have a good weekend, everybody. mortgage starts right now. ♪ one two three four five six seven eight ♪ ♪ we're gonna do it give us any chance we'll take it ♪ >> so, do you come to milwaukee often? >> well, i'm a regular. milwaukee has certainly had its share of visitors. ♪ nothing is gonna turn us back now straight ahead and on the track now ♪ ♪ we're gonna make our dreams come true doing it our way ♪ >> it's over! the milwaukee bucks are champions of the world! >> the shortstop. milwaukee has won it! [ we're gonna do it ♪ >> it's over. the bucks have done it. the long wait has ended after a half century. the milwaukee bucks are nba champions once again. ♪ we'll do it our way yes our way ♪ ♪ make all our dreams come true ♪ >> actually, it's pronounced milwaukee. which is for the good land. >> i think god would want us to go to milwaukee. ♪ for me and you ♪ >> so beautiful. >> wow. >> there you go. >> i love that. >> wow. >> amazing. >> donald trump is trying to clean up an attack he made yesterday on the city hosting next month's republican national -- >> i -- are you feeling -- >> i love milwaukee. >> i know you do. >> i mean, it's amazing. >> trump called milwaukee, quote, a horrible city. the comment was first reported by punch bowl news' jake sherman, later confirmed by an nbc source inside the room. instead of being the site of the rnc -- or in addition to being the site of the rnc, milwaukee is also the largest city in the key battleground state of wisconsin. >> you know, willie, what was so funny was, so you actually had republicans saying, oh, he never said this about mail milwaukee, right? but he later admitted he said it about milwaukee, right? can i just say something? >> mm-hmm. >> in milwaukee. >> so good. >> so they start, willie, by saying -- we're not saying this about milwaukee, right? >> yeah, we love it. >> then they come out and find out that trump has admitted that he said all these horrible things about milwaukee. they go, oh, well, he was just talking about, you know, crime. another guy said they were talking about, i guess, the brewers' bullpen. willie, help me out here. i don't understand. why would you do that? like, they keep -- >> i don't understand either. it's so good. >> they keep making it up. milwaukee, milwaukee is wonderful. just drink it down, my friend. >> right! >> just drink it down. your thoughts, willie? >> i mean, opening the show with a pair of tall boys of the beast is just one of the great moves in the history of "morning joe." i just feel a little left out. i have a lame cup of coffee sitting over here. that looks delicious. >> it is delicious. drink it up, friends. drink up milwaukee. >> it's good. >> you know, it's like alice cooper said, this is a special place, right? >> i don't -- let's bring in a guy that knows something. >> yeah, he knows all about it. >> old milwaukee. that's wisconsin's own charlie sykes. charlie, they can try to spin it. first, they lied, of course, because they're trump republicans, saying, oh, he never said that. his spokesperson, oh, that's b.s., trump never said that. then, of course, we find out later -- you hate beer. you don't have to pretend anymore. >> okay. >> then later, they admitted that he said it. and we're spinning the rest of the day. the fact is, let's just say what it is. donald trump trashed the most important city in the upcoming 2024 election. you know why? because he's donald trump. >> yeah. and then, by the way, joe and mika, you're making me thirsty this morning. even by milwaukee standards, it's a little bit early. i mean, this is a farce inside of a fiasco. it was really interesting watching local republicans struggling to get their stories straight after donald trump dumps on milwaukee. again, thank you for the montage at the beginning. look, i am a milwaukeean. i've been there a very, very long time. look, we have our struggles. there are messes. there are challenges. but this is a great city on a great lake in a beautiful region. the bucks, the brewers, harley-davidson. we have a fantastic lakefront art museum, symphony, ballet. wait until people see the range of restaurants we have there. donald trump comes in and dumps on all of this. by the way, the idea of having this convention in milwaukee, this was the brain child of revis, who learned nothing over the last eight years. i regret not giving him a copy of "everything trump touches dies." >> yeah. >> but with donald trump trashing milwaukee -- and, of course, you can imagine how that is playing here -- you're seeing republicas you know, denying it or coming up with various spins. i guess the unfortunate thing is you know that, you know, given the trumpian media, this is going to be a talking point that goes from, you know, trump didn't say it or trump meant this to, you know, trump was absolutely right. milwaukee is trash. i think you made a key point here. milwaukee can't take it too personally. i think milwaukee is going to look gorgeous over