The Tea, Spilled by Morning Joe: Friday edition

This is the Dec. 12 edition of “The Tea, Spilled by Morning Joe” newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered straight to your inbox every Monday through Friday.

Happy Friday!

As the week winds down, two events bookended the past several days. 

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump traveled to Pennsylvania for the first — and possibly last — stop of his “Affordability Tour.” Far from making working Americans feel better about their challenging financial situation, Trump mocked as a “hoax” their concerns about high prices  — insisting instead that the economy is stronger than ever. 

That same night, 1,300 miles away, voters had their own say. Miami elected its first Democratic mayor since the early 1990s. Like Republican gubernatorial candidates in Virginia and New Jersey last month, the Magic City’s GOP mayoral candidate lost to his female Democratic opponent by double digits. 

Two days later came the other half of the bookend: President Trump recorded his lowest approval rating yet on the economy. Only 31% of Americans now approve of how the White House is handling it. 

Trump’s numbers on immigration are also at an all-time low. The Wall Street Journal’s Peggy Noonan thinks she knows why and writes about it today in her column: 

What happens when all that remains of Trump’s strongest issue is its least popular aspect? Immigration remains in the news only because of brutal deportation practices. It isn’t “build the wall” anymore; it’s “Don’t arrest the poor guy working the line in a second job at the chicken-processing plant.” Americans don’t want that guy thrown out. The longer the deportations continue, the more unpopular and damaging to the administration they will become.

It’s an ominous sign for any Republican politician when both longtime conservative Peggy Noonan and the pope are speaking out against the cruelty of your immigration policy. 

Here’s hoping the president comes to understand — sooner rather than later — that while cruelty may be the point for Stephen Miller, the policy itself is driving away millions of swing voters repelled by ill-conceived raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

We’ll leave politics there for now. In today’s Tea, we’re taking a look at what’s happening this weekend, sharing readers’ responses to Mika’s bittersweet Christmas memories and answering some of your questions as we head into a busy holiday season weekend!

THIS WEEKEND AROUND THE COUNTRY 

Saturday marks Wreaths Across America Day, as volunteers nationwide place millions of wreaths for interred veterans at more than 5,600 cemeteries nationwide — an annual moment to remember and honor those who have served this country. 

In the nation’s capital, Hanukkah begins on Sunday evening with the grand lighting of the National Menorah on the Ellipse. 

Just beyond the Beltway, Maryland takes the spotlight with the 126th Army–Navy Game, where pageantry, tradition and a rivalry dating back to 1890 take the field.

Over in Philadelphia, Legoland dresses for the season with Holiday Bricktacular, inviting visitors to play among the wintry replicas of iconic holiday scenes, Lego snowmen and reindeer, and a giant Lego sleigh — Lego gingerbread houses included! 

In the city that never sleeps, Brooklyn races the clock with The 24 Hour Plays’ 25th annual gala, while over in Manhattan’s Theater District, the John Lennon Tribute returns — music with a mission, supporting songwriting programs for cancer survivors and children who have lost a parent to cancer. 

Up in Beantown, the iHeartRadio Jingle Ball Tour lands with a hit-packed lineup and holiday sing-alongs, continuing a concert tradition born on the city’s airwaves more than two decades ago.

In Raleigh’s backyard, the Koka Booth Amphitheatre glows with the North Carolina Chinese Lantern Festival, transforming the grounds into a walk-through wonderland of towering lanterns and light.

On the West Coast, the City of Angels ushers in the season as the Los Angeles Ballet opens its 2025-26 slate with “The Nutcracker,” followed by “Giselle” in the spring. 

For our readers north of the border, Montreal hosts Puces POP, the winter edition of the POP Montreal festival — part artisanal market, part cultural gathering — spanning two festive weekends.

And for those staying in, the mystery comes home: Daniel Craig returns as Benoit Blanc in “Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery,” now streaming on Netflix.

MAILBAG

When I asked Mika to contribute a piece to the Tea, I had no idea she would write on such a touching subject — how buying a tiny Christmas tree on a frozen New York City street would bring with it the emotions of love and loss that still wrap themselves around the holiday season for so many Americans. 

Mika was moved by the responses she received and was especially grateful to hear that her words helped others navigate the difficult emotions they are carrying this Christmas. 

Here are a few responses from our family of readers:

I wanted to say how much I enjoyed reading Mika’s essay about buying her Christmas tree. I too miss my parents especially at the holidays. Mika’s memories of her family’s celebrations helped to soften my own grief. I think I quietly took a positive step forward towards coping with my own sorrow. Now I can look at my own little Charlie Brown tree in a more loving light. Thank you.

Kristine S., upstate New York

Just want Mika to know that her Christmas Tree story hit right in my heart. I feel the same way and my small tree is a perfect match for hers. Merry Christmas 

Susan Z., Sarasota, Fla.

I loved Mika’s essay about her tree and the bittersweet memories it brings up. Please read this on the air. So many are feeling the same mix of emotions.

Katie K., Charlotte, N.C.

Mika, loved your Christmas tree story. It brought back so many different Christmas memories for me. So many different places and so many different trees (one was actually a Hanukkah bush — we didn’t know). Anyway, your memories made my day. Thank you. PS — I think it’s a beautiful tree. Merry Christmas.

