Judge clears path for former NFL players to join LSU roster

0:00Hi there everyone, it's Nicole Wallace. I'm here to tell you about the MS now membership. You'll be able to connect directly with all your favorite hosts. You can stream live TV and find a community that cares as much as you do. Visit MS.nowslashmembership to join us. Every president has free reign with what they do to the White House. You know, I'm not sure on specifics of what they've done, but once again, it just comes down to you got to do what's right for the people. So if you're going to spend millions making your life more comfortable in the White House, what are you going to do for us? I like Trump. I'm a Reagan Republican, but I don't see much of Reagan in Trump right now. What do you mean by that? Well, the prices are going up. Everything's going up and it's getting harder to survive. I don't like the high gas prices. I don't think they should be this high and it keeps us from traveling more. Are you frustrated or you disappointed in the person you voted three times for?

1:01A little bit. Yeah. If you could talk to him directly, what would you say right now? I don't know that I would vote for him again. Why? Because he hasn't cut this promises. He hasn't kept his word. Gas for 15 of gallon as we wake up this morning. MSNOW's Alex Tabud catchin up there with voters in Florida, raising questions about President Trump, despite supporting him in the past. Welcome back to morning Joe. It's Friday, September 4th. Jonathan Lamir still with us and joining the conversation. MSNOW's senior Capitol Hill reporter, host of Way to Early Alley, Vitale, the host of politics nation and MSNOW Reverend Al Sharpton. He's a president, of course, of the national action network and MSNOW political analyst Matthew Bartlett. He's a former Trump appointee at the State Department during the first Trump administration. A great group assembled for this hour. Matt, I'll just let you take that, some of that sound that we just heard there from a group of Trump voters.

2:03Again, that's just a small sampling of people at a gas station. But obviously, some of the things that President Trump promised like not getting into what he would have called stupid wars and bringing prices down have not happened in this first year and a half for people who supported him. Yeah, precisely, Willie. None of this is surprising, but in terms of a political coalition, it is just staggering how in a short amount of time, the 2024 winning coalition has just crumbled for the president. So much of it around the economic angst now around the war. Again, reality is not measured in rhetoric, it's measured in results. And this second term has not delivered anything for the American public. It's reflective in the polls. And I think it's going to be reflective on election day as well. So let's talk about the appearance by Vice President JD Vance at the White House, turning to foreign policy.

3:03He rejected the use of the word war to describe the war with Iran. Moments after he praised President Trump for being the only president in the past 40 years to win a war. America has fought a lot of wars since I've been alive. 42 years. And we have one almost none of them until Donald J. Trump became President of the United States. Will this war be over by the time of the midterm elections? OK, let me get I don't. I wouldn't call it a war. Right now there is no active shooting. I recognize there has been places where this is flared up. Major combat operations again, major combat operations lasted for about six weeks. Mad, we catalog this with David Road in our last hour. All the things that are wrong with that statement that there was shots being fired back and forth. There were attacks made a very public by the Pentagon by the United States just a couple of days ago. Our Gulf neighbors are being attacked. 18 American service members have been killed. Hundreds more injured. The straight of war moves is closed very much a war.

4:05And by the way, don't take my word for it. It's a word President Trump has used many, many times. So why is the Vice President trying to kind of wish this away and minimize what's going on right now? You know, the Vice President is not stupid, but it seems he thinks that the American public is. We've had a war with a rod now for over six months. It was supposed to be six weeks. This is just a rinse and repeat strategy of escalation, de-escalation, a notion of victory, of peace, of MOUs. It's been schizophrenic at best. And then you have, of course, the Secretary of Defense Pete Hagseth, who you would go out daily and make statements that we were winning this war. Obviously, he could not win this war. The Vice President went to Geneva, tried to negotiate a peace, came up with a preposterous idea that we were going to sell them soybeans. It was all fantasy talk. And now recently, we've seen, I guess, general scot-becent launched economic D-Day.

