The Tea, Spilled by Morning Joe: Friday edition

What a week it has been! As America edges toward the holiday season, travelers can at least rest easy knowing that flights won’t be grounded by a government shutdown.

Democrats spent the first part of this week doing what they do best: wringing their hands. But by week’s end, they seemed to grasp what the polls had already made clear — they’d won the shutdown fight.

Now the Trump administration is grappling with a growing list of questions surrounding the Epstein files. And the people pushing hardest for those documents’ release are not left-wing partisans, but some of the strongest elements of his MAGA base.

So, with the politics of the week behind us, let’s look forward to a fun weekend of events across America.

If you happen to be in South Carolina this weekend, drop by the Food & Wine Classic festival in Charleston.

The three-day celebration of cooking and culinary fare will showcase world-renowned chefs, wine experts and culinary icons. You can experience hands-on crabbing expeditions, the glories of a Southern college football tailgate party and a Lowcountry special oyster roast.

If you’re in New York City, catch the reopening of the Studio Museum in Harlem. Founded in 1968 following civil rights demonstrations, antiwar protests and the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy, the museum unveils its new seven-floor, 82,000-square-foot home on Saturday — doubling its space for the kind of groundbreaking exhibitions that have long defined it.

If you’re on the West Coast this weekend, don’t miss Tarantino Live, a cinematic rock experience based on the films and soundtracks of Quentin Tarantino. Rediscover the characters of “Reservoir Dogs,” “Pulp Fiction,” “Kill Bill,” “Inglourious Basterds,” “Django Unchained” and “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” as the rock stars of a supergroup band. Expect a mashup collection of Tarantino’s unforgettable dialogue — the engine that organizers say “powers this very wild ride.”

If movies are your thing, head to the 34th Annual St. Louis International Film Festival, an 11-day celebration featuring more than 250 films — inspired by the idea that cinema expands how we see, feel and connect.

Paul McCartney takes the stage tonight at Buffalo’s KeyBank Center, while Steve Miller’s band will be at Lincoln Center in New York City. The Jonas Brothers will be at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., on Sunday night, and Blondshell will be in Dallas at the Studio at the Bomb Factory performing a collection of songs that Pitchfork describes as “an ongoing novel chronicling the trials and tribulations of life in your 20s.”

Dwight Yoakam is playing tonight in Savannah, Ga.; Randy Travis is in Maryville, Tenn.; and fans will fill Dodger Stadium this weekend for the Camp Flog Gnaw Festival with Tyler, the Creator, A$AP Rocky, Doechii, Childish Gambino, Earl Sweatshirt, Clairo and Tems.

Also, Alabama’s No. 4 football team is playing the No. 11 Oklahoma Sooners Saturday afternoon in Tuscaloosa, Ala. Prayers are welcome.

Thanks for reading The Tea, Spilled by Morning Joe this week. Now, let’s look through our mailbag.

MAILBAG

Thank you to our many readers who have written to The Tea, Spilled by Morning Joe! Here, the “Morning Joe” family answers a few of your burning questions.

The story you shared about the WWII vet and the young French people had me looking silly for lunch as I wiped the tears away. I love the show and the newsletter. Tell the gang I love the show. It’s former Republicans like you and The Bulwark that let me know that I AM NOT THE CRAZY ONE! — Jeremy L, Lafayette, La.

Jeremy, thank you so much for your kind note, and we really appreciate you reading The Tea, Spilled by Morning Joe. As I wrote on Veterans Day, the sight of the two French girls in Normandy handing flowers to a weeping 80-year-old Army vet was one of the most moving moments I’ve had in my “Morning Joe” career. The gratitude of American sacrifice generations later shows the bonds that are unbreakable, regardless of who our president is or how shortsighted the foreign policy direction may be.

America is celebrating its 250th year in 2026, and we have a long and proud legacy of feeding and freeing more people around the globe than any other nation in history. We keep striving — and moving — toward being a more perfect union. Even if the president is not helping in that patriotic mission, Americans are stepping forward and making a difference — whether in voting booths, at food banks or protesting masked men seizing teachers from schools and ripping children from their mothers’ arms.

