International analyst for msnbc news, and the host of way too early, White House Bureau chief at politico, jonathan lemire, happy new year to you all. Happy new year to you. Happy new year. We have so much to talk about. New year yesterday morning, mika and i went to a new Years Day Service, and the priest gave a homily on the need to be architects of peace in our daily lives and political discourse, and Foreign Policy and everything. The harsh path we have taken in our not so new century is elevated, revenge over reconciliation. And reminded us for all of us in attendance, and i love this. Its a good one. He said start by digging two graves. One of them for yourselves. Yeah. Wow, that really does strike you when you look whats happening in washington over the past 20 years because i really do believe, mika, we live in two americas. One that has seen Childhood Poverty has dropped to 60 year lows, and teenage pregnancy drop to 70year lows. Its in the u. S. World dollar and anytime over the last generation. Its in our u. S. Military than any military in the history of human kind. A lot is going on in america that is right. Yet we deal with the political system that continues. It just seems to get more bitter and more corrosive and more unworthy of the great nation that its leaders represent. So im just hoping in the new year that leaders in washington, d. C. , they can follow your dads quote, which you have in the top of your twitter board. Oh, yeah, of course. Bipartisanship helps to avoid extremes and imbalances. It causes compromises and accommodations, so lets cooperate. And theres no Moral Equivalency there. We have been very clear about what we believe has happened over the past six years. And where most of the blame has rested. Let us hope we can move forward in the coming year and maybe our leaders will start doing what americans do want them to do. They want them to Work Together, and like your dad said, cooperate with each other. In the final moments of the last year, democracy prevailed. It survived. Yes. And, you know, there was a question. Theres a lot to be hopeful for as well there really is. And michael beschloss, let me bring you in there. We have a year end wrap up, where we talked about democracy. But you see what happened on new years eve and new years day in ukraine. People sharing. And kyiv, for those fighting for their freedom. Just remarkable. And my gosh, every american could and should be able to celebrate that loves this country, that loves the u. S. Institution. That loves american democracy. That all the Election Deniers, all the people that wanted to say we wont recognize Election Outcomes unless our side wins, they all lost. 2022, i mean, you have to fight for democracy and freedom every day. In whatever way you can. But 2022, gave us a couple more years where at least the basics of Madisonian Democracy remain in tact. Absolutely. Totally. And happy new year, mika and joe and everyone else. Lets celebrate today. We have had ample reason over the last seven years to say these are dangerous for democracy. But this morning i think we can say that the election of 2022 proved, as i always love to say, and never said louder than last year, no one should ever bet against american democracy. If this election had gone the other way, and im not talking about more favorably for republicans, but lets say in the five or six key states, Election Deniers had been elected as governor, secretary of state, State Legislatures, what we would be talking about this morning is the fact that theres a big shadow over the election of 2024, and will our democracy survive. So my point and, you know, again, im sorry to keep on nodding, but i subscribe to everything you both are saying this morning, and that is this is a moment, a, to celebrate whats happened, b, to meditate on the strength of democracy not only in the United States but ukraine where people are willing to give up their lives, rather than succumb to authoritarian dictatorship. You talk about the need of working together, the danger of hatred and the sermon you heard on sunday. It reminded me, you remember what Richard Nixon said in his last speech in the white house, august 9th, 1974, others who hate you, but those who dont hate you win unless you hate them, and then they destroy themselves. Nixon said it. He wasnt right about a lot of things. Who should know more than nixon about how hatred destroys you. David ignatius, your thoughts on 2022 as we look ahead to 2023. I share a lot of the optimism you and joe are expressing. I think 2022 was a year in which the party of crazy got pounded. America decided they wanted candidates who are closer to the traditional, you know, National Order of our politics. I think that was a significant result. Theres ways in which january 6th seems like a long time ago. Were a different country now in subtle ways, and i think we should all be grateful for that, and grateful for the people of the Justice Department, and the Congressional Committee who have investigated january 6th so thoroughly. In the world i see a lot of positive things. I do see the values we cherish in a struggle. In ukraine, theres a brutal war that does bear comparison to world war i taking place, a