5:12Of course, D-Day, an illusion to World War II. So now to have the Vice President come out and say that this is not a war, it seems not only does this administration lack a coherent strategy for engaging, winning, or ending this war. But I didn't think they're talking to each other in terms of the same page or the same message. Again, I'm not sure what the Vice President thought was going to do for him or the American public. But for somebody who may have potential future ambitions, it's not a good look. No, and that's so sorry I can hear is that the administration has talked about this war so poorly. That they haven't been able to settle on goals. They haven't been able to try to sell the American people on why we're in this conflict in the first place. And now, if Italy, that has led the combination of unable to talk about it and frankly not able to prosecute it well, has led Americans really, really unhappy with it.

6:12We see the poll numbers consistently. How much Americans don't like this conflict and frankly, how much they don't like President Trump, which leads Republicans with a whole lot of problems coming up this fall. You know, that Trump signature campaign problems to bring prices down, what he's done is made it worse because of the war and will add his tariffs. And now, we're looking around. I mean, I remember Matt was on the show a few weeks ago and he and I had a conversation about what Republicans could run on this fall. And his answer kind of went viral because he went, nothing. Like, we don't have anything. And that hasn't changed as we now barrel into Labor Day weekend. And Republicans are now on the hill this week trying to pitch that they've been the most productive Congress in history. And there's a bunch of different ways that we can show that that's not true. But even the things that they say they're running on, for example, their signature reconciliation bill that the biggest feature of it was extending the first Trump era tax cuts. Okay, except that when tax season rolled around and people were supposed to be receiving

7:13the high point of the benefit of that policy, it was also the moment where the war with Iran was starting to hit people's pocketbooks as well as the tariffs. And so it completely undercut at tax rebate season the biggest argument that Republicans had in their pockets. I think at the end of the day, though, Republican operatives and strategists and members who I'm talking to agree that this is pretty much baked in the cake. I know that other outlets are doing that reporting as well. They're having to figure out how do they run successfully in the landscape that they are given. For some, that means sticking close to the president. Just try and bring out any single voter they can that's been part of that mega coalition. And then for others of them, it's figuring out where is the right place to distance themselves. It is such a high wire act that only a few of them are going to be able to pull off. But at the same time, not that many of them may have to because the map, at least from a house perspective, is just so small because of gerrymandering, because of the way it's not just mid-cycle gerrymandering. But in past years, the swing seats that are at play have just become so tiny.

8:15And so Republicans, I speak to Democrats, I speak to. They know that they are all battling over the same, like 25 to 30 seats. If it's a wave here, yeah, maybe there's a few surprising seats that come into play. But I just don't know anyone that is really and truly banking on a wave. This is going to come down to a few select seats. And if you select members who are able to either walk the high wire well or end up falling off of it in November, and a lot of that is going to be because of Trump. Let's talk about that vote. Missouri, Maryland, state Supreme Court, both now have issued major rulings on congressional redistricting, delivering dual victories for Democrats seeking to counter those partisan map changes. In Missouri, the Court unanimously blocked a new Republican-backed congressional map from being used in November's upcoming election. The Court also approved putting a referendum on the November ballot, allowing voters to decide whether to use that map in future elections. Similarly, the Maryland Supreme Court ruled yesterday a Democratic-back constitutional amendment

9:16concerning the state's redistricting rules must appear on the November ballot. The move for versus two lower court rulings that had originally blocked it from going to voters. And let's say the Missouri ruling is likely to keep one seat in Democratic hands as Republicans fight to preserve their razor-thin majority while the Maryland ruling could benefit Democrats in 2028 if voters do in fact approve the proposed map. So, Reb, we've seen back and forth on this. We've seen victories for Republicans that kind of tilt the map in their favor this time going in the favor of Democrats in these two places at least. It goes in the favor of Democrats, but it also goes in the favor of the districts that were already there. It's not like the courts are giving something to the Democrats. In Missouri, you have an iconic figure there who has represented that district for many years. So, you're looking at them really saying states run elections and we want to keep the districts

