the wider context, the 2WAY panel’s mix of inside-baseball analysis, live quotes, and global perspective makes this both accessible and richly detailed—complete with moments of empathy and wit.

Transcript

[Mark]

Foreign Good day. This is an historic moment for America. We'll have full summit coverage here in five, four, three. Sean, Dan and I will run through the day. This is the morning meeting on two way. We have lots to tell you about the summit. The present moments ago on Air Force One talked for six minutes. We're going to play the whole thing for you about the summit. No big news, but does set the table nicely. We'll have some of the pre reaction from around the world including from Hillary Clinton, Don Jr. And more. And really the only other story is a little bit of two developments in D.C. overnight. One, Pam Bondi basically put the head of the DA in charge of the D.C. police and that's not sitting well with the mayor and the current police chief. And this operation seems to be moving to include immigration enforcement, which also is not sitting well with some people. For those of you who are wondering, the mayor of D.C. was not vacationing on Martha's venue. She was just picking up her daughter from camp and bringing her back. Before I hear more about that, we'll talk a little bit about the Senate.

[Dan]

Maybe she played golf while she was there. Who knows?

[Mark]

You might have. She might have.

[Sean]

I will, I will have something to say on that.

[Mark]

Anyway.

[Sean]

Reserving. Reserving my time.

[Mark]

Okay. In any event, we are going to. Sorry, I just need to look at one thing. We're going to talk all about the summit and like I said, there's really nothing else. As Dan said August Friday. There's some economic data released, but whatever.

[Dan]

Anyway, that's not insignificant. Stop.

[Mark]

Yeah, all right, well, we'll talk about that in a moment. This episode is brought to you by LifeLock. Between two factor authentication, strong passwords and a VPN. You try to be in control of how your info is protected. But many other places also have it and they might not be as careful. That's why LifeLock monitors hundreds of millions of data points a second for threats. If your identity is stolen, they'll fix it, guaranteed or your money back. Save up to 40% your first year. Visit lifelock.com podcast for 40% off terms apply. What I want to do now is this. We're going to play for you the six minutes of the President on Air Force One. But I'm gonna ask you for a favor while we play it. Put up number 117, please. This, this program is now available as a podcast, as you know on Apple and on Spotify and wherever else you get your podcast. And here are the ratings for on the Apple podcast. Ratings from just a Few minutes ago. Take a look. You can see the morning meeting there is number, what do we. Number.

[Sean]

60, 68.

[Mark]

What does that say?

[Sean]

I think that's a.

[Dan]

What does that say?

[Mark]

58.

[Sean]

No, that's a 55, 5, 9, 58.

[Mark]

Okay. Forget the number, though. Dan is very upset that we're behind Ted Cruz and Sean Saki. Yeah, forget, forget that. You just don't want to be behind Ted Cruz. And Shaw's very upset to be behind. What's that guy's name from msnbc. All in. Who's that guy?

[Dan]

Chris Hayes.

[Mark]

His name. Chris Hayes. So what I'm going to ask you to do, if you're, whether you're watching here on the two way platform or if you raise your hand, you get in the conversation like no other. Or whether you're watching on YouTube while you're listening to President Trump, you got six minutes to do this. Grab some other device and please go on Apple or Spotify, but Apple, if you want to affect this ratings and please subscribe to the Morning meeting podcast. All right, just do that for us and let's see if we can't move. So Dan can pass Ted Cruz and Sean can pass Chris Hayes. Okay, so again, I'm asking this of all of you, even if you don't love podcasts, please grab your phone, Apple or Spotify. Subscribe to the podcast. Here we go. This is moments ago President United States. Well, first I'll show you walking. We'll show you walking to Air Force One. This is. Here you go. There you go. This was, this was a couple of that 90 minutes ago, I think. And after he boarded, he came back and he talked to the press for about six minutes. So listen in full. But again, I'll be, I'll be doing some spot checks. Once this plays. We're going to come back, I'm going to call on some of you and say, hey, so and so, Doug Carey, did you subscribe to the podcast? And I'll maybe ask for proof. So again, please everyone subscribe to the podcast as you listen. This is the President United States talking to the pool on Air Force One moments ago.

[President Trump]

They're buying our weapons, we're sending them to NATO and NATO is sending us big, beautiful checks. But that I don't care about. That I care about. It was a big factor when Biden spent $350 billion and got nothing. But what I do care about is they lost last, last week, 7011 people were lost, almost all soldiers, 36 people in a town which got hit by a missile. But 7,000. Over 7,000 soldiers. It's crazy.

[Sean]

Can you describe a little bit, Mr. President? Because I know you've had a lot.

[Mark]

Of phone calls with President Putin.

[Sean]

What's the difference in a face to face, in person meeting?

[President Trump]

Look, he's a smart guy. Been doing it for a long time, but so have I. Been doing it for a long time. And here we are with President. That was much more difficult than what I'm doing today, believe me. So we get along. There's a good respect level on both sides, and I think, you know, something's going to come of it. I noticed he's bringing a lot of business people from Russia, and that's good. I like that. Because they want to do business, but they're not doing business until we get the war settled.

[Mark]

Are you going to talk about business?

[President Trump]

We have the hottest country on Earth. We have the hottest economy on Earth. We have the hottest company. We just set a new stock market record again. We have hundreds of billions of dollars flowing in from tariffs. We're the hottest. We were a dead country. A dead. Like doornails. A dead year ago, we were dead as a doornail. And now we have the hottest country. And he wants a piece of that because his country is not hot economically. In fact, it's the opposite. And China is not doing well economically, but we're all, Look, I want everybody to do well. The war has got to stop and the killing's got to stop.

[Mark]

Mr. President, what are you stopping? Thank you for coming back to take questions. We saw that Russia continued its violence into Ukraine last night, launching even more drones. What did you make of that?

[President Trump]

I think they're trying to negotiate. He's trying to set a stage. I mean, in his mind, that helps him make a better deal. It actually hurts him. But in his mind, that helps him make a better deal. If they can continue the killing, maybe it's a part of the world, maybe it's just his fabric, his genes, his genetics, but he thinks that makes him. Gives him strength in negotiating. I think it hurts him, but I'll be talking to him about it on.

[Mark]

The table for discussions today. Mr. President, are the territorial swaps on the table? Will you be discussing that?

[President Trump]

They'll be discussed, but I've got to let Ukraine make that decision, and I think they'll make a proper decision. But I'm not here to negotiate for Ukraine. I'm here to get him at a table. And I think you have two sides. Look, Vladimir Putin wanted to take all of Ukraine. If I Wasn't president, he would right now be taking all of Ukraine. But he's not going to do it.

[Mark]

Mr. President, what did you do?

[President Trump]

Just one thing. What about the possibility that. The possibility of the United States providing security guarantees to Ukraine along with Europe and other countries, not in the form of NATO, because that's not going to, you know, there are certain things that aren't going to happen. But, yeah, along with Europe, there's possibility of that.

[Dan]

The number of business people that President.