the summer. we have these fantastic lakefront festivals. but trump says this about every major city. if you noticed this, he trashed new york, trashed washington, d.c., trashed baltimore. donald trump hates urban america. you know, again, this is not a news story. it is not a breaking story. he wants to be president of the united states. but only the real united states, apparently not great cities like milwaukee. but what a blunder. what a way to kick all this off. if mika doesn't want that beer, i am definitely down for it. >> i got it. >> i'll have it this afternoon. >> we'll fedex it to you. >> it'll go in my plants. >> couple years ago, i was having a conversation with mark halperin who has traveled all over the country. i said, what's your favorite city in america? he said, that's easy. it's milwaukee. >> yeah, well -- >> he said, he said, it's just -- you'd absolutely love it. it's called the city of festivals for a reason. there is always something going on in milwaukee. of course, they have great sports teams. but they've got this great urban downtown. they have an incredible art museum. georgia o'keeffe is a milwaukee native. >> right. >> they have the largest collection of georgia o'keeffe artwork in milwaukee there. it's a really vibrant, wonderful city. so, again, it just shows you how clueless this guy is who lives in a palm beach country club. >> doesn't feel like going anywhere. >> lives in a skyscraper in manhattan. outside of palm beach and manhattan, he hates the rest of america. >> fun fact about milwaukee, it has a large polish population, willie. lots of pols there. >> it does. what's nice, you could have chosen from any number of beers for your tall boy. you went with milwaukee's best. i respect the choice. could have done pbr, a miller highlight, the champagne of beers, of course. also, giannis lives there, a closing argument. >> okay. >> i'll interject fact into the conversation, but when they pivoted and said, no, he was just talking about crime, the murder rate is down 39% in the first quarter. >> whoa. >> this year in the city of milwaukee following a national trend of violent crime dipping this year. >> good job, milwaukee. >> biden campaign jumped all over trump's comment, posting a photo on social media of the president hosting the milwaukee bucks at the white house in 2021, along with the caption, "i happen to love milwaukee." >> there you go. >> the campaign is also selling t-shirts that read, quote, "not a horrible city," over a map of wisconsin. milwaukee with a star. the democratic mayor of milwaukee had this to say about trump's attack on his city. >> donald trump wants to talk about things he thinks are horrible. all of us lived through his presidency, so right back at ya, buddy. i'd say that. look, obviously, donald trump is wrong about something yet again. i find it kind of perplexing. i find it kind of strange that he would insult the largest city in wisconsin. to insult the state that's hosting your convention i think is kind of bizarre, actually. it's kind of unhinged. >> yeah, it is unhinged. let's bring in the host of "way too early," white house bureau chief, jonathan lemire. associate editor of "the washington post," political analyst, also a huge fan of milwaukee, eugene robinson. >> yes. >> as well as washington bureau chief at "usa today," susan page. jonathan lemire, couple weeks ago, i said, we're not sure if this trump trial is going to penetrate swing voters and whether they're going to notice. let me tell you who did notice what happened yesterday. mi milwaukee's most important newspaper, wisconsin's most important newspaper. they wrote it up on the front page, that donald trump trashed their city, said it was a horrible city. >> "milwaukee journal sentinol" led with that. and we have no drink service here at 30 rock. >> sorry, guys. >> this is an odd strategy, to attack the biggest city in the largest battleground state in selection. i wonder what he has for philadelphia, atlanta, phoenix, detroit. just go after all of them. to charlie's point, this is an us versus them rhetoric he's used a bit. painting cities, more liberal, progressive, diverse, has less american than the real red states in rural parts of this country. that is nothing new. we should also note, in 2016, the rnc when trump was nominated was in cleveland. he trashed cleveland, too. you know, then there wasn't an rnc in 2020. they had it at the white house because of pandemic. but this is something that is breaking through. you're right, we've seen the polls move a point or two in the wake of trump's trial. democrats struggle to keep it in the news, though it'll be forefront at the debate in two weeks' time. this is what the biden campaign has been looking for. trump out of the courtroom, back on the trail, making news, and making news that hurts him. >> exactly. >> this was an own goal, if you will, yesterday in d.c. >> well, and this is why, of course, the trump campaign wanted