Trump wants Dulles Airport and Penn Station renamed for him

As President Trump continues implementing his ambitious agenda, follow along with the MSNow newsletter Project 47. You'll get weekly updates and straight-to-your-inbox with expert analysis on the administration's latest actions and how they're affecting the American people. The American people are basically telling the president that they are not okay with any of this. Sign up for the Project 47 newsletter at MS.Now/Project47. Why is Tulsi Gabbard there? I don't know, but you know, a lot of the cheating comes from its international cheating. You have people they say from China. We have a director of national and international intelligence. Tulsi Gabbard is doing a great job with us. Tulsi. She took a lot of heat two days ago because she went in at Pam's insistence. She went in and she looked at votes. President Trump yesterday explaining that a Attorney General Pam Bondy sent Tulsi Gabbard to Fulton County Georgia last week for the FBI's raid of an election office. That's one, okay, that's one take on it. He told NBC News, he didn't know why the director of national intelligence was there. The shifting stories. That's two. They're about four or five six. There are several different stories on why she was actually there. Look at this. I'm seriously. Are you guys kidding me? Tulsi Gabbard? Down in Georgia? Seizing voting? Are you really? Are you this stupid? Taking up the foul. Are you this stupid that you think you're going to get away with? Are you this stupid? Why are you so stupid? Why do you do things that hurt Republican candidates in the state of Georgia? Hurt Republican candidates across the country and are always overturned by judges. I've got to say, and you know, Ali's last story was about the President saying, okay, well, we'll give you that funding. We'll restart the funding for desperately needed transportation between New Jersey and New York to help people on both sides of the Hudson be able to commute better. If you rename Dolas Airport and Penn Station, I mean, and seriously, who would want their names on either one of those? Why don't you just ask them to rename the New York Jets after you? He's really, I can't imagine it. But again, Jonathan Lamir, the fact is that Donald Trump, seizing those fines, was one part of Mikey Sherrill, waiting about like 15 points or 14 points or however many points you won in New Jersey. The Republican candidate was gaining ground, this happened, and then poof. He spent the rest of the campaign talking about that. Now, John Assoff, this is a gift for John Assoff in Georgia. You look at New York State, it's going to be again critical for the Democrats taking over the House of Representatives. And here's Donald Trump saying, yeah, I'm going to destroy, keep destroying your morning commute, keep you away from your loved ones and your family and your children even longer because you won't rename really two of the worst infrastructure projects in America after me. Again, all of this is so self-defeating and if you don't believe me, just look at the poll numbers. Yeah, President Trump, telling on himself there clearly revealing doesn't travel by train very much. Otherwise, he might want to stay clear of having his name splashed on Penn Station. Exactly. You're exactly right. First of all, the Gateway Tunnel, which is what New York and New Jersey officials have wanted for decades, desperately needed link under the Hudson River, helping commuters in both states. And certainly, now governor Sherrill was grateful for that in-kind campaign donation that President Trump made late in that race this last fall because he took away that funding. And in a moment of a fit and it was a gift to her because it hurt people in her state. And you're right though, this is also what Republicans have been saying to me. I wrote about it this week and we've chronicled it a few times now. The President Trump, he's just taking his eye off the ball, they fear. Like, lock in on the economy, lock in on rising prices, like do something about inflation or healthcare costs, whatever it might be. Things that voters are likely going to have front of mind this coming November at the midterms. And instead, Trump, first of all, didn't travel this week as his team had promised these weekly trips to talk about the economy and campaign for Republican officials. But more than that, he seems to really care more about these legacy projects, whether it's the ballroom or the Kennedy Center. He's on a building spree throughout Washington and Willie. And this would be the next, the idea that he would suddenly want to have his name on dullest and pen station and threatening to keep federal funds away unless that happens helps no one. I mean, in normal times, this is a massive scandal that the President won't allow a state of municipality to have funds unless you name something after him. And as you say, you might want to pump the brakes or choose something else on pen station though, the new Moynihan Hall is much very nice. We'll stipulate that. But guys, back to Georgia for a second, we don't really have to wonder who directed Tulsi Gabbard to go there because Tulsi Gabbard wrote in a letter to Congress that it was President Trump himself who ordered her to go to Georgia on that FBI raid. And then you'll recall, after the raid, she called the President of the United States, put him on speakerphone so he could celebrate with the FBI agents who conducted the raid. So there is a pattern Donald Trump doing something. And then when it goes bad or the reaction to it or the polling is bad, say, I eat some Minneapolis, for example, he runs from it and yesterday as you just showed at the prayer breakfast said, yeah, that