Will Trump Strike Iran This Weekend? Massive U.S. Armada and Past Precedent Signal Action Imminent

Summary

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Podcast Summary: The Morning Meeting

Episode: Will Trump Strike Iran This Weekend? Massive U.S. Armada and Past Precedent Signal Action Imminent

Date: February 20, 2026
Host: Mark Halperin
Panelists: Jaime Moore, Larry O’Connor
Notable Guests: Joe Scarborough (MSNBC), Iranian Foreign Minister (via interview), Callers

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Episode Overview

This episode delves deep into the possibility of imminent U.S. military action against Iran under President Trump, assessing indicators from troop and asset movement, media leaks, diplomatic maneuvers, and recent public statements from both sides. The panel also dissects America’s weakening economic data, political fallout, headlines regarding Prince Andrew’s Epstein-related probe, Democratic Party messaging for 2026, and lighter topics including the Royal Family’s latest woes and the looming weather in New York.

The show blends insight from political insiders with real-time reactions to breaking news, all in the brisk but conversational style typical of morning network editorial meetings.

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Key Segments & Discussion Points

1. Daybook Rundown and Setting the Stage

[03:33–07:00]

• Host Mark Halperin introduces the day’s hot topics: U.S.-Iran tensions, the President’s White House schedule, bleak economic numbers, the Supreme Court’s expected decisions, plus updates on Epstein and the Democratic agenda.
• The president is set to meet with select governors; notable partisan sniping is expected.

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2. Iran: Is Action Imminent?

[07:00–18:21]

Rumors & Media Reports

• Halperin outlines conflicting media stories:
  • WSJ: Trump may be weighing an “initial limited strike” to force Iran back to nuclear talks.
  • Washington Post: Signals “bigger strike” might be imminent, with U.S. forces on alert in the region.
  • NYT’s David Sanger: Critiques Trump for not making his case to the public, sparking broad media calls for clarity.

The Debate Over Justification

• Americans and Republicans divided on whether sufficient rationale for military action has been presented.
  • Rachel Campos on Fox (09:12): "If you're going to get us potentially into a war, you have to explain why, why it matters to us, not to other countries, but to us."
  • Even FOX’s Brian Kilmeade expresses skepticism over Trump’s communicative transparency.

Direct Exchanges with Iran

• MSNBC’s Morning Joe airs an interview with the Iranian FM:

  • Iranian FM ([10:23]): “There is no military solution for Iran’s nuclear program… the only solution is diplomacy. We are prepared for war, and we are prepared for peace.”
  • Again stresses self-reliance in nuclear capabilities, defiant against threats.

• Joe Scarborough asks ([11:26]): advice for President Trump and Congress.

  • Iranian FM: “Previous US administrations… have tried almost everything against us—war, sanctions, snapback… None of them worked. If you talk with the Iranian people with the language of respect, we respond with the same language.”

• David Ignatius analysis ([12:16]):

  • Iran offers a time-limited suspension of enrichment (three to five years), possibly until Trump is out of office, then a consortial civilian program. U.S. remains skeptical.

Panel Reactions

• Jaime Moore ([14:25]): Stresses the public’s “PTSD” from past Middle East wars; argues a higher bar must be set for justifying action in Iran as opposed to “Venezuela or Greenland.” Predicts heightened congressional and political scrutiny given looming midterms.
• Larry O’Connor ([16:21]): “All of the moves that the President has been making and the shuffling of military assets in the region are very similar to the moves that he has made in the past before he has ordered a military strike…”
• O’Connor also calls out the use of American platforms by Iranian officials as “propaganda” and stresses the regime’s oppressive history towards its own people ([18:11]).

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3. Economic Data—A Rough Day

[18:23–24:51]

• “Arguably the worst day of economic data in the entire Trump 2.0”—stagflation emerges as U.S. growth declines and inflation ticks up.
  • GDP only up 1.4%; Inflation rises to 3.0%
  • Trump’s response (Truth Social, [20:15]): Blames Democrats’ “shutdown” for slow growth.
• Larry O’Connor: Explains drop is tied to decreased government spending “almost entirely private sector activity…government spending down 5%.”
• Jaime Moore: Dems given “a gift” by Trump’s “I won affordability” claim—predicts it will haunt him in campaign ads.

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4. Democratic Messaging & State of the Union Response

[24:51–29:47]

• Abigail Spanberger’s speech featured ([25:30]): Focuses on affordability—housing, energy, health care.
• Panel lauds Spanberger’s plain, direct messaging for Democrats:
  • Moore: “Wages are not going up, but all the costs…are going up. And that's what people are feeling.”
  • O’Connor is more skeptical, calling her “stiff, disingenuous and scripted”—argues that another Dem (Mamdani) more authentically embodies the affordability message.

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5. Headlines: Political Round Robin

[30:32–36:06]

• MAGA Moms v. Trump over pesticides—panel sees little chance of real Democratic gains.
• Which Dem Governor is “having the best week?” Consensus is Andy Beshear—Wes Moore and others faring poorly.
• Prince Andrew/Epstein angle: Panel downplays U.S. repercussions, but notes “people just want a resolution” of the Epstein files, citing widespread suspicion and lack of closure.
  • O’Connor ([35:56]): “No one will ever believe what they're seeing…there will always be the suspicion that we are being lied to about all of it.”

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6. UFOs, Distractions, and Media Management

[37:30–38:17]

• O’Connor jibes: “Everyone knows it's a distraction from Epstein, right?”
• Obama’s recent comments on UFOs referenced.

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7. Exclusive: Joe Scarborough on Iran Negotiations

[38:28–44:28]

• Joe explains how the Iranian FM interview came about and what he learned.
• U.S. position not as maximalist as public reporting suggests.
• U.S. may be amenable to a deal if Iran can provide credible assurance (and verification) that its nuclear program is "peaceful."
• Negotiations timeline: U.S. gives Iran “about a week,” but Scarborough predicts a quick, punitive strike to nudge Iran to the table is likely ([43:59]).
  • Scarborough ([43:59]): “If I went on any of those betting sites, I would probably take this: there might be a quick strike and then…the United States backing up as a way to push the negotiations along.”

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8. Winners & Losers of the Week

[45:00–48:43]

• Winner of the week:
  • Larry: Republican Senate nominee in Texas (Dems in-fighting).
  • Jaime: Stephen Colbert (“talked about every day”).
  • Mark: Marco Rubio.
• Loser of the week:
  • Larry: Wes Moore (“just cannot shake this latest story…”)
  • Jaime: The Royal Family (“rollercoaster ride” since King Charles’ accession).
  • Mark: AOC.

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9. What to Watch For This Weekend

[47:50–48:43]

• Everyone: Iran, and how U.S. and Democratic governors maneuver.
• Mark: NYC’s mayor and snowstorm management—“about competence, not ideology.”

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10. Live Audience Q&A

[51:09–56:43]

• Caller Angela (California Republican): Asks about John Fetterman’s cross-partisan appeal and Gavin Newsom’s lack thereof.
  • O’Connor: Suggests Fetterman could be at risk of a primary challenge; agrees he’s interesting for his cross-party engagement but not likely to run for president.
  • Moore: Fetterman praised, but more as a model for “emulat[ion]” than a candidate. “He will never be president and he will not run for president.”
• Caller John (Houston): Argues Trump is at odds with his base and seems to “not care" about the midterms.
  • O’Connor: White House messaging effort set to truly begin with the State of the Union—“withhold judgment.”
  • Moore: “The president only cares about himself first. ... He doesn't necessarily care about other Republicans being elected.”