10:23to have an outline by the states and that the voters have historically did. So, rather than paint this as progress, I think that it is more accurately to say that we have seen the state courts stand up to the regress that the federal courts under the direction of President Trump and his cohorts has tried to do and really tried to manipulate the Supreme Court decision with the Calist decision, try to restructure voting rights in a real backlash strategy of which is going to redraw districts that neutralize certain elements of our society, whether it's based on party or race. You know, Matt Alley was talking about Republicans running this fall. Some of them, depending on their district, hugging Donald Trump close, others running in the other direction, which calls to mind this convention that they're going to have in Dallas next week on Wednesday and Thursday, which some are calling Trump a polusa. Republicans being charged $25,000 for an audience with President Trump, who's apparently going to speak on both

11:28nights. Many of them telling us in other news outlets, they're going to stay away from that. They need money. They don't need to be giving up money and they need to be on the trail. And frankly, many of them don't want to be sees sort of standing in that dear leader way, applauding the man that they may be trying to avoid to win a tough election. Yeah, the Trump-Texas rodeo side show, you know, it starts on Tuesday. And I'm just not sure how many people are quite interested in what's going to happen. Again, this is a novel approach to the midterms. As you said, members would much rather be out there with their voters than be in Texas. But the general public, not only will you be competing with the NFL, which is having games on Wednesday and Thursday night, but again, this Trump fatigue is real. And the base has kind of heard all of it on a day-to-day basis from the Oval Office, not sure what changes in Texas. So in terms of a strategy, I'm not sure this does anything,

12:30but put a further spotlight on a very unpopular president. Nationalizing all of these races, I'm sure the Democrats are quite happy about this. But from a Republican perspective, I don't see a lot of blue sky down there in Texas. And yet I will say I was struck by the way that Vice President Vance was basically yesterday trying to give some of these lawmakers the space. This convention is a forced effort by the White House to nationalize it, to bring attention back to Trump. Susie Wiles, over a year ago now, said we are going to make it as if Trump is on the ballot. And there are some Republicans, even vulnerable ones, who have told me that they see upside in that, because at this point, they say Trump is the president. Everyone knows Trump is the president. Everyone knows that we've both got ours after our name. And we've got to do what we need to do to actually just turn out those voters, Willie. But at the end of the day, I think it's important for us to look at the ways that Vance might be giving these Republicans space. I think the question that I've heard from lawmakers on the Hill is they know that they need to be able to make these decisions in real time. It's just sort of a question if the president will allow them to do so,

13:35because I think in some of these races where he has relationships with Republicans, he is aware of the ways that they sometimes need to go like this and put distance, but that in other instances, we'll welcome him, for example, to their districts to do rallies. I'm thinking of people like Tom Barrett and Michigan or Mike Lawler in New York. They have welcomed him for rallies, even though they are in some of these frontline seats. And Lawler is an example of someone who told me he's going to the convention. He sees an upside and knowing New York's 17th congressional, yeah, Kamala Harris won there, but Trump was also able to make gains if you look at that district over time. There are conservative pockets and that's one of the places where potentially maybe Lawler can pull something off. He's got a strong challenger, but that's one example that I'm looking at as we head into next week. And so I think Republicans need the space to make their own decisions. Vance obviously seems to realize that, but that's the thing with this unpredictable president is he okay with that. And again, the White House is the one forcing this issue. They're making Republicans have to decide and have to answer questions from reporters like me. Hey, what are you going to do when Trump is the central focal point of the convention?

