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this wednesday morning. "morning joe" starts right now. >> i think, you know, any patient that -- or elderly individual or someone who has dementia, they can find some moments of clarity, right? they can find moments throughout the day that they have energy and -- look. i think that trump's team should not underestimate joe biden and his team's ability to, you know -- whether they are going to jack him up on mountain dew or whatever it is, that, look. the state of the union this year he had a lot of energy for about an hour and/or an hour and a half, but it doesn't mean, you know, what we are seeing is, obviously, throughout the day, he can't carry that level of energy. >> what is so amazing about that, willie, is that that jacked up mountain dew did not come from some guy they picked up off the street, right? that was, like, rolling dice against the side of a wall or something. i'm sitting there halfway going, who is this guy? he is an elected member of congress. >> sure. >> who is the house oversight committee. >> wow. >> and he is talking about people being jacked up on mountain dew, and they better be careful because you know, even old, elderly people can be good every once in a while. >> just pop up out of the coffin! >> they can just hop up and suddenly turn around and suddenly have the largest nato alliance in world history and you have the best jobs numbers in 50 years? >> that could happen, too. >> they take a swig of mountain dew and the next moment the dollar at a 50-year high. >> and pass more legislation than any other president in modern history. >> maybe they. ♪ some of that mountain dew up because they are so old, it's coming out of their nose! and that gives them inspiration and they say to themselves, i may be completely out of it but i'm going to do something that none of the preceding presidents did and i'm going to. you more into legislation than any other president since lbj. >> and lower the cost of diabetes medicine. why not? i just woke up and did that. >> willie, this is desperation. like you say, like, you know, this shows how nerves they are. this is not how somebody who is confident about. i never heard larry bird say magic johnson will be jacked up on mountain dew and we are not able to beat the lakers -- no. i can't believe i'm saying this. trump is scared out of his mind. he is whining and whimpering because joe biden may just beat him really badly. i don't know. you tell me. why are they running so scared from joe biden? the guy who they have spent the last eight years saying is out of his mind? >> first of all, i love a mountain dew and have a long time and it's a safe and legal way to keep yourself jacked up if you're studying for a test in college or something like that. it's fantastic. it really is remarkable that this is the entire argument. we saw it and we will play more of it again. you heard a little of it from speaker johnson sort of dabbling in it yesterday saying, we are expecting joe biden to do well is what they are saying to the public and we need a reason why he did well, whether it's mountain dew or much worse as president trump and others have suggested some kind of a drug he might be on. they watched the state of the union address. they were frankly surprised how good he was and how energetic and how strong he was and they needed some way to explain it away. now here we are ahead of the debate. we talk about split screens a lot. president of the united states in camp david preparing for the debate how to handle trump and talk through his issues. on the other side, jonathan lemire, a camp talk almost exclusively will cocaine and mountain dew and how the debate moderators are on the sides of the president of the united states. that doesn't feel like a winning hand going into this. >> first of all, i'm rethinking my morning beverage choice here. if this was mountain dew, think what i could do this morning. >> do the dew! do the dew! >> let's switch that for tomorrow. we haven't seen president biden president biden in several days and he's at camp david with a couple of dozen aides holding mock debate rehearsals. donald trump, meanwhile, is floating conspiracy theories last night appearing on news max, being interviewed by his former campaign manager and his team says, well, that is how trump is preparing. he is doing hostile interviews including on news max with his former campaign manager who opened the interview by saying i'm honored to say i'm going to be with donald trump in atlanta at the debate tomorrow night. so there is that. we should note news max had to run a disclaimer they accept the results of the 2020 election even though donald trump wouldn't say that because they don't want to get further sued. >> billion dollar lawsuits have a way of doing that. >> he is saying how proud he is with donald trump in atlanta tomorrow. we see that trump is saying he is not preparing. we know he has talked-to-some aides but not doing full-on rehearsals but seems to be a lack of confidence putting out the last minute by republicans who are now are acknowledging joe biden will be good on this because he hopped up on some sort of substance even if it's an overcaffeinated beverage. they are trying to lower expectations and anticipating trump to repeat what he did in 2020 which is to get badly beaten by joe biden. >> i mentioned house speaker mike johnson talking about this yesterday. he sort of pushed aside the harder drugs but he stayed on the narrative. >> look. a lot of things that are said in jest. no one expects joe biden would be on cocaine but they do ask questions and i think it makes sense why people are asking will he be on some sort of energy drinks or something, okay? his energy levels, you can see, vary dependent on what format he is in and what forum. you know, we expect he'll do what he did at the state of the union. he had a lot of energy that night so that is the joe biden i expect to see. the question is can he stay for 90 minutes on that stage and go toe-to-toe with president trump who you know goes to rallies and talks on hours' end without any break and without any notes so it will be interesting to see. >> he does and he wanders wildly about and he says he is afraid world war ii is going to start and he says that barack obama is president of the united states, and he talks about about sharks. >> and batteries. >> he talks about if i'm in a boat that has an electric motor and -- by the way, we have been in one. you're okay, donnie. >> drip, drip, drip. showers. lather. >> washing machines. yeah. he does stay there for about 90 minutes longer