Up Way Too Early on this thursday morning. Well have coverage of the State Of The Union tonight. Morning joe starts right now. January 6th was a disgrace. American citizens attacked their own government. They used terrorism to try to stop a specific piece of Domestic Business they didnt not like. Fellow americans beat and bloodied our own police. They stormed the senate floor. They tried to hunt down the speaker of the house. They built a gallows and chanted about murdering the vice president. They did this because theyd been Fed Wild Falsehoods by the most powerful man on earth. Because he was angry and lost an election. Former President Trumps actions preceded the riot for a disgraceful, disgraceful dereliction of duty. Therefore, i am endorsing donald j. Trump. You know, the one thing we cut off there, and maybe its not fair to mitch, is that at the end of it, right after that, he broke into a rousing tune, had a band, happy days are here again. It was like the 32 convention. I couldnt believe it. Yeah, a little discordant. The song didnt go with the message but, you know, thats mitch. Mitch mcconnell there, 2021, a month after january 6th, blaming donald trump for the insurrection, the attack on the capitol squarely. Yesterday, Mitch Mcconnell endorsed donald trump for president. Who saw that coming . We should add donald trump relentlessly attacked in a racist way Mitch Mcconnells wife. He said, you know what, i said for a long time ill endorse whoever the nominee is, even if it is the guy i blame for an attempted coup against the United States government. We say a lot of bad things about ted cruz sometimes here, but there is a difference between Mitch Mcconnell and ted cruz. All right. If donald trump had ever attacked ted cruzs wife, ever called her ugly, ever struck out at her in the most personal of terms, that is texas tough right there. That is a real man. No bs. You cant cross that line. You cross the line with ted, you might as well have crossed the rio grande, my friend. On the way to cancun . Yeah. You cant look the retrieval of memories. Call ted cruzs wife ugly or say his father assassinated jfk, he wont support you. At least for a couple months. Not at the convention. A few months later, hell do a phone bank for donald trump. Well, Lindsey Graham is another, yeah. There is a guy, though. No. I mean, that guy. Profile in courage. Mr. Spine. Go on the floor. Enough is enough. Im out. Then three red necks and a Hound Dog Chase him around reagan national. Its not like someone puts his cell phone out there. Yeah. I think we need a compilation. Start with Chris Christie in the mcdonalds episode. On mcconnell, though, i will say, the two moments that led to Donald Trumps comeback post january 6th. One is mccarthy heading to maralago, beginning the rehabilitation tour. The only is mcconnell not choosing to convict trump in the second trial, pushing it until after the inauguration. Having it in february, believing things would cool off. Voting to acquit himself. Had he voted to convict and whipped others to do so, trump wouldnt have been able to run for office again. Mcconnell chose not to do that. Here we have the door open for trump. There are a lot of things mitch did that we saluted on this show. He stood up. He stood up to trump at very important times, yet, at the time, if you want to take this endorsement at the end of his career, basically, or what happened the end of that process, there was a question. Could Mitch Mcconnell have gotten enough republicans to convict donald trump in the Impeachment Proceeding. He made the call, well let the courts play out. Mara, we saw where that led us. Part of being in leadership is showing on leadership and attempting to do what you think is right. We all have political minds, talk about strategy, but theres such a thing as right and wrong. The end of the day, it sounds like a lot of people have forgotten why you go to washington. Its supposed to be to serve americans. Its supposed to be to be a public servant. This looks like its about power. Its shameless. Yeah. Americans understand that. They see that thats part of why so many voters are deeply demoralized and cynical about this process. Right. At this point. Its shameless but also bizarre. I mean, heres a man how old is Mitch Mcconnell . Old enough that it opportunity matter. Old enough exactly. Im old enough that it doesnt matter. Right. Why not go out and just say what you think . He did say what he thought on that for that brief, shining moment on february 13, 2021, where he said not only the stuff we just saw on tape. Right. He said, theres a criminal law in this country. He was endorsing jack smith before jack smith was even appointed. Right. He was saying that the man was a criminal, that he did cause these people to engage in violence on the hill and that one of the remedies could be criminal prosecution. So where is he today . Yeah. And for what . Hes done. Well, for what . And im sorry, ill ask, and i say this of cruz, of lindsey, of all of them. I say it of just all the people trump insulted. What man i say a man, but or a woman, but as a man, what man would put up with that . I had a very powerful republican slander a friend of mine. 20 years later, 20 years later, he pulls me aside before a speech and begs me to stop. He says, jesus christ, joe, its been 20 years. Its been 20 years. I said, you shouldnt have said that about my friend. Its going to be 20 more years. I mean, thats what we would all do. Well, except for my friends. But hold on, except for my friends, when donald trump said i was a murderer and should be executed, a lot of them voted for donald trump. But the rest of us here. But that even raises a question, willie. What is it about donald trump . Its his brilliance. Someone can