was Pam Bondi who did that, not me. Yeah, well, and speaking of the prayer breakfast, there's another extraordinary lost opportunity. Here's something that, you know, I know the people who run it, been a part of it. When I was in Congress, it was a wonderful time. Even when Bill Clinton was going through impeachment. I mean, it was that we would come together. We would talk. We would, we would, it was it less than the tensions. The President, other people would talk about their faith. And it was a good time to come together. Yesterday, you had the President attacking Republicans that voted against him. Thomas Massey, especially attacking Democrats saying, I don't know why any Christian would vote for Democrats when in fact, you know, because they opposed me all the time. But in fact, there are a lot of people that actually were raised in the church asking, why would anybody support so many of these Republican policies that run completely counter to Jesus's direct unambiguous teaching? Yeah, Mike Johnson, like, like Christ, splining the Bible to the Pope, because the Pope dared to actually quote Jesus's words. You could go, you could go on and on. And then, you know, Willie Donald Trump's coalition, the Republicans coalition is not crumbling from the edges. It's crumbling from the center. He's losing the independence. He's losing, of course, Democrats that may have voted for him. He's losing working Americans that voted for him in the past. And everything he's doing is causing that collapse in the center to continue and drive his numbers and Republican numbers down. And of course, overnight, he put out, he put out a truth social post that was a racist, racist, a post depicting the former President of the United States and First Lady as, as monkeys, as primates. And you know, that's, that's only going to hurt that you know, they're, they're sitting there thinking, oh, we're going to own the lips. Oh, we're going to make the lives met. That's not what happens. I mean, at this stage, all you're doing is hurting the Republican party. All you're doing is hurting your support in the center. All you're doing is making sure Democrats have a great off your election. All you're doing is making yourself look pathetic Republicans for not standing up to this open racism and bigotry. All you're, again, in normal times would end to somebody's political career that day and every Republican in normal times would have come out and attacked this racism and this bigotry, but the thing is they think Democrats are going to get angry. Now Democrats just look at it and they're staying at the Republicans going really. You're not going to say anything about this because this doesn't own the lips. This destroys all of this stuff destroys Republican support among the very voters they need to win elections. Yeah, unambiguously racist post amplified by the President of the United States about a former President of the United States and a former First Lady of the United States. And I think it's safe to say we can predict this well that Republicans will say either I didn't see the post or sometimes he just retweets or retruths or whatever. We can't hold him accountable for all the crazy things he does. does. And that's just the pattern. But he should be held accountable for that. It's disgusting. It's appalling. And people can go look at it for themselves. And you're right, Joe. I mean, again, normal people look at this stuff. They look at the post last night or they look at what's happening in the streets of Minneapolis. You can go down the list and they go, this is, I don't want this. This is not. And so I think you saw it even in that poll. We saw yesterday about the shooting death of Alex Freddie, where you only have 22% of Americans saying, yeah, we agree with the administration's point of view on this. So it was justified. He was an agitated 22%. I mean, that's below the maggot slice of whatever you want to call it, the diehards 30 to 35%. So he used to have her often sometimes still does the president good political instincts. But to continue to do this stuff and to shed voters to shed support, Caddy Kay, as we embark here on this election in the fall. And maybe there's a reason he doesn't want to talk about the economy, because there was another bad jobs number yesterday or that is Steve Ratner showed us in his charts yesterday, just the data that they're putting out, the numbers, the things he's claiming about how strong the economy simply aren't true statistically, factually. And also that most people in the country are not feeling that way about the economy. >> Yeah, and the truth is the president can't do very much about the economy. And he can bring in a new Fed chair who could bring down interest rates to try and make things cheaper to some extent for Americans. But there is no whole lot that he can do. And he's still running because he still has this fundamental belief, this confusing tariff policy, which is one of the things that has made life increasingly expensive for Americans. So the things he is wedded to, he's refusing to let go like tariffs and putting up a fortress wall around America in terms of trade. And the other things he can't do very much about. So I think that's why he won't talk about the economy. And then he tries to make a joke out of affordability, but it's a joke that doesn't land because people are still feeling that there are high prices. Again and again, the president goes back to his original playbook. Let's go back to 2020. Let's go back to immigration because these are tactics that seem to have worked for him before in terms of owning the lips. But even we had the numbers earlier this week, right guys, even on immigration. >> You look at the numbers, 