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

On Justifying War

• Rachel Campos: "If you're going to get us potentially into a war, you have to explain why, why it matters to us, not to other countries, but to us." (09:12)

Iran’s Stance

• Iranian Foreign Minister: "We are prepared for, you know, war, and we are prepared for peace. ... But none of [U.S. pressure tactics] worked. If you talk with the Iranian people with the language of respect, we respond with the same language." (11:32)

On Economic Angst

• Mark Halperin: “That’s called stagflation, ladies and gentlemen. That’s the, that’s doom.” (18:23)

On Democratic Messaging

• Jaime Moore: “Wages are not going up, but all the costs around us are going up. And that's what people are feeling.” (27:06)

On Media Strategy & Iran

• Joe Scarborough: “There might be a quick strike and then…the United States backing up as a way to push the negotiations along. I think that's probably the most likely course.” (43:59)

On Public Cynicism about Epstein

• Larry O’Connor: “No one will ever believe what they're seeing or what comes out here. ... There will always be the suspicion that we are being lied to about all of it.” (35:56)

On Fetterman’s Model

• Mark Halperin: “I would love…for more Democrats and Republicans to study Fetterman, to study what's been effective about it and emulate the things that he's doing that are good.” (54:16)

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Episode Flow & Tone

• Lively, sometimes combative back-and-forth, shaped by the early morning “newsroom” spirit: rapid-fire updates, quick-witted asides, and a readiness to pivot to developing stories.
• Frequent playful ribbing between hosts and panelists; seriousness on world affairs is leavened by jokes about barbecue, sports, and political foibles.
• Alternates between high-level geopolitical analysis and retail politics; direct access to policymakers and network anchors (e.g., Joe Scarborough) distinguishes the show's inside-baseball feel.

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [03:33] - Daybook rundown: Show outline and president’s daily agenda
• [07:00] - Iran situation and conflicting media previews
• [09:12] - Media demands for case for war (Campos, Kilmeade)
• [10:23–11:32] - Iranian FM interview excerpts
• [12:16] - Journalist analysis (Ignatius)
• [14:25–18:21] - Panel: What happens next w/Iran? Domestic skepticism
• [18:23] - Bad economic data revealed
• [21:19] - Explaining the economic downturn/spin attempts
• [25:30] - Spanberger's “affordability” address
• [30:32] - Quickfire: MAGA moms/pesticide, who's up/down, Andrew/Epstein
• [35:56] - Epstein public suspicions
• [37:30] - UFOs: distraction & Obama/Trump references
• [38:28] - Joe Scarborough gives inside scoop on Iran backchannel
• [43:59] - Scarborough: Most likely play is a short, sharp strike
• [45:00] - Winners & losers segment
• [47:50] - Weekend lookahead
• [51:09] - Audience Q&A: Fetterman, Newsom
• [56:44] - Audience Q: Does Trump care about the midterms?
• [60:02] - Alyssa Liu named winner of the week

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Summary

This episode marked a tense moment in U.S.-Iranian relations and reflected the uncertainty surrounding possible U.S. military strikes. The panel analyzed an array of conflicting signals from the White House, Congress, Iranian officials, and the media. Simultaneously, they assessed economic storm clouds for the Trump administration and previewed the challenges facing both parties in the build-up to the 2026 midterms.

Notable for its access (Joe Scarborough’s direct window into administration thinking on Iran) and willingness to question all sides, the show provided listeners with both breaking news and tested political instincts—never losing sight of the big picture or the day’s mood in the American political class.

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Transcript

[Mark Halperin]

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[Larry O'Connor]

This is it. The world as you know it is over. Completely done. It's not about to be over. It's over.

[Mark Halperin]

Some of the scientists who helped build AI are now sounding the alarm. I was selling AI as a great

[Larry O'Connor]

thing for decades and I was wrong. I was wrong.

[Iranian Foreign Minister]

There's a longer term existential threat that will arise when we create digital beings that are more intelligent than ourselves.

[Jaime Moore]

We have no idea whether we can stay in control.

[Mark Halperin]

While others say that AI will usher in unfathomable abundance, I've always believed that it's going to be the most important invention that humanity will ever make.

[Jaime Moore]

This really will be a world of abundance.

[Mark Halperin]

And among these fears and these fantasies,

[Larry O'Connor]

we seek the story of our future.

[Mark Halperin]

Listen to the last invention on Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Jaime Moore]

Foreign.

[Mark Halperin]

We're starting the show even though we're in the midst of a conversation about the Olympics. Welcome to the morning meeting program based on the Network News Division's morning meetings. Jaime Moore is here, Larry o' Connor is here. You the two way community, not just from coast to coast, but around the world, around the globe. Thank you for being part of it. We're going to run through the daybook today. News can break today both during the show and immediately after because amongst the things going on is the Supreme Court is supposedly issuing some orders today and that could include two cases of great interest, which we'll talk about in a moment. Iran is a big story and well, there's a lot of big stories today, but Iran Epstein, a lot of politics stuff and of course UFOs. And of course it's Friday, so winners and losers of the week and what to look for this weekend will all be on our robust menu as we spend an hour together. And then of course our second hour on SiriusXM channel 111 right at 10 o'. Clock. So please join us, Join us for a couple hours. I am gonna tell you about a word from a sponsor and then we're Gonna go right into the daybook. If you want to be in the conversation, please, please, please raise your hand. And if you don't have life insurance for yourself and you're the breadwinner in your family, please, please, please go, Please go to ethos.commark to get a free quote life insurance vital for you to have it. You put off a lot of things in life and a lot of people put off getting life insurance. If you, if you're the breadwinner, get it. Go to ethos.com more get some life insurance. Ethos online platform makes it easy. Less than 10 minutes in some cases. No medical exam. Just answer some health questions and some other questions. It's entirely online process. You can get up to $3 million in life insurance right now. Go to ethos.com mark help your family, have financial security, protect them. And, and again, this can take as little as 10 minutes. Application times can vary, rates can vary. But go to ethos.commark for an opportunity if you're the breadwinner in your family to develop not just the rational protection for your family, but the peace of mind for yourself and for them, knowing that you've got life insurance in case something happens to you. Go to ethos.commark for a free quote right now. Thank you for your attention to that matter. All right, in the daybook. The president's at the White House today. In moments. He's supposed to meet at the bottom of the bottom of the hour, 9:30, a working breakfast with governors. This is kind of semiotically, it's no longer a National Governors association event because the president refused to include all the governors, particularly singling out the governors of Maryland and Colorado. But some governors will be there. And as you know, historically, including with Donald Trump, but not only with Donald Trump, you sometimes have bi cross partisan sniping at these events. There was one with George Bush that was quite something back in the day. So we'll see. We may dip into that. If it starts during the program. It's supposed to at 9:30 and then at 10:30 the President has a meeting called, a private meeting. Someone reported what it is. I don't mean disrespect to the person, but it's like the Thai foreign minister or something that's all on a schedule. And as far as we know at this point, not going out of town, even though it's going to be a chilly weekend in Washington. So we'll try to figure out why he's sticking around. Don't know what the vice president's doing today. We know what the Treasury Secretary is doing on the day when some very disappointing economic figures came out, which we'll talk about in a moment. The President, the Cabinet secretary, the treasury secretary is speaking to the Dallas economic club at 2 o' clock Eastern. And then at 3 o' clock he's talking about those Trump savings accounts for kids at Oat Barbecue in Addison, Texas. I've been to a lot of barbecue places, but not that one. You guys ever been to that one?

[Larry O'Connor]

I have not. No oak, but all Texas barbecue is the same pretty much. Oh, whoa.

[Mark Halperin]

Not true, dude.

[Larry O'Connor]

It's all that nasty.

[Jaime Moore]

Coming in hot this morning.

[Mark Halperin]

Not true. Do you know that if it's not

[Larry O'Connor]

pork, it's not barbecue?

[Mark Halperin]

Evan Smith used to be the editor of Texas Monthly and they did an annual barbecue issue and they reviewed all the best barbecue places. And Evan was a vegetarian and I thought he should, he should have to recuse himself from even touching the issue. But he did it. He oversaw pork and beef decisions.

[Jaime Moore]

Yeah, I'm a, I'm a brisket guy myself.

[Mark Halperin]

Yeah. Are you?

[Larry O'Connor]

Yeah, yeah.

[Mark Halperin]

Hot links, hot links here.

[Larry O'Connor]

Oh, I'd like the links, I'll give them that.