14:38And nobody else was having to answer that question until Trump said let's do a convention. And remember President Trump at that RNC meeting this week, promised or perhaps threatened in some cases to get really involved in these races. Tight races, wide open races, whatever they are. When he wasn't mocking Ken Paxton at that event, he was promising to get involved with that $400 million he has sitting in his super PAC. Allie, interested in your take on this story, Democratic Senator John Federman of Pennsylvania, facing criticism this morning, amid a Wall Street Journal report that claims he dodges constituents, alienates fellow Democrats, and just shows very little interest in his job on Capitol Hill. The journal citing interviews with more than a dozen former staffers and lawmakers reports behind closed doors, Federman has focused more on cultivating his relationships with conservative media figures and advocating for Israel than doing the job. In one instance, Senator Federman reportedly skipped a June meeting with three paralyzed veterans from his state, but appeared on Fox News less than

15:41an hour later, despite telling staff he had to miss the meeting because he felt ill. Last September, according to the journal, when an aide told Federman officials with the children's hospital of Philadelphia wanted to meet because of concerns about Medicaid cuts, he was dismissive, writing in a text message, quote, I'm convinced they just want free trips to DC. The report goes on to read, since Federman got out of the hospital in 2023, he has repeatedly expressed disdain for several core day-to-day aspects of life as a senator, that's according to several former staffers, things like meeting with constituents, attending hearings, making public in-state appearances like town halls. Senator Federman did not reply to the journal's multiple requests for an interview for that story. Allie, you're on Capitol Hill every day. Does that track with what you see and hear about Senator Federman? I mean, there are so many former staffers, Willie at this point, speaking out, the fact that the journal was able to look at text messages between former aides and the senator,

16:44I just cannot stress enough how rare it is that you see this. Yes, there are staffers who don't like their bosses, who leave the office, who whisper about it off the record, but to have it be put in writing, not just in the journal, but you look on social media platforms, and there are former staffers who are saying they regret ever working to help elect this senator. This was someone who really rose to prominence in the national view because he brought sort of a no-nonsense, progressive approach to his senate role, and he has just become in the words of former staffers that I've spoken to, a completely different person, not just on policy, but in his desire to do parts of the job that are so important. One of the things that I thought was so striking in that journal piece was they have text messages where staffers are talking to Federman about needing to go to a funeral for three law enforcement officials back home in Pennsylvania, that it was going to be a lengthy funeral, and at one point he allegedly says that's a non-starter. I mean, constituent services showing up for members that will vote for you again theory in two years.

17:45This is literally the bread and butter of being a lawmaker, and I have been so stunned at the ways that former staffers have been willing to throw their former boss under the bus, and all of it is going to culminate, Lamir, you know this. I mean, what happens come 2028 when this seat is once again back on the table. There are questions about what Federman does. Does he run again? Does he run again as a Democrat? Does he run as a Republican? I mean, all of this is very much in the ether, and there's a more pressing question, I think, in the near term, which is what happens when the senate balance of power gets even slimmer? Does Federman stay a Democrat? Schumer's been doing the work to try to praise him as a valuable member of the caucus, or does he see that he could be the person that flips whatever happens in the Senate, and does he switch parties? I mean, all of it is a very much alive ball. Yeah, that right there is where I was going to start. That's becoming a growing fear among Democrats. Is what happens this fall? If the Democrats, let's say, get that 51st seat,

18:46does Federman become kind of like a free agent where, I mean, in the Joe Manchin role, will he'll sometimes go with them, sometimes won't, or does he flat out switch parties, which I know people around him have denied, but there are some people who said, there's real Democratic fear that he might, and that he could swing back, he could change parties, be Republican, and that would give JD events to tie a breaking vote, and the Republicans would still have the majority willy. But yeah, I mean, the text message exchange that Ali highlighted about the three police officers killed near his home even, and he was saying that's a nonstarter, because it could take three hours, and the story goes into great detail. About time and again, he simply doesn't want to talk to his constituents, and it's such a stark contrast from his original campaign where he was known for having town halls, going out, talking to places, including talking to voters of Democrats, had sort of ignored in that state for a while. None of that now. And there's real questions about what his political future might be. Yeah, such a metaphor for his time in the Senate right now,