[Sean]

Putin is bringing along.

[Dan]

Is that something that you want to discuss with President Putin at this meeting?

[President Trump]

If we, if we make progress, I would discuss it because that's one of the things that they would like. They'd like to get a piece of what I built in terms of the economy. Just so you know, we were a dead country with our economy. He wouldn't be interested. He wouldn't have been interested a year ago with the Biden economy, but he is interested in the Trump economy because we're doing. Wait till you see where those factories start opening up. We have hundreds of factories all over the country, and that includes auto factories, AI factories and every other. They're all coming in because they want to beat the tariffs. Because if they open here, they don't have to pay tariffs. If they don't open here, they have to pay, in some cases, 200%, 300%. I haven't even set some of the tariffs yet. I'll be setting tariffs next week and the week after on steel and on, I would say chips. Chips and semiconductors will be setting sometime next week, week after. What rate are you looking at? What rate? I'm going to have a rate that is going to be lower at the beginning. Then that gives them a chance to come in and build very high after a certain period of time. And if they don't build here, they have to pay a very high tariff, which doesn't work. So they'll come and build.

[Mark]

Mr. President, hi. You had said earlier.

[President Trump]

Isn'T he a general nice.

[Mark]

He's helping me out.

[President Trump]

He's a very nice. He's one of the few nice ones, actually.

[Mark]

You had said earlier this week that Putin would face severe consequences if you get the sense from him that he's not interested. What do you mean by that?

[President Trump]

Economically severe? Yes, it will be very severe. I'm not doing this for my health. Okay. I don't need it. I'd like to focus on our country, but I'm doing this to save a lot of lives. Yeah, very severe. Thank you very much.

[Dan]

Everybody One thing.

[Mark]

I, I see, I don't read the chat, but I glance some of you are having trouble. You can follow or you can download or you can like. Depends on what platform you're on. But, Mary, did you, did you go and subscribe to the podcast, Mary? Hopefully you all did that. All right, here's some of the way the story is being framed by news organizations in the television side from around the world. One or three, please.

[Sean]

So Russian President Vladimir Putin is seeking to strengthen his rapport with Donald Trump ahead of their summit later in Alaska. The US President, meanwhile, is downplaying prospects for the talk, saying yesterday that a follow up involving Ukraine's leader will be more important.

[Dan]

And we are standing about 4,275 miles.

[Caller]

Away from the White House. It is a long way for Air.

[Dan]

Force One to come later on this hour.

[Caller]

But President Trump thinks once he gets here, he'll be able to feel Putin.

[Mark]

Out within two minutes. And Donald Trump says he believes Vladimir Putin is ready to make a deal. As the two leaders prepare for talks in Alaska later, Ukraine's fate hangs in the balance. And it all hinges on the self proclaimed dealmaker in chief going one on one with the Russian leader.

[Dan]

President Trump preparing to meet Vladimir Putin as Mr. Trump pushes for a truce in the war between Russia and Ukraine. This will be their first face to.

[Sean]

Face meeting in years.

[President Trump]

And will he push Vladimir Putin to do what no president this century has done, and that is play by the rules of this world order? Good morning and welcome to Morning Joe.

[Mark]

All right, one more element and then we'll hear from Sean and Dan, but quickly tell you that the D.C. government has just sued the Trump administration to say that they're not allowed to take over the police department. Interesting. And we'll talk about that in a moment after we talk about the summit. Here's Hillary Clinton on a podcast and Dan's going to tell us if this is sarcastic or real talking about seeming to encourage Donald Trump to go win that Nobel Peace Prize.

[Hillary Clinton]

Honestly, if he could bring about the end to this terrible war where Putin is the aggressor, invading a neighbor country, trying to change the borders, if he could end it without putting Ukraine in a position where it had to concede its territory to the aggressor, had to in a way validate Putin's vision of greater Russia, but instead could really stand up to Putin, something we haven't seen. But maybe this is the opportunity to make it clear that there must be a ceasefire, there will be no exchange of territory, and that Over a period of time, Putin should be actually withdrawing from the territory he seized in order to demonstrate his good faith efforts, let us say, not to threaten European security. You know, look, if we could pull that off, if President Trump were the architect of that, I'd nominate him for a Nobel Peace Prize. Because my goal here is to not allow capitulation to Putin, aided and abetted by the United States.

[Mark]

All right, I was wrong. Three more quick things. First, do we have the list of people in the US Delegation? If we do, get ready to put that up. Here is the President on truth. Social 1. 110. Very short post, but high stakes. Exclamation point, exclamation, exclamation point. Here's how Don Jr. Is dealing with his apprehension over the summit. 111, please. My dad went to Anchorage, the Anchorage summit, and all I got was this lazy T shirt. That's fake, by the way. I made that. That's not real, but I thought that was funny. Hope you did, too. Anyway, do we have the list of people going to the summit? Maybe we do, but anyway, it includes Secretary Bessant, as we thought it might. It does not include Secretary Hagseth, as we thought.

[Dan]

Does include J.D. vance. One of us said. I thought he'd go.

[Mark]

It does or it doesn't?

[President Trump]

We don't have the updated list.

[Mark]

Mark, go ahead and put it up. You're saying you think. You think the vice president's going. Okay, thank you.

[Dan]

You think he is going.

[Mark]

Yeah. What do you base that on? What do you guys base that on? It's not on the White House list.

[Dan]

Paul sent last night.

[Mark]

Yeah, that. That list was not the official list. The official list does not have the vice president. I'm not saying he's not going, but.

[Dan]

Yeah, he's meeting him there.

[Mark]

Yeah, well, you'd be on a separate plane. What are you basing, Dan? What are you basing that on?

[Dan]

I'm basing it on the list that was. That was distributed in our group chat last night.

[Mark]

Yeah, but I wouldn't base it on that list because that wasn't a real list. The real that. Don't take that down. That's not a real list. Take that down. I don't know where that list came from.

[Sean]

Big news, folks. Big news.

[Mark]

But. But the White House pool was given a list today, and it does not include the vice President, so.

[Dan]

Okay, I thought that list was the people that are on the plane with him.

[Mark]

No. Well, well.

[Sean]

And just protocol, protocol wise, the vice president never flies.

[Mark]

It's like it's like. It's like the two people who know the recipe for Coke, they don't fly together.

[Sean]

Well, it's also like Michael and Janet. You don't put them in the same place.

[Mark]

Exactly. Or. Or Dan and Sean never seen them in the same place except when we were in Sean's kitchen. All right.

[Sean]

Yeah.

[Mark]

All right.

[Sean]

So, Sean, that was a huge security issue.

[Mark]

Let's talk. It was. Let's. We're near the vice president's house and your high school friend. Let's talk about the president first and what you heard in his voice there. You know, this is. He loves big set pieces, so, I mean, part of him's excited to be the center of world attention, to be sure. But this is high stakes. So listening to him, based on what you know, how would you describe. You think he's excited, nervous, expectant? How would you describe him?

