the heat is bad for the bad between the hotter it gets, the harder it is to find your words. wow. cucumber. hot weather can result in lower scores on math tests as well as higher rates of aggression ranging from mean-spirited behavior to violent crime. well, that explains florida. the heat wave is also blasting washington, d.c. when people complain it being over 90 president biden is like see, 81 isn't so bad. just saying. i'm not kidding. it's hot out there. i spent all day sweating like a fox news anchor trying to explainp juneteenth. good morning. welcome to "morning joe," it's wednesday, june 20th. millions of people from the midwest to the northeast will face extreme heat for a fourth straight day. the national weather service is predicting record highs again in several areas, and the heat is expected to last into the weekend. also, tropical storm alberto, the first named storm of the hurricane season, is expected to make landfall soon on mexico's gulf coast. the large storm has already brought heavy rainfall and some flooding along the coasts of texas and mexico. meanwhile, two large wildfires continue to burn out of control in new mexico. police have confirmed two deaths tied to the fires raging in verduso. so far more than 23,000 acres have burned. moving to politics, the latest forecasts news survey shows biden ahead of trump, 50% to 48% among registered voters. it's the first time the president has a lead since october. the new numbers come as we are one week away from the first presidential debate, and both sides are digging into preps. but donald trump appears to make sure he lowers expectations all around, and he's starting to make executions claiming he had to face off against the moderators as well so that will be a challenge. we're going to get into all of that just ahead. with us for all of these stories and most we have the host of "way too early," white house bureau cleve at "politico, jonathan lemir, sam stein and u.s. national editor at "the financial times" ed luce. good to have you all on board. we'll begin though with the growing alliance between kim jong-un and russia's vladimir putin on full display in north korea yesterday, raising concerns in the u.s. nbc news foreign correspondent janice mackey fryar has the later. >> reporter: north korea's kim johnun pulling ought all the snaps an elaborate choreographed state dinner with russian president vladimir putin. the outcast and sanctioned leaders side by side reviewing troops, cheered by crowds of children with balloons. then in the front seat with putin behind the wheel. earlier a friendly debate over who would be first in a kim's car can i was a gift from putin last year. the two unveiled a strategic defense treaty promising mutual assistance in case either country faces aggression. the details of it not spelled out but both calling it a breakthrough. the deepening alliance raising alarms for the u.s. and the west who have worked to isolate russia over its invasion over ukraine. putin has turned to north korea which according to u.s. officials has already sent millions of rounds of ammunition, artillery shells and missiles to help russia's war effort. >> north korea is providing significant munitions to russia and other -- and other weapons for use in ukraine. >> reporter: a looming worry what north korea might gain from russia in return, including access by the sort of military technologies that could enhance kim's nuclear, missile and satellite programs. the visit and all its fanfare doing little to ease concerns. >> joining us now former supreme allied commander of nato retired four staff nato ally james stav ri tis and former asian affairs director dr. victor kha, he is latest headline "biden needs to disrupt the russia-north korea alliance before it's too late. doctor, let's start there. how? >> it's not easy. the difficulties lie in the fact that this is a renewal of a cold war alliance between the two sides. what north korea provides to russia goes deep to russian territory in terms of munitions, very hard to intercept. there's still a package of economic sanctions and actions that could be taken vis-a-vis china to try to disrupt this network. >> admiral let's talk about the implications of this alliance. some are now suggesting this shows how desperate putin is, the fact that he's got to turn to north korea, the hermit kingdom, for more supplies for his war in ukraine, but at the same time to victor's point there is worry about these two autocrats teaming up. >> sure, yeah, indeed. putin finally found a leader that he's actually taller than, so i think this is a good moment for him. in all seriousness, what we've got to worry about deeply here, exactlied a dr. cha said is the technology push that could enable the hermit kingdom to enable the 50, 60 or 70 nuclear weapons, so it's the technology, jonathan, but it's also the intelligence. putin can provide targeting, can provide access to a satellite system that russia owns and operates, so there's a package of high-tech incentives, both actual physical technology for the nuclear program as well as intelligence, command and control. we've got to be very concerned about this. final thought. they are not revealing yet the details of the agreement they have signed. signs a lot like a mutual defense pact to me. each nation would be obligated to defend the other. that's quite significant. that's what we have, for example, with japan, with south korea, with australia, with our pacific alliance. we don't want to see putin start to build something with north korea, along those lines. >> all right. i want to bring ed luce into this. ed, if you don't mind, if i could ask you to get into the mind of one of the great geostrategic thinkers of our time and i think you know who i'm talking begun, what is the strategic vision of putin and kim jong-un? what are they putting on display here, and what should the u.s. and its allies be doing right now to counter what looks like a collective threat? >> well, i mean, if referring to i think you are dr. brzezinski he coined the phrase alliance of the aggrieved way back in the 1990s where hoe was quite prophetic in how he saw the world, the nations, particularly the autocracies reacting to this new global triumphalist era of democracy that we had after the cold war. he talked about the alliance of the aggrieved, and he mentioned russia. he mentioned north korea. of course, that includes china. it includes iran, and it includes some smaller countries like cuba, venezuela, but the strategy i think that he would recommend and i think it would be utterly relevant and i think