Don’t call it the resistance. Don’t call it civil disobedience. Just call it what it is: American patriotism.

Thanks for your note, and thanks for reading.

Hello Joe. With the political climate being in disarray, neither Democrat nor Republican voters believe that their elected officials have their best interests in mind and feel beaten down by both parties. Most people feel their decisions being made for them! Do you think this is the goal of the current administration? To keep voters home, not willing to participate in future elections? Thank you! — Don, Hopkins, Minn.

Don, thank you for your important question. If you look at the administration’s actions and the way it fights against voting rights and mail-in balloting, it seems to be trying to drive down voter turnout. But Americans are making sure it fails to keep voters home.

Democrats rolled up historic wins from California to Virginia, running against many of the White House’s most damaging policies.

Voters’ signal to the president was clear: Your policies are too radical, your behavior is too erratic, and you should be focusing more on affordability and health care than bailouts of Argentina and Marie Antoinette-style ballrooms.

Americans sent Donald Trump a powerful message. Let’s hope he hears it.

How was Mika able to transform the “Know Your Value” book into a living, breathing movement? — Judy M, Jackson, N.J.

She was able to do it because she has lived it, she believes it, and she has learned how to communicate a woman’s value to the very women who might not recognize their own power! I am so proud of Mika for so many reasons, but watching her onstage taking her audiences through her personal, and sometimes painful, journey at work is an inspiration.

Mika lets women know that they deserve to be “in the room where it happens,” they deserve to be heard as much as any man sitting around the table, and they deserve to get equal pay for equal work.

And women deserve that whether they are in their 20s, 50s or 70s! What a great honor it has been to watch Mika grow this movement that started in Hartford, Conn., years ago and take its powerful message across the world.

Who decides what music is played when you take a commercial break? What goes into making that decision? — Teresa W, Virginia Beach, Va.

Most of the songs come off my Spotify playlist. We also have a great production team led by David Quanvie, aka Q, who fills in the gaps when a certain segment calls for a particular song. The music has always been an important part of the show — just as music has always been an important part of my life. Thanks so much for the wonderful question.

Do you three ever just hang out? You (seem to) truly get along so well. — Renee H, Rockport, Maine

We all hang out on this set and off. Barnicle and I often bring our families to Fenway Park to watch baseball games together. Willie and I are starting to go out with our boys and golf. And we all love getting together, when our schedules allow, to spend time and catch up with each other! It is really wonderful being able to work with friends every day.

In recent days, your Nantucket Quarter-Zip has been on a historic run of MJ appearances, giving it a shot of joining the Blue Sweater and the Navy and Red Rep Tie in the Joe’s Closet Hall of Fame. What’s the story in regard to when and from where it came into the rotation? — Jordan O., Traverse City, Mich.

I picked up a quarter-zip this past summer at my favorite golf course in the world: Miacomet Golf ⛳️. A few weeks back, I was about to go on the show and was just too tired to put on a coat and tie. So I grabbed the quarter-zip and threw it on. Nothing too terrible seemed to happen that day, so I’ve continued wearing the quarter-zips when I feel like it and putting on those rep ties when that feels more appropriate. But there’s really no method to the fashion madness.

One winter, when I was feeling especially cranky about the cold weather, I wore a $27 Lands’ End navy crew sweater for three months straight. Finally, Willie called me out one day in April and said, “Hey, man, you do know you’ve been wearing that same sweater every day since January?”

I took the hint and put the coat and tie back on the next day.

Q&A: JONATHAN LEMIRE

‘It’s All True Believers Now’: Inside the White House Bubble

As the president’s poll numbers plunge and whispers about his health grow louder, Jonathan Lemire and I discuss how fear, fatigue and flattery have come to define life inside the West Wing.

JS: As a reporter who has long made the White House his main focus, how would you describe the temperature inside the Trump White House with the president and his closest aides?

JL: This is perhaps the lowest moment the White House has had in the second term. For the first few months, Trump sort of bulldozed his way through Washington and wielded presidential power in an extraordinarily unprecedented way. But he’s had a number of significant setbacks in the last couple of weeks — starting with Republicans’ loss in elections that were largely fought on the issue of affordability. Even some White House aides have privately said to me, “We’ve taken our eye off the ball here — we’re losing on this.”