19:46which is skipping a meeting with paralyzed veterans to go do a Fox News hit and trash Democrats. Seems to me where he is right now. Matt, before we let you go, I see you've been writing a bit about the 2028 presidential race on the Republican side. In particular, it was interesting JD Vance at that briefing. Yesterday was asked about Ted Cruz's prospects as a presidential candidate. Vice President Vance, very diplomatic said he'd be great. He wishes him well, all of those things. But with his whispers about Pete Heggseth, whispers about Ted Cruz, and then obviously, you have the central debate about should it be JD Vance or Marco Rubio? A long way off and understand we got to get through the midterms. What's your sense of things? Listen, that 2028 race is on the horizon. And right now it seems as if Democrats are searching for nominee. You'll miss the feeling that Republicans are certain on their nominee. I would argue that it is JD Vance until or unless it is not. In that which case, I think Rubio would be the next. I don't think they're going to run

20:49against each other. There's a real question as to who would even challenge Vance for the Republican nomination. As you said, it seems if Ted Cruz, who just had a very interesting interview with Ali just last week, is certainly pondering that. I'm heading up to New Hampshire this weekend. I'm going to grab my Mark McKinnon hat and scarf, hit the trail. You'll have Senator Mark Kelly, Rocano, but also Tom Cotton will be heading to New Hampshire. Rick Scott will be heading to New Hampshire. That's starting to raise some eyeballs. We'll see what happens, what things look like after the midterms. Matt, not everyone can pull off the McKinnon look. Just be careful. Give it a look where you head out the door. New Hampshire. They'll eat you alive out there. And that's now political and it's Matthew Bartlett. And the host of Way Too Early, Ali Vitale. Thank you both. Have a great long Labor Day weekend. We'll see you soon. Still ahead on Morning Joe. Our next guest says, what doesn't break you build you? That's the idea behind the new podcast. Focus on the failures and breakthroughs. Some of today's most accomplished entrepreneurs, creators,

21:53athletes, business leaders and more. The founder of Kind Snacks and Shark Tank Investor, Daniel Lebetsky joins us straight ahead. And coming up this weekend over on NBC Sunday today, my guest will be crossover country superstar Megan Moroni. Megan and I got together and actually rode the New York City subway from Manhattan out to Brooklyn for her sold out show at Barclays Arena. She's got a number one album packing arenas across the country. We're the biggest stars in music right now. Megan Moroni coming up this weekend over on NBC Sunday today. And we'll be right back here on Morning Joe. Now you can watch Ali Velshi five nights a week and prime time on MS now as he takes command of the 11th hour. The breaking news in the last hour. The 11th hour with Ali Velshi,

22:57weeknights at 11 PM Easter not MS now. Who wants to go in the fling of their lifetime and help us scale up the future of the fairway? All right who wants to come on up? I'll try it out. I don't know anything about golf. It's not golf. Wait hold on. You won't you do what Mike's doing. Aim that way. Daniel you're throwing it this way. Yeah you might wonder really going. Let me show you what you do is you hold it back here. You put your drop of weight on your back. Then put your other hand up and then there you go. I'll do 300 for 25% and he goes away five four three two one done. Megan moves there our next guest. Social entrepreneur, kind snacks founder and yes, Shark Tank investor Daniel Lebetsky, no stranger to finding success in business and now Daniel's

23:58sitting down with a wide range of the world's most fearless builders for business leaders to athletes and entertainers learning about their accomplishments and just as importantly their failures. Those conversations are featured in Daniel's new podcast build or break and Daniel joins us now Daniel is so great to see you again. Your kind bars power us through these long shows at these early hours. Thanks for being here. Congrats on the podcast. You know it's so fascinating. I'm sure this has been your experience but almost every successful person I sit down and talk to about how they got to where they are talks first about their failures. How bad their first idea was what they learned from it. So what's the idea behind this podcast for you? It's a hundred percent that I think without those setbacks you kind of would have not existed had it not been because of the many many setbacks that I had ahead of time with peaceworks trying to build a company with that was bringing Arabs and Israelis together making a thousand mistakes but it's from those mistakes that we learned the lessons to eventually build kind and it's like you said will be almost