[Sean]

I've been around him during the campaign in the White House for some pretty big issues. I've never seen the guy nervous. Whether he is or isn't, he doesn't show it. So I don't think he's nervous. I do think he understands the importance of the moment. What I would say that I heard a little bit more that was interesting is a little bit more on the deals than the piece. And that's where I think they have to be careful. I get it. And I've heard some people talk about the sequencing, which is. The president should say, I love this discussion. I'm excited for the potential investment or the additional trade, but we cannot talk about that until. Right. That's. That's where I. And I do worry about the manifest on that. Because if you're bringing your people that do that work, that. That's sort of tipping your hand that you're willing to have that discussion.

[Mark]

Yeah. The fact that Besson's there, but not the Defense Secretary. For people who are worried about that, Dan, just first on Hillary, she was being. She was being sarcastic there, right?

[Dan]

Yeah, slightly. Yep. I love her. Yep.

[Mark]

Okay.

[Sean]

Lightly.

[Mark]

Yeah.

[Sean]

He was basically like, look, look. This is the woman who handed a reset button over and is now saying, if you can do all of these things, no land exchanges. No. Then I'll support. I mean, come on.

[Mark]

Yeah.

[Sean]

It was like, if you could help the sun come up in the morning.

[Mark]

Dan, is your sense that the president has a plan here? Obviously they've shifted from a few days ago. We were talking about Heather, just all about lowering expectations, and they seem to be pretty raised now. You know, his. His post on truth Social. The way he's describing, you know, it now is, is a lot more. And, and there's even talk now that they're gonna, that Zelensky's like got a plane waiting to fly him in. If, if that's what, if that's what makes sense. So how do you feel about the President's both attitudinally and tactically going into this?

[Dan]

He's the greatest showman on earth. I mean, that's why I said earlier this week I thought he was lowering expectations to exceed them and have the big, you know, reveal. Oh, I think he definitely sees this as a grand theater. I think he's in his element. He loves this. The entire world is hanging on his every word. Everyone will be tuning into that press conference and what he has to say. I think the question is, what is it? And to your point, not just Scott Bessett, Howard Lutnick is there. My thought is that Putin is going to try to flatter him, talk about the Trump economy. How wonderful he. And does he keep, as Sean said, does he have the discipline to say, not now, we're not going there until I get what I want, which is a conversation about peace. Putin is such a good strategic thinker and he understands flattery as well as anybody.

[Mark]

Yeah.

[Sean]

I will say this. All of these people that are traveling with him and especially Rubio, who's dual headed right now, I think understand that. Right. And they've told him. Right. JD has obviously done a lot of spade work going into this week. I, I just got to believe that that that's Trump gets just as much world like accolades by coming out and saying he didn't agree to this until then. And I told him this. I think he would, he knows that. He understands what the world's going to, how they're going to view this meeting.

[Mark]

Yeah. So in theory, I don't, I don't. Based on what I've been told and what I've read, I don't know what's going to happen on the front end. I don't know what the photo op is going to look like. Like, is there a handshake? Is there a photo op in the room? Are they going to take questions on the front end? I think that's all possible. Then they're supposed to have a private meeting. Then there's supposed to be a lunch with the delegations and then in theory, a two person press conference. If the President says the meeting goes well. If the meeting doesn't go well, I think we'll see A one on one. Putin, according to the Associated Press, began traveling yesterday from Moscow towards Alaska. And I've read nothing and I've asked people, and I've gotten no reply about the President's prep from the intelligence community. Because normally when a president goes to meet with somebody like this, the intelligence community prepares a briefing that says, here's what to look for. Here's, you know, here's. Here are the things that have happened in the past. Sean, do you think this president got such a briefing or he's like, I don't need that. I, I get the guy. Oh, no, no, no.

[Sean]

They, they, I, I mean, how it manifested itself, whether it was on the plane or, you know, sitting around the Oval, there's no question. There was not prep. I just don't know if it was one on one with the c, with the CIA briefer or. But remember, again, Marco Rubio is running the nsc. So there's no question in my mind they had that discussion.

[Mark]

Yeah, I wonder, I wonder if it was as. I mean, often Donald Trump doesn't do things that normal presidents do that normal presidents would say. I'm doing air quotes, by the way, for those of you listening.

[Dan]

I mean, I just can't see that Trump's going to sit there like a normal president. Hey, stay away from this issue. Watch.

[Mark]

I think he's like, yeah, that's what I think, but I'm going in. But, but that the establishment intelligence community would say this is malpractice if you don't get such a briefing. Putin is a master. Everybody says so. Whatever. My favorite thing Putin ever did in meeting with the world leader is this, with Merkel, who, who is uneasy around dogs.

[Dan]

And again, for those more than uneasy, she's terrified.

[Mark]

Terrified. So, so those of you listening on the podcast won't see this, but go ahead and play that video. This is. They were doing a photo op and Putin brought one of his dogs with him. And just look at Merkel's eyes. This is like crazy. So they're sitting down in chairs and the photo op, and there's the dog. And Putin's pulling the dog away, and Merkel, like, can't even look. She's just, like swallowing her tongue, she's so terrified. And then the dog runs off. So I know neither of you are soviologists. We don't have Condi rice here, but, Dan, what do you think Putin's trying to get here?

[Dan]

Well, I think it's not an accident. I forget who it was. Was it Lavrov who showed up in Alaska in a CCP sweatshirt. The old school Soviet UN Union. I mean, that to me was a little flex of how they're coming in. I go back to what we've talked about here for the whole time, which is Putin is our enemy or he sees us as his enemy and his long game is to regain these territories. So to me, his goal is to keep what he has gained and ultimately expand that with a minimal security presence left in Ukraine. I think his goal is to flatter, I really do try to establish a working relationship and just flatter Trump and see if he can get Trump to agree that, hey, I'll pump money and I'll say how great you are. I'll say the economy is great and that's why there's opportunities and you're not going to ultimately ensure Ukraine's long term security.

[Mark]

Yeah. Sean, obviously what the President wants is to be able to come out and say, good meeting. Putin wants to end the war. He's agreed to be reasonable. He understands, you know, Ukraine needs what it needs.

[Dan]

Do you think it's that Putin wants to end the war or he says Putin wants to be partners, like some sort of, like he just, he wants.

[Mark]

He wants, he wants conditions so that no one would object to a three way meeting. Right. That's what he wants. Sean, what, what's a, what do you think Putin wants? How do you think Putin wants his idea? Same way or some other way?

[Sean]

I think an acknowledgment that he gets the land that he's taken, an agreement that there's no peacekeeping or troops on the border of any of those regions, a commitment that Ukraine will never join NATO ever, and some kind of economic thing to show that we have a relationship with the US no matter what. It is something, something symbolic to say we're now doing X. We're back. You know, the CCP is back. Yeah, we're, we're building land geographically and economically. We're, we're on the march again. So I think that's what he wants.