assault someones wife or husband, or in Mitch Mcconnells case, continue racist slurs against his wife. Yeah. Theyre just fine with it. I just thats not im not even looking at donald trump there. Im looking at these people. Im looking at my former friends. Like, yeah, he called you a murderer, but im voting for him anyway. Regulations, you know, theyll be down under trump. Yeah. Crazy. You and i talked about this on and off the air. What are those looks in the mirror like in the morning or at night for Lindsey Graham, ted cruz, any of the guys with personal pride. Not talking about politics. If you have any personal pride, how do you swallow all that down and go out and support the guy who attacked you relentlessly . He attacks Lindsey Graham in his home state during the primary. Liberal. The crowds gets the crowd to boo lindsey. Takes their support for granted, and he should because theres nothing he can do to them that they wouldnt call in line anyway. But it is, again, its not politics, as a person who has personal pride, how do you do it . I dont know. I dont know. Lindseys first words of, hey, yall. My first two words if somebody did that to me would be markedly different. I dont think im outside of the norm here, lemire. Again, this is so bizarre. I want to underline, again, Mitch Mcconnell insulted repeatedly, said this guy tried to basically destroy american democracy, has watched his wife be attacked with racist creeds repeatedly, and says, i endorse him. It is cynical and based out of fear of trump. Mcconnell, who is stepping down from leadership, is not running again, hed seem to be the person who doesnt have to do this. Exactly. Yes, he does want republicans to have the majority in the senate again even if hes not going to be the leader there. But donald trump took that from the helm twice. Yes, twice. He would have been Senate Majority leader over the past four years, except over one person and one person alone. The two men havent spoken in years, yet mcconnell still backs this. He defended it by saying yesterday, well, you know, february 2021, just days after that speech, i said id back whoever the republican nominee was. Why . Because hes putting party before country. Thats what he is doing. The party before personal pride, too. George, thats an old custom that i understand when it is george h. W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, john mccain, pick your mitt romney. Bob dole. George h. W. Bush. Right. Stakes arent that high. You said this is a man who may face criminal prosecution because he led an attempted coup against the country, so change it for this one case. Its not just the nation. If he cared about the Republican Party, he would have said, we have to get rid of trump long ago. Even if he wanted to sacrifice himself just for his party, i mean, why not do that . We have just to try to balance things here, as we always do, we have somebody here from a remote location that is going to be defending not only Mitch Mcconnell hold on try that again. Cut that. All right. Here we go. Ready . You know, we try to be fair. T. J. , were cutting that out, right . Yeah. Okay. We always try to be fair at morning joe. Lets bring in sam stein. He believes that what Mitch Mcconnell did was [ laughter ] quote, a proud, honorable, manly thing. Sam, explain. Sorry, what . True patriot. You called him a true patriot, the paul revere of our day. I appreciate the setup. Thank you. Look, im not totally surprised. I dont think we actually are surprised by this. No. This was coming a long way away. He always said he was going to support the nominee. It was baffling to a degree because of precisely the criticisms he had already registered. Look, theres nothing really more to add on what youre saying. He obviously republican politics is basically dictated by a fear of trump and his base. I think thats the Fair Assessment throughout this. Frankly, if youre being utterly cynical about it, you know, the people who have stood up to trump, who have followed their personal convictions, have paid a political price for it mostly. Those who voted to impeach him in the house, the republicans, many of them, if not all, have been ousted. The people who voted for conviction have either left or are leaving or are now, you know, scampering away. Mcconnell, what stood out to me here about mcconnell is all of the things you said, but also the fact that this guy is a selfproclaimed institutionalist. What he did after january 6th is he took the political power that he possessed, and he forfeited it. He said, im not going to use it. Ill kick it to a Different Branch of government, the judiciary, and let them decide. Heres a man who is known to be a sort of machiavellian, Ruthless Practitioner of politics, utterly powerful, who, in that moment, in that critical moment, decided he was going to just not use it. I thought that was always an extraordinary decision on his part. Ultimately, were now left with him leaving leadership and trump potentially being sent back to the white house. The sad part, as sam said, is the inevitability of this. Joni ernst endorsed trump. Governor youngkin in virginia endorsed trump along with a list of others. George mentioned the part of the speech we didnt hear in february 2021, so just a little over a month after january 6th, where he said, donald trump could face and should face criminal prosecution. President trump is still liable for everything he did while he was in office as an ordinary citizen, unless the statute of limitations is run, still liable for everything he did while he was in office. Didnt get away with anything yet. Yet. We have a criminal Justice System in this country. We have civil litigation. Former president s are not immune from being accountable by either one. How