people watching this show today, what we heard last night, but is it to the base, who the candidates are speaking to? >> no question, that's what the base wants to hear. you can almost think of this as two debates, two primaries. you have the maga primary which, clearly, vivek won, and then you had the, you know, donor/normy debate. i think that nikki haley really scored points there. i think she'll get another look at folks looking for an alternative. i have to say, that may have been chris christie's finest moment, standing next to mike pence and devoting his time to defending what the vice president did. it was very clear, in a very articulate way. mike pence not shying away from the decision he made on january 6th. but we should be under no illusions, that the people like vivek and ron desantis were appealing to the majority of
i'm joe. it's really great that you've chosen to be with us on this first of our hopefully many shows ahead. that was some kind of debate last night, but nikki haley had some moments. she did. there was another moment, willie, where she basically said, let's stop lying to everybody. it's not joe biden that caused the deficit. it's not joe biden that caused the debt. it was donald trump. you went along with it and said nothing. it was a fascinating debate. ramaswamy was insulting everybody. everybody is bought and paid for. what i found in politics is, when you have somebody going around the stage saying everybody is bought and paid for, they're the one who is bought and paid for. but he reminded me of tracy flick in the old movie about politics. >> reese witherspoon, yeah. >> yeah, reese witherspoon.
>> maybe one this year. >> we might. they're a talented and young team in baseball. fun to watch. >> is it okay if we yankee fans can be adopted? >> our coat tails are long. come on board. >> we need something. well, let's talk about what we saw last night. we've been talking this morning about the debate. eight people on the stage minus donald trump. what'd you make of what you heard? >> it made me realize how glad i am to have joe biden as a partner in this work. the singular world view was divisive. the singular world view was there is a specific playbook they were all playing to, but there is no plan. and, you know, i think about it where we watched eight people on the stage talk about, you know, things like national abortion bans. eight people on stage talked about how much they'd want to cut medicaid and social security. we watched eight people say law
around. you've got tapes. he moved the boxes around. you have this i.t. guy who just flipped, who basically says that he was told that the boss wanted to cover this up. you know, he's dead to right there. again, 91 counts, you don't -- the prosecutors don't have to go 91 for 91. a lot of these felonies are 5, 10, 20 years. all it takes is a few counts, and he's done for the rest of his life. >> by the way, with the i.t. guy flipping, there may be more flipping to come as people look at the potential for jail time. they're not going to jail for donald trump. elise, our colleagues at cnbc are reporting that donald trump is going to hold a fundraiser for rudy giuliani's legal defense fund. finally i guess he answered rudy's call. $100,000 a plate at bedminster in a couple weeks to get rudy some legal help. but we are watching at the debate last night, and this question we've been talking about, of would you still support donald trump? would you still vote for him if
meanwhile, president biden is agreeing with something nikki haley said last night. he posted the following video with the caption, "what she said." take a look. >> you have ron desantis. you've got tim scott. you've got mike pence. they all voted to raise the debt, and donald trump added $8 trillion to our debt. our kids are never going to forgive us for this. >> joining us in studio, the democratic governor of the great state of maryland, wes moore. he is a member of the biden/harris 2024 national advisory board. good to see you. >> good to see you, too. >> before we get to the debate and other stuff, when you were sworn into office in january, the orioles were coming off a fourth place, unremarkable season. since you took office, they have the best record in the american league. is there a connection, sir? >> i think so. they're going to be a juggernaut for years to come. this is maryland's decade. that includes we're going to get world series rings in the ballpark.
i had actually forgotten about tim for a second. we've been talking -- i've been talking at least about how good he seems to be on the campaign trail, good on the stump, good talking to people. he was not good last night. i guess the story, the south carolina story, tim scott really underperformed last night. nikki haley really overperformed to expectations. that was a real surprise there. i do have to say, mika, i'm so glad that rev talked about how the republican party has forfeited forever the idea that they were ever some law and order party or ever supported justice or, you know, even the constitution. chris christie is getting booed when he brings up the unpleasant fact that donald trump said he wanted to terminate the constitution of the united states, if that's what it took for him to get back into the white house. but those candidates raised their hands, except for asa
i think the reason you saw three almost shocked faces as you came out of the clip with nikki haley is we don't hear it from republicans often. it was part of why, arguably, governor haley, ambassador haley, was the most interesting person on the stage last night, because she was, in her moments, telling some truth about donald trump. saying he was the least popular politician in america. america does not want a trump/biden rematch. that's born out in the polls. she cited the numbers. she said he added $8 trillion to the debt. she scolded in that moment right there vivek ramaswamy about continuing support for ukraine and why that's important. will it matter? we don't know, guys. but for sure, she had a good night. let's bring into the conversation -- >> absolutely. >> -- msnbc contributor, our good friend mike barnicle. senior political columnist for "politico," jonathan martin. editor of protect democracy, amanda carpenter. elise jordan is still with us, as well. amanda, i'll start with you. in your general assessment of what we saw last night, vivek
number one, i don't think, by the way, that this was the debate that ron desantis wanted or that he needed. he felt like he was an afterthought by the end of the debate. yes, vivek came in very, very strong, but you saw his weaknesses later on when nikki haley took him down. i thought nikki haley overperformed. i mean, she was impressive. she was the adult in the room. she was the adult in the room on spending, on abortion, on ukraine. mike pence overperformed. but let's be honest, they were not appealing to the viewers of the bulwark or "morning joe." it was vivek who knew the maga world war, and he was playing to that. he was playing to the
a georgia state racketeering case, i would have looked at you like you were insane. but that's where we are. that's the fall, and it gets worse. he might not be able to pay a lawyer. i don't know where this goes for him, other than it is going to keep going down. >> it is a fascinating split screen for the republican party. so convoluted. last night, the candidates were asked on stage if they would still support the former president as the nominee if he is convicted in any of his ongoing legal battles. take a look. >> if former president trump is convicted in a court of law, would you still support him as your party's choice? please raise your hand if you would. [ applause ] just to be clear, governor christie, you were late to the
ramaswamy certainly commanded the stage, but when he did and had his moment and made his introduction, he put forth a bunch of conspiracy theories and certainly drew the fire. not ron desantis, notably, but it was ramaswamy drawing the fire of people like mike pence, nikki haley and chris christie. >> i'm glad you led with nikki haley. because when i was watching her last night, i was like, wow, that is what republicans should sound like. you know, we talk about sometimes, like, what would it look like on earth if donald trump wasn't there? the first hour of the debate was like all the republicans were sort of living in earth two. even fox news. isn't that sort of the problem? nikki haley, i'm so thankful that she took such strong stance for ukraine, because not only republicans needed to hear that but the world needed to hear that. there are republicans who truly believe in the cause of democracy, not just in america but abroad. but the problem is, nikki haley