[Mark Halperin]

Okay. House and senator out. Big event tonight, seven o', clock, two two way favorites. Bernie Sanders, Senator from Vermont and Representative Ro Khanna are holding a town hall at San Stanford tonight on the future of work and AI. I wish I could be a 3000 miles away from here and go to that. That sounds like it'd be interesting. National governors continue to meet today after their meeting at the White House, they have an open session in Washington. Usually they meet at the JW Marriott. I don't know if they're still there, but they're right in the area. And then at 10 o', clock, the Supreme Court is issuing orders. People think some you usually save the biggest cases to the end of the term, but they've held onto the tariff case for so long. And then if they want to issue the voting rights case this year, now would be the time because closer to the election we'd create a big mess. So we'll see if they release one or both of those today. They're also issuing orders early next week. If they do it today, both those stories will be a major topic of conversation on our second hour on SiriusXM. And of course also on two way tonight. The voting rights decision would be massive. It would allow Republicans to maybe keep control of the House in one fell swoop because it could affect 15 or more seats. The Republicans could Then win. All right. The the economic data came out today and we're going to start with Iran. We'll get to the economic data in a second. But it was disappointing both basically if you just look at these numbers in the abstract, stagflation growth was down way below what people thought it was going to be and inflation was up higher than people thought it was going to be. And that's obviously an unusual and dangerous combination of it persists. But let's talk about Iran Ton to get through on Iran first. Nobody knows what's going to happen. I think I can stipulate we continue to be thinking of waiting out more negotiation. The Wall Street Journal reporting maybe a limited strike. We could put that one up. That is. Where is that one guys? That's number number got a long list of elements there. It is Trump. This Wall Street Journal reported this yesterday. Trump weighs initial limited strike to force Iran into nuclear deal. Now the problem with that is some people say a limited strike would be the worst of all worlds, which is it would just cause Iran to retaliate and walk away from negotiating rather than what the article suggests. Some people in the administration believe a limited strike would focus their minds and get them to the the Washington Post kind of leans in the other way with their Lead story number 110, a map showing all the assets. We've now seen these maps now that are in the region and the headline Trump appears ready to attack Iran as US Strike force takes shape. So that's leaning into a bigger strike. David Sanger of the New York Times leans into the notion which we've been talking about here. 113 President hasn't really explained this. He hasn't made the case for war. You see some in Congress demanding war powers resolution. Headline is Trump ways are on strikes. He declines to make clear case for why, why or why. Now, Mr. Trump has never consistently described his goals and when he talks about them it is usually in a haze of brief offhand comments. The President's given no speeches. Etc. Very persuasive column in factually Craig, David Sanger is one of the best in the business. So persuasive that here's another person who echoed Sanger. She referenced having read his story. This is Rachel Campos on Fox and Friends just a little bit ago.

[Guest/Caller]

I think that the President needs to make a better case as to why this is in American interest to potentially go into a kinetic war. I don't think the case has been made sufficiently for me. If you read the New York Times, there's A lot of people who, who also feel that way. If you're going to get us potentially into a war, you have to explain why, why it matters to us, not to other countries, but to us.

[Mark Halperin]

Yeah, so Campo says, got to explain it better. Even Brian Kilmeade, additionally, I'll say Brian Kilmeade chimed in and seemed to agree. Lawrence, not so sure. Now, if that weren't enough to table set Larry and Jaime on this. You know how often you'll hear somebody say a politician or a government official say, I'm not going to negotiate in public. Well, ladies and gentlemen, this morning on Morning Joe, there was negotiating in public because the Iranian foreign minister showed up for an extended interview after which Joe talked to a Trump administration official and they were basically negotiating in public. Here is the Iranian foreign minister talking about the inability of the United States, at least he claims, to destroy their nuclear program. 103, please.

[Iranian Foreign Minister]

Is that there is no military solution for Iran's nuclear program that has been tested last year and there were a huge attack on our facilities, on our, you know, they killed and assassinated our scientists, but they couldn't kill our nuclear program.

[Larry O'Connor]

Why?

[Iranian Foreign Minister]

Because it is developed by ourselves, by our scientists. This is a technology developed by us, belongs to us. And it cannot be destroyed by, by bombings, by, you know, militarily, the only solution is diplomacy. This is why the US Is back in the table of negotiation and is seeking a deal. And we are prepared for that. We are prepared for, you know, war, and we are prepared for peace. We are prepared for diplomacy and we are prepared for negotiation as much as we are prepared for war.

[Mark Halperin]

Pretty incredible. All right, here's what he said when asked what he would say to the President. This is 104, please.

[Joe Scarborough]

What would your message be to the president and the members of Congress?

[Iranian Foreign Minister]

Well, the message is that previous US Administrations, even the current US Administration, have tried almost everything against us A war, you know, sanctions, snapback, you know, any, everything. But none of them worked. If you talk with the Iranian people with the language of respect, we respond with the same language. But if they.

[Mark Halperin]

Okay, here's David. Here's David Ignatius. Okay, stop this one. Here's David Ignatius and his analysis of the interview.

[Iranian Foreign Minister]

So what I heard from Foreign Minister Arakchi was a description of where they would like to go in trying to satisfy the demands that the administration official conveyed to you. He said, first, we're seeking a win win deal. What does that mean? He said that it means that the US Will be confident that the Iranian nuclear program will be peaceful. And there are various strategies they've talked about to assure the US Especially on enrichment, that they have talked in the five guiding principles that Iraq she referenced about a temporary suspension of enrichment for three to five years until after Trump is no longer president. And then a process that would make enrichment part of a civilian consortium in the region so that there would be controls to keep it out of.

[Mark Halperin]

All right, the military, we'll cut out of this. He talked three more, three more data points. As if it weren't confusing enough, here's The Financial Times 107. They say that Iran would like there to be a conflict because that's in their interest. Iran is betting on war. Tehran thinks a drawn out conflict could eventually yield a better deal than when Trump is offering today. So that's a, that's a new posture. They want to, they want a big war. But because they can get better terms, that presumably means they think they'll win the war. The AP108 says that the embers still burn for the people who were in the streets. Iranians grieved defiantly for thousands killed in last month's crackdown. And then finally, Mark Penn has op ed piece in The Wall Street Journal 109 that looks at data and convincingly makes the case that MAGA approves of Donald Trump's types of interventions. That if he goes into Iran big, no ground troops, no extended conflict, no nation building, that MAGA likes that the headline MAGA Voters back Trump's interventions. The idea that his base is, quote, isolationist turns out to be a myth. Thanks to the producers of the show, ladies and gentlemen, I'm confident you just got the best summary of what's going on in Iran anywhere else in the media. But it doesn't tell us how this ends. So, Jaime, how does this end?

[Jaime Moore]

I was hoping you go, Larry first.

[Larry O'Connor]

Come on.

[Jaime Moore]

Yeah, look, I mean, look, we, I think we've all been saying this for quite some time. I've been saying this like I think the president has said over the last 10 years that he was an anti war president, would be anti war president. And so when you, when you talk about these sort of targeted strikes, even if they are small strikes, you have to explain the case. I think the thing that, and I've been a little bit more skeptical than, I think some on this platform and way more than Larry. But I think this is much different than Venezuela. This is much different than, than South America. When you go into the Middle East. I think a lot of people in America have really extreme PTSD from The last two wars, we were, we were, we were fighting for 25, 30 years in the Middle East. And so I think when you are going to Iran, you have to have a better case for, for having these strikes. Granted, I do not think that Iran should welcome this, this strike. They will not win this. It will not be good for their country, will not be good for the region. And I think the President knows that. And so I don't know how it's going to end. I do think the President, you know, we saw what happened over the last couple of days with all, you know, all the assets moving closer to Iran and closer to the Middle East. I think he will reserve the right to, to strike. And he has shown that over the last year that he's not afraid to do it. And so I think that's one thing. The second thing, look, Congress is getting a little bit more active now. Larry and I talked about this maybe a couple weeks ago because of the midterms. And so they will have more opinions on these types of things because their, their, their, their careers hang in the balance of how well people think the President's doing or the President should go to war or not. And so I don't know what's going to happen. And I know we said this earlier, Mark, I don't know. You don't know. We don't know. But I do think this is going to be a little bit more of a conversation than Venezuela, than Greenland and some of the other things that have happened over the last year because we're so close to the midterms.

[Mark Halperin]

Larry.

[Larry O'Connor]

All right, I don't know what's gonna happen either. Spoiler alert. But as we've mentioned over the last couple of days, all of the moves that the President has been making and the shuffling of military assets in the region are very similar to the moves that he has made in the past before he has ordered a military strike. When you say go into Iran versus Venezuela, I don't know what going into Iran looks like exactly. The assets that have been moved into the area, our Navy assets, their air assets, their missile assets, their rocket assets, I don't see troop movements. I don't see the mobilization of, you know, the infantry and artillery to do a ground war. So I don't think that's the sort of thing that's going to happen. What struck me about the interview with the foreign minister, as much as I was able to see in between breaks on my radio show, was the fact that it happened at all. Mark? Yes, the, the, which, which Kind of tells me, listen, what I've been hearing from people that are close to the administration is that there is this feeling of confidence right now that things are moving in the right direction to end this regime because they are in such desperate straits economically and because the international oil situation is really damaging them. Their infrastructure is, is in trouble. And to me that was a sign of desperation for him to come on American television and try to send this message. I think that they are in trouble also. Just quickly. I find it absolutely reprehensible to have that man representing that regime talk about how the American people are not respecting or the American government is not respecting the people of Iran. We see how that regime respects the people of Iran. We saw what they did to the protesters in the streets.