51% say America is less safe because of the immigration policies. And only 22% of Americans, that's smaller than we think his mega bases think that the killing of Alex Pretty is justified. So the policies he thinks are working for him are turning people away. The policies he would like to change, there's not much he can do about. >> Well, yeah, and you know, it's one thing for Americans to oppose Donald Trump's immigration policies. And that makes sense from what they're saying in the streets of Minneapolis and St. Paul. It's quite another. I was really struck by the poll. Are the Donald Trump's immigration policies make you safer or less safe? And the majority of Americans say makes Americans less safe. That's just an absolute stunning, almost shocking turnaround from over the past year. I mean, obviously you look at the killings, you look at the brutality that Donald Trump's Christie Nome's forces are engaging in the secret police. Get the masks off, please. >> Weaponry. >> Get the masks off and tell them to stop brandishing their guns whenever they get out of their cars. But Americans feel less safe about that. When in fact, the issue that matters is the issue he mocks, which is affordability. And just a couple of quick facts. First of all, jobless numbers came out yesterday. Private survey showing jobless numbers are spiking, skyrocketing. Secondly, you look at grocery prices. The last measure we have is from December. Grocery prices jumped up. We're more inflationary in the month of December than any time since 2022. 2022. And so that's what Americans want to talk about. Not renaming crappy airports and and and and lousy railway stations are racist tweets. >> We invented history. >> Are you in Vintin, >> In Vintin, history. >> In Vintin, history. Or, you know, Venezuela or all this other stuff. Insults at prayer breakfast that are meant to bring people together. That's, that's, I would say you're only speaking to your base. But now it looks like in a lot of these polls, you're not even speaking to your 35%. That 35% is becoming 25, 22%. More and more Americans will really shocked by what they're saying. >> Also, this morning, people in Minnesota say aggressive ice to operations are still happening. Despite a withdrawal of hundreds of federal officers, we're going to go through that new reporting that for many, nothing has changed. And Hillary Clinton calls out House oversight chair James Comer after agreeing to give public testimony on the panel's investigation into Jeffrey Epstein. We're going to look at what this could mean in the political game of chicken. As President Trump continues to come to the Clinton's defense. >> Let's say that again. Let's say that again. President Clinton is being defended by Donald Trump. >> A good reason. What I've been saying, you know, what comes around goes around. The President's Republicans are setting right now. All the horrid presidents they're setting right now will be picked up unfortunately by Democrats. If Democrats get elected, I hope not. But here Donald Trump knows if they can do this to build Clinton, they can do this to Donald Trump. He wants no part of that. >> Yeah. And Donald Trump actually says it's time to put the Epstein files behind us. >> It's not happening and it's not happening because now the investigations, because what we found actually, you've got to say far more expansive than so many people believe. >> There's so much to look at. >> There is, but you now have other countries looking into this. You're going to have investigations all across the world because now a lot of people especially is- >> Is this just the beginning? >> Poland, they're trying to figure out the connections between Jeffrey Epstein and Russia because there seem to be a lot of connections between Jeffrey Epstein. And right now I have one question. >> Yeah. >> And Willie, I'm curious what your thoughts are. There's so many extraordinarily deviant emails that are sent to Jeffrey Epstein from unnamed people who are making not only jokes, but saying things that would make you think they had sex with underage girls and the Justice Department has redacted their names. Why is the Justice Department redacting the names of rich and powerful men who appear to be telling Jeffrey Epstein that they had some kind of contact with underage minors? >> Boy, that's a great question. It's the question of the hour. Why did it take so long to get all these documents out? Perhaps because the Justice Department was deciding whose name should be revealed and whose name should not. The idea of redactions they said was to protect the victims. Well, they failed at that on several counts as we know. >> Oh, right. >> So a lot of the victims names now are out in the open because they did such a poor job, but they didn't do such a poor job as you say Joe, of protecting powerful men presumably whose names are under those black lines. And you're right about this, the Clinton's testifying, I mean, James Comer who's running this, the instinct among congressional Republicans is to please the boss do what they think Donald Trump wants to do that's their guiding philosophy. Well, they've got a completely upside down here as he pushes this further and further Donald Trump now saying in public, boy, I always liked Bill Clinton and Hillary. She was tough on me getting that sort of chummy Donald Trump version where he said, I don't know. I feel bad that they should have to go do that. He does not want this because of the point you just made. This is going to turn against him and potentially very soon. >> Well, I appreciate any investigation into it because there are so many questions raised in those up to three million documents and there are still more documents to be