than he should. but mike johnson there saying, maybe not cocaine, but maybe some bc powders and rc cola. i mean, c'mon! what is wrong with them? >> look. obviously they kind of, you know, overshot the runway on this hold age thing and it could end up biting them. who knows what will happen. anything can happen on the debate stage. but we now know donald trump. we have seen donald trump in all sorts of different challenging positions, including a press conferences, on the world stage where he left a mess. let's just put it there. in terms of debates and one-on-one interviews and town halls, he tries to gain the system. he tries to get into the heads of the moderators and those with less experience he actually succeeds. >> runs over them. >> yeah, he runs right over them. basically, takes an hour for himself to talk to america about batteries or whatever else he wants to. so there is that. i think going after the moderators in this case which is another collective effort by the trump campaign and trump, himself, is set up the moderators to feel they have to overcorrect on fairness. i don't think that will happen with these. i think they know what they are dealing with but good luck. >> yeah, good luck. it is pretty crazy. >> with us is deputy managing editor sam stein to politico and senior columnist for "the daily beast" matt lewis. great to have you all on board. >> we will keep talking about this debate. quickly off the top, we ought to bring up, sam stein, what happened in new york last night and we will talk about it down the road or big upset. i guess it wasn't an upset. i remember the squad losing. but, man, i was surprised jon, john avlon, somebody who piled in over a million dollars of their own money? >> very healthy. >> and just won. a landslide. landslide john. >> he sure did. we have the results from a few notable primaries held yesterday to tell you about. progressive democratic jamaal bowman lost in his district last night. george latimer defeated goman 16 points and 84% of the votes in. the race the most expensive house primary in history grew contentious with democratic divisions over the israeli/hamas war on full display. bowman has been an outspoken of israeli' latimer refused to critique netanyahu's government. latimer was also backed by a 15 million dollar ad buy from a super pact linked to a pro-israeli group. the westchester county executive is likely to cruise to election in november. >> sam, it's hard to attack your opponent for being part of a designed conspiracy when you represent a a lot of number of jews in your own district. one of the things i was surprised to read. he's got a lot of jewish, new york jewish voters in his district and this is a guy who after october 7th didn't visit a synagogue, it seemed that he was just going out of his way to provoke. we had talked yesterday about how politics is local. >> right. >> and it seems like he was playing for the national progressive states, which will work very well in some districts and work very well in vermont. but in his own district, probably not going to work as we saw here because he's got a lot of jewish voters in his district. >> yeah. it's sort of an odd district, right? there is parts of the bronx and parts of the district with jewish populations and frankly jamaal bowman was not a fit to the district. you saw problems in 2022 and problems even prior to october 7th, slippage in the support in his district. as you know, being that outwardly critical of israeli in that district was critical. i think the real issue he ran in was not just that. he, obviously, had a well-known opponent and tons and tons of money spent against him and this is the most expensive house primary in history. i think the real issue ending up being he was perceived for his own fault, i guess in this case, not being supportive enough against joe biden and voting against bills. when you're running in a democratic primary even with joe biden's difficulty with debates as has been well documented, it is toxic to be perceived as being opposed to your own party president and jamaal bowman was hampered greatly by that, more than anything else in his race. >> "the times" said some strange things. he pulled the fire alarm, he swore an awful lot. again, as we are going to find out in a second if you're a republican and you're running in a contested primary, you can go see "beetle juice" and win big and do what you want. >> another new york city suburb john avlon won the democratic primary in the first congressional district and soaring to victory by over 40 points with roughly 90% of the vote in. he will face first term republican nick la lato this november. the seat has been held by a republican for a decade but the democrats believe the party has a good chance to reclaim the eastern long island district this cycle. a big win for john. >> big win for john. willie, he outraised his opponent but she piled in a ton of money near the end, so there was equity there. she had been, again, she was a well-known name in the district. but it looks like john just worked really hard, got a lot of support from a lot of people out there and ended up winning overwhelmingly 70% to 30%. this is a district that cook and a lot of other people had said leans republican. not quite safe republican, but certainly leans republican. i think democrats are going to take a look at this race now' think that somebody like john avlon who is able to raise money from across the country is able to take it to a maga member of congress and a maga member of congress who represents the hamptons. there is a little rub there. we will see how it goes. >> yeah. this is a sprawling district, it does goes out to the east end of long island to the hamptons and comes back into some of the suburban towns in the north shore of long island. john avlon, if you talk to people who have been following this race closely and talk to voters they say he is a good candidate and good with people and understand the issues really well and been on this show a couple times including yesterday. i think the viewers could see it and the voters clearly felt it. his opponent, yes, had a lot of money, poured some cash into it so it was pretty even that way. now he moves on to face nick lalota the first incumbent first term republican in a race now you say that, for sure, joe, democrats believe that they can flip and swing back in their category, thanks to, again, a good candidate in the race who won by 40 points, john avlon last night. you mentioned colorado. republican congresswoman lauren boebert won her primary in a new district last night and she emerged to a crowded