[Mark Halperin]

Amen. Amen.

[Larry O'Connor]

I understand it was a great get for Scarborough and Mika and I know that it was a big newsmaking issue, but I hate when our platforms are used for their propaganda.

[Mark Halperin]

Well, that just, that's just the nature, nature of the world.

[Larry O'Connor]

But you're right, you're right to call it out.

[Mark Halperin]

And it was a great get and it was a very long interview. We showed you some of it. But the whole thing's quite remarkable. And then as I said, Joe talked to Jock, talked to Trump official and, and got the reaction. All right, we'll talk more about Iran in a bit. But let's talk about the economy. There's arguably the worst day of economic data in the entire Trump 2.0 because as I said, disappointing and bad numbers both on growth which was down, and inflation which was up. That's called stagflation, ladies and gentlemen. That's the, that's doom. Here's the, here's the GDP number And again, well below expectations. If you're someone like me who believes we need to aspire to grow to more than by more than 3%. Most people don't feel that way, but this is a horrible number. Fourth quarter US GDP up just 1.4%. Badly missing estimate. And here's the inflation number that also came out at 8:30 this morning. US December core price index rises 3.0 year to year. It was supposed to be 2.9 and previously was 2.8. So that's not up dramatically, but obviously trending the wrong direction. The President United States gets this data the night before and he's not supposed to talk, talk about it till 8:30 but we know the president doesn't like rules. So he went on Truth Social and, and said this. We have that, I believe. Let's See, where's the president? Truth Social. We have that one. Let's do we have it or. I made that up, that we have it. Maybe I just read it. Anyway, the president blamed the Democrats on Truth Social. He said the reason that the GDP numbers were disappointing was. Here it is. The Democrat shutdown cost the USA at least 2 points in GDP. That's why they're doing it in mini form. Again, no shutdowns. Also lower interest rates. Too late, pal. Is the worst president djt now when he spells two two, in that case, is that a pun there or is he just screwed that up? Because I don't think there's any joke.

[Larry O'Connor]

I think that might be a fat thumb situation.

[Mark Halperin]

Anyway, on cnbc, they were actually somewhat sympathetic to this analysis that the shutdown did play a role. But both substantially and symbolically, these numbers are horrible. Yesterday, the President was in Georgia on the campaign trail and he was. This was a template of sorts for how he's going to talk about the economy. And he basically said, he didn't basically say. He said, you can put that one up. I'm just having trouble finding the numbers today, guys. He said, I've won affordability. He said. He said, I've won affordability. So, Larry.

[Larry O'Connor]

Yes.

[Mark Halperin]

Can you spin these numbers? Is this, is this foreshadowing doom? Because the president's already not getting high marks on the economy and now he's got a month worth of horrible numbers on both inflation and growth.

[Larry O'Connor]

I thank God every day that I've never been in the employ of a politician or an elected official. So I don't have to spin. Thank God. That's, that's a skill that I don't have.

[Mark Halperin]

All right, how about, can you explain that?

[Larry O'Connor]

Well, if you do drill down to the numbers, the President does have a point with regard to the government shutdown and really a policy that the Trump administration has been administering. Remember, the jobs numbers this last time around was almost entirely private sector jobs. And there has been a decrease in government jobs where we're actually losing government employment. Same thing with government spending. Government spending was down 5% in this quarter. And if you look at the graph, that is the single biggest drop in the GDP was government spending. So even though the top line number is not good at 1.4, it's almost entirely private sector activity where oftentimes government spending bolsters that number artificially.

[Mark Halperin]

Jaime, if these were Biden numbers, we know what the Republicans would be saying on a substantive level. How bad are these?

[Larry O'Connor]

Well, it would be reversed if it were Biden numbers, it would be almost entirely government spending and there wouldn't be private sector. I know that because that's what it was.

[Mark Halperin]

Yes, but there'd still be bad numbers. Hi. Yeah.

[Jaime Moore]

Regardless, look, I mean, I think the thing that strikes me the most, and this is I'm now I, I have spun for many reporters, Larry, so I will put my hat on for just quite a second, but it was, it

[Larry O'Connor]

was a subtle jab.

[Jaime Moore]

No, it's fine. When, when the president said I won affordability. That's going to be a wonderful ad that the Democrats are going to run starting in the primaries, I would presume. But look, I think we, the president, he had two really strong indicators in his first term and really two strong indicators in winning the election in 2024. And one was immigration and security and the other one was the economy. And I think people generally thought that in Trump's first term, prior to Covid, he was handling the economy in an interesting way that was building some positive results. That is not the case in Trump, too. I think the problem is, yes, we said this before, no one wins during a shutdown. If you shut the government down for as long as it was shut down, there are going to be some bad indicators that are going to, that are going to come up. That's just the reality of it. But I think when you put tariffs on top of that and then all of this confusing economic policy, the fact the president hasn't really invested any money or any value in and housing and started rebuilding these local economies, I think that's going to bow these, these bad numbers. Now, I do think the one thing that I am holding on to, and I said this even when Biden was president, most people who want a job have a job and there are still available jobs out there. And so that's going to be a huge thing that's going to keep this economy sort of moving forward. As long as we can keep people employed and people keep people spending, keep people getting new, new apartments, getting new houses, things like that, the economy will be okay. But these numbers are not good. And I think, you know what Abigail Spanberg is going to talk about next week and we'll talk about this later, and she laid out in her inaugural speech is a stark difference in the way we talk about affordability. And I think the Democratic Party, I think what Donald Trump just did was gave the Democratic Party a gift to re communicate what affordability means and to recommunicate why the economy is so fraught right now and why people feel so trepidatious about making big investments, about going on vacations, about leaving the country. And so this is going to be a big gift for them. And these numbers persist throughout the year. And the president keeps saying, look, Joe Biden was explaining every day why the economy was better. People were not feeling it. And it feels like President Trump and J.D. vance are trying to do the same thing. But the numbers are a little bit softer than even they were when Biden was president.

[Mark Halperin]

All right, so Scott Bess is going to have to explain this in Texas today. We'll look to see what he says. And of course, this is all leading up to, to Tuesday's State of the Union, where the president is expected to follow much of the script from Georgia and talk about the economy. Red Twitter is already spinning this as a product of Democrats, the Democratic filibuster or Democratic shutdown or the shutdown, they say blaming on the Democrats. And they're saying this is a reason to get rid of the filibuster. So that's a good spin. Abigail Spanberger named yesterday to do the response. Here she is talking about affordability in her inaugural address.

[Guest/Caller]

As we write this next chapter, we will work relentlessly to make life more affordable for our fellow Virginians. We will tackle the high cost of housing, whether you're renting, buying or trying to stay in your home. We will cut red tape, increase housing supply, and help communities keep housing affordable. We will work to lower energy costs by producing more energy and by ensuring that high energy users pay their fair share. And we will contend with an impending health care care crisis by protecting health care access, cracking down on the middlemen who are driving up drug prices and making sure Virginians aren't going into spiraling medical debt because of a single emergency.

[Mark Halperin]

Jaime, to me, that's the absolute best litany the Democrats have on affordability. She's a, she's a very confident person. I don't want to, I don't want to say something stupid, but I believe she could break the jinx and, and actually give a great State of the Union response. What do you think?

