ports. the final report will be sealed, but one thing probation folks ask convicts is about their employment. okay. okay, mr. trump. it says here you got fired from your last job for being terrible at it. and for -- [ applause ] is this correct here? and for trying to kill a mr. mike pence? oh, i see down here you are actually currently applying for a new job which is the same job. okay. have you thought about learning to code? >> good morning. welcome to "morning joe." it is tuesday, june 11th. good to have you all with us this morning. along with joe, willie, and me, we have the host of "way too early," white house bureau chief at "politico," jonathan lemire. and sam stein will be joining us in just a moment. so we have a lot to talk about this morning. we thought we'd take a stepback and take a look big picture, starting out with a column in "the washington post" by eugene robinson, which asks the question, is donald trump okay? gene focuses on what we heard from trump in his las vegas campaign rally on sunday, writing in part, "we in the media have failed by becoming inured to trump's verbal incontinence, not just the rapid-fire lies and revenge-seeking threats, but also the frightening glimpse into a mind that is unwell. the white house press core would be in wolf pack mode if biden were in the middle of a speech and suddenly veered into gibberish about boats and sharks. there would be front page stories questioning whether the president at 81 was suffering from dementia. and the op-ed pages would be filled with thumb-suckers about whether the cabinet should invoke the 25th amendment. house republicans would already schedule hearings on biden's mental condition and demand he take a cognitive test. trump at 77, it's to say he is just being trump, but he's like this all the time. as a reminder, just some of trump's rally in las vegas on sunday. >> i went to a boat company in south carolina. the boat, i said, how is it? he said, it's a problem, sir. they want us to make all electric boats. i said, let me ask you a question. he said, nobody ever asked this question. it must be because of m.i.t., my relationship to m.i.t., very smart. he goes -- i say, "what would happen if the boat sank from its weight, and you're in the boat and you have this tremendously powerful battery and the battery is now underwater and there is a shark approximately 10 yards over there?" by the way, a lot of shark attacks lately, notice that? i watched some guys justifying it today. well, they weren't really that angry. they bit off the young lady's leg because of the fact that they were not hungry but misunderstood who she was. these people are crazy. he said, "there's no problem with sharks. just didn't understand a young woman swimming." a lot of shark attacks. i said, "so there is a shark 10 yards away from the boat, 10 yards. do i get electrocuted if the water goes over the battery and the boat is sinking? do i get electrocuted or jump overboard to the shark?" he said, "you know, nobody ever asked me that question." i said, "i think there's a good question. there's a lot of electric current coming through the water." you know what i'd do if there was a shark or you get electrocuted? i'll take electrocuted every time. i'm not getting near the shark. we'll end that, end it for boats. >> one of the tells on just how crazy he was was looking at the people that had driven hours to be there, put on their trump hats, and through the whole time, they're going like this, looking at each other in the background, going, what's exactly going on here? turning around and whispering. what's he talking about? well, willie, he's talking about what he always talks about. you know, we have trump. he's been doing this. this is why the biden campaign -- and john lemire has been reporting on this -- this is why the biden campaign has been desperate to get donald trump out of a courtroom where he has to be quiet and on the campaign trail where they can hear him. trump spews an hour of bizarre comments, and he's been doing it for years. sharks, hannibal lecter, what a great guy he is, about executing the chairman of the joint chiefs of not. >> not paying the teleprompter company. >> not paying the teleprompter company, mosquitos, world war ii, the gathering storm of world war ii that's coming, president obama still being president of the united states, which he continues to do eight years after president obama went home. and i do think gene makes a great point. if joe biden had given one of those speeches, it'd be on the front page of "the new york times," "the wall street journal." >> definitely "the wall street journal." >> "the washington post." and everybody would be doing exactly what they were saying. but for biden, biden goes to d-day. we're going to talk about this in a little bit. "the washington post" just posted a story this morning. he does a fantastic job. they actually use cheap fakes. >> yeah. >> they're trying to make it look