Anonymous

Thank you for the Christmas tree story, Mika. You evoked so many repressed memories, both happy and sad. You may not have intended it in this manner, but I feel as if you’ve given me my first gift of the season. Thank you and Merry Christmas! 

Greg G., Knoxville, Tenn.

Thank you again to all our readers who wrote in this week. Now, for your questions!

What is your favorite Christmas memory? — Debbie B., Tulsa, Okla.

There are so many wonderful memories, but the Christmases that come back to me most are those spent with my parents and family at candlelight services on Christmas Eve at First Baptist Church in Pensacola, Fla. It was always wonderful sitting with my family and seeing friends home from college on that special night.

Those Christmas Eve services in Pensacola were where I felt the safest and most loved other than inside my family home. 

At the end of each service, we would light our candles and raise them high in the air while singing “Silent Night.” Our pastor would then challenge us to leave the church and go out into the world to “punch holes of light into the darkness.”

He would quote Jesus, reminding us to feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, clothe the poor, offer hope to the hopeless and to care for the foreigner who comes into our lives, just as the Good Samaritan did. 

Afterward, we would head home and get the entire family together. While everyone else talked and laughed in the other room, my dad and I would watch “It’s a Wonderful Life” for the hundredth time. 

They are all beautiful memories, and I’m grateful to carry them with me — during the holidays and throughout the year. 

Other Christmas memories stand out, too, but one I remember especially clearly comes from a holiday that now feels like a lifetime ago. It was the Christmas season after my dad was laid off from Lockheed, when the company almost collapsed. I am reminded of that Christmas especially now, at a time when so many working Americans are struggling to pay their bills. 

Earlier that year, we had spent the summer traveling across the Deep South as a family, with my dad looking for a job — any job. 

As a young boy, I was oblivious to the challenges my family faced, but my older sister was not. Mom and Dad gently warned us that Santa’s bag of presents might be a little lighter that year, but my sister wasn’t prepared for just how empty the Christmas tree looked that morning when we ran downstairs. After a few minutes of polite talk, she turned around and began walking back to her room. 

My parents stopped her and guided all of us outside of our Meridian, Miss., home. There, in the backyard, was the trampoline my sister had been wanting for years. She ran up to my parents, gave them a big hug and burst into tears.

My dad eventually found a job, and my sister spent years afterward outside with her friends, jumping on that trampoline.

Grandmom likely helped make that Christmas possible, despite her own limited resources. Regardless of who the secret Santa was, that Christmas morning ended a long year of disappointment for my parents with smiles and laughter from their three children. 

It was all they could have wished for.

Preparing for Christmas with our 17-month-old, what are some holiday traditions you started and kept with your kids? — Lydia S., Deston, Fla.

One tradition my children and I have enjoyed through the years has been buying Christmas crafts on Thanksgiving and spending the rest of the weekend making homemade decorations for our tree. 

The years have been marked by my children’s painting ornaments that fill our Christmas tree and remind us of different stages of their lives and past holiday seasons. It’s one of my family’s favorite Christmas traditions.

That’s all the time we have, folks!

Thanks so much for your questions and for reading The Tea, Spilled by Morning Joe! 

Have a great weekend!

Joe

REPUBLICANS ‘WAY TOO LATE’ TO THE HEALTH CARE POLICY PARTY

A guest essay by Ali Vitali, senior Hill reporter and host of “Way Too Early”

As we predicted Monday in this newsletter, Democratic and Republican votes to avert looming health care spikes failed, so the political football will keep being kicked, and Americans are left with ballooning health care costs in the meantime. Not good.

But as this becomes an issue for voters next year to decide which party is best situated to (try to) fix the complicated health care system, it got me thinking about what each party’s plans actually are. Democrats had entire debates in the 2020 presidential primary dedicated to how they would expand coverage — was it a public option? Medicare for All? How far would that coverage expand? What changes would they make to the Affordable Care Act, which badly needs reforms? The path forward is not explicitly clear but heavily outlined.

For Republicans … less so.

In the aftermath of Obamacare’s passage, the GOP plan for health care could fit on a bumper sticker: Repeal and Replace Obamacare.

For years, they tried — and failed — to do exactly that. After dozens of attempts — and a 2018 midterm shellacking helped, in part, by a Nancy Pelosi-pushed defense of health care — the bumper stickers stayed frozen in time, peeling bit by bit off the car. The GOP never figured out what to print on the new ones.

Flash-forward to now, when Democrats have their short-term plan — extend the soon-expiring ACA subsidies — and Republicans are without a policy North Star to point to. In fact, when Democrats turned the October government shutdown into a referendum on health care, I found myself asking Republican sources if I’d missed something. What was the cohesive Republican plan on health care, aside from platitudes that both parties have about bringing costs down?

I’m still asking that question of Republicans on Capitol Hill. Yes, there are ideas — forgoing subsidies in favor of direct health care-related payments to Americans is one — but there are few, if any, largely agreed upon concepts that the entire party is speaking about. I don’t know what they’d put on the bumper sticker. Which means voters probably don’t, either.

ONE LAST SHOT

People attend the annual Christmas Tree Lane lighting ceremony in Altadena, Calif., held for the first time since the Eaton Fire devastated the community in January. 

CATCH UP ON MORNING JOE

SPILL IT!

Next week, actor Simu Liu joins us to discuss his upcoming spy thriller series, “The Copenhagen Test.” Want to ask a question? Send it over, and we will pick our favorite to ask on the show!