[Jaime Moore]

I'm going to go that far yet, because I don't want to. But look, to be fair, I think Alyssa Slotkin did a great job last, last year, too, after the response for the president's, it wasn't the State of the Union, but after his speech last year. And so look, I think Abigail Spamberger, and I've said this before, Mikey Sherrill, these two governors represent what I think is sort of the way to move this Democratic Party forward along with Mandani, along with other sort of liberal and progressive members of the party. But these two individuals, particularly Abigail Spamberger, who represents a very important state who has just got out of Republican control, she understands this electorate in a way that I've been trying to communicate for so long over the last few weeks. Everyone sort of running behind Mandani and talking about New York City. That's a city. She's representing a state. And she's representing a state that's not only important to, to, to. To Virginia, but it's important to the entire east coast and the mid Atlantic. And so she talked about housing, she talked about health care costs, particularly Larry, and I talked about this before. Those drug costs. That's a big deal. And she talked about wages. And so that's going to be something that's going to be very important. Wages are not going up, but all the costs, all the costs around us are going up. And that's what people are feeling. It's not about, you know, people feeling like they're being left behind or not having a job. They feel like their job is not getting them any further. They can't save money and also buy their, their parents diabetes medication. They can't save money and also send their kids to college or trade school. And so I think that's the issue. And so Abigail Spamberger, I believe, is going to use very, very plain language, not derogatory, not super anti Trump, just talking directly to the American people about the Democratic Party's vision for moving the country forward. And then let, and she'll let that be sort of the crux of what the 2026 midterm messaging will be.

[Mark Halperin]

Larry, we can't see your boots, but I assume you're quaking in them.

[Larry O'Connor]

Not really. Listen, as a political move, this makes sense for the Democrats. She represents what they want to be going forward. I'm a, you know, she is a white, suburban, affluent woman, and she just beat a Republican. Let's not forget an African American woman in Virginia to become the, the governor. But she's kind of a Potemkin Village. I. Everyone's mesmerized by her political skills. I think that she comes across stiff, disingenuous and scripted. There's nothing natural and authentic about her, and there's nothing authentic about choosing her. Because if you really want to distress affordability, why not put up front the guy who lit a fire under the affordability message, the person who actually invented the affordability message as a winning slogan. To, to defeat Andrew. Andrew Cuomo in New York.

[Mark Halperin]

Stop it.

[Larry O'Connor]

Abigail Spanberger co opted the affordability message. Mamdani really does represent him. But you know why the Democrats don't want mom Donnie to give this speech?

[Jaime Moore]

Larry, this is something that I, I, and I've said this before, I know you guys want to make Mandani the boogeyman. I think he's going to be a fantastic mayor.

[Larry O'Connor]

I don't want to make him the boogeyman. I think that he's the power center of your party.

[Jaime Moore]

He's talking about exactly what we want to talk about.

[Mark Halperin]

We'll see. We'll see on Tuesday. All right, we're going to do, we're going to do some stuff real fast.

[Larry O'Connor]

I just, I just quickly. I just. Because you played her inaugural speech. Yeah. Beautiful speech.

[Mark Halperin]

Yeah.

[Larry O'Connor]

What has she done in the, in the month and a half since that?

[Mark Halperin]

Yeah.

[Larry O'Connor]

The very first things that she signed as governor was a executive action to make a constitutional amendment so abortion can be legal up until the moment of birth. She did a executive proclamation signing a constitutional amendment for redistricting and gerrymandering a 6. 5 state to a 10, 1 state for the Democrats. And she ordered law enforcement to not work with ICE so criminal, illegal immigrants can be in the state. Meanwhile, her party has passed 50 new. All right, stop.

[Mark Halperin]

Stop the oppo dump. I'm going to run.

[Larry O'Connor]

The question is.

[Mark Halperin]

Yeah.

[Larry O'Connor]

Which, which portability is the messenger?

[Mark Halperin]

Show up.

[Larry O'Connor]

What has Abigail Spamberger done to make Virginia more affordable since she's been sworn

[Mark Halperin]

in, as John McCain said about Barack Obama? Just words, Larry. Just words. We gotta.

[Larry O'Connor]

Someone call them facts.

[Mark Halperin]

Let's, let's. No, no. Just words is saying. You're saying she's just talked to Bedford. She hasn't done it. Let's run through some stuff quick, guys. Fast answers. New York Times headline number 119 suggests that this decision made on the EPA front by the administration has alienated MAGA moms. Maha moms. New York Times headline, Maha Moms turn against Trump. Women feel like they were lied to. President Trump's executive order aimed at spurring production of a pesticide has infuriated leaders of the maha movement. Jaime, if 0 is this story is totally bogus and 10 is maha is voting Democrat in big numbers in the fall. Where is this reality?

[Jaime Moore]

I think like 5.5 to 6.

[Mark Halperin]

5.5 to 6, Larry.

[Larry O'Connor]

It's a 2. The same publications who didn't understand Maha in the first place are now trying to explain Maha to us.

[Mark Halperin]

Yeah. All right, next Democratic governors. Newsom's not at the nga. California governors often skip it. I don't. Is Shapiro at the nga? I don't think he is either. He skips it a lot, too. I don't think so. Of all the governors, whether they're at the NGA or not, of all the Democratic governors who might run for president, who's having the best week? Who's having the best week?

[Jaime Moore]

I think Andy Bashir, I would have to say. And I, I don't. I didn't think I was going to say that this week, but I think Andy Beshear is having a pretty, pretty decent.

[Mark Halperin]

Larry, who's having the best week of the Democratic governors?

[Larry O'Connor]

I think it's probably right. Only because he's the only one who sort of stuck out and sounded a little different than the rest of them, I would say.

[Mark Halperin]

So. You didn't say. Neither of you said Westmore, Epstein.

[Larry O'Connor]

No, West. Bad week?

[Mark Halperin]

Yeah.

[Jaime Moore]

Well, it hasn't been a great week. I love Westmore. It hasn't been the best week.

[Mark Halperin]

All right, Prince, former Prince Andrew. Is he still Prince Andrew? Is he calling Prince anymore? I can't remember. Anyway, Andrew, the formerly known as Prince. There you go. There's the famous picture up on the screen of him in the back seat and he was, he was a question. They did more searching today. Uh, uh. And uh, here's, I think a little understood, uh, element to this. This is courtesy of, uh. What's the guy's name? Loose. Ed Loose on Morning Joe about Andrew. Listen closely. 123, please. It's been 379 years since the royal was arrested down. That royal Charles the First was executed for treason. That's not going to happen in this case. And we don't even know whether he's going to be charged. But stop it there. We don't even know he's going to be charged. We see all these people saying. We see all these people saying there's. There's justice now, there's vindication. There's the, the, the, the accusers and the victims and the survivors are, are being made whole. In part, this should be an example for what happens in the United States. The guy may not even be charged now. Maybe he will be, but he's not being charged for anything to do with allegations related to his personal conduct with women or girls. It has to do with the questions of his financial relationship. At least that's what people think with Epstein. In addition, people are saying, well, this shows people in the United States should Now be charged. But what he's being charged, investigated for is not a crime in the United States. So, Jaime, are people. Are people in the United States reading too much into this?

[Larry O'Connor]

Well, I.

[Jaime Moore]

Look, I don't think people are reading too much into it, Mark. I think what we're feeling is people really want to get to some sort of resolution here with Epstein files. And if it's, you know, high level politicians or business individuals or those who run law firms or whatever, if it's them being taken the task and going to jail, I think people are okay with that. And so I don't think it's people getting over their skis. I think people just are so sick of, you know, whatever this is being. Whatever it's being hidden, whatever the. The conspiracies are that have. Some have obviously become very true when we've looked at these files. And so I think people are just sick of it. I think people want to. To have a resolution. I think people want these survivors to.

[Mark Halperin]

To.

[Jaime Moore]

To be made whole in some sort of way. And I think people want to move forward, but they want people to be taken a task for it.

[Mark Halperin]

Yeah. Larry, do you want to answer that, or can I ask you another Epstein question?

[Larry O'Connor]

Well, you can ask me another Epstein question.

[Mark Halperin]

Okay. So we try to straddle on this program decorum and. And peace, love and understanding, with making sure everybody in our community knows everything that people in the elite media and politics know. Right. And sometimes those are in conflict. Mr. Wexner, in his deposition, was asked, did you ever have sex with Jeffrey Epstein? So it's right out there in a government procedure, government forum. And he said, no. And again, many of you know this because you have access to social media. This has been a constant theory in elite circles that this is why Wexner turned everything over to Epstein. Because they were lovers or they. They had been, as Stevie Wonder would say, part time lovers. Right. That's Stevie wonderful. Right?

[Larry O'Connor]

Yeah.

[Mark Halperin]

And. And. And he was blackmailing Wexner, who was a closeted gay. Okay. That's what. That's what some people say after Wexner denied it. I thought Wexner was pretty compelling, pretty credible. Larry, I'm besieged now by texts from people saying, don't you know that they were lovers? Don't you realize that's what the whole thing was based on? Larry, what's the deal with that?