War Of Attrition. Nightly pounding of the cities of ukraine by truly a despotic leader. I think putin is losing. I think he knows it. I think zelenskyy and the ukrainian people are winning but theres a lot more i fear bloodshed ahead in that war. China, its startling to see the failure of xis Covid Policies in dealing with covid. This has been a bad year. So many things have gone wrong, and hes having to reverse course. His ability to seize taiwan grows more complicated. When i travel in germany or france even, i find people just speak about the possibilities, the aspiration for freedom in a way that they wouldnt have ten years ago, thats great. Germany is on a different course than it was. Iran, theres a movement that, believe it or not, is actually challenging the power to run the stifling society, women and iran have been unbelievably courageous in 2022, and theres every prospect that the movement would continue. The point is this is in the balance. The fight thats continuing. The good guys are incredibly brave, and they could lose. Admiral stavridis, thats what i think is so important, as we look back at 2022, we look back at a lot of victories for democracy in 2022, we look at the fact that democracy began after six to eight years, not just in the United States, but globally. To push back against the authoritarian creep. And i would say that creep actually became a blitz, obviously, as you would too in late february. With Vladimir Putin, but were talking here about how in 2022, gravity returned, justice returned. People that beat the hell out of Police Officers, people who tasered Police Officers with american flags. People who abused american democracy, they got sent to jail. Theyre still getting sent to jail. People that wanted to deny democracy, Madisonian Democracy, got defeated at the ballot box. Vladimir putin thought, as he thought for years, he would roll into kyiv and take over for three to six days. That has changed. I must say, as remarkable as the Ukrainian Spirit has been, they have taught the world so much about fighting for freedom, i agree with David Ignatius, as we look forward to 2023, a spark has been reignited in europe that has been dead for a long time. And that spark is about a love and a quest for democracy and the understanding that theyre actually going to have to pay for it to get it. That day going to have to build up their defenses. Theyre going to have to take part in this fight against russia, against china. Against iran. These tyrants, who are trying to suppress democracy. Lets mention one other great figure who sailed on in this past year, and its colin powell, one of my great life mentors, and something he said, and id encourage everyone to google Colin Powells 13 rules for life. Four of them deal with optimism. Optimism is a force multiplier. It will look better in the morning. It can be done. That spirit, that kind of optimism, cautious, cleareyed optimism is a powerful force. If we lay that alongside what we have been talking about. Michael and david and i this morning, you lay that alongside the power of democracy as an idea and as an ideal. Its imperfect. We execute it without perfection, but its the right set of ideals, and the right idea for these times. So, yeah, i agree with david, we ought to be very worried about what hangs in the balance in ukraine, in china, ultimately in iran, and in other parts of the world, but as michael said, i wouldnt bet against democracy particularly when you align it with optimism and powerful leadership like we saw from colin powell, and we will continue to see, i believe, internationally from the United States, and from europe. And final thought, just to draw a line under it, the degree to which we can pull europe into equation on a Positive Side is an extraordinarily important Strategic Asset for the United States. This is a huge economy, taken together, militarily taken together. Its the second Largest Military budget in the world, bigger than chinas bigger than russias that often surprises people. The europeans if they pull together in the right direction as partners with the United States, theres very little we cannot accomplish together. If you throw together japan in the pacific, the network of allies, partners and friends, im feeling pretty good about where the world could go in 2023. Im sure glad you brought up europe. Its something we said often during Donald Trumps presidency, a lot of Trumpists Love to attack europe, love to push them to the side. You look at the eus economy and our economy taken together. Its extraordinary. It dwarves chinas. Lets not even talk about, my god, lets not talk about russia. Texass gdp dwarfs russia. Im so good Admiral Stavridis brought up colin powell. I think of him when we talk about our top story of the day. I think of him because we had him on our show, and he was talking about january 6th, and he said he was pacing the floors in his home looking at the right saying what you and i were saying to our tv sets, yelling at our tv sets that im sure Everybody Else was. Which was general powell said where the hell are the police. Where the hell is the military. And that is a question, of course, that we are still asking today. So we mix with the