[Mark]

Nothing I can tell you from having covered the White House for a time, nothing is more exciting if you're covering a White House than one of these summits. It just feels bigger than everything else. And obviously we all know that the relationship between this White House and this press corps is pretty catchy. Sean, is the White House press corps rooting for a deal or not?

[Sean]

I gotta believe that they want Trump to, to buy into something that they can say that he sold out. So I, I know, I don't think they want.

[Mark]

They're rooting for an outcome where they can say Trump's at war with Europe.

[Sean]

And Zelensky or the, and then he sold out America for his own interest or something.

[Mark]

Dan, what's the White House press corps rooting for?

[Dan]

Well, there's two, there's two halves to that. There's the old school press corps. I agree with Sean. They want to say, see, we told you so. The dominant one, which is the conservative one, is ready to say he's Caesar.

[Sean]

Well, the interesting thing about that, by the way, to Dan's point, when you do stuff like this, you know, these trips cost money, Mark. You know, I mean, like part of the reason that the pool consists of the ABCs and the Washington Post or whatever is flying on Air Force One. They bill you. And so you have to be able to have the funds and the resources to travel. That's the sort of the dirty little secret that the conservative, you know, that a lot of independent media doesn't want to talk about is that they can't put the bill for a lot of these things. And so how many of them traveled there? I doubt many. Yeah, so you're going to rely on, on Fox and, and you know, but.

[Dan]

The fact that like, I mean, I was sitting in the chair last night with John Hannity. Hannity is going to interview him live on the, you know, this afternoon. Brett Baer is on the plane. He's going to enter like conservative media is ready to whatever the game plan with the comm strategy is, conservative media is ready to hail it as, I mean, they are the dominant media.

[Mark]

They are, they're dominant media with a small D. I'll say two things. One is I've been trying to get a handle of how many people are going in terms of the press not in the pool. And Sean's right. It's so much smaller than it would have been. Even though there's many more news organizations, there are lots of organizations that would have gone unilaterally that aren't going to go. In part, it's on short notice, not the easiest place in the world to get to, but it just is very expensive and, and it's unclear what the axis is. The other thing is, Sean, I would normally I'd agree with you that they're rooting for failure. My, and this is all guesswork and just fingertip feel. I actually think the press is rooting for success not because they want the president to succeed, but because they do want, they do want that outcome. And also it's a great story if there's a deal. So I think the president may get get more favorable coverage than he usually does in this case. All right, let's, let's obviously when we take your questions and again, if you're here on the two way platform with peace, love and understanding in your heart, please raise your hand if you want to be part of the conversation. Let's talk about the DC Thing and I'll read to you the Politico write up of this development that just occurred. D.C. attorney General Brian Schwabi is suing the Trump administration after the Department of Justice ordered a new, quote, emergency head of the District Police calling it, quote, unlawful, quote. By legally declaring a takeover of the mpd, the administration is abusing its temporary limited authority under the law. This is the gravest threat to home rule D.C. the greatest threat to home rule D.C. has ever faced. And we are fighting to stop it. The suit filed in federal court is the biggest pushback from city officials since President Trump invoked a provision of the Home Rule act which allows the president to request blah, blah, blah. Dan, this program's policy never predict judges, justices or juries. But the symbolism of this at a minimum is significant because up until now there'd been a fair amount of fidelity to cooperation. So does this mean, do you think, a two track where they'll pursue this in court, but even as they do that operationally they'll continue to cooperate, or do you think that that changes the cooperation?

[Dan]

That's a great question. I don't know. I mean, I'm curious to see whether they're people think there's a real chance that D.C. is going to win this. This to me starts getting a little bit into overreach for the Trump team. Like, I think they were on pretty solid footing, but you know the headlines that they're now ordering them off on immigration potentially. And one of the things that's really picking up steam now is these, this show of force is not going into the bad neighborhoods. They're on the mall. They're in like the tourist areas where there's lots of visibility. But those aren't the high crime areas. There's crime there, but the bad areas are like there's no force arriving. This is when it starts looking like a stunt. And that's the danger for Trump. Like if you're going to own it, your goal is to crack down for 30, 60 days. But you're telling the police, go do immigration raids. I think he starts losing people, the public.

[Sean]

Well, one of the things that's really interesting about this particular dynamic is Schwab, the D.C. attorney general, is is a Soros leftist, like got his own agenda. And the question I have is is this in coordination with Mayor Bowser or is he trying to do something on his own? So this guy, by the police account, by so many, I mean like he is a far, far progressive lefty. And so I do wonder if he's doing this on his own or if this is in court like a sort of whole of government within D.C. and I think that's going to be interesting. I will say just since since this would be the only time whether or not it's true that all the mayor was doing was heading to Martha's Vineyard to pick up her daughter or not, the optics of it and the idea that she didn't think it was worth explaining is politically stupid. Right. I get it. If it's and I'll give her the benefit of the doubt that she just happened to be going to Martha's Vineyard to pick up her daughter and was not going to spend any quality time on the island going to like the black dog or anything, then I'll give her the benefit of the doubt for this discussion. But the idea that in the middle of a crisis, you didn't get ahead of that you should fire your team then because either you're politically stupid or they are one of the two.

[Mark]

Yeah, she did tweet about Here's a tweet from the mayor overnight after, after the fact. After the fact.

[Dan]

Half the time Trump's playing golf during this. Here's a I mean, that doesn't fly anymore. After Trump doesn't.

[Mark]

I agree. Dan106 please. Here's the mayor tweet overnight. Let's be clear about what the law requires during a presidential declared emergency. It requires the mayor of Washington to services of the police to federal purposes at the request of the president. We have followed the law. So.

[Dan]

I mean that if, if, if that is in fact like the true and I'll give her, you know, the benefit of the doubt for this is where Trump's starting to overreach. Yeah, this, that, that is not.

[Mark]

Yeah. Mike, Michael, just keep checking her her Twitter feed and see if she's tweeted in reaction to the attorney general's filing. All right. We could talk more about this and we could talk more about the immigration angle, which is interesting. But I want to make sure we leave a lot of time for questions. So let's speed through some other stuff and then go to your questions. Gavin Newsom, Filed the, the redistricting plan. They have a digital ad. I don't know if they're putting real money behind it or not, but they've got a lot of work to do to get it on the ballot and then win this fight against what will be a very well funded opposition. So just one word or one sentence answer each. Will the, Will Gavin Newsom win on. In November? Will this pass? Sean?

[Sean]

I don't think so.

[Mark]

Dan.

[Sean]

Isn't the, isn't the threshold 60? I, I thought there was a higher than a simple majority. Maybe I'm wrong on California ballot initiatives.

[Mark]

I think it's 50, but somebody will check. But I think it's 50 but.

[Sean]

Or maybe the last time it got 60.

[Mark]

Okay. Dan, will it pass?

[Dan]

I think he'll lose at the ballot, but he's won politically. That map went big and bold and Democrats are ecstatic. Yeah, it's 10 seats.

[Mark]

Yeah. It's not 10 seats.

[Dan]

Nine. Nine.

