good morning. welcome to "morning joe" on this monday, july 1st. this morning, we are waking up to a sea of headlines and opinion pieces from major news organizations, former party leaders, and very loud whispers, mostly behind the scenes, from present leading democrats who say it is over. here's a taste of the global call for president joe biden to get out of the race. "the new york times" editorial board says biden is not the man he was four years ago, calling his candidacy, quote, a reckless gamble. editors at georgia's largest newspaper, "the atlanta journal constitution," echoed that take, demanding the president pass the torch. quote, biden deserves a better exit from public life than the one he endured when he shuffled off the stage on thursday night. then there were the headlines, sneering, mocking, jeering all at once. this was the performance that has gotten us to this point. >> we had a thousand trillionaires in america. i mean billionaires. what's happening? they're in a situation where they pay 2.8% in taxes. if they paid 24%, 25%, either one of the numbers, they raised $100 million, billion, i should say, in a ten-year period. we'd be able to wipe out the debt. we can help make sure all those things we need to do, child care, elder care, making sure we continue to strengthen our health care system, making sure we're able to make every single solitary person eligible for what i've been able to do with the -- with the covid -- excuse me, with dealing with everything we have to do with -- look, if we finally beat medicare. >> it was bad. he said we, quote, "we beat medicare." he couldn't seem to land a thought. it was an unmiigated disaster by any measure. more than three days after that debate, it is still hard to comprehend what we saw from the president. the weak, raspy voice, the inability to complete basic thoughts. most importantly, the failure to call out donald trump on his endless lies. where was that? and, yet, the very next day in north carolina, there was joe biden back to form, finding his voice, his winning smile, the vintage sparkle back in his eyes. two appearances that were as different as, well, night and day. >> i don't debate as well as i used to, but i know what i do know. i know how to tell the truth! [ applause ] i know, i know, i know right from wrong. and i know how to do this job. i know how to get things done. and i know, like millions of americans know, when you get knocked down, you get back up! >> so what was different? a little more sleep? perhaps it was an event during the day rather at night. on debate night, 90 minutes starting at 9:00 p.m., joe biden was fresh off back-to-back trips to europe. first to normandy for the 80th anniversary of d-day and a state dinner with president macron, and then to italy for the g7, followed by a flight across 12 time zones to l.a. for a fundraiser with former president barack obama. just 33 hours later, he was headed back to the east coast. the debate was also two weeks after his son, hunter, was convicted on three felony gun charges and faces prison time. president biden painfully told america he would not pardon his son. i really question his schedule. it makes me angry that he was moving across the world on four different time zones. it seems to me this is a lack of discipline. these were important events that he was going to, but the stakes in this election could not be any higher. like many, i want to know, was this a one-off episode or a sign of what's to come? can his team and the president himself move forward with more discipline and also manage the fact that he is 81? and while we're at it, let's talk about his age. age is wisdom and experience. in the case of joe biden, it leads to more bipartisan legislation passed than any president over the past few generations and the largest expansion of nato's alliance in history. under joe biden and his age, america is stronger economically and militarily than any time in half a century. while facts may not matter to donald trump and his friends in the far-right media, those are the objective facts. that is the undeniable truth. here's another truth. age also needs to be managed. on my 50 over 50 lists, i celebrate women who are reaching their highest power while over 50, 60, 70, 80, even 90, and, yet, every one of those women are managing their fabulous age. i -- i don't think it's over. this moment in the race fits the entire narrative of joe biden's life. in his personal and professional life, biden has repeatedly risen up from rock bottom. it's what we love about him. so many draw hope from his empathy and his ability to have perspective, even right now, and to persevere when he is completely counted out. his list of losses and failures is long and would be unbearable for most. in 1972, his wife and baby daughter were killed in a car accident. he had been elected to the senate and took the oath of office in his surviving son's hospital room to bedsides. in 1987, his campaign came to an end, and nearly his life, when a few months later he suffered a brain aneurysm. his doctor told his chance of survival was less than half just to survive the surgery. even if he lived, a long list of physical and mental limitations were likely. at his bedside before the surgery, he told his sons he was proud of them. and then joe biden survived the surgery, rehabilitated, and didn't look back. in 2008, his second bid for the presidency came to another early, painful end, after a poor showing in iowa. he finished near the bottom with less than 1% of the vote. his campaign bottoming out after another low blow. and, yet, the following summer, biden would be back on the democratic ticket as barack obama's running mate. five years later, a year into his second term as vice president, joe biden's