released and for these victims who are being retraumatized, let's get to justice. >> Yeah. >> Shall we? Let's get to justice for the victims of Jeffrey etstein. >> And show us the names of the men that you've redacted, Justice Department. Show us the names of the men who sent those obscene and foul emails to Jeffrey Epstein. >> Do you say you were an outrage girls? >> And they're not doing it. They're still. And here we are in 2026. We're talking about this more than a decade ago. Asking why Jeffrey Epstein was out on the loose. Why was everybody protecting rich and powerful men? The question remains a decade later, Mika. Why are the justice department? Whether, whether it's a Republican or Democratic Justice Department, why do they keep protecting these rich and powerful men? Get rid of the redactions. Show us who those men are who are talking about underage girls with Jeffrey Epstein. >> Head of files. >> Okay, we're going to talk about this again a little bit more in our four hours, but let's get to one of our other top stories of the morning. The desperate search for Nancy Guthrie has now entered day six as investigators work through scores of leads and today show co-anchor Savannah and her siblings are renewing police for help in finding their beloved mother. The family issued a new direct appeal last night to any possible captors. >> This is Cameron Guthrie. I'm speaking for the a Guthrie family. Whoever is out there holding our mother, we want to hear from you. We haven't heard anything directly. We need you to reach out and we need a way to communicate with you so we can move forward. But first we have to know that you have our mom. We want to talk to you and we are waiting for contact. That plea came from Savannah's brother, Camin. And it comes after the first deadline and apparent ransom note passed yesterday with the second deadline set from Monday. According to FBI, the notes haven't been substantiated and there's been no communication or proof of life. But investigators say they're taking them seriously. One person was arrested for a different message it turned out to be fake. Authorities yesterday also providing a new timeline, a new details of the disappearance blood found on the porch of Nancy's home, belonged to her, and a front doorbell camera that was disconnected on the night of the apparent abduction is missing. Despite the difficulties and a lack of a suspect, the Pima County Sheriff is holding on to hope saying he believes Nancy is still out there. The FBI is offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to Nancy's recovery or the arrest of anyone involved in her disappearance. So really, you know, the thing is it is it's awfully frustrating. Obviously looking from the outside for those of us who love Savannah and care for her so much. And I know other people are say, well, I don't understand why they're not communicating any more than they are. But if I were running an investigation, I wouldn't be communicating with a public. My responsibility is not to the press. It's to getting Nancy home. It's to the Guthrie family. So I get all of that. I do, though, I do, I do wonder and worry this for into it. Why there's no lines of communication. Why the Guthrie family saying, come on, we're here. We're here. Talk to us. It seems that every day that goes by, more questions are raised than answered about about what happened that night. Yeah, if there's someone who has abducted Nancy Guthrie and want something in exchange for her return, where is that person? Why haven't we heard from her? And as you say, there may be things that we don't know. Presumably, there are many things that we don't know. And we saw that at the press conference yesterday with the sheriff, but also the FBI that is now on the scene from the special agent who was there speaking. There was a lot he wasn't saying. So I think the hope is that there is something happening behind the scenes, but it appears in the public messages we've seen from Savannah and then last night from her brother Cameron that they are making an open appeal for communication, which would lead you to believe maybe they're not hearing from anyone now. Five days plus into this. Let's bring in former senior FBI official Christopher O'Leary. He served in the FBI's counterterrorism division. And as the US government's director of hostage recovery, also now an MS now national security and intelligence analyst. Thanks so much for being with us this morning. So just again, to your trained ear, what did you hear at that press conference from the sheriff, but particularly from the special agent in charge there in Arizona of the FBI when he came out? Lots not said. Having been through cases like this, what did you hear? Yeah, I think it's highlighted it. There's a lot not being said and that's intentional. There's a delicate balance between informing the public and soliciting their assistance because there's millions of eyes in the United States. I can share leads with the FBI, which is desperately needed, but also not tipping your hand. So everything that's being said is being engineered by the crisis negotiation unit, which is specialized unit out of Quantico, Virginia. Unfortunately, they have a ton of experience at that there are really kid daps for ransom almost every week that they deal with usually in places like Mexico, Central America, South America, or across Africa, but they're used to these rapidly evolving crises and engaging with the captors. The one concern thing is we don't have a line of communication established with the captors right now. And that needs to change because you cannot negotiate this release. And certainly with the serious concerns about Mrs. Guthrie's advanced years and medical