[Sean]

Well, no, no, they take five and then they shore up five.

[Mark]

Yeah.

[Sean]

So they'll, they'll take a bunch of vulnerable Dems and make them better.

[Mark]

So they, I mean it's, it's three to six. It's three to five pickups and shore ups a bunch of people. But it's not 10.

[Dan]

I thought it was, I thought it was the, the.

[Mark]

No.

[Dan]

Okay.

[Mark]

It's not, it's not 10.

[Sean]

Yeah. You're taking about 5 of their seats that were vulnerable Dems and pretty much locking them in.

[Mark]

Right. Okay. 108 please. On the Senate, Democrats always are going to root. Sorry, Freudian slip the media.

[Sean]

By the way, I will say this on this thing. Just remember one of the things that we just overlooked was Texas Dems are sort of saying they're coming, they're ready to come back.

[Mark]

Yeah.

[Sean]

So, so I mean this is, this is important. I tend to believe. Guys, this is what I said this at the outset part of the. Was a little worried about this. I don't think that Gavin Newsom is going to get away with it at the ballot. But if, if, theoretically, if he does, which I, I don't. I mean it's California and if they frame this right and it's low turnout, they could win it. If we go through all this in net zero, then I think we've created like Republicans. This is, this is not good for the, for the party and I think that they better be ready to have a plan to go to Ohio and Missouri and Indiana.

[Dan]

White House called. Indiana is calling Indiana.

[Sean]

Correct. But they've got to make sure that, like, if we're going this way, you got to be willing to go all in.

[Mark]

They are. And they'll, and they'll get, and they'll get more seats out of it than the Democrats want. I still, I still don't understand the coverage of this. Here's another thing where the coverage is skewed for the Democrats. The Democrats, the press is going to cheer for the Democrats to win back the Senate, and they're going to pretend that it's really possible. And, and, and the Democrats, we've talked about it here already. They've improved their position. Here's the political headline. The Senate map suddenly looks a lot better for Democrats. You. True, but still not a slam dunk. Well, to say the least, it's still not a slim dunk because right now there's really no path for the Democrats. Even, even with good recruits, they're not a sure thing to win these races. And, and even if they do, they still are, are, are behind. They're still not an obvious way to get there. And, and they have an imperiled incumbent. So we're waiting to see if they could recruit a candidate in Maine. We're waiting to see if they can recruit a candidate in what's the other state that's still pending.

[Dan]

Well, your tease about Brashear was interesting.

[Mark]

That's right. In Kentucky. So. Because if Bashir is the nominee, he'll probably be, he'll probably be the senator. So that'd be a pickup. Yeah.

[Dan]

I mean, look, I, you know, you, you say, Mark, I, I, this is starting to remind me a little bit about 2006, because in Maine, Janet Mills is not saying no. She is the sitting governor in some polls. She leads Collins. Now, this is like Charlie Brown with the football with Democrats in Maine. But you're starting, look, there is a potential path.

[Mark]

There is a potential Cooper in North.

[Dan]

Carolina if Brown in Ohio, if Janet Mills runs in Maine and Beshear runs in Kentucky. Now you gotta hold Georgia. That's the one where I think Democrats are still very nervous. But is it inconceivable in 2006, it, the path did not appear until Jim Webb won that primary.100. Suddenly people started to say, so.

[Mark]

They could have the House and Senate. We, that's, that's what's changed this week.

[Dan]

Is they, and they could win nothing.

[Mark]

And they could win nothing. Sean, this like Brown in Ohio again. I asked this question yesterday, I think on the, on my other show about trying to rough up Newsom, like, shouldn't Republicans be going hard After Brown now to try to. To try to kill him in the crib and make sure he doesn't become a formidable force in Ohio because he could win that race if he comes in strong.

[Sean]

Yeah, I just don't think. I mean, look, I've been around the part. I worked at every one of the R committees, the nrc, the nrcc. You just don't have the resources, or it's just one of those things. You just don't do it that early in a cycle. Maybe they should. I mean, I had this. I will classically never forget a conversation I had with someone at the NR, the NRSC, back when Todd Aiken was running against Claire McCaskill. And I said, should we not take her? I mean, we had all these things about her husband's plane, all this stuff, and they're like, nope, we're gonna wait. And then Aiken did what Aiken did.

[Mark]

Yeah.

[Sean]

And it was too late. So I. I would be a fan of that. I'm generally a fan of getting somebody dirtied up early on. I just don't know who that. I mean, if I. I think this is where, like, I was noting yesterday, if this was Bernie Moreno, I would be sleeping a lot sounder. Because he's got a machine. He's got the MAGA infrastructure. He's got the ability to raise money, and he has money. So I think the. The team there has to say, what do we do? And use the Super Pack for these kind of things. I just don't know that they've got it.

[Mark]

And.

[Sean]

And that's. That's the difference where I. I look at some of these, obviously, I think Ashley Moody in Florida played it perfectly. But then I look here and I go, did these guys like. It feels like they named Hustle to the Job. And then sort of said, good luck. Take care. We'll see you after college, kid.

[Mark]

Here. Here's the significance. And Dan and John will both appreciate. But Dan in particular, since he's got a fundraising background, what Schumer's done that's significant is he now can tell donors with a straight face, we can be the majority. And. And Democrats are behind in fundraising in a way that is. Is really significant in the House and the Senate. This could equalize that super PAC campaign money, and that's huge because last cycle, Schumer said that, and the donors didn't take it seriously because it wasn't serious. It was all just made up. This could. This is now getting real enough that it could equalize the fundraising. All right, we're going to do winners, losers, and what to watch for. And then if you're here in the two way platform, take your. Take your questions. So please raise them high, particularly if you've never been on the platform before. We'd love to have your question. And I'll say again, please go to the podcast platforms and subscribe to this program as a podcast. I saw in the chat, which I don't read, but I glanced at. Thank you, Greg, for confirming that some of you are confused. Just go to any podcast platform, bring up the morning meeting, and it'll. It'll give you some ideas. Sometimes it'll be subscribed, sometimes it'll be like, whatever it is, just do the thing that shows you want to be part of the program on whatever. And someone asked, does it matter if you do it on YouTube? Well, sure, do it on YouTube too. But the whole point is Sean does not want to be behind Chris Hayes for another second on the Apple ratings. And Dan, Dan has to tell his children Ted Cruz's podcast is more popular than mine. Kids, let's not, let's not, like, send Dan into the weekend having to tell his kids that. So please, Apple, Spotify particularly. Go like, subscribe, download, whatever you want to do. All right, Dan, Winner of the week.

[Dan]

We just talked a little bit about it. Kirsten Gillibrand, she is the chair of the dscc. Big recruiting win with Sherrod Brown. And it sounds like they may be getting closer with Janet Mills in Maine.

[Sean]

Dan, can I just real quick, just. Do you give. I give Schumer the credit for that. I know that she has the job, but does she have a role that we're not seeing?

[Dan]

I mean, look, I think it's Schumer. The, the leader is always kind of.