optimism that were sharing this morning with this reality of our top story. By the way, two things can be true at the same time. We have to look back at our failures as we also talk about some of the things that are working. Yes, the u. S. Capitol police chief during the January 6th Insurrection is sharing new details about the alleged Government Failures he says allowed the attack to happen. In a new book out tomorrow, which has been reviewed by the Washington Post, steven sun gives his firsthand account of the capitol insurrection. In the book sunday writes that top leaders from the fbi, dhs, and even the Capitol Polices own Intelligence Division were tipped off about the attack weeks before it happened. But those warnings were never shared with him. Sund also details failures to respond to the violence in realtime, including a Conference Call shortly after rioters breached the capitol. Where Pentagon Leaders allegedly refused to Deploy National Guard teams to the team. Sund writes that lieutenant told him he didnt like the optics of sending uniformed guard troops to the capitol but could allow them to replace Police Officers at roadside check points. Sund says he later learned at the same Time Pentagon leaders were rushing to send Security Teams to protect the homes of military officials, none of which were under attack. Additionally, sund claims during the insurrection, many National Guard troops returned to their Command Center and clocked out of their shifts as if it was a normal day. Sund who resigned at the day after the riot at the request of House Speaker nancy pelosi warns that many of the same internal failures that allowed the insurrection to take place have not been fixed today. So this is where we are as we, you know, continue in the long road to getting our country back in order. Right. And respect for the constitution and respect for our democratic process, we have to look at what happened still, even though it feels like a long time ago. And jonathan lemire, i know you have a question for David Ignatius. Let me go to you first. This is something after january 6th, i dont know, i got a little heated on january 7th. And one of the things i was yelling about was what the hell happened at the pentagon. I want to know the time line. I want to know why the fbi. We talked about all of this, and just bluntly, we havent gotten the clarity. The january 6th report did a lot of great things. We have not yet gotten all of the clarity we need to understand all of the massive failures but i think one thing that we have to just say, and you know, i know trumpists would like us to pretend this didnt happen. We cant pretend it didnt happen. There are a lot of people that were frozen in place in the Military Chain Of Command because they knew that donald trump did not want the riot broken up. Theres no question there, and trump, of course, didnt do anything himself to summon the National Guard. We recall Vice President pence from the capitol having to ask, where are the troops, why has this not happened yet. We heard cries from Speaker Pelosi for the same. It was reluctant because of the backlash to what had happened a few months earlier, that again, was Donald Trumps doing when he used Military Police and Law Enforcement to clear out Peaceful Protesters from lafayette park, the George Floyd Protests outside the white house because he wanted to have a photo op at the church. The military got heat for that, including joint Chief Of Staff milli, his Defense Staff at the time. There was reluctance for the pentagon to move again. Lets be clear, they moved against one Group Protesting against donald trump, didnt move against this one, a Group Protesting for donald trump, and as much as we are optimistic about where things are, one of the things that President Biden often says in the after math of january 6th is its about the rivalry between democracies and autocracies, and proving that democracies can work for people, and failures like this need to be addressed in order to make that happen. David ignatius, this is a stunning report, particularly the idea that the pentagon was going to send protection to the homes of Military Leaders who were never at any point in any danger that day. You know. You cover this institution closely and carefully. What is your analysis of what went wrong that day, and to the charge that some of the failures might still exist . I think the first thing to say is that the pentagon was so worried about a repetition of june 1 and Lafayette Square and the appearance of militarization of the response to protests that it leaned too far in the other direction, leaned too far against militarizing the response on january 6th. Thats why they were slow to call out the National Guard. Relied, as it turns out, too much on the Capitol Police that simply wasnt prepared. The fear in the minds of Pentagon Leaders is that President Trump would declare the Insurrection Act, that he would use that as a pretext to call out the military and perhaps try to rerun the election in some key state, that something was being pushed on him by mike flynn, but use the Insurrection Act as a way of gaining control. There were efforts underway in those days to seize control of the