25:03everybody that's achieved something had to get comfortable being uncomfortable and stretching themselves. Yeah I want to offer a disclosure at the top I just had a kind bar was very good. Let's talk some of the podcast I was struck by as you sat down we're chatting in the break some real sort of people acknowledging their vulnerabilities here I was struck Chris Paul is an episode out now the you know for those who don't know future NBA Hall of Famer and had an illustrious career point guard played a number of teams including memorably for the clippers and he came back to the clippers this year you know and talk and you know for what was supposed to be sort of a victory lap we're going to listen to a little bit of that clip now and then we'll talk about it. You were in 12-time old star including I think five of them the clippers you made so many amazing memories there but then that last chapter the way they handled it at least to me did not feel right and then I'm thinking about your wife and I'm thinking about your children and how they must have felt and how they must have you haven't commented a lot about that like

26:05my wife actually commented on Instagram which was which was really funny I think she put something like girl by but um was interesting about that whole situation is probably one of the most disrespectful things that I've I've endured I didn't been through a lot of wild stuff in my career and having older kids and a wife who's very tapped in and they know the daily goings on as far as that team and that organization um obviously I was upset but my family my my people like everybody Paul was sort of uncertain honestly released uh you know is forced into retirement here and obviously you know by a team that he had done so much for four years and it clearly didn't sit well with him. Yeah no and what's incredible about that conversation and every other conversation we have is how comfortable people are opening up and sharing their feelings and we try to create an environment

27:07where people can be both self-reflective but also very constructive because our goal is to help people it's kind of like eating a kind but we want you to enjoy it but then feel like you did something good for your body have fun enjoy the conversation sometimes they're hilariously funny sometimes they get very emotional Kevin O'Leary broke down and was very very emotional Kendra Scott talks about some of her biggest failures and how they led her to the lessons that helped her people to ultimately build a multi-billion dollar jewelry business and the goal is to provide very practical advice for builders because in today's society we're facing major major threats to defend the things that that we really really care about and so all of us need to join to build together rather than tear each other apart and this is the advice from the most iconic builders on how to do so very practically Daniel as you do these podcasts talking about those that have overcome failures I had a mentor that used to

28:13say every setback is a setup for your next move how much of it or do you get out of your guess is based on their own self-confidence their self-concept when they come to whatever venture they're trying to do and they have a certain amount of self confidence and self image of who they are that they come in within the native ability to overcome their failures I love that question in so many pieces because it's something you need to work on right and if you do not have enough self-love and self-confidence how are you going to be comfortable being tough on yourself but you need to separate them we talk a lot about on the show you need to be able to be on one side self-critical analyze how you can improve on the other side be more forgiving on yourself because during those failures it's not like you don't like when I was building pieceworks and I had terrible setbacks and even on kind sometimes I would cry

29:13and I think it's important for people to understand that are starting whatever their careers adventures are that it's okay to mourn to have difficult moments but then what are the tools for to spring back up and self-confidence and belief in as long as you're doing your best as long as you're treating others with dignity and look at people's eyes and respecting humans that's all you can truly ask of yourself then get back on the horse and try again and there's very practical tools on how to do so how to learn and we're going to the creative process from Luke's Steel the lead of Empire of the Sun Robert Rodriguez chef José Andrés it's a spectrum of extraordinary fascinating people that have been able to do so Matthew McConnohy talks about the point you made Reverend he talks about how when he was a kid he thought he had won little Mr. Texas and he's entire life he thought he had won little Mr. Texas when he was writing his book he notices in the picture it says runner up he didn't win and he tells his mom and he's like