son, beau, was diagnosed with brain cancer, believed to have been caused by exposure to burn pits while his son was serving in iraq as a captain in the army national guard. beau would die two years later. the second child joe biden would have to bury. that is the lowest of lows in joe biden's life. in 2015, another political failure. barack obama chose to support hillary clinton as his heir apparent and not even his own vice president. after numerous political and personal setbacks, joe biden may have questioned whether he would ever return to presidential politics again. and then came charlottesville and the vile, racist march by white supremacists and neo-nazis across the uva campus. as a direct response to what he saw as a threat to our nation's core values, biden announced his third try for the white house. and just like his first two presidential campaigns, he was staring at an early exit in the race, stumbling in the first democratic debate after a broadside by kamala harris. he finished a distant fourth in iowa and an even worse fifth in new hampshire. all experts, just like right now, said it was over for the man from scranton. >> no one has gone this far finishing fourth and fifth and vastly under expectations. when you make an argument that you are the most electable democrat in the field and you can't back that up, it is a serious problem. >> there's a tremendous amount of goodwill for the former vice president. very, very well-liked in the democratic party. but you have to give a reason why you're running. >> biden's plummet has been something to watch. >> it was quite an awkward interview on the set of "morning joe" in new hampshire. awkward for everyone on the set, except joe biden, as his political obituary was being written. biden was joyful and ready to keep fighting. >> i still feel good. this is, you know, a long haul. any democratic candidate who has beat an incumbent has been someone who, so far, has been able to get a significant support from the african american community. donald trump demonstrated the last man he wants to run against is me. >> he's kind of obsessed with you. >> mildly. i've been coming up with great affection. >> our joe scarborough wrote a piece for "the washington post" at the time entitled, "no matter how this race ends, i'm proud of joe biden," which ended, quote, "whether his campaign can survive, the body blows delivered by iowa and new hampshire remains to be seen, but joe biden has endured worse." yet, once again, biden found a way up from rock bottom. south carolina gave his campaign new life, and he secured the democratic nomination. and the rest is historic. literally. as president, his legislative wins are unmatched this century. the american rescue plan to help the recovery from covid, the bipartisan infrastructure law to rebuild the country, the bipartisan safer communities act, to first legislative action on guns in decades, and the chips and science act. he expanded health care for veterans through the pact act. he signed marriage equality into law, and he got the inflation reduction act passed to address the rising costs of living and deliver historic action on the climate. he appointed and got confirmation of the first black woman to the supreme court. he protected the affordable care act and provided billions in student debt relief. he negotiated the toughest, most conservative border control bill in decades. only to see it get torpedoed by donald trump, who cynically didn't want a solution to the problem, only an issue to demagogue and campaign on. all the while, biden solidified key, international alliances, expanded nato, and rallied the world in support of ukraine in the face of russian aggression. right now, he is managing not one but two hot wars. days after the october 7th massacre in israel, biden got on air force one to attend an israeli war cabinet meeting in person. this after going to kyiv, ukraine, by train via poland. despite the tremendous risk and difficult conditions. and through all of this, he delivered the lowest unemployment in 40 years, the strongest dollar in 50 years, and the most successful stock market of all time. so now, after thursday's abysmal debate performance, president biden finds himself at rock bottom again. it was bad. and, again, a chorus of biden doubters. my family and i, as you know, have known this man for decades, and his family, as well. yes, i know them personally. and i still believe in joe biden. i've learned that counting him out is always a mistake, and doing that now could be catastrophic for our country. do there need to be changes? yes. managing him, management to his schedule. changes maybe even to those around him. i'll also say america needs an explanation from joe biden and reassurance that the other night was a one-time event and not part of a larger problem. by the way, biden likes to tell people, don't compare me to the almighty, compare me to the alternative. let's take a quick moment to look at the current alternative. not a hypothetical imagined new democratic candidate, the actual current alternative who was across from joe biden at thursday's debate. donald trump. the man who incited a political coup against our government and who indicates he will not accept the results of the 2024 election if he loses again. the convicted felon who faces three more indictments, the man who was found liable for sexual assault, the man found liable for massive fraud, the man who brags about having ended a woman's right to abortion health care, a decision that is killing women and babies and causing immeasurable and preventable agony for women across the country. the man whose tax proposals could cripple the economy according to over a dozen know pearl prize economists. the man who would end key global