[Larry O'Connor]

What's the deal with that is that no one will ever believe what they're seeing or what comes out here. Whether he denies it under oath or not. Whether. I mean, if I can circle it back to the Andrew question, because this is why it's important. There are, other than the horrific crimes and the victims and these poor girls whose lives have forever been altered and in some tragic cases, ended. The other two main aspects of this story are that rich and powerful people have gotten away with doing the worst possible thing, and no one will ever be held accountable. Right. And that there are major information operations going on here involving intelligence communities, our own, as well as foreign governments that Epstein was involved in to try to get information on these rich and powerful people. That's why the Andrew thing is so relevant, because it operates at both levels. He's a rich, powerful person up until now, got away with it. Now it looks like he might be held accountable. And the allegation is that he might have been trading information to Epstein because of their relationship. Right. Isn't that part of what's going on here with the arrest, which. Which suggests that Epstein was setting a lot of these people up to get information for himself, for corporate interests, or for government interests. So, to come back to your question mark, as long as those are the two suspicions from most people who feel like they will never get the full truth, no matter what is said under oath, no matter what information is put out, there will always be the suspicion that we are being lied to about all of it.

[Mark Halperin]

That's sad.

[Larry O'Connor]

I hope that helped.

[Jaime Moore]

Yeah, we'll say it, Larry.

[Mark Halperin]

All right, guys, I'm dealing with a tech issue. Talk about UFOs. Why is the. Why is President Trump doing this on UFOs, Larry?

[Larry O'Connor]

Well, everyone knows it's a distraction from Epstein, right? H.

[Jaime Moore]

Well, I think. Was it President Barack Obama who said this past week that aliens are real? We just. We're not holding them hostage. What's that about?

[Larry O'Connor]

It's like, yeah, they're. There are aliens, but they're not at Area 51. What are they at Area 52, then? Give me more.

[Jaime Moore]

We haven't quite captured them yet, but they're out there.

[Larry O'Connor]

Well, so I think the suggestion from President Trump on Air Force One, which was, you know, Obama basically revealed classified information. I don't think it's like Fight Club. You're not supposed to say anything about Area 51. Neither confirm nor deny. I don't even think we've acknowledged that there is an Area 51 of official.

[Mark Halperin]

All right, hold on, guys. We're gonna. We're gonna return to Iraq, as I said we would, because, as Alvi Singer would say, I happen to have Marshall McLuhan right here.

[Joe Scarborough]

Joe, welcome in the medium is the message, Mark. The medium, exactly.

[Mark Halperin]

Congratulations on that exclusive. We were speculating just to get it out of the way. Did you, did you book that long ago? Did you book that this morning? How did that come about?

[Joe Scarborough]

No, the. It doesn't happen to me, especially as somebody who's been calling Iran the epicenter of terrorism since 1979. But the Iranians called our producers yesterday and said, we'd like to have the foreign minister on. And I suspect that's because they know, like a lot of people know, the president watches the show and people that work with the president watch the show. So maybe that was. Maybe that was the main driver.

[Mark Halperin]

So we already showed excerpts from the interview. We showed a little of David Ignatius's analysis. Talk about what you heard after the interview from someone in the Trump team and your view of where things stand after the interview and the reaction you got, please.

[Joe Scarborough]

Well, you know, what was so fascinating about it was, first of all, what we've all been reading in the reports coming out of the negotiations has been that the United States position was no enrichment, no future enrichment. A hard line. When I asked the Iranian foreign minister that I set up what I'd heard, and I said, we understand White House is saying no enrichment. You guys are talking about two or three years. Is there any chance you'll ever move to that maximalist position? And he said, well, basically everything you were saying is a lie. He said, none of that is true. I go, what part's not true? And he said, well, they've never demanded no enrichment, which I found to be very curious. And so we continued the conversation. And then as I went to break, I called somebody high up in the administration, let's just say, with firsthand knowledge of what's going on in the negotiations, and they laid it out for us that actually their position, they said President Trump's position is Iran is to end any enrichment. The Iranians came back and said, that's not going to happen, but we will be able to assure you that it'll only be used for peaceful purposes. Now, of course, at that point,

[Larry O'Connor]

the

[Joe Scarborough]

Trump administration, the person I talked to, obviously very skeptical, but told the Iranians, not trust, but verify, but, you know, we will distrust you and you will have to verify that. So the Iranians have gone back. They're going to try to figure out how to come back with a proposal that would give the United States enough of an ability to verify that their nuclear programs being used only for peaceful means. And that seems to be the Gap right now where the two sides are. So it was news, is pretty big news, that we're not taking a maximalist position. Now they're saying that's the president's position. However, if you can come back and convince us that you're only going to use this nuclear technology for peaceful purposes, then maybe we can find a way forward. But there is, I want to underline, there is deep skepticism for good reasons, because the Iranians have never entered into a deal that they didn't lie about since 1979. There's deep skepticism, but there's also the understanding. The person I spoke to said, hey, we've been doing this for 10 years now. The Obama administration did it. We talked to Iran, the Biden administration did it. Now we're doing it again. We know what the issues are. We're not going to wait, as they said, two or three years like the Obama administration. They've got a week to come back to us. They know what they have to tell us. They know what is required for us to be able to verify that it's only gonna be used for peaceful purposes. And so we're gonna give them a week.

[Mark Halperin]

It sounds like you're pretty confident that there won't be a military action within the next week.

[Joe Scarborough]

Well, that's one of the points, though, that I did bring up with the foreign Minister. I said we have sort of disparate timelines here.

[Mark Halperin]

Right.

[Joe Scarborough]

From what I'm sure you're hearing, what my sources are telling me, what a lot of Americans are hearing, is there's a possibility of a military attack this weekend.

[Mark Halperin]

Yeah.

[Joe Scarborough]

What I'm hearing, though, in this timeline is that our negotiators have given them a week to come back with their proposal. So I'll leave it to you and leave it to everybody else to figure out whether they're positioning, whether they're sort of setting Iran up here or whether there's a possibility, which I think is a possibility, too. If I went on any of those betting sites, I would probably take this, that there might be a quick strike and then sort of the United States backing up as a way to push the negotiations along. I think that's probably the most likely course with the buildup that we've seen there. But regardless, I do think from everything I've heard from the president, the administration, the negotiators, they would prefer a deal. Donald Trump, I think all of us probably say Donald Trump.

[Mark Halperin]

Set on Joe's end or RM Little.

[Larry O'Connor]

Little there. I think that might be the WI Fi.

[Mark Halperin]

Yeah.

[Joe Scarborough]

Am I. Freezing.

[Mark Halperin]

But you're. You're back. You're back.

[Larry O'Connor]

There you are.

[Joe Scarborough]

I'm back now.

[Mark Halperin]

Yeah, yeah.

[Larry O'Connor]

They'll make it a. Stop streaming Netflix. Okay. Putting a load on the bandwidth.

[Jaime Moore]

Exactly.

[Joe Scarborough]

But I think, Mark, I think the president. I don't think any of us think the president's going to send in 100,000 troops. I. I can't see boots on the ground in Iran. So maybe, maybe we find this middle ground.

[Mark Halperin]

Yeah. Joe, congratulations. A huge exclusive. And, And I love the fact that you were able to then square the circle by talking to somebody on the other side in real time. Congratulations. Thank you.

[Joe Scarborough]

All right. Thank you.

[Mark Halperin]

Thank you. All right, we'll take questions in a minute from folks who want to ask about Iran.

[Larry O'Connor]

I see your book on the shelf, by the way. Did you notice that that was.

[Mark Halperin]

It's on one of those stands in the.

[Larry O'Connor]

In the entryway with a spiritual downlight.

[Mark Halperin]

Okay. Exactly like. All right, we'll do winners, losers of the week and what to look for. And then to your questions, Larry. Winner of the week.

[Larry O'Connor]

Winner of the week. Well, take a look at this video from Jasmine Crockett yesterday, speaking out against what the Colbert team did to her watch.

[Guest/Caller]

The thing that is not normal is for me to be attacked from the left. That is the, like, new wild card in this scenario. But it's. It's just interesting. And, you know, I've been asked a couple of times a couple of things about it. And, you know, I look at this specifically as a civil rights lawyer, and I see when they're sending out ads and they're darkening my skin, and I'm just like, I know what this is.

[Larry O'Connor]

Yeah. When she says they are doing that, she means Democrats. In Texas, the winner of the week is whoever the Republican nominee is for Senate because Democrats are eating their own in that state. That flip is not going to happen.

