This is the Oct. 29 edition of “The Tea, Spilled by Morning Joe” newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered straight to your inbox Monday through Friday.
“This is a president who has actually lost money for being president of the United States.”
— White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt last year.
GUEST ESSAY
Trump’s financial disclosures this week showed not millions but billions in wealth growth for the president and his sons — in a single year.
His defenders call that transparency. Voters, standing at gas stations where prices are only now returning to reality, have another word for it: unfair.
It’s a split screen the White House keeps producing heading into the midterms. Billions on the disclosure forms while voters rank affordability as their top concern. Gatsby parties at Mar-a-Lago during the shutdown while Americans stood in food bank lines. Calling affordability a hoax while pressing on with vanity projects on the White House lawn.
Republicans had an open-book test on how to message the economy. They passed it in 2024, winning the election by hammering the Biden-Harris administration for failing on affordability. Yet now they’ve reached for the very same talking point: “Isn’t the stock market doing great?”
It turns out, once again, the stock market is not the litmus test the American public wants.
A RAINY FOURTH?
From NOAA: “Isolated to scattered storms will be possible from the central Plains into the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic this Fourth of July. The greatest concentration of strong to severe storms will be within portions of the Mid-Atlantic.”
WHAT THEY SAID
Eugene Robinson on Iran talks
“It is fascinating how President Trump is essentially making JD Vance hold the bag on this. Vance is out having to try to justify and explain this war, negotiate a peace with the Iranians, while the president sits back and flies around on his new jet.”
Richard Haass on public service
“I’m old enough to remember when going into government meant a degree of sacrifice. The blatancy and the nakedness of Trump’s conflicts of interest is striking — he’s getting away with it on a scale that is really unprecedented.”
Stephanie Ruhle on stock market and affordability
“People cannot afford the basic things they need — a place to live, a decent job — to get their lives started. When the president is boasting about 401(k)s, people who can’t get a job don’t have a 401(k) to feel good about.”
Jonathan Lemire on the U.S. World Cup win
“It was a really thrilling win. Next up: Monday night in Seattle against Belgium will be a scene, with the U.S. on the precipice of the quarterfinals. Making it that far would be a resounding triumph for the hosts of the World Cup.”
MAILBAG
Do you have a favorite Fourth of July memory or tradition? Tell us here, and we may share your answer in an upcoming newsletter.
CATCH UP ON MORNING JOE
Ali Vitali is MS NOW’s senior congressional correspondent and the host of “Way Too Early.” She is the author of “Electable: Why America Hasn’t Put a Woman in the White House … Yet.”
This is the Oct. 29 edition of “The Tea, Spilled by Morning Joe” newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered straight to your inbox Monday through Friday.
“This is a president who has actually lost money for being president of the United States.”
— White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt last year.
GUEST ESSAY
Trump’s financial disclosures this week showed not millions but billions in wealth growth for the president and his sons — in a single year.
His defenders call that transparency. Voters, standing at gas stations where prices are only now returning to reality, have another word for it: unfair.
It’s a split screen the White House keeps producing heading into the midterms. Billions on the disclosure forms while voters rank affordability as their top concern. Gatsby parties at Mar-a-Lago during the shutdown while Americans stood in food bank lines. Calling affordability a hoax while pressing on with vanity projects on the White House lawn.
Republicans had an open-book test on how to message the economy. They passed it in 2024, winning the election by hammering the Biden-Harris administration for failing on affordability. Yet now they’ve reached for the very same talking point: “Isn’t the stock market doing great?”
It turns out, once again, the stock market is not the litmus test the American public wants.
A RAINY FOURTH?
From NOAA: “Isolated to scattered storms will be possible from the central Plains into the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic this Fourth of July. The greatest concentration of strong to severe storms will be within portions of the Mid-Atlantic.”
WHAT THEY SAID
Eugene Robinson on Iran talks
“It is fascinating how President Trump is essentially making JD Vance hold the bag on this. Vance is out having to try to justify and explain this war, negotiate a peace with the Iranians, while the president sits back and flies around on his new jet.”
Richard Haass on public service
“I’m old enough to remember when going into government meant a degree of sacrifice. The blatancy and the nakedness of Trump’s conflicts of interest is striking — he’s getting away with it on a scale that is really unprecedented.”
Stephanie Ruhle on stock market and affordability
“People cannot afford the basic things they need — a place to live, a decent job — to get their lives started. When the president is boasting about 401(k)s, people who can’t get a job don’t have a 401(k) to feel good about.”
Jonathan Lemire on the U.S. World Cup win
“It was a really thrilling win. Next up: Monday night in Seattle against Belgium will be a scene, with the U.S. on the precipice of the quarterfinals. Making it that far would be a resounding triumph for the hosts of the World Cup.”
MAILBAG
Do you have a favorite Fourth of July memory or tradition? Tell us here, and we may share your answer in an upcoming newsletter.
CATCH UP ON MORNING JOE
Ali Vitali is MS NOW’s senior congressional correspondent and the host of “Way Too Early.” She is the author of “Electable: Why America Hasn’t Put a Woman in the White House … Yet.”