conditions that have been stated, those are things you want to get ahead of and time is of the essence right now. So Chris, without speculating too much about what may be going on here, I mean, just the facts that we have in front of us now over these five plus days that police, the sheriff's office says an apparent abduction, but we haven't heard from anybody from the alleged abductor in these days. When you start to put pieces together of things you know publicly, and maybe people you've talked to behind the scenes, are you able to make any sense of what we're watching here? I think there's two things, you know, some other outlets of alluded to. Maybe it's somebody close to Mrs. Guthrie family member or a close associate. Those things should be pretty easy to rule out pretty quickly. Number one, they should be cooperative if they're not that's a tell. But if they are cooperative, what's their alibi, they should have been at home at two o'clock in the morning, can their cell phone establish their presence in their home? Can their vehicle, which is also a geolocation device these days, can the FBI say that their vehicle was at their home? Can their spouse or their family members corroborate that? And are ring cams, their ring cams, and ring cams in the area able to say that they were at their home? That could rule out a lot of potential, you know, personal connections to Mrs. Guthrie. Then you look at the MO here. The doorbell camera was disabled, which shows a or suggest a certain level of sophistication here from the captors. So who, you know, in the history of kidnapped pharansom has that capability? Is it somebody that we think is local? Or what the concern is amongst some colleagues that I've talked to is what the proximity to the border is this potentially, and not suggesting it is, but something investigate as we'll look at, that she was potentially taken by a Mexican kidnapped pharansom organization who do this fairly routinely. And so the FBI being brought in here, and number one has the authorities to do this both domestically across state lines, but internationally. And they also have the reach and the connections and the bandwidth to do it. So they are most certainly discussing things with intelligence partners and our Mexican counterparts as well. Chris, you ran kidnapped operations and hostage rescue operations for the US government. Do you have any doubt in your mind given what you said about the cameras, given what we know about her, where she was at what various times that this was an abduction? Are you starting from the certainty that Mrs. Guthrie was taken from that home was kidnapped or do you see any other possibilities? I think that's where I would be leaning if I was inside the investigation. I think that's where the agents on the ground are. I mean, listen, at the end of the day, 84-year-old grandmothers and mothers don't just disappear in the middle of the night. She wasn't abducted by aliens. There are indicators that somebody entered the home. She's had blood there. Her medical condition didn't suggest that she had any dementia or a reduced level of consciousness. So it's just not like her. It doesn't fit her pattern of life. And the other thing is did somebody have a personal grievance against her? There's nothing to suggest that. She sounds like a wonderful woman who is beloved. So who would have a personal grievance against her? And I do think NBC Corporate Security, which is staffed by a bunch of former FBI and Secret Service, are working with the team on the ground to determine if Savannah had any previous threats or stalkers or anything. And they couldn't get to her, but are looking at Mrs. Guthrie as a target of opportunity. We're also not aware. At least investigators have not said that anything was taken from the house. It's like a sort of robbery there. So Chris, strong on your experience in this, if indeed there has not been any real contact from the kidnappers, it has been silenced since this happened nearly a week ago. What could that? What could that tell you? It's not unusual, unfortunately. I mean, they're in control here. And they will do this on their time frame. So they might be in a position where they need to get to a safe place and need to be comfortable with secure communications and very deliberate. Because the FBI is looking to exploit everything that they do. The initial email of the ransom note, if it turns out to be authentic, the FBI is scrubbing all the metadata to try to determine the origin of it. Was it run through any filters? Was it anonymized? Is there a language in there that could suggest that somebody is from this country, a certain region, a certain education level? Or does this suggest maybe they're from somewhere else? So all those things are being ascertained. But the other parts of the investigation now, there's concern that there was no vehicle traffic or frick traffic around the house. Well, you'll expand that search. This is during a period of darkness where there's very little activity on the streets. So you just look a little further out, any vehicle on the road at two o'clock in the morning, in the vicinity, you'll start pinpointing on and then start trying to determine Who owns that vehicle? Is there something we should be concerned about? So all those things and then normal intelligence. Going after sources and questioning them, what do they know? People who are in these kidnapped forensics and kind of circles. Is there anybody you have contact with? Yeah, Mr. Lary, it's interesting. The thing that hasn't made sense to me from the beginning to spend the fact that this is 2026. We have cameras everywhere. This doesn't seem to be like a smart, calculated move. Forget the immorality of it. Now, horror