admiral stavritis would agree on this is to play on china's frees with north korea, freelancing north korea, because north korea threatens japan. japan could go nuclear at any time. that is the last thing that china wants, and we've seen in the last few days a makeup meeting between the leaders of south korea and china, south korea, and, of course, south korea is the real target of north korea. play on china's fear of anarchy in the region because this doesn't suit their interest. they want stability. >> so admiral stavritis, do you agree? >> i do entirely. i'll add another interesting small point here which is where is vladimir putin today? he's left north korea. he's in vietnam, and vietnam, by the way, has a population four times that of north korea, about 100 million, dynamic economy, very strong demographics. vietnam in many ways is a bigger opportunity for the west than north korea, so i think if dr. brzezinski were advising us today, he'd be saying not only shore up u.s., the alliances you have with japan, australia, new zealand, singapore, thailand, the philippines, those are mutual defense treaties. you ought to focus, u.s., on vietnam for exactly the reasons that ed luce is saying. you need to put pressure back so i'm quite concerned you're showing footage now of putin in vietnam meeting with president lam and others. we ought to be watching that flank as well. i think your dad would advise us to do so. it's all about alliances. >> yeah. i wanted to pick up there for dr. cha, actually a point that ed made which is our leverage, u.s. leverage is not obviously quite strong with north korea and russia, but we do have some with the chinese. obviously it's a contentious relationship, but it is a communicative relationship and strikes me, and i'm wondering if you could speak to this, that the real danger here is not necessarily a russia/north korea pact but china being more forthcoming and providing more weaponry and intelligence to the russians as they turn west to ukraine. so what do you think the u.s. officials are saying to beijing right now in light of the putin/kim jong-un meeting that just occurred? >> you're right. the chinese have not been providing weapons to russia for ukraine but they have been providing a lot of industrial support. china cannot be happy with this meeting between russia and north korea\, but they are not able to really make the decision about what to do. on the one hand, they don't want to criticize north korea too much because they don't want to push kim further into the arms of putin. on the other hand, they are not fully able to gin on with russia and north korea because they don't want to be part of a grouping in which north korea weapons are being used by russians to kill europeans today. that's not where china wants to be, so this is i think an opening for the united states, the biden straights to try to make some progress with china, whether it's with regard to new sanctions on north korea or whether it's even with regard to just an open statement about their concern about this relationship. the other thing i would say is the nato sum milt is in washington, d.c. next month. this is a real opportunity for the biden administration to work with allies, south korea and japan to work on the trilateral relationship, maybe even a defense declaration among the sides. that would be a huge step forward. >> yes, it would. former national security council asian affairs director dr. victor cha, thank you very much for coming on the show this morning. there is also new tension between the u.s. and israel this morning after the biden administration rejected claims that the white house has been withholding weapons. nbc news senior white house correspondent kelly o'donnell reports. >> reporter: a new and very public breach in a pivotal partnership over the flow of u.s. weapons to israel after israeli prime minister net knelt leveled a stinging accusation posting a video, notably spoken in english, for an american audience. >> it's inconceivable that in the past few months the administration has been withholding weapons and ammunitions to israel, israel, america's closest ally. >> reporter: israel says it must defeat hamas and secure the release of hostages. >> during world war ii, churchill told the united states give us the tools. we'll do the job, and i say give us the tools and we'll finish the job a lot fast sneer but his charge has been met with surprise at the white house. >> we generally do not know what he's talking about. >> reporter: the fallout was swift. a meeting expected with israeli officials in washington is off for now. that session, to discuss threats from iran is described as postponed. u.s. officials say they will not reward israel with such a meeting in response to the netanyahu video. they said they paused a shipment to israel of 2,000-pound bombs. responding 209 message secretary blinken disputed the prime minister's complaint and said that one arms shipment is being evaluated. >> because of our concerns about their use in a densely populated area like rafah. that remains under review, but everything else is moving as it normally would move. >> admiral stavritis, i'll start with you. we genuinely don't know what they are talking about is a pretty strong statement. >> wow. >> is benjamin netanyahu a good partner in this? what happened here? >> clearly he's not, and i would really draw a line under him cutting that commentary and blatantly trying to insert himself into the u.s. election cycle from all that i can see. it's wildly inappropriate to go over the head of the administration and try to speak directly to americans, not his role, not his place. he is a frustrating partner. my good friend jake sullivan, the national security adviser. >> yes. >> his head must be exploding this morning. i think about what he and tony blinken and lloyd austin have tried to do for israel, indeed, what we have done for israel for decades, and to be treated in that manner by a prime minister really shocks the conscience of diplomacy between the two nations. >> and it only heightens tensions between president biden and prime minister netanyahu who, of course, have not seen eye to eye on much in this war, the president becoming more and more public with his frustrations with how netanyahu has conducted operations in gaza and how he has no real plans for after the war there. ed luce, to the admiral's point, this seems like the prime minister going over the heads of the white house going directly to the american people. well, in about a months time he's got a bigger moment to do that. he's been invited to