[Sean]

No, no, I know, but I'm just saying that, like, Schumer.

[Mark]

Let Schumer, lets her know it's happening.

[Dan]

And Schumer makes sure all credit goes to Chuck Schumer.

[President Trump]

No, no, no.

[Sean]

But, but you guys, I mean, like, there are some chairs that are. Yeah, I just think, you know. Okay.

[Dan]

Yeah, no, no, look, she's involved.

[Mark]

She's involved. She.

[Dan]

Yeah, so I'll give her credit. You know, she's the chair.

[Mark]

Yeah. Okay, Sean, winner of the week.

[Sean]

Play us in. All right. There you go. These are Florida citrus apples. This is a big week for Maha and Florida. Why Marty McCary there, the FDA commissioner, does a video. If you want to see it, go to Secretary Rollins feed or I retweeted it. And bottom line is Florida Oranges every year have been losing a little bit of natural sugar and they now don't qualify to be able to be made into orange juice. So we, by US Standards have to import oranges from Brazil and other countries to make orange juice. Makary and Rollins have changed the standard to make sure that we now qualify. I know this sounds petty, but this is the perfect point of Trump. We've taken an American product, allowed us to to maximize its use, and then also done gotten rid of a stupid regulation that said that 64 of purity versus or sugar content versus 63 is the threshold. So I'm a big fan of this because I think it's emblematic of how we're doing smart government things now that grow our country and can keep us healthier.

[Mark]

Adorable answers from both of you, but the winner of the week are swifties. Dan, Loser of the week.

[Sean]

No, come on.

[Dan]

I like Sean. That's pretty darn good one. My loser of the week is Israel. Not only did Pete Buttigieg. I've never seen a candidate backpedal so fast on the Democratic side, but on the Republican side you had the story that Steve Bannon, I think it was either suspended a correspondent who went on an APAC funded trip or was going to go on an APEC funded trip to Israel to kind of understand it better. We talked about it earlier in the week. Israel is losing the right and the left base.

[Mark]

I agree with Michael Granoff. The loser of the week under your rubric would be Pete Buttigieg. But Sean, loser of the week.

[Sean]

My loser. A week or a family from you got from your neck of the woods up there, The Baileys. Let me explain to you who the Baileys are. Take a look.

[Mark]

He's an insurance adjuster and lives in.

[President Trump]

The New York suburbs.

[Mark]

By New York standards, he makes 50,000 a year. If he lived in the middle of the country, he'd make 40.

[Dan]

Wife works in a medical office.

[Mark]

She makes about 20. She might make 15 elsewhere. And you know, I have guided my political life through the Baileys.

[Dan]

The Baileys have guided Chuck Schumer's political life, which is a little weird given they don't exist. Seriously, he in fact.

[Sean]

So it's a seven minute clip that is worth watching. I've reposted it. Chuck Schumer has been talking about this family, the Baileys, for decades. And according to John Oliver there, they don't exist. By the way, the Baileys both voted for Trump. And this is an individual who's leading the Democratic Senate caucus saying that he Guides his political career off the Baileys, which is good to know. He might want to readjust his political thinking, but anyway, it's one of the best seven minutes that I've ever watched on. On YouTube.

[Mark]

Sean, here's what I don't understand. The fact that the Baileys are fake has been known. Yep. Forever. You ever heard of Dickie Flat, a printer from a Haia, Texas? You ever heard of him? Yeah. Ted. Ted, Phil Graham, when he was a senator, did the exact same thing. When he wanted to make a point about policy, he would talk about Dickie Flat, a printer from a hate Texas.

[Sean]

Right.

[Mark]

Try as he might, he never could quite get the ink out from under his fingertips. So I don't understand why. Why all of a sudden Chuck Schumer is a loser for talking about this when he's been talking about it and acknowledging it's not real forever?

[Sean]

Well, I think what made it. What made it funny was, again, it's the seven minutes. It's Dan, it's John Oliver, obviously someone on the far left going after him. But the compilation itself was great. But the bigger point is, at the end of the day, Phil Graham's example, or, you know, Marius, others are people who exemplify why they fight for their policies. Chuck Schumer is saying these people, when he just got asked recently about how they voted in the 2024 election, says they voted for Trump. So if you're going to talk about someone and make up a family that you guide your political career by and the decisions that you make on policy, you might not want them to be pro Trump. If you're the leader of the Democratic.

[Mark]

Caucus, I'll just extend it by saying. His point is saying the party has a problem. We've lost people like the Baileys to Donald Trump. We need to. We need to change.

[Sean]

Can I ask this, Mark?

[Dan]

Are you.

[Sean]

Are you really John Bailey? Is it. Is that what you. It sounds to me that you're very defensive of the Baileys.

[Mark]

No.

[Sean]

I'm wondering if you are. Are you a Bailey?

[Mark]

I agree that the. The Oliver segment was very well produced and it's funny, but I'm just confused why he could have done this piece five years ago. I don't. Nothing happened new. Just John Oliver suddenly stumbled upon the Baileys. I just got a text from the person who invented the Baileys, by the way. Point. All right.

[Dan]

Oh, interesting.

[Mark]

My loser of the week is the critics who have assured us that Donald Trump and J.D. vance want to destroy America's relationship with Europe because, in fact, been Reported now several places the vice president and the Europeans are. Had a great week preparing for this meeting. And, and Donald Trump and J.D. vince want a strong relationship with Europe. They just want to change. So sorry to those critics who said they were destroying it. Dan, what are you looking for this weekend?

[Dan]

The reaction of Zelinsky to what happens this afternoon? Oh, Sean, I'm gonna.

[Sean]

Marco Rubio is doing not the full Ginsburg, but whatever the slimmed down version is Sunday on the talk shows. I want to see how he portrays this. So I, I mean, the obvious answer is Russia in the fallout, but I, I want, I think Rubio on Sunday will be able to be the one who's the face of it. So I want to see how he describes this.

[Mark]

Rubio is doing three of the five shows and Witkoff is doing the other two. So we'll see. I'm looking for this, and I want to ask you this question, a serious question. What's the percent chance that the United States arrests Putin today? That's what I'm looking for. Dan. Will the United. What's the percent chance they arrest him as a war criminal? Zero, Sean.

[Sean]

Zero.

[Mark]

Okay, when it happens, we'll. We'll post this moment and I'll just say before we take your questions, we. We two way tonight is. Is on the 2028.

[Sean]

Do you disagree? Do you disagree?

[Mark]

Oh, no. I think they're gonna arrest me. I think they're gonna arrest. I think that's the whole thing is this is to trick them to coming to the US I'm going to arrest him. He's a war criminal.

[Sean]

That he is.

[Mark]

But, yeah, and so let's see. But we may do. My point is we may do a special report. Just, you know, we'll see this weekend. We. That's, that's one thing to look for is if we decide to do a special report because, you know, they've arrested Putin. All right, let's go to your questions.

[Dan]

Now, as always, that would be news.