it is because in America, this just doesn't really happen that much anymore because we do have cameras everywhere. But you just mentioned something about the possibility of Mexican cartels and how it does happen there all the time. And so is that for you? Is that a concern that possibly somebody who does this regularly to make money for their businesses may have been a Mexican cartel that came across the border and had an opportunity 50, 60 miles away. And maybe that's who we're dealing with here. Yeah, certainly is something that if I was still running a hostage recovery, we would be looking at again, there's nothing that's been shared yet that indicates that, but just given the proximity and the MO of what's gone on here, it would certainly lead investigators to be looking in that direction. And the one thing I will add to that is, there is concern about Mrs. Guat the result in her medication. If this is a professional kidnapped ransom group, although it seems callous, you should take comfort in the fact that they deal with these things all the time. And as callous as it sound, Mrs. Guthrie is currency to them. And they will want to keep her healthy so they can make the exchange. Most of these kidnapped ransom and successfully, the money is paid, it's negotiated down, but often there's a successful resolution and she'll come back safely. So hopefully that's what we're seeing right now. So if it is a professional Mexican organization that's doing this, in a certain way that's almost comforting because they do this regularly and they'll want to resolve it and get paid. Yeah, I'm excited. Seems to me, this is so horrifying in such a nightmare, but as we drive on, today, four and a five, and we know nothing about it, the great fear is that somebody did something really extraordinarily stupid and panicked and now this many days in, the situation is even worse. So again, a lot of things just say no questions asked. Just not lining up right now and so we'll see what happens. And of course, our prayers stay with Savannah and the family. It's unspeakable. Former senior FBI official MSNOW National Security and Intelligence and Lest Christopher O'Leary. Thank you very much for your insights this morning. And still ahead on morning, Joe President Trump says he ordered hundreds of ICE agents to leave Minnesota, but local residents there. So they haven't noticed a difference at all. We'll dig into that new reporting from the New York Times. Plus former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton tells House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer to stop the games. We'll have the latest in their back and forth fight. I say Hillary's ready for a fight and she pretty much said, let's go. Go to your loin's brother. We're going to war and we'll get our picks in for who will win. This Sunday's Super Bowl match up between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots. As we go to break, a look at the travelers forecast this morning from AccuWeathers Ariala Scalice Ariala House it's looking. Well, it's snow that moves in from the Midwest to the Northeast, but doesn't get to Philadelphia, DC, New York City to tonight, and mostly lighter amounts, coding to an inch, but enough to make roads slippery. The southeast, lots of sunshine and some more warmth build again from West to East. And a pretty good way to wrap up the week. The accurate exclusive travel forecast here doesn't show any weather delays, so flight should be good to go. You've this morning in the afternoon. To help you make the best decisions to be more in the know, make sure to download the AccuWeathers app today. Stole your day with the MSNow Daily Newsletter. Each morning, read sharp insights from the voices you trust catch standout moments from your favorite shows. The second Trump administration has gone to unprecedented lengths to radically transform America. Stay up to speed on our latest podcasts and MSNow events and get fresh perspectives from experts shaping the news. It's everything you love about MSNow, delivered to your inbox. Sign up at MS.Now. So Super Bowl 60 between the Seattle Sea Ox and the New England Patriots kicks off this Sunday at 6.30 PM Eastern. I'd leave by Stadyman, Santa Clara, California. Let's bring in right now the host of Pobletory finds out in a must contributor, Pobletory. Poblet a couple days away from this game and it is intriguing. You've got the Seattle Sea, Hawks, it only nobody's talked about that much this year, but now that we've gotten this far, they're saying this may be one of the most complete teams in the NFL, they deserve to be there. And then you have the Patriots and people are still saying, "Oh, easiest schedule this, that." The other, they've played a couple good defenses over the past several weeks. So this is one of those games you don't know which way it's going to go. I'm curious, what are your latest thoughts on it as we go into the big weekend? Yes, so look, the Sea Hawks are favored. That's what the expert says with the algorithms, the more high production value robots in Vegas say. Of course, we here at Morning Joe, as I sit alone in your New York studio, have none of that technology, but he got me. And so I'll tell you that the guy on screen right now, Sam Darnel, the quarterback of the Sea Hawks, he has the opportunity, Joe, to exercise, to exercise demons. The Patriots are the team that made him see ghosts. And he's with the New York Jets and he was at that point, basically doomed to be a bust. And now he's piloting this offense that is the undercard on his team to a defense that might be as good a defense as we've seen in the Super Bowl. And I say that because historically, analytically, statistically, all the numbers