We’ve also seen polls showing that Trump and Republicans got the short end of the government shutdown. And now, with the Jeffrey Epstein story resurfacing — damaging and embarrassing, to be sure — it’s another moment where Republicans are willing to defy Trump. I’ve talked to people in the president’s orbit over the last few days, and there’s a real feeling of concern inside the White House.

JS: Much of how Donald Trump operates is rooted in fear — in the belief that it’s better to be feared than loved. Have you noticed a shift in attitude among Republicans in Washington, even since last week’s elections and with Trump registering the lowest approval numbers of his presidency?

JL: I think there have been small changes. There are still very few Republicans who are willing to say anything to criticize Trump publicly. But privately, I think some Republicans have been pointing fingers — asking where Trump was before the elections and why he didn’t do any domestic travel or campaign events to help.

JS: Why is that? Is there any explanation for why he never went out once to campaign for the Big Beautiful Bill or for Republican candidates in October?

JL: The White House simply offered the explanation that he was focused on other priorities. But he himself has said that one of those priorities is tearing down the East Wing to put up a giant ballroom. And in fact — as we reported on “Morning Joe” this week — Trump this year has been to as many foreign countries as U.S. states.

JS: Some in Washington draw comparisons to “The Godfather” when talking about Donald Trump’s health — recalling the line where Michael says that Hyman Roth has been dying of the same heart attack for 20 years. You could say something similar about Donald Trump — and yet I keep hearing whispers from both sides speculating about his health. Have you heard anything from inside the White House to suggest that the physical ailments may be slowing him down?

JL: There’s no question, just by looking at him, that he seems tired. He’s someone who has been known for almost robotlike energy levels throughout his career, but lately, he hasn’t been traveling much. We saw him fall asleep in the Oval Office during that recent event.

The press secretary was asked why Trump would’ve gone back to Walter Reed [National Military Medical Center] last month for an unexplained MRI, and she simply dismissed the question, saying he was in great health. There’s still been no explanation for that visit — or for the noticeable bruise on his hand.

No one really knows what’s going on, and it would be reckless to speculate that he’s in poor health. But there are certainly questions circulating, and the White House hasn’t provided any answers. That could help explain his lack of travel. Like many second-term presidents, he’s certainly focused on foreign policy. But he’s also very focused on things that seem only to matter to him — not to the party.

JS: Finally, let’s talk about the information bubble that some speculate the president’s living in. Joe Biden famously had to be told by Nancy Pelosi how bad his poll ratings were. Do you think Donald Trump has anybody around him who would dare give him bad news on his approval ratings? Or does he know his poll numbers have dropped to new lows — but is able to brush that aside and create his own reality?

JL: I don’t think there’s anyone in Donald Trump’s orbit who ever tells him no. I think it’s rare that he gets bad news — and that’s by design. It’s all true believers now. He’s driven any dissenting voices not just out of administration, but out of Washington. There’s not even a Mitch McConnell type this time around who occasionally disagrees. It just doesn’t happen.

So I think his exposure to bad news is limited. Every president lives in a bubble — but Trump’s may be the smallest yet. It was even explained to me recently that when he was on Twitter during his first term, he would see contrary points of view on his feed. Now he’s not on Twitter anymore. He’s only on Truth Social, and it’s a complete echo chamber. It’s literally people who want to use Trump’s own social media site.

I think right now, though, Trump is caught between denial about how things are going and an effort to assert his own reality. Frankly, that’s one of his superpowers — he can speak something into existence, and sometimes it actually happens. But right now, it hasn’t. He can rant and rave on social media all he wants, but polls suggest Americans simply aren’t happy with the direction of the country or the president.

JS: All right, thank you, Jonathan. I’ll transcribe this interview, and it will be edited for length and clarity, etc. etc.

JL: I know that’s how this works. But if you edit my comments, I may have to sue you for $1 billion. So take that chance if you’d like.

This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity and brevity.

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Next week, comedian Patton Oswalt joins us to discuss “Black Coffee and Ice Water,” his new Audible Originals stand-up special. Want to ask a question? Send it over, and we will pick our favorite to ask on the show!