do you reconcile your trump endorsement with the fact that you called him tactically and morally responsible for january 6th and the fact that he insulted you and your wife repeatedly . February the 25th, 2021, shortly after the attack on the capitol, i was asked a similar question. I said i would support the nominee for president even if it were the former president. Leader mcconnell, in april of last year, you indicated you didnt really directly answer the question as to whether or not you were comfortable with mr. Trump if he was in the middle of criminal trials and indictments and he was the nominee. I presume that means youre comfortable with him . I dont have anything to add to what i just said. I said in February Of 2021, shortly after the attack on the capitol, that i would support President Trump if he were the nominee of our party, and he obviously is going to be the nominee of our party. George, to answer your previous question, Mitch Mcconnell is 82 years old, on his way out of leadership. He was a patriot that day by calling out donald trump. I think he truly believed that he didnt have to take the step of barring trump from public office. But it didnt work. Why not, as a parting shot, not for himself but for the country and even his own party, say, this is a bad thing . I just it is beyond my comprehension. Look at nikki haley the last few weeks. Shes not perfect. She could double back. But she seemed liberated, happier, to be able to speak truth. Not the full truth, but she was getting there. Shes leading people toward the truth, and its liberating. But where does that story end . I hope nikki has become liberated and understands the Republican Party that i used to be a member of desperately needs somebody like her carrying the torch in these dark times. But what are the odds that at the end, she will find her way to endorsing donald trump, even after and well show, even after the insults continued last night. It doesnt look good. I mean, we almost need a psychologist here at this point. Oh, we do. To understand how an 82yearold man like Mitch Mcconnell feels the need to continue to express this fealty to someone who has done nothing but destroy the country and the institutions that Mitch Mcconnell has served. You know, im honestly to the point where i just want to say, what is it . Is it about money . Are you trying to make money when you leave office . Youre 82 years old. Do you want to be friends President Trumpers at the country club and dont want to be shunned . What is it . Thats lindsey. I remember john mccain telling me near the end of his life, he said, you know, weve already lost lindsey. This was actually maybe not i think this was in february of, what was it, 17 maybe . He said, lindsey is so excited to golf with the president of the United States, hell do anything. But Mitch Mcconnell, he aint going golfing. Why . Its not like he doesnt understand history. He knows how he and trump will be painted in history. Does that not matter, what your children and grandchildren and people think of you after youre gone . Its also embarrassing for all americans to see this. This is not what we want from people who are supposed to be serving. Were supposed to be different in this way. Its not supposed to be about a cult of personality. Yeah. Theres something very dark about it, and i think, you know, people like Vladimir Putin are going to be watching this with a smile. You know who else will . Donald trumps guest at maralago today, orban. Or thats friday. Hmm. Hell be looking at it. As donald trump tries to model himself into a position to be the next orban right here in the United States. When we come back, we will show you Donald Trumps response to nikki haley saying, hey, maybe donald trump, maybe you can work to gain some of my supporters as you move toward the november election. Donald trump, his response, more insults. Well show you when we return. The future is not just going to happen. You have to make it. And if you want a successful business, all it takes is an idea, and now becomes the future. A future where you grew a dream into a reality. Its waiting for you. Mere minutes away. The future is nothing but power and its all yours. The all new godaddy airo. Get your Business Online in minutes with the power of ai. President biden and former President Trump both had huge nights. Now, it is pretty much certain well have a rematch between biden and trump. At this point, the only thing that can stop them is a flight of stairs. After the results came and both guys threw big Victory Parties with confetti made from classified documents, it was touching. Nikki haley officially suspended her president ial campaign. But heres the good news for haley. Shes only 52, meaning she can run for president at least eight more times. Shes got that. If you do the math, he might be right about that. Jimmy fallon last night upstairs here. November rematch between joe biden and donald trump essentially set this morning following nikki haleys decision to drop out of the 2024 president ial race. Haley did not endorse donald trump in her speech yesterday. One big question is now, though, where will her supporters go . Haley says that is up to donald trump. It is now up to donald trump to earn the votes of those in our party and beyond it who did not support him. I hope he does that. At its best, politics is about bringing people into your cause, not turning them away. And our conservative cause badly needs more people. This is now his time for choosing. How did he choose . That was a nice outreach. It was, yeah. You can grow your base. Donald trump responded during haleys speech, while she was saying that, with this on truth social. Quote, Haley Got Trounced in recordsetting fashion. He invited her supporters to j