say that the Sea Hawks defense is incredible. And so you now have, as I hear and feel, the vibes emanating from Jonathan Lemire and Willie guys, as they stare at me, as a guy who's been on the Patriots for the last couple months, because allegedly I'm trying to reverse Jinx them, but I just know that they're the obvious, the obvious, the dynasty that we're reviving, Willie. Clearly the Patriots must deliver with Drake May and his clearly healthy shoulder. >> Well, yeah, he says it's healthy. There is a parallel, is there not Pablo? And I don't want to not comparing Drake May to Tom Brady. But a young Tom Brady, 24 years old, gets control of the team. They win the Super Bowl in 2002, the rest is history. Drake May's even younger. He's 23 years old, incredibly talented. Stafford won the MVP. >> I think they not won. >> Last night, but you could make the case for Drake May, should have won the MVP. I feel like, too, Pablo, do you that the Sea Hawks, despite the fact they arguably were the best team in football this year, flew a little bit under the radar, because they're not flashy. Maybe it's because they play in Seattle on the East Coast, doesn't pay attention to them too much. Are the Sea Hawks actually much better than we think they are? >> Absolutely. They are. And the past rush is incredible. The offensive line of the Patriots, the guys tasked with protecting and directing the offense for Drake May. That's the matchup that is going to decide this thing. We say this every time in retrospect after the Super Bowl. This thing was one in the trenches. That's like always the post-gaming analysis, but pregame we talk about the quarterbacks. The trenches are where I would be terrified. And I saw a rise smile from John Lemire. When you compare Drake May to Tom Brady and the question is, can he stay upright? Will he stay in the pocket? Will he hang in there like Tom Brady used to as those Sea Hawks pass rushers, to Marcus Lawrence and those guys, they put their hand in the dirt. >> Yeah. And, as Pablo said, Jonathan, Sea Hawks have flown under the radar. That's why you and I have been dealing with Rage from Don Rickles III cousin over the past several weeks now. The computer that Rickles is not having. >> Steve Rickles, very angry. Our computer has let us down once again. Man is still better than the machine. But that said, I'm just curious to your thoughts about what Pablo is suggesting that if the New England Patriots someone with the Super Bowl, then everything that's happened this year is for naught. It's a bust. It's like in the beginning, you don't win the World Series in five games. You might as well have not even like, you know, gone to practice in the fall, right? Don't play preseason games. Don't even inflate the footballs because a loss in the Super Bowl. >> It's horrible. >> Makes the entire year lace. >> What do you say to Pablo's assertion? >> First I'll say I'll be relieved that on Monday when this bit goes back to being about the Yankees and not the Patriots. So we could shift to baseball. >> Yeah, he's a guy. >> He's a guy who's a very good one. >> Yeah, that's the one. >> This is an analysis. >> We're excited about that, first and foremost. I mean, the look, the patch offensive line is a concern. Drake May will have to make some plays with his legs, which he did. The other way is to not play well in the game against Denver. But he did make a couple of key runs. I'll say this, that the patch have faced three top five defenses already in this playoff run. Seattle will be the fourth Seattle, in fact, number one. I also know that this Patriots defense is I think really underrated. That's the unit here that's also flown under the radar. And to be clear, the C-Ox are very good. They deserve to be favorite. But the Patriots defense does one thing really, really well. And that's to stop the run. So if they stop Kenneth Walker who's a great back for Seattle, it's like, okay, that's our priority. Sam Darnold, can you beat us? And that's a lot on Sam Darnold. I was in the stands for that patch Jets game, Pablo, when Sam Darnold saw his ghosts. You know, he's been terrific the last two years. He may be terrific again on Sunday. But Sam Darnold is also someone who has come up short in some big games. >> Stored your day with the MS now, Daily Newsletter. >> Each morning, read sharp insights from the voices you trust catch standout moments from your favorite shows. >> The second Trump administration has gone to unprecedented lengths to radically transform America. >> Stay up to speed on our latest podcasts and MS now events and get fresh perspectives from experts shaping the news. It's everything you love about MS now, delivered to your inbox. Sign up at MS.Now. >> Ooh, okay. >> So over 100. >> Wow, no. >> Wait, no, I gotta get a Pablo on the picks. >> Big Picks. >> So we're making picks. Here's a difference. We're gonna make picks, but here's a difference between somebody from the South going into a big game. >> Yeah. >> And at least from my school, the very Brian school of poor talking. And somebody from the Northeast where he's talking about Sam Darnold's weaknesses. You know what we say in the South is, if you're a new England failure, I tell you what we'll be lucky to still be in the game after the first quarter. I don't even think we're gonna get in the first quarter. I'm glad we're there. Really is this not the case? I'm just glad we made it to the Super Bowl. We don't belong there. We're probably the fourth best team in our own division. We've been lucky time and time again. If we can just make it to the end of the first quarter by not being down by 34 points, that's a win. That's how you do it, will you? >> Yeah, yeah. You show up, you get off the bus with your