[Mark Halperin]

I'm a winner of the week.

[Jaime Moore]

Look, I think Stephen Colbert, winning of the week. We haven't talked about Stephen Colbert that much in quite some time. He's been talked about every single day. He's all over social media. He's going out with a bang. Even though I don't think it's been the best light on him in Telarico. But he's. He's been talked about, and this is the first time it's happened in quite some time.

[Mark Halperin]

Yeah. Winner of the week, Marco Rubio. Enough said, Larry.

[Larry O'Connor]

Loser of the week is the aforementioned Governor Wes Moore. He just cannot shake. This latest story from the Free Beacon that we highlighted Last week, he had another chance. Yesterday, Casey Hunt asked him one very specific question. Are the records wrong then? That is part of this report. Take a look. And those church records that show that

[Mark Halperin]

one of your family members left voluntarily to take over for someone who had

[Larry O'Connor]

passed away, those records are wrong.

[Mark Halperin]

They should really ask the Ku Klux Klan about what their activities were in 1920s.

[Larry O'Connor]

Don't ask me.

[Guest/Caller]

Well, Governor, thank you very much for your time, sir.

[Mark Halperin]

I really appreciate it.

[Larry O'Connor]

Yeah, don't ask me. Don't ask the. Don't look at the records. Ask the Ku Klux Klan. Westmore had a horrible week.

[Jaime Moore]

He's got. He's got to figure that out. He's had a bad week. He's got to figure that out.

[Mark Halperin]

Yeah. Hi, Momore. Loser of the week.

[Jaime Moore]

I. I think the royal family, I mean, look, I. I think since. Since King Charles has. Has taken over, they have just not been able to find solid footing on. On anything that's been able to push their positive agenda forward. They've had scandal after scandal after scandal. You know, just really, really tough, both personally and professionally. And I think. And it draws back the question, you know, what is the real purpose of the Royal Family? Is it just a bunch of tabloids? Look, I love the queen. I. God save the Queen. I do. But it has been such a rollercoaster ride for them. And I think this is just one other really, really bad spot on the history of this family. And I think it draws a lot of questions on what goes. What happens next?

[Mark Halperin]

Lose of the week. Aoc. Nuff said, Larry. What to look for this weekend.

[Larry O'Connor]

I am looking. I hate to keep saying Iran, but how can you not be looking at Iran?

[Mark Halperin]

Yeah, Jaime.

[Jaime Moore]

Yeah, same. So I'm looking at Iran, and then I'll. I'll be with the Dem governors this evening. So I. I do want to see how they're going to surmise with how they feel this week has gone.

[Mark Halperin]

What are you doing with the Dem governors?

[Jaime Moore]

They're. It's the. They're having their annual dinner, so I'm gonna.

[Larry O'Connor]

All right, where.

[Mark Halperin]

Where? Wire. I'm looking to see if the mayor of New York City, because it's about competence, not ideology, can handle a snowstorm. We may get a big snowstorm and there's still snow on the ground here in my neighborhood from the last snowstorm.

[Larry O'Connor]

Yeah, isn't that question.

[Mark Halperin]

I was like. That was like a month ago. Well, I want to see giving him a. Giving him a mul.

[Jaime Moore]

I think he did better than me. Bowser did so giving him a mulligan.

[Mark Halperin]

We'll see how he does. Joe just texted me to say, Larry, that my book's on the shelf right behind him.

[Larry O'Connor]

So I was looking.

[Mark Halperin]

We'll do a free stream.

[Larry O'Connor]

All right, Quick, quick word.

[Mark Halperin]

Yeah, quick word from a sponsor. And then to your questions, please raise your hand if you want to be in the conversation. If you want to have to shop less for food, spend less time making food, eat more healthy food, and spend less time cleaning up after dinner, I've got a great idea for you. Our friends at Factor will give you 50% off your first box and breakfast free for a year. There's a subscription service that delivers healthy meals right to your door. You can specify the kind of things you want. Lots of variety, really great portion sizes. 50% off go to FactorMeals.com 2way50off FactorMeals.com 2way 50 off for 50% off your first box plus free breakfast for a year. This is an opportunity folks, to save time, money and eat stuff. No refined sugars, no artificial sweeteners, no refined seed oils. The subscription service delivers them right to your door. Literally takes two minutes to make them. Put them in microwave or the oven for two minutes. They're hot. They're delicious. They're healthy. This is a way to change your life right now. Try it. 50% off go to factory meals.com use the promo code two way 50 off for 50% off your first box plus free breakfast for a year.

[Guest/Caller]

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[Mark Halperin]

Cozy Earth, giving you 20% off everything on the site using the promo code morning. Go to cozyearth.com use the promo code Warning. You can buy yourself a bubble cuddle blanket or two. You can buy some sheets, some towels, some T shirts and of course the famous famous pants. All available to you now. 20% off go to cozyearth.com start the year off by maybe updating some stuff around your house. Get some new sheets, get some new towels, some new bedding. Maybe get the bubble cuddle blanket and spread the love around your house. The thing's gigantic. It's the size of a large parachute, so lots of you can fit in one bubble cuddle blanket, but perhaps get two the luxe bath towel set also 20% off. Really everything. Refresh your routines with comfort that makes every day feel like a new year. Go to cozyearth.com use the promo code morning right now to save and love your life maybe more than you ever have before. Thanks to Cozy Earth. Angela, welcome in. Thank you for being part of two way. We'd love for you to unmute, tell folks where you are and what's on your mind. For Jaime and for Larry.

[Guest/Caller]

Hi. I'm super happy to be here. I'm in California. I've actually Mark, I was on one of your focus groups many years ago, so I've been following you for a while. Super grateful for this community. Okay. So I have kind of like one crazy question and then another observation. So my crazy question is, so I'm a, I'm a Republican in California and I have friends that are of all different political backgrounds and I keep seeing over and over and over again John Fetterman being able to cross the aisle on kind of making, being able to bridge the gap between Republicans and Democrats. And I'm just, I know that probably really far fetched to consider him being a candidate in the future for president, but like it, to me it seems like his messaging and the way that he's reaching so many people, like, is it even fathomable that this could ever be something.

[Mark Halperin]

Great question, Larry.

[Larry O'Connor]

I think it is only in that I suspect Democrats will primary him pretty aggressively when he's up for reelection. And he may not, he may not,

[Mark Halperin]

he may not run, by the way,

[Larry O'Connor]

he also may not run. Also by the way, the timing might work out that he might be picked as maybe a cabinet member of the new Republican administration at that time instead of running again. So it's not too far fetched. Angela. I really, I don't think it is. And listen, I'm, I love the fact that there are Democrats who agree with Republicans. I'm not so happy with Republicans agreeing with Democrats. So if they can get together on something like this and Fetterman can be our ally on some of the important things that he has been, I think it's an interesting prospect. But you know, he's from my perspective, wrong on so many other really important issues that it makes me hard to be all in on Fetterman.

[Jaime Moore]

Jaime, he will never be president and he will not run for president. And I campaigned for him in 2022 and spent a significant amount of with he and his wife and his family. And I have a great deal of respect for. For Federman. I like Larry. On the other side of the coin, I, I do welcome bipartisanship, and I think Pennsylvania is one of those states, particularly being from Western Pennsylvania, where he's from. It's one of those states where you're just innately sort of bipartisan, and you have to. You have to work together. And if you're a mayor, you. You have to be a little bit more intentional about working together. Look, I, I think Mark's right. He may not run. Larry's right. He may be primary, but there are other Democrats like Ruben Gallego and Alyssa Slotkin and others who are taking similar messaging and just being a little bit more actionable about it. So, you know, I don't want people to think. I think Larry would like you to think that all Democrats are as liberal and progressive and out of their minds, but there are a lot of people who are in the middle and who want to move the country forward.

[Mark Halperin]

Yeah. Although. Hi, Maud. I don't hear much outreach from Ruben Gallego now.

[Larry O'Connor]

Ruben.

[Jaime Moore]

Rubens. I think he would. He would probably. He would not appreciate that comment, but Ruben's all over the place and, and he's. He's been. He's been making his mark.

[Mark Halperin]

Yeah. Angela, what I would love is for more Democrats and Republicans to study Fetterman, to study what's been effective about it and emulate the things that he's doing that are good. Because I agree he'll never be president for a variety of reasons. And I don't think. Excuse me, I don't think he's going to run for election, but he's certainly been a unique voice and a voice that a lot of people find, like, you find appealing. Larry.