alliances. the man who has promised retribution against his perceived political enemies. the man, who on a regular basis, makes no sense at all. when he sounds crazy and slurs his words and talks about batteries and sharks, why aren't there calls for trump to drop out? where are they? in "the philadelphia inquirer," their editorial board did take a stand. quote, "to serve his country, donald trump should leave the race." there's one, but there are the other editorial heads, leaders who were so rocked the other night, who see trump as so unfit that he should leave the race, where are they? desensitized? disinformed? the firehose of falsehoods has bliepd ed blinded you to what is right in front of you every day. come on. now, joe, our joe, is off this morning on a planned vacation. on friday's show, i should clarify, joe said it may be time for biden to consider stepping aside. he also said we should wait a few days to see how he responds. we're shoulder to shoulder on that. i do agree, joe biden has work to do. he has to do better. his team has to do a lot better. i'm just not ready, though, to count joe biden out, not even close. just as joe and i were stunned by the president's poor performance on the debate stage, we've also been surprised by the level of animosity toward donald trump from people who once supported him. the debate acted as a wake-up call that was a loss for joe biden, no question, but not a win for trump. the choice is one terribly bad night versus a decade of destruction to our core beliefs, our democratic values, and, yes, our constitution. someone who stumbled over his words for 90 minutes versus someone who lied to the american people over and over again. a man slowed down by a cold versus a man with a cold, vile, and merciless heart. i think in the days and weeks ahead as we move away from this debate, clarity will hopefully set in. for me, joe biden is still the man for this moment. we're going to be right back with jonathan lemire's new reporting on what's next for president biden. we also have mara gay, a member of "the new york times" editorial board which is calling for biden to bow out. reverend al sharpton who was plugged into biden world all over the weekend. and john heilemann, who is taking a look at the odds of an unprecedented pivot. we're back in 90 seconds. heartburn makes you queasy? get fast relief with new tums+ upset stomach & nausea support, and love food back. 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>> yeah, it's been a consequential few days for president biden in his re-election night after the poor debate. he had a showing at a rally in north carolina, followed up by fundraisers, the hamptons and new jersey. raised a lot of money. the biden campaign had their best grassroots fundraising days of the campaign thursday/friday. we should note, the president's much stronger outing came with the help of a telteleprompter. he didn't have that at the debate thursday. he met with the family at camp david, and they were unanimous. they want him to stay in. the loudest voices belong to the first lady, his son hunter, sister valerie. unanimous, they want him to stay in this. to not go out with the showing on thursday, but they recognize he didn't do well. there has been some finger pointing here at staff. they think there's some questions about how debate prep went. they think he was too focused on statistics and not enough on performance. by the president's own admission, he said so, that he knows he didn't do well. they know they have work to do. right now, they're trying to reassure democrats to get them to stay with him in this. reverend al, we're waiting now. fundraising numbers good so far. democrats in public staying with him. we're waiting for polls. we haven't seen any real polling yet in the battleground states since the debate. we did have one from cbs over the weekend. eye-popping 70 odd percent of americans don't think the president is up for continuing this job. but we don't know yet if there will be polls in the battlegrounds that reflect that, as well. internal polls, we'll see if there's movement. what are you hearing about what should be next? >> i'm hearing a lot. i preached yesterday in winston-salem, north carolina. people on the ground are saying that the problem we have is donald trump. no one is dealing with the fact that the strategy must take into consideration that we have a man that is adamantly opposed to women's rights, voting rights, that talks about black jobs, like migrants' jobs which are considered to be menial jobs, are what blacks are supposed to be doing and they're taking them from them. in a debate. i'm very concerned that on a couple occasions in the debate, joe biden couldn't finish his sentence, but i'm more concerned with the sentences donald trump did finish. so the question is, what are we going to do? what is the best strategy there? i was in charleston, south carolina, when joe biden was endorsed by the congressman, clyburn, there. they came to a national action network breakfast for ministers that morning. a guy coming in behind four in iowa, five in new hampshire, considered dead on arrival politically, he came back. i can't count him out. he had a bad night. he had a terrible night. but do we not say, wait a minute, he helped to preserve and maintain affordable care, he fought for police reform given the executive order on george floyd, brought unemployment numbers down after a catastrophe that donald trumphanded us. record low black unemployment numbers. really all the things -- infrastructure bill, inflation bill. we're not going to give him the weekend to see if he can recover? >> right. >> i think that we cannot -- we have to stop whining and start winning. the whiners and the winners are the ones that hav