[Mark]

Please. Uh, did I not say dickey flat? I'm seeing somebody texting me. Didn't I say dickey flat? That.

[Dan]

Did he flap.

[Sean]

That's what I did.

[Mark]

No, yeah, yeah, I texted it before you mentioned it. Oh, okay. Yeah, okay, got it. Thank you. Yeah. Anyway, take your questions as always. Please, please unmute. Tell us where you are, what's on your mind, and, uh, we'll start with, uh, Sean. Sean, welcome in. Thank you for joining. Tell everybody where, John.

[Dan]

Her island.

[Mark]

Wow.

[Caller]

I never get to join the morning meeting because I'm here In la west coast time. So I'm excited. First time on morning meeting.

[Mark]

Honored to have you here.

[Caller]

Thank you. Since I am. Well, I have a bunch of questions but I'll try to limit it and make it fast. If what Trump does in D.C. is successful, he did appoint himself head of the U.S. task Force for the Olympics for LA. Do you think he would try to potentially do something? I know there's no home rule, obviously it's a federal district in D.C. but how could Trump theoretically try to do the same thing if he's successful in different cities?

[Mark]

Yeah, great question.

[Caller]

Maybe what he would do it in la.

[Mark]

Yep, great question, Sean. What are. Hold on, let's let him answer that one.

[Sean]

So there's two separate things. If you're asking specifically about the Olympics that will be deemed a. There's an acronym special after 9, 11.

[Dan]

It's the department.

[Sean]

So yeah. That you get deemed. So Super Bowls World Series convention. They're. Yeah, the conventions, they're all named. The Secret Service has a term, it's like something special event. I used to know it off top of my head that that will give him a little bit more authority, but it would be very specific to the event and the perimeter, etc. I, I think there is a National Guard aspect that he could employ but again, it's a little different because the role of the National Guard, they're not armed. What they're doing, they're, they, they don't have arrest powers. Where he's been successful in D.C. is utilizing all of the three letter like the FBI has its own police force, Park Police has a police force. I think at one point, and I know that I'm going to get this wrong, but there were something like 28 police forces within the capital region. Like Everybody's got A, A, they call them 1811s. Federal, federal law enforcement officials. Yeah, that, that are. An 1811 is, is a, a universal term within the federal government to determine someone that's got Federal Arrest Authority, etc. Etc. And so they have a ton of these and you can deploy them within the capital region because that's where their authority is. It would be a little bit harder in like LA or Chicago or New Orleans because it's anyway, so I, I think there would be a little bit of a difference there and especially if you have a governor and a mayor that is going to push back and I don't know that. So I would just say this, I would keep an eye on the legal maneuvering that they would do. But it's clearly DC is A very unique situation because of home rule.

[Mark]

Dan.

[Dan]

I agree with Sean. The Olympics will be safe and secure. There'll be security perimeters around all the events around the Olympic Village. They'll have road closures. So the entire country security apparatus will be there to help ensure that the Games are safe and secure. I would imagine they're going to clear out homeless and things like that just because they're going to need to have transportation and they want to paint the bridges and everything that we would do no matter where it is. I think as far as Trump, you know, replicating this, he's got to be careful. It's not just blue cities and blue states because it starts to look super partisan. I mean, and if I were the Democrats, I would start saying that. Why aren't you going after the most unsafe places?

[Mark]

Sean, can you ask. Yeah. Sean, can you ask your second question briefly? Is that possible?

[Caller]

Possible, Yeah. I don't understand why Trump has approached the tariff situation by country as opposed to by industry. And why not try to, you know, get, you know, identify certain industries.

[Mark]

Yep.

[Caller]

That he wants to reshore and you know, try to get more, you know, as opposed to maybe, you know, tackling China Shore. Because they, they, you know, he's done.

[Mark]

He'S done some of that, but it's hard to negotiate with a sector. Right. He's trying to gain the leverage over individual countries. So there has been some sector targeting, but I think that that's, that would be my explanation.

[Caller]

One, one last question if I could. Is there any chance of multi member districts by state as opposed to all this gerrymandering? No, you know what, I don't like any of those.

[Sean]

So in some, in some legislatures you will have a district, district eight and that will have two assem. One senator. Right, that's what you're talking about.

[Mark]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Sean]

States do that. There's no, the federal government's very clear about how it has to apportion members of Congress.

[Mark]

Yeah. Sean, thank you. Well, the states actually have a fair amount of leeway, I think, in, in picking how they like.

[Sean]

But you think you could have a multi member district.

[Mark]

You could. The state, I mean, it's never been tested. But the, but the preponderance of legal view is the states have deference to setting the rules of how they select their members of the House has, I guess, as long as you have the same number.

[Dan]

Yeah.

[Mark]

So we, we talk often about the power of the two way community and how you all are so connected to us and mobilizing at the Top of the program. We showed you that the morning meeting was 59th among news podcasts and the Apple ratings. And we asked you all to mobilize and move us up. And I'm here to report that we've dropped from 59 to 64 and we're now behind John Pedoric, the commentary podcast. So, so whoa. Please redouble your efforts on Apple because, because now Sean and Dan are dealing with not just being.

[Sean]

I, I've been getting chats from John Podoris. So he is, he's doing an entire guerrilla campaign right now.

[Dan]

The chat bots, the Russian chat bots.

[Mark]

Not only is Dan behind Ted Cruz and, and Sean behind Chris Hayes, but they're both behind John Podoritz. Now please don't let that stand. Michelle, welcome in. Thank you for being part of Two Way. Please unmute. Tell folks who don't know what's on your mind for Sean and Dan have.

[Michelle]

Well, I like to say good morning.

[Mark]

Morning.

[Michelle]

I'm glad I had 24 hours to calm down about Chris, Chris Simmons remarks yesterday.

[Mark]

I could, I could say, Michelle, we're all still very agitated by what Chris said.

[Dan]

He came on the group chat and kept going.

[Sean]

Really?

[Dan]

Oh, yeah, he did.

[Michelle]

I'll share with you. I'm in upstate New York, Rochester, New York.

[Mark]

And.

[Michelle]

Of course you all know that I came on just after the election.

[Dan]

That's what I was thinking to say.

[Michelle]

That I voted for Donald Trump and I sort of stepped back because I have to remember that this platform, I'm grateful for it because there's conversation on both sides of the aisle. And Dan, I'm glad that you're willing to engage with conservatives on fox. I'm always cheering for you when I see you. I, I'm, I'm a little disturbed because violence in cities, I don't care whether they're blue or they're red. There's a, there's a, a bigger issue and most white people don't want to say the truth out loud. These young kids are not having to come home and face a father in the home pretty generally. And I raised four kids in a home with a master sergeant, my husband. So if my kids got through me, which was very difficult, they had to face their father. So when we talk about Donald trump going into D.C. i for one cheered it. It's not a good look, but I would say the violence in cities is off the charts, whether we want to talk about it or not or the cause of it or not. My brother in law was shot to death in Rochester New York by kids who wanted cigarettes.