[Larry O'Connor]

Go ahead, Angel. Are you in Orange County?

[Guest/Caller]

I am not. I'm actually, I from the San Francisco Bay area, but I don't live in that area now. More Central California. But this, like, my next question is, I live here, and I do not know a single person that likes Gavin Newsome. And I've got friends that are, you know, doing protests every single weekend in the Bay Area. I've got friends that are very, very conservative. The only message I hear is how much people hate Donald Trump. And I really am like, I want to hear from somebody in this community. Even, like, on social media, when I go on to X and I look at something Governor Newsom posts, it's all hate. And I'm like, where are the people that like him? Because I don't know any.

[Larry O'Connor]

Yeah.

[Mark Halperin]

Angela, thank you thank you for coming on. Hope you'll come back regularly. Grateful.

[Jaime Moore]

I've gotten a lot of trouble this week on the Gavin Newsom conversation. I think Angela has is making a really good point. I think in 2028, the Democrat that becomes nominee, even though Gavin News trending as that way, he's going to be the person who has a vision and who's going to follow the puck, not necessarily the, the anti Trumper.

[Larry O'Connor]

Yep.

[Mark Halperin]

Well, well said, John. Welcome and tell folks who don't know where you are what's on your mind. And I love your shirt.

[Joe Scarborough]

Oh, thank you very much. Well, retired race car driver, look, I'm in Houston, Texas, obviously, I'm one of the very first guys to start watching your show in two way. We love it.

[Jaime Moore]

Here's my question.

[Joe Scarborough]

It's really an observation. I think Trump is pretty much 180 degrees out on everything he ran on. And, and most people know that. How many people have decided that he just doesn't care about the midterms? He knows he's going to get just obliterated unless he declares martial law. And nobody is allowed to vote because there is, there's nothing that, that the average person, I don't electrical contracting business, I don't hear anybody, Republicans, Democrats who walk out of Kroger feeling good about anything related to the economy. And I see my business is off. We're very retail oriented. We have a big commercial business, but the retail business has been off for almost a year. So who believes that Trump just doesn't care about the midterms and he's just going to go on being Trump and whatever happens to the Republican Party, whatever.

[Mark Halperin]

Larry?

[Larry O'Connor]

Well, two things are true. Trump is going to be Trump and there's no stopping that. And you heard that from Mark's great reporting, the readout of that secret strategy meeting that took place this week. One message coming from the White House is stop trying to change Trump and his messaging. He's going to do what he does. But here's what we can focus on. I don't think he has given up. I don't, I think that he also wants to continue to follow through with his policies and what he believes is right for the economy and for the country. And so, you know, you can, you can continue. Let me, let me step back for a second. I don't think the president, the White House or the Republican Party's midterm strategy has really begun. It's going to start Tuesday night at the State of the Union. That's the kicking off point And I would withhold judgment in terms of what their messaging from this point forward is until you hear the speech.

[Jaime Moore]

I agree with you on that, too. But I think, unfortunately, John, what we've been proving, the president only cares about himself first. And so I think that's the issue. He doesn't necessarily care about other Republicans being elected. And he doesn't, it's not that he doesn't care about winning. He just doesn't care about other people who's not named Donald Trump or last name Trump.

[Larry O'Connor]

I don't think that's fair. He has supported Republicans who have, you know, criticized him and not been favoring because he knows that he needs to to help build his majority.

[Jaime Moore]

He said, he said last week he didn't even know who the state senator running in Texas was, the Republican who he endorsed.

[Mark Halperin]

Yeah. John, thank you. Grateful to you for the question. So the little surprising, the pool was let into the meeting moments ago with the president and the governors and two things surprising. One, the pool was allowed to stay for exactly a minute. They weren't allowed to stay for the president's remarks. As the president started speaking, they were ushered out. So that historic thing where we've seen some in the past where the president engages in front of live cameras or recorded in any way with the press is apparently going to happen in this meeting. And Wes Moore is there and was sitting next to to the US Trade Representative, Mr. Greer. So Wesmore in the in the house. I'm going to head over to Sirius XM now. Again, you can watch the program or listen to the program rather, on SiriusXM Megan Kelly, channel 111. Join me over there at 10 o' clock Eastern Time for more of two way and some great conversation. And we might have another surprise guest. That's all I'll say. Not Joe Scarborough, but maybe somebody else. And I'll see you at five o' clock tonight. On two way tonight we'll have full coverage to the reaction to those disappointing economic numbers, including Scott Besson's speech in Texas and everything else that happens during the day. I leave you all in the capable hands of Jaime More and Larry and gentlemen, grateful to see you. Looking forward to seeing you again soon. And of course, the show will be back on Monday at 9am Have a great day, everybody. Larry, over to you.

[Larry O'Connor]

Thank you, Mark. I appreciate it. All right, Jaime, this is it. We get to do whatever we want now. Let's do it.

[Mark Halperin]

I love it.

[Larry O'Connor]

And I mean, what are you streaming these? No, actually, actually, I'm gonna, I'm gonna call an audible. Haley is begging to be brought in to finish us up. Got 60 seconds, Haley. Make it count. And don't put me over because it's Friday and I'm done. This is the end of my workday. Well, I got one more show to do. All right, Haley, welcome. Oh, do I need to unmute her? Yeah, I don't know how to do that. Oh, here we go.

[Guest/Caller]

Thanks, guys. Just had to say Alyssa Liu is

[Mark Halperin]

the winner of the week. There is no contest.

[Guest/Caller]

This girl is fantastic. Her story, I watched her entire routine. I cried like a little baby.

[Mark Halperin]

Christ is incredible. And she is hands down winner of the week.

[Larry O'Connor]

No. And her enthusiasm was so infectious. It was incredible. And the fact that her father survived Tiananmen so square. And they chose liberty in America. It is great. But here's what you need to know because Jaime, you know, she was the obvious no brainer winner. I even. I was talking about the Olympics in the pre show before we started. Mark Halperin is a tyrant and he authoritarian. He's up there with maduro, except he's not in handcuffs quite yet. And he does not let us pick sports as the. It's the Slytherin in Mark Halperin.

[Mark Halperin]

That's what, that's why.

[Larry O'Connor]

That's what it is.

[Mark Halperin]

That's where it comes out, you know.

[Larry O'Connor]

Thank you, Haley, for allowing me.

[Guest/Caller]

Love you guys.

[Larry O'Connor]

Mark behind his back because we know he knows or goes back and watches this. Well, that's not anything to plug. What are you up to today? Tomorrow?

[Jaime Moore]

I do. I do have to say, I just got a statement in from the Westmore team and they are confirming that Westmore is attending the meeting right now, which we just saw with the spray. And they are claiming that the governor will meet with anyone in an effort to move the people of Maryland, State of Maryland forward.

[Larry O'Connor]

Well, he's trying to recover a bad week that we both.

[Jaime Moore]

He's trying to recover a bad week.

[Larry O'Connor]

You know, it's funny. I live in Annapolis and I know for a fact that Governor Moore utilizes the Naval Academy swimming pool. He's a big swimmer. I wonder if he swam down the Potomac.

[Jaime Moore]

I would hope not because he would be toxic at this point.

[Larry O'Connor]

He would be glowing right now.

[Jaime Moore]

That would not be good.

[Larry O'Connor]

Secret Service with the E. Coli meters going off. All right, tonight, two way. Tonight, 5:00pm Democrat strategist Chuck Rocha and Republican strategist Alex Castellanos. Make sure you see that. And oh, and if you would like to invest in two Way. And who wouldn't invest in two way. You're welcome to do that. Or if you want to sponsor and have me read an endorsement for your great product or service. As long as I believe in it, you can do that as well. Become a sponsor. Just go to sponsor, not go to Send us an email. Sponsors two way tv. And meanwhile, I'll be live at noon for my town hall show. Stream it everywhere on every video platform or check it [e-mail] and then Monday morning, I'll be live on my radio program after a very long weekend. Hi Ma. Enjoy it to you guys.

[Jaime Moore]

I'll tell you how the Governor's were later.

[Iranian Foreign Minister]

Next.

[Mark Halperin]

Oh yeah.

[Larry O'Connor]

Enjoy the dinner tonight. Wear that wire. All right.

[Jaime Moore]

Bye everyone.