30:17what the hell and she says for me you're always little Mr. Texas and he talks about how sometimes you need to tell yourself the stories that are going to help you get there so on a sort of related topic also touched briefly upon there's a new pop up an immersive pop up exhibit happening here in New York called Art of Failure that runs today tomorrow tell us what we would find yeah the art of failure celebrates all of the setbacks almost as pieces of art it was a great idea for my team Christian Schneider on how these are moments for self reflection and you go through that one scandalous call there's one of my failures Danny Meyer Andrew Yang Mark Cuban and every one of them has a very different thing like in Mark's case he was a little bit too passionate and I find a lot of times the greatest strength is our greatest weakness right like that passion drives you to do things but sometimes can get you in trouble how do you temper it creativity all of those things we go deep into builder breaking to try to uncover how do you temper these things how do you lean into

31:20or how do you get back out of that and it's available on 22 Wester Street open to the public and it's really fun because you see this artifacts of failure the door bought that eventually became ring that Jamie Seminoff invented he went into shark tank did not get a deal years later he came back and sat on the seat as a judge when he built a multi billion dollar platform I wish you remind people your story is incredible too son of a holocaust survivor came to America from Mexico at the age of 16 and now built one of the most successful brands in America the first three episodes of the new podcast builder break available now with new episodes out every Tuesday and if you're in New York you can check out Daniel's art of failure exhibit open now through tomorrow Daniel Lebetsky will always love having you here thanks for being here thank you Willie appreciate it right before we let you go wanted to get your reflections this morning on the passing of glorious sign and we broke that news on our air about 24 hours ago died at 92 this week someone that you

32:22worked very closely with I know on a number of causes Gloria was an absolute icon I know that term is used a lot but the fact is that she was not only a champion of women's races and she certainly was that a reproductive rights she was one of those that really blended it with the civil rights movement at first meadow I was about 18 years old she was one of the few feminists that came out and supported Shirley Chisholm for president of the United States in 72 I was Mrs Chisholm's youth director in New York and I was only 18 17 years old and all through that period from then till now I would see her at various events she would join us in marches national action network we honored her in 2016 she came made a fiery speech she never stopped saying that civil rights for everyone is what we're fighting for women's rights is where I enter

33:23but I'm broadly there for everybody and I think she will be missed and I think history must be kind that she was one of those figures that really moved this country forward yeah it seems like wherever progress was being made of any kind Gloria Steinem was there over the years Reverend Al Sharpton rev thanks so much we of course will be watching politics nation this weekend here on MS now coming up here we'll bring the latest in the legal fight over the NCAA's eligibility rules as players who were just in NFL training camps like last week may soon take the field again in college how why more join MS now live in Texas for our biggest event yet with Rachel Maddo Chen Zaki Michael Steele and more MS now live together in Texas September 26th get tickets today at ms.now slash together Joe coming right back

34:28coach turmbal you got another eligible diver now on we need you get your suit on look oh not a chance what a shape I mean you can donate my body to science fiction get your suit on we need you come on come on show them what you got what dive is he gonna do the triple lending yeah

35:36unconventional but ultimately effective okay it's not exactly like the renewed eligibility for Thornton Mellon when he went back to school in 1986 how great was Rodney Dangerfield in that but former NFL players may now get the chance to suit up again in college football after a ruling last night in Louisiana a judge in East Baton Rouge issued a preliminary injunction against the NCAA just before ls u was required to submit its official roster to the southeastern conference ls u is attempting to add two players who were in training camps with NFL teams but did not make the final rosters they testified yesterday they would not have signed with the pro teams this year had they known they might get another year in college these players argue they're being denied an opportunity to spend a fifth year in college under newly adopted NCAA rules that allow for five full years of competition the NCAA says there are 450 athletes across several sports seeking additional eligibility through litigation with about 300 of them winning the ability to play at least

36:41for now joining us now Pulitzer Prize winning host of Pablo Torrey finds out and that's now contributor Pablo Torrey Pablo good to see again this morning so let's break this down a little bit so lane kiffin is the new head coach at ls u he jumped from Ole Miss at the end of last season this ruling came down in Baton Rouge where ls u is located he wants to bring at least two NFL players there's talk now of another guy who was in the Denver Broncos camp a cornerback maybe coming as well he's openly recruiting guys who didn't make these teams but who were on NFL rosters the SEC made a rule it said absolutely not all the schools agreed to this I guess accept ls u you have the the attorney general in the state of Georgia saying if ls u does this they should be kicked out of the SEC so how to a normal thinking person is it allowed is it okay for NFL players to come back to college there is no reasonable explanation for that question the context though is hilarious if you are