donald trump to stay in the courthouse. they didn't want him on the campaign trail. they don't want him on capitol hill. he says really -- >> gaffe machine. >> -- stupid things. he is a human gaffe machine, gene robinson. here, he did it with milwaukee yesterday. i mean, the thing he doesn't understand about these midwest cities, especially, you know, when we were in cleveland a couple years ago for the convention -- how long ago was that, '16? >> is that the khaki gate? >> decades ago. >> yeah. >> when we were in cleveland, the thing i noted about cleveland was, first of all, a great city, but also the immense pride people took. >> yeah. >> we'd say, where are you from? >> right. >> denver, been all over the place. >> love their team. >> they're like, cleveland. been here my whole life. i love it. i found the same thing with, like, milwaukee. >> absolutely. >> people in milwaukee, it's not democrats in milwaukee, it's not republicans in milwaukee. >> it's everybody. >> it's milwaukeeans. >> outside of the republican politicians who trash it, they take great pride in their city for a great reason. it's a great town. >> cities like cleveland, like milwaukee, that donald trump hates, have had such a rebound over the past couple of decades. their downtowns are just sparkling and active and so much fun. art museum that charlie was talk about, the design by santiago, the famous architect, it is gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous there on the lakefront. >> gorgeous. >> it is a great city. but, you know, so that's a crazy thing for donald trump to say, right? but, you know, it just reminds me that he says crazy, irrational, weird, and -- >> mean. >> -- unhinged things all the time. he doesn't make sense. he doesn't -- there is something seriously wrong inside his head. this is yet another manifestation. we're going to see it again and again and again because that's the way he is. so, yeah, i guess the biden campaign is just really, really happy that he is out there, just sort of spewing it out. >> eugene, you know, i agree it seems counterintuitive for trump to have done this. maybe he's playing chess and we're playing checkers. but does it seem remarkable to you that it is more politically damaging for him to have said that milwaukee is a horrible city than for him to be on trial for 34 felony counts and then convicted? >> yes. >> this is like a clearer political shot in some way that i don't, i have to admit, don't fully understand. >> yeah, it is counterintuitive. you would think that being on trial and being convicted on 34 felony counts would certainly be more damaging to the campaign than an offhand remark. it just says something about, you know -- let's face it, donald trump is, indeed, a unique figure in our politics, and i hope will always be a unique figure. i hope there is never anybody like him again. but that's kind of where we are. his loyal base, the people who have drunk his kool-aid, will stick with him kind of no matter what. but you go into the city, talk about the city where you'll have your convention in a state that you have to win if you want to have any chance of winning the presidency, and attack it in that way, that's just nuts. you're going to take a hit. >> you'll take a hit. look at the beautiful city. the sun is starting to rise over milwaukee, wisconsin. 5:15 there, central time zone. charlie, as we look at the beautiful skyline, a city you know and love so much, and we hear gene talking personally about how moved he is by the art museum there and just the life there, it is an absolutely great city. i want to give you final thoughts on this as it pertains not only to milwaukee -- and i will tell you, these wisconsin voters which, strangely enough, i would have never predicted this four years ago, but it looks like over the past year, when biden has trouble, wisconsin has been sort of a firewall. because older voters, especially older white voters, are surprisingly moving to joe biden. a lot of it just has to to with the fact, sort of the midwestern common sense and midwestern values, where there are a lot of people there that are saying, listen, i might like some of his policies, but he's just not fit to be president of the united states. >> yeah, that's true. by the way, it's great just to see a picture of milwaukee city hall where i worked for many years. you know, of all the crazy things that donald trump has said in the last week, this is probably not the craziest. with everything that happened yesterday, the drunken uncle going back and, you know, having republicans kiss his ring, this was probably not the most significant thing. but this is going to stick. you know it'll be mentioned every single day if not every single hour during the rnc convention here in milwaukee. i will tell you, one caveat, one of the things that the trump republicans are going to try to do is they're going to try to divide the rest of wisconsin from milwaukee. they'll