suitcase, you look up at all the tall buildings and you're just so excited to be there with all the bright lights and the media days, a lot of fun and maybe you stop and see bad money at halftime. And if that's all you get out of it as a football team, then it was worth it to say you once played in a Super Bowl, but winning the game now that's not gonna happen. >> No. >> All right, let's see if predictions, Pablo, who's gonna win? >> Let me throw my Mary Tyler more hat into the air in big city here and just show you. >> Number one, of course, according to the exclusive New York studio power rankings, the Pats, the Pats, of course. >> You pick Pats. >> Of course, I am. >> Pablo, you pick Pats. >> Championship or bust and how dare you accuse Yankee fans like me and Willie guys that are doing anything resembling trying to, again, sandbag John Lemure, that's ridiculous. It is the Pats under the line. >> Willie, I guess the question to you then is how many touchdowns are the Pats gonna win by? >> First of all, we need to update the evil team in baseball. It's the Dodgers now. Let's include the Yankees having a win. >> That is true. >> Months old. >> That is true. >> But I am actually genuinely going with the New England Patriots. The line is four and a half. I think they're gonna win the game outright. I believe in Drake May. He's one of those, just, he's always in here. Despite his age, he's got the calm and cool of Joe Montana. I'm going Patriots 31, Seahawks 27, good game. >> Whoa, okay, Jonathan Lemure, what's that you? >> Well, we all remember the last time the Patriots and Seahawks played in the Super Bowl, the Malcolm Butler Interception at the one yard line. But Willie actually set at the top of the segment where I was gonna go. Tom Brady, second year quarterback, 2002 against a heavily favored Rams team. Drake May, second year quarterback against a favored Seattle Seahawks team. I'll pick that exact score again. So I'm gonna say hats 20 to 17. >> Hard to say what's gonna happen here, Sam Darnold. We'll see, guys, it just had an extraordinary story. He's fought back time and time again. Somebody has to pick the Seahawks. >> I am. >> Okay, well, you'll pick the Seahawks. So I think the Pats, I think the Pats will at the end of the day because of their coach. And because of their-- >> To the air, my friends. >> Well, what we saw from Drake May last week when he had to get a first down, he just changed the play, got it himself. It's pretty extraordinary. It's gonna be a close one, but I'm going with the Pats. >> Seahawks. >> Okay, so-- >> Why not? >> Meekah has just doomed the market. >> Mark Money as always. >> Yeah, exactly. >> Meekah, one of the funny stories coming out of this, the Super Bowl has actually not just been about the Super Bowl, it's been about the fact that some people-- >> Oh. >> In Maga World are rushing as far as they can to their safe space. They want to be so isolated from reality. They don't even want to watch the halftime show. And I think that's really cute. And you know, you hope they have a warm blanket and some cocoa because the world out there is just so cold and hard. >> They can't handle bad money. >> They can't even sit there and listen to the most streamed artist in the world because that would trigger them poor people. So they're going to create their own safe space. >> So they'll have that audience, but over 100 million Americans are expected to watch bad money. Headlined the Super Bowl halftime show. And the Grammy winner knows it. Revealing yesterday, he's a little bit nervous. MSNOW's Nick McCool has more on what's in store for the 13-minute performance. He's one of the biggest musical performing artists in the world. Now about to take one of the world's biggest stages on Sunday. Bad Bunny set to headline Super Bowl 60's halftime show as questions grow about whether he'll make a political statement during his performance after this viral acceptance speech at the Grammys last weekend. We're not savage, we're not animals, we're not aliens, we are humans and we are Americans. His selection is the halftime show performer, the latest milestone in the meteoric rise of a Puerto Rican superstar. And throughout his career, not afraid to speak out. The Trump administration and its immigration policies have been a frequent target. Journalist Jalice Lopez has covered him for years. He was very intentional about saying that he didn't tour in the US because he didn't want his fan base targeted by eyes. It wouldn't be the first time artists have used the halftime stage to make a statement at Super Bowl 54, Jennifer Lopez showed kids and cages, a jab at Trump's border policies. Even outside the Super Bowl, the Dixie Chicks faced a firestorm after a 2003 London performance, calling out the Bush administration's invasion of Iraq. This time, the backlash from the Trump faithful has been swift. I didn't even know who Bad Bunny was. But it sounds like a terrible decision. Conservative group Turning Point USA announcing they'll counterprogram the performance with a halftime show of their own, headline by Kid Rock. Bad Bunny even joking about the criticism during his SNL monologue in October. If you didn't understand what I just said, you have four months to learn. And if El Commissioner Rodger-Gudell was asked this week about a possible political message from Bad Bunny after his Grammy speech. This platform is to use the United people and to be able to bring people together with their creativity, with their talent. I think Bad Bunny understands it and I think he'll have a great performance. And when he previewed his performance Thursday, Bad Bunny struck a less political tone. I know that I told him that they had four months to learn Spanish. They