[Mark]

So.

[Michelle]

I would like to see.

[Dan]

More.

[Michelle]

Politicians, rather than being partisan, address urban issues without trying to make inroads for their party.

[Mark]

Right. Michelle, let's let Dan and Sean respond to what you've said so far.

[Dan]

Dan yeah, I mean, it's a great set of points. We, we're talking very high level. I mean, another huge issue here is the district attorneys and what they're enforcing and, you know, the homes or the homes that these kids don't have. There's a lot of layers to this, to your point, but I think everyone should agree that crime should not be acceptable and public safety is number one, whether it's the safety of this nation and then the safety of your community and your house or your home. And people should do everything. And that's why I keep saying the Democrats are making a huge mistake focusing on Trump, not focusing on this issue.

[Sean]

MICHELLE I just, I'm sorry to hear what your family's experience has been. I'm glad to know your kids had such a great role model in both, in both of you, because I think that's, that's fantastic. And I think that's what's been difficult about the past few years Covid on, is the difficult ability to have these discussions about where things really are and why they are, because we sort of are afraid to. I mean, I did this thing on my show yesterday where the President's fitness test came out. And you can argue, it's just everybody now wants to be outraged about everything and say, oh, my God, this is going to hurt somebody's feelings as opposed to, to, wow, we have massive obesity rates. How do we deal with this with kids? Right? We've got like, so instead of doing that, we mock the fitness test and say it's going to cause all of these kids to have anxiety as opposed to, well, they're going to get the obese and die from type 2 diabetes. Like, stop coddling us from the real problems. And, and one of the things that I had this discussion with the D.C. police Union Chief the other day. When you go through D.C. the, one of the biggest problems in, Jeanine Pirro talked about it is kids and gangs, 15, 16, 17 year olds that, that literally know they're immune from the law. You know, I just, I, I don't mean to sound like the old guy now, but when I was a kid, the idea of getting arrested or getting in trouble or your parents getting a phone call was enough to just, that ended the conversation. I don't want to get in trouble. I can't imagine getting arrested. Now, there's no fear of that. It's what are you going to do? There's no record. You're not going to arrest me, you're not going to punish me. So why not? And I think that we've got to at least at some point feel like these discussions are worth having. Again, I appreciate your comments today.

[Michelle]

Well, I will say real quick because I know you want to get to more people, I will say that I heard Harold Ford talk about going to Congress and doing a crime bill again. Again, these are not issues that are going to be solved by the National Guard in one city. It's not. Except though we've I'd like to hear what the Democratic solutions are. Okay, so you're talking to Donald Trump and you're angry with him. Give them some solutions.

[Mark]

Yep. Michelle, thank you. Okay. Your words gave us all stuff to think about and caused Chris to raise his hands. But unfortunately we don't have time. So Michelle, thank you. Thank you for being part of Two Way. Sean, what do you have tonight?

[Sean]

Tonight, Robert Cahaly of the Trafalgar Group, he they have formed a new consortium to talk about how to poll better and what standards should be. We're going to break down who the good pollsters are, who the bad pollsters are, the state of the country and what we need to look for as we head into the midterms.

[Mark]

Okay, at least two, two ways left today. First, four o' clock, Ethan Strauss joined by our friend Nancy Rommelman. Please join them at 4 on 2 way random offense and then at 6 episode we recorded yesterday, Alex Castellanos. And then the authors of Fight John Allen and Amy Parnes talk about 2028 and we talk about Gavin Newsom, we talk about the vice president, we talk about Marco Rubio, we talk about Westmore and some of the dynamics coming up in the presidential and I'll say not credit to me but to the three of them, it's the most sophisticated conversation you'll hear anywhere about where the race currently stands. And believe me, the race is underway. As I said, if there's, if Putin's arrested or there's some other big news, we'll may hit you with the special report. So watch the two way various two way accounts on Twitter and our website and my substack will notify you if we're going to be jumping on the air to report on what's happening. Finally, again, thanks to all of you sending in potential theme songs for the program playing A play off the air with what Sean requested, which is a straight up country version. See if you like that. You can comment in the chat. I promise to look at the chat. And again, please use the opportunity, if you haven't yet, to. To subscribe, like download whatever. The new version of this program available now as a podcast shortly after we go off the air. It's not live, but it's available shortly after we off the air, 10 Eastern time. Thank you for being part of Two Way. I will either see you. We'll see you later and we'll see you Monday morning for this program. Paul, hit it.

[Hymn Singer]

Well, now y' all wake up Grab the coffee cup the rooster's crowing Time to saddle up Mark's on the mic with a wink and grin It's a two way show let the day begin the morning meeting's on on the two egg line Kick up your boobs, y' all we're feeling fine from the left to the right Everybody belongs at the two way table where we're singing this.

[Mark]

Song.

[Hymn Singer]

Mark's the captain runs this boat with a steady hand and a southern note says he don't read that chat too much but somehow still stays in touch Old Dan rolls in with a pocket square sharp as a tack out the TV stare Talks to left with a gentle tone Best dressed Democrat you've ever known Now Sean steps up Knows a game by heart from the White House days He plays his part before you leave he'll make his play with one more thing he's gotta say.

[Dan]

Peace.

[Hymn Singer]

And love that's how we roll Presume the grace it feeds the soul.

[Mark]

From.

[Hymn Singer]

The big old city to the country Ground two eggs A place where our friends are found the morning meetings on on the two egg line Kick up your boots, y' all we're feeling fine from the left to the right Everybody belongs at the two way table where we're singing this song.

[Mark]

All right, four seconds. Number one. I like. Winner, winner.

[Hymn Singer]

Boots, y' all we're feeling fine from the left to the right Everybody belong at the two way table where we're singing this song Dan.

[Dan]

I agree.

[Hymn Singer]

We got the table singing this song.

[Mark]

Gentlemen, do we have a new. Do we have a new number one?

[Dan]

I mean, this is. This is maybe tied with number one.

[Mark]

Yep. Sean.

[President Trump]

I would.

[Sean]

I would go with it if that. If I can get Dan there, I'm in.

[Dan]

Yeah. We got to shorten it a little bit, a little long, but I.

[Sean]

And we need a yee haw at the end. At the end. A full on. Yeehaw.

[Mark]

All right, we'll have.

[Dan]

I want to preserve the right, because these are getting better and better. I would like to know my options.

[Mark]

All right. Submit more. We're going to post them all eventually and let everybody vote, but Sean and Dan will, of course, have final say. Thank you all for watching. All you all for watching. Howdy.

[Dan]

Howdy.

[Mark]

And happy Summit Day, and we'll see you soon. On.

[Dan]

Hold on.

[Sean]

You got to end like this.

[Dan]

You all come back on Monday, you hear? Well done.

[Mark]

Thanks, everybody, for submitting. They're fantastic, and we love them all.

[Dan]

But Dean from Ohio.

[Mark]

Yeah, Dean's incredible. Thank you all. Have a great weekend, and we'll see you later. Bye. Bye.