address congress. what do we think comes of that? this will could be a really contentious moment between the relationship between the prime minister and the president. >> yes, it could, and, it's, of course, we all remember in 2015 when he addressed congress, broke all protocol and all preps didn't by campaigning to the joint houses of congress against president obama's iran nuclear deal. at that point i think he really came out strongly as a republican -- a pro republican foreign leader which was a new one for american politics, and he's now a pro trump foreign leader. similar psychologies. arguably netanyahu is the original trump and have similar incentives, not to lose the next election, because both face potential jail time, so netanyahu is a bad actor. he has bitten the hand that feeds him again and again and again. >> yes. >> biden has supplied everything that he needed. there is no business, by the way, for that delayed shipment of 2,000-pound bombs. there is no business for 2,000-pound bombs in urban warfare, it's indiscriminate. there are bombs that go around corners and go through windows and can target people, so i'm -- i'm really puzzled as to why people like senate majority leader chuck schumer signed on to netanyahu speaking, and i don't think it's too late to rescind that invitation. >> very interesting. much more to discuss about this. retired admiral james stavritis, thanks very much for being on this morning. still ahead on "morning joe," we're tracking the heat wave that's scorching parts of the u.s. we'll take a look at the record-setting temperatures and why human cost climate change might be to blame. plus, the supreme court could soon release its decision on whether to grant donald trump presidential immunity. a panel of legal experts is standing by with a look at what that could reason for the presumptive gop nominee in his federal election interference case and why it's taken so long to get to a ruling on this. doesn't it seem so basic? and before we go to break, a special programming note to tell you about. this monday is the second anniversary of the supreme court's decision to reverse "roe v. wade," and to mark that day i will be sitting down with vice president kamala harris for an exclusive interview. that's this monday only on "morning joe." we're back in 90 seconds. "morning joe." we're back in 90 seconds while i am a paid actor, and this is not a real company, there is no way to fake how upwork can help your business. upwork is half the cost of our old recruiter and they have top-tier talent and everything from pr to project management because this is how we work now. 20 past the hour. a beautiful shot of new york city. tropical storm alberto is expected to make landfall soon on mexico's gulf coast. it is the first named storm of what is expected to be an intense hurricane season. high winds and 10 to 15 inches of rain are expected today along the southern coast of texas along with flash flooding. other parts of texas' gulf west are already dealing with flooding after heavy rainfall yesterday. in new mexico, two extremely dangerous wildfires have claimed the lives of at least two people while forcing an entire town of more than 7,000 to flee. officials say both the south fork and salt fires were zero percent contain. as of late yesterday, the flames have destroyed more than 1,400 structures and burned 23,000 acres. meanwhile, millions of people from the midwest to the northeast will face extreme heat for a fourth straight day. the national weather service is predicting record highs again in several areas, and the heat is expected to last into the weekend. meteorologists say the dangerous temperatures are the result of a heat dome that is covering large portions of the country. joining us now "new york times" best selling author author of "the heat will kill you first, life and death on a scorched planet" will be released next month. seems like this might be a timely read right now, jeff. what's going on? >> well, what's going on is we're living in the age of climate chaos, you know. we have known for 100 years that burning fossil fuels puts more co2 into the atmosphere. more co2 into the atmosphere is creating a hotter climate, and we're seeing that now. it's not only that our climate is getting hotter. it's making these kind of extreme events that you were talking about there from the flooding to the heat waves to the bigger storms more and more likely, so this is the world that we have created for ourselves and that we're living in. >> jeff, it's sam stein here. yes, this is climate chaos. we've experienced a growth of climate chaos over the past couple of years. i'm wondering if you could put it in the proper scope for the readers. talk about just the sheer cost of this in both human lives but also in just dollars. i mean, we're going to be dealing with massive government investments to try to mitigate these issues and literally move people. can you speak -- i mean, it's hard to actually quantify and put in proper perspective, but can you try to talk about just how much this will dominate our public and private lives? >> well, it's going to dominate our lives in every way, that we're just beginning to see and beginning to imagine. how this is -- how do you put a dollar cost on this is very -- it's just impossible because of the scope and scale of what we're talking about here, you know. there's two parts of this. there's sort of the clean energy part of it, you know, which is reducing co2 emissions, the movement to solar and wind. i live in texas. you know, that's happening very fast there. texas is not exactly tull of tree hug earnings and yet our grid is often 60% or 70% powered by renewable energy. that's remarkable, and the price of renewable energy has gotten cheaper and cheaper. the problematic side is on the adaptation side, on the damages side. when you look at what it's going to take to sort of reimagine our cities, to reimagine our world, to reimagine where our food comes from in the light of these kinds of extreme events, it's really a massive change that we're going through, and we can go through it intelligently by being educated about this and thinking about this or talking about this or we could do the "mad max" scenario of denial and chaos which is a lot of america the past -- sadly, the path that a lot of americans seem to be choosing right now. >> there's the human toll, too. officials in saudi arabia announcing yesterday that hundreds of people, hundreds of people died there due extreme heat during religious pilgrimages. jeff, you tweeted something that struck us. you said o