like, oh, he's trying to sit down. oh, my god, there's a chair not there. everybody on the stage was because lloyd austin wasn't done with his speech yet. there are three, four different things where the republican party is lying. they have to make that up which is a lot like "the wall street journal" story where they knew they were lying to their readers. they knew that kevin mccarthy, what he was telling "the wall street journal" was a lie. they knew because kevin mccarthy said before what a great negotiator biden had been at the very meeting where they tried to get mccarthy to say, well, he was out of it. it is a big tell they talked to senators and nancy pelosi and others who said, no, no, let me explain to to you what happened in the meeting. they went into detail about how biden was pulling people together. i remember in the same meeting, it was biden and everybody else trying to move mike johnson along. we reported on it at the time. "the wall street journal" runs a front page story, a lead story that they know is a lie. with biden, the republican party has to make shit up. i'm sorry, i can't think of a better way to say that. trying to make biden look old and demented. trump does it every day on the campaign trail, and people just laugh. yeah, he's crazy. look at that. can you believe he is so stupid, he talks about this? he melts down when his teleprompter goes down. that's funny. that's the political world we're living in in 2024. >> it is. that moment, that's sort of one example in a larger point we could talk about, the lies. he does it enough and for so long and so consistently, that people sort of get numb to it. there he goes again. we say all the time on this show, for example, when "the wall street journal" piece came out, you could take any one rally, and this is maybe the best example of it, as you say, joe, 102 degrees, people are standing in the heat. he said, by the way, we'll get to this quote, "i don't care about you," literally talking to his supporters, voters, "i just want your vote." yeah, it's hot out here, but i'm suffering. i don't care about you. more on that in a moment. but he goes on this story about batteries and sharks, and he makes that tie, because of my tie to m.i.t. >> oh, my god. >> his uncle worked at m.i.t. in the 1940s. >> oh, my god. >> he just can't -- he feels -- there is something about m.i.t. he knows it is prestigious, knows it sounds smart, it was his uncle 80 years ago. >> what a loon. what a loon. >> he is a loon. >> that was just the latest and perhaps one of the most extreme examples of something that happens. again, we say it all the time here. you can watch or not. maybe you don't want to watch his rallies or not, but it happens every time he steps on a stage. so if you really think that joe biden is the one losing it, pour yourself a drink, sit back, and watch that performance in las vegas over the weekend, nevada over the weekend. that's it. that's the argument right there. >> so what, sam stein, what republicans don't understand, and i keep trying to explain this to them but i think i'm going to give up. when they lie about joe biden's mental acuity, when they lie and make things up, all they are doing is lowering expectations, lowering expectations, lowering expectations for the biggest campaign event coming, and that is the debate. they do this time and time again. they say, oh, joe biden is out of it. joe biden is whatever. he goes to the state of the union. he kicks them in the teeth. then everybody is like, oh, my god, where did that come from? then they say, oh, he's on co-tan. he had to be on cocaine. he was so good. he was jacked up. no, he was just joe biden. i've said this before. i've said this before and will say it again. i've talked to the guy for hours at a time. the guy is all there. you know, years ago, i talked to donald trump hours at a time. not all there. so here we are -- >> a little bit more all there. >> he is much worse now. >> yeah. >> they're pushing down expectations for joe biden by lying about him. >> mm-hmm. >> all they're doing in the end is helping him because the whole country is going to be looking at those debates. biden, once again, is going to exceed expectations because of their false narrative. >> yeah, this happened in 2020, too. people might forget it, but there was this narrative going around that he had an ear piece that was feeding him the questions and the answers. it actually took off so much on right-wing media that he and his campaign had to put out a tweet, joking about it with the ear piece and a pint of ice cream as his debate prep routine. i will say, it does diminish the expectations. it helps him ultimately clear a very low hurdle. from a strategic standpoint, it does benefit biden. also, trump is giving away one of the debate questions that will come up, which is, how would you rather die, electrocution via an electrical boat or vicious shark attack? now, joe biden has one of those