field with 43% support winning very easily, actually, with 99% of the vote in this morning. the congresswoman switched districts last year to get what she called a fresh start after she said she had a difficult year personally. she is favored heavily to win the seat in the general election in november. in utah, very interesting here. congressman john curtis is claiming victory in the republican primary for mitt romney's senate seat. four-way race, curtis beat the riverton mayor staggs who trump endorsed over the weekend. they select governor spencer cox over phil lyman. both had beaten candidates who beat them earlier this year so interesting to watch utah here, joe. >> yeah. >> certainly is. utah having donald trump's backing doesn't mean, obviously, what it means in colorado and some other states. >> for sure. right back to tomorrow's presidential debate. matt lewis, your latest article for "the daily beast" entitled trump's debate prep is whining and making stuff up. i'll add to that, just attacking people all around for being -- for victimizing him. the same thing all over again. >> such a snowflake. >> whether it's an election like the 2020 election, whether it's a trial like the new york hush money trial. or whether it's the debate, donald trump doesn't -- until he loses to start complaining and arguing that the thing is rigged. he is pre-spinning. i think part of it is what we were talking about earlier in this segment which is the expectations game, right? after saying that joe biden can't string two sentences together, they are finally getting a little worried. they are finally trying to change that expectations game and say, well, he'll be hopped up on caffeine. i think part of simply is donald trump's m.o. he complains. he claims it's rigged. the only way i could lose this election, he says, is if it's rigged. same thing with the debate. the only way he could lose the debate is if it's rigged. i think it has really two-pronged approach and two components to it. part of it is he gets to work the refs in advance. he gets to make them think twice and maybe go a little easy on him. the second is if donald trump, in fact, loses the debate, has already laid the groundwork for saying it was rigged! it was always rigged the whole time! here is the problem. it kind of is rigged. joe biden out-maneuvered donald trump. the timing of this debate, the rules of this debate, those were all set by joe biden because donald trump allowed it to happen. joe biden's team, i think, really out-smarted and out-maneuvered donald trump and if he goes on to lose, there will be one person to blame -- donald trump. i think republicans, rather than blame the moderators or mountain dew should blame donald trump for that. >> sam stein, we know that tomorrow night is a moment for president biden president biden to reassure americans he is up for the job as we discussed he did so in the state of the union and he has another opportunity to do that tomorrow but a chance for him to go on the attack. i'm curious your analysis here but what buttons he should push. what lines should he pursue in going after trump? it could be january 6th, it could be democracy, certainly abortion rights. how do you anticipate it going? >> does it go with mountain dew blast or red? >> red bull? >> i thought that would land a little better honestly. >> sam! >> i was too removed from the opening of the show. look. i think the honest answer to your question is they want to create a contrast. this is a conundrum that they have. they don't want this race to be a referendum on his record as much as they think his record is great. they he want it to be a contrast on the agendas that each candidate is putting forward. in this case they will use the debate to say we have done work on the economy and we are getting there. but we know we have more to do and donald trump would turn this back that his policies are inflationary, right? they will say our foreign policy made tough decisions and stood up the nato lines against russia. donald trump would send us back. on women's rights, we have more to do and donald trump will send us back. i expect that to be the sort of fundamental theme it's forward, not backwards and frankly probably the best one to play for biden because they need the electorate to be faced not on biden so much but on trump. finally isay this. you know, biden's debate partner, i think i wrote about this but i think it's true. he is debating not just donald trump. obviously, it's joe biden versus donald trump. he is debating the caricature that they set of joe biden so a lot of this and so much this is expectation setting and he has to clear a very low bar, frankly, which is get up there and be attentive and assertive for 90 minutes and bypass this bizarre characterization that they have created a view of someone who is hopped up on mountain dew or whatever, the drug that they suggest you have to take, and let, again, the focus be on trump. >> sop it's interesting. there is also -- we will be talking about more about donald trump picking his vice president candidate soon. this is something to have something to talk about that he can talk about confidently. and it certainly would not be foreign policy or policy or legislation or politics but, you know, picking someone like little marco or somebody like that. >> do you think he'll do that? >> i think he'll probably change. that's what he used to call him! their marco would be watching the debate with bated breath hoping he will be donald trump's running mate. that is what they will do to buy time and just to get through it. >> the thing i suspect, matt lewis, is you're sort of reading the tea leaves this week, it sounds like they are suggesting the vice president pick may come this week. and, if so, that is one more way they are hedging against a bad debate loss. what you do if you get really bad headlines coming out of the debate on friday morning, you make sure that throughout the weekend they are not talking about the debate. instead, they are talking about your vice presidential pick. even the leaking of that is a possibility shows they are scared. i mean, they are really scared donald trump is going to blow this thing. >> i think bracket it with -- if it isn't -- that might be a contingency plan. if the debate goes well, we hold the announcement. if it goes poorly, we bracket it with the vice presidential announcement. i have to say donald trump, he is really good at controlling the message. there no doubt about it, and changing the subject. it used to be something like a debate would be talked about for weeks on end and it would dominant mult