say, milwaukee is this terrible thing. other people in wisconsin will go along with that kind of view. i don't think that that's going to work because, and i think you touched on it, cities like milwaukee have a great deal of pride but also have a chip on their shoulder. they have a little bit of sensitivity to this sort of thing. back in the 1950s when the milwaukee braves defeated the new york yankees in, i believe, the 1957 world series, remember, there was a lot of sort of sneering about milwaukee, you know, being a small town. milwaukeeans resented that. donald trump has messed with a city that, you know, we may, here in wisconsin, be willing to criticize ourselves and, you know, talk about the problems, but they don't need donald trump coming in and dumping on a city that we love and that i think is going to really shine next month. >> msnbc contributor charlie sykes, thank you very much. we salute milwaukee. cheers. >> there you go. ahead on "morning joe," the latest cease-fire negotiations between israel and hamas as president biden signals there won't be a deal anytime soon. plus, the latest from the g7 summit in italy, as world leaders agree on a long-term support plan for ukraine. you're watching "morning joe." we are back in 90 seconds. i brought in ensure max protein with 30 grams of protein! those who tried me felt more energy in just two weeks. -ugh. -here, i'll take that. woo hoo! ensure max protein, 30 grams protein, 1 gram sugar, 25 vitamins and minerals. and a new fiber blend with a prebiotic. (♪♪) 21 past the hour. it appears the biden administration does not expect to see a cease-fire deal between israel and hamas anytime soon. white house national security adviser jake sullivan says while mediators are working to bridge the gaps between israel and hamas, there's no clear timetable for reaching an agreement. earlier this week, hamas submitted amendments to the latest proposal, but the white house says some of those changes are unworkable. president biden expressed concerns the deal won't be done soon while speaking to reporters at the g7 summit yesterday. later in the day, he criticized hamas for a lack of progress. >> president biden, did you all have a chance to discuss a possible cease-fire? >> yes. >> are you confident it is going to be done soon, sir? >> no. i'm not. i haven't lost hope, but it is going to be tough. >> the bottom line is, we've made an agree -- i've laid out an approach that has been endorsed by the u.n. security council, by the g7, by the israelis, and the biggest hangup so far is hamas refusing to sign on, even though they have submitted something similar. whether or not it comes to fruition remains to be seen. we're going to continue to push. i don't have a final answer for you. meanwhile, tensions are rising along israel's northern front after the iran-backed militant group, hezbollah, fired hundreds of rockets on wednesday. it was in response to an israeli air strike that killed a senior hezbollah commander. joining us now from beirut is nbc news chief international correspondent keir simmons. keir, what's the latest? >> reporter: just the latest along that northern border with israel, the southern border here in lebanon, just this morning, we count three israeli settlements targeted by hezbollah rockets just this morning. at the same time, on the lebanon side, two women killed, 20 people injured by an attack by israel. not clear what that attack was targeting. earlier in the week, we did see a hezbollah commander killed by israel. that led to the latest escalation in tensions. the concern, the enduring concern after nine months, what was happening in gaza could escalate here to a wider war. now, there doesn't appear to be any indication right now -- you don't want to make predic predi of course -- but there is no indication that is about to happen. hezbollah leaders the past nine months indicated, suggested they do not want to see that kind of escalation. i think, ultimately, hezbollah is happy to continue this fire across the border without using its very substantial missiles and other weaponry in a wider escalation at this stage. president macron over the g7 there, you saw president biden saying that he is now trying to put -- to reignite, reheat a road map for getting more stability in this part of the crisis. president macron has his own problems back home and, frankly, i think it is unlikely that the tension here is going to kind of dial down until you see a cease-fire in gaza. you mentioned at the top there, mika, that question over whether there is going to be one. effectively, these have been cease-fire negotiations that have been under way since late april. we saw president biden come out and kind of push things forward by making a very public statement, that israel had an offer. we saw during that process, too, of course, those claims that hamas had been offered something different. the language actually was different than israel had agreed to