questions, too. in two ways, they benefitted biden. then, let me just say on the larger scale, like, look, i think two things can be objectively true here, right? one is joe biden is, you know, . he is different than he was four years ago, eight years ago. we all are. that's just how it goes. the other thing that is objectively true is what you said, that if joe biden went on stage and talked about a shark attack or being electrocuted in a boat, i think it would have been the dominant media story for a week. >> a week. >> it would have spawned a whole round of democratic agitation and freakout. it would have spawned a slew of editorials wondering if he should drop out. i think there are different standards here. i think part of it is exactly what willie says, which is, we've come sort of callused and numb to the trump routine. that shades how we view trump. >> and that is if you look into the history of authoritarianism, it's a component of that. desensitizing a population, a population becoming inured. jonathan lemire, i said it yesterday and will say it today. if anybody made a speech like that, anybody, i wouldn't even need to say, "some on the left feel this person is un" -- that is unfit behavior. that person is unfit for the highest office in the land. unfit to be on this show even. unfit to do any job. he sounded crazy. >> yeah. >> because he was, okay? >> what corporation would hire that guy? >> nobody. >> what corporation would hire that guy in leadership? none. >> my question is, and i'll leave it hanging and toss to you, lemire, "the wall street journal" did a front page piece quoting republicans and some democrats about joe biden losing it. >> they didn't quote any democrats, for the record. >> where is the deep dive in "the new york times," "the washington post," or "the wall street journal" front page? where's the deep dive into this crazy man who is giving so much material that backs up to the fact that he is unfit, that it is almost hard to keep up with? where is the good, solid journalism on this? >> certainly, there's been exhaustive reporting about donald trump's record and what he plans to do in 2025. i do think what we've seen, a couple publications in recent weeks, a little more about raising the idea of trump's mental capacity on this job. certainly on this show, we talk about it all the time. sam couldn't be more right, it's more of an issue for president biden. that is, most democrats believe, deeply unfair. biden only a couple years older than trump. poll by poll, shaped by what republicans have done, by media coverage, it looms much larger for biden than trump. i'll give an example of a bad-faith effort. i was pooler last night for the juneteenth concert on the lawn. it lasted about two hours, and biden was there. republicans and allies took clips and tweeted them out, of the president standing slower, not clapping in tune. i had my eyes on him the whole time. he was fine. >> after being in france. >> yeah, trying to paint a picture of him being unfit for the job. meanwhile, the democrats and the bidn campaign ramped up their own attacks on donald trump, trying to create a contrast. that was the implicit subtext of the france trip, mia. mika. president biden on the world stage, reaffirming commitments to allies, vowing to stand with ukraine, standing up for democracy. contrasting that with donald trump who is doing none of those things. and donald trump seemingly expressing very little interest in the health, safe the, and well-being of his own rally attendees. as willie mentioned, the biden campaign pounced on the moment from las vegas over the weekend and put out this ad. >> i don't want anybody going on me. i don't care about you. i just want your vote. i don't care. >> i'm joe biden, and i approve this message. >> short and sweet. "i don't care." >> there you go. >> we have heard that from the biden team before. they're making this in a joking fashion, but that's sort of been one of their central arguments in the wake of the criminal conviction, joe and mika. this is the latest example of how trump put himself before everything else, and that's what he'll do when he is back in office, too. and unfit. moving on to the other top stories of the morning now. secretary of state antony blinken is in israel this morning where he met earlier today with retired israel general benny gantz who resigned from the country's war cabinet on sunday. a readout of their meeting said gantz emphasized the importance of exerting maximum pressure on mediators in order to get hamas to agree to a hostage release deal. and in jerusalem yesterday, blinken met with prime minister benjamin netanyahu. blinken says netanyahu reaffirmed his commitment to a cease-fire proposal. meanwhile, the united nations security council has adopted a u.s.