37:44somebody who wants to find I suppose incompetence amusing at the cost perhaps of the whole premise of what college sports even are and I vacillate willy I like that the van wilder of college football is coaching ls u and he is recruiting other fellow adults to pretend to be college players it's all kind of perfect as a plot line in a movie the legal aspect of this though is incoherent to the point of perhaps collapse I'll quote one of the things that the SEC is seeking a preliminary and permanent injunction on the basis of because it is the conference's first amendment rights and I will ask anybody out there listening what is the first amendment have to do with this well the SEC is claiming that by making it associate with conduct that is contrary to the conference's purpose and mission ls he was violating the sec's first amendment rights and so all of this to say is that I think we're reaching the familiar in its absurdity bit of territory here with college sports

38:48which is we're kind of just making stuff up as we go along but now the literal legal system is involved and what I worry about is that no one having an answer means that the product becomes not only indistinguishable from the pros it's something that is just caught perpetually in a cycle of lawsuits in which everybody just gets embarrassed yeah I mean let's just start with this I mean it is still a very successful proposition college football is you know does huge rains on TV certainly not NFL but bigger than just about anything else but there is a sense among college sports fans across the country that thing is just broken right that this would be the latest example of that yeah there's the NIL stuff and yes I think obviously arguments the students athletes should get paid yeah but people don't like how it's being done it's created the system of having have nots the college realignment system where it's geographically nonsensical there's a traditional rivalries are gone again these are allegedly students and yet they're going to be traveling all over the country to play a game instead of doing any sort of even semblance of classwork and also again it right the rise of football at the expense of every

39:51other college sport by the way we're suddenly scholarships and such are disappearing for things like track soccer the rest for diving Rodney danger we might not have a spot on a varsity team because of football there are lots of reasons why you might not have a spot on that body double I want I want to play me he lives right in the movie but I think the larger point here is that college football can tolerate a ridiculous amount of absurdity and nonsense it's kind of defined in its glorious moments by it but at this point you're kind of testing the outer threshold of like okay if we have literal NFL players now going back to college to play as college football players no one can even begin to lie to themselves around what this really is and that fiction that blurred line between fiction and nonfiction about professionalization and amateurism has always been what college football has been comfortable living but this is beyond will it it's just beyond what we can tolerate and the legal system is going to be tested for its own tolerance as well so Pablo quickly are these

40:52guys going to play are these NFL players going to be on the roster of this LSU team and if so what is the SEC do which says we have a hard rule that you can't do that any of other other athletic directors saying they should be kicked out of the conference yeah I mean when you have a school against the school against the conference against a judge against another judge against perhaps the president who wants to intervene right to make sure that he can be the person bringing a law in order to the sport I don't have any bleeping idea I like to be the guy who is looking into the crystal ball and saying this is how this all plays out we don't know you can give me a headline tomorrow that says that Lane Kiffin is playing wide receiver and I'd be like I guess we're just at the point where everybody's doing everything who knows it is wild NFL players going back to college Pablo stay with us coming up when fall sets in unfortunately so does the flu and that's now senior medical analyst dr vingupta is standing by with a look at the latest vaccine recommendations from medical groups amid a lot of confusion of course on this issue from the federal government

41:55morning Joe's coming right back we are keeping a close eye on the futures board as we are just moments away from the release of the august jobs report economists expecting to gain of about 53,000 jobs last month we'll see if that's where it lines up it would be an improvement from july which saw a loss of 23,000 jobs CNBC's dom2 joined us to break down the numbers as they cross morning Joe's coming right back now you can watch alley velchee five nights a week and prime time on ms now as he takes command of the eleventh hour the breaking news in the last hour the eleventh hour with alley velchee weeknights

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