-backed cease-fire plan for gaza. three other cease-fire resolutions have previously failed. this measure lays out a three-phase plan to secure the release of the remaining hostages in exchange for palestinian prisoners. in the second phase, the cease-fire would continue so long as israel and hamas negotiate a permanent end to the war. if the deal falls through, the white house has discussed potentially holding its own negotiations with hamas to secure the release of the five american hostages still in captivity. this comes as we learn more about the israeli military's daring rescue of four hostages over the weekend. helmet footage shows forces rescuing almog meir jan, andrei kozlov and shlomi ziv. the israeli military says the men were being held captive in the home of a hamas member. you can hear heavy fire as the operatives enter the apartment. in an effort to give the rescuers ample cover, the military says air force started striking dozens of nearby targets. that led to scores of civilians, including children, to be killed. >> hamas health officials say that at least 270 people died in the raid. israeli sources say less than 100. >> right. israeli forces also rescued a fourth hostage. 26-year-old noa argamani. she was held in a different building just 200 yards away. >> willie, there's so many cross currents going on right now in this war between israel and hamas terrorists. you have, of course, the hostage release, extraordinary hostage release. you have benny gantz resigning from the cabinet. you have the united nations backing the u.s. peace proposal. just, again, a lot going on in israel's northern border. i mean, this is so much going on, so many crosscurrents. you wonder if at this point, it's sort of the climax of it. maybe we move to that u.s. authored cease-fire. >> yeah, there are some sticking points, obviously, for the israelis in there and hamas, obviously, cannot be trusted as a terrorist organization in the negotiation. but we will see. you know, it got the votes unanimously, except for russia abstained in the united nations security council. we'll see. the hostage rescue, when you look at the video there, the fact the four hostages were alive, that the special services of the idf were able to pull that off, extraordinary. obviously, the civilian death that came with it makes things worse, makes things more complicated, but hamas also could have avoided this by not taking hostages and not hiding behind them inside of gaza. let's bring in the columnist and associate editor for "the washington post," david ignatius. david, let's get to joe's point about everything that's going on right now in this critical moment and your assessment of that peace plan from the white house, the peace plan from the u.n., how viable is it? is there enough in there that, somehow, someway, these two sides could come to the table? >> willie, the first thing to say is the white house is really putting on a full-court press on this. it took this peace plan first to the g7. other major industrial nations got support for it. now, they've taken it to the u.n. security council, gotten it passed with russia abstaining. they now have the world's leading powers behind this proposal. they now want to, in effect, impose it on both hamas, which has been resistant, and israel, which sometimes is a little bit hard to read about exactly what it agrees to and what it doesn't. right now, the main focus is on hamas. secretary blinken in israel made that point very strongly. it's up to hamas to come to the table and do this deal. you ask, what is the difference about? really, i think it's about language in the three-part agreement that, in the minds of israel and hamas, determines who can say they won the conflict. hamas is demanding a written statement from israel that there be a permanent end to hostilities. israel says, we don't want to sign a permanent statement. instead, we want negotiations about the transition to the permanent cease-fire, where we get to work out all the details of how the future of gaza will go. israel does not want to accept future governments of gaza. that's been made clear from the beginning of the war. i think what we're going to see is continued, intense pressure. the problem is, what is the u.s. plan b if this pressure doesn't budge hamas? there's no sign that i see that they're really ready to give up that demand for the permanent cease-fire, and there is not an obvious answer right now for the administration, except keep banging, keep pushing, keep pointing to all the international insistence that this happened. >> well, you look at the end. the third phase of the peace process is the movement to a non-hamas governed, palestinian authority running gaza. obviously a big win for israel if, in fact, that is where we end up. david, it's interesting. we saw pictures of the secretary of state, america's secretary of state shaking hands with benny gantz, then benjamin netanyahu. interesting, again, shaking hands with benny gantz right after he resigned from netanyahu's cabinet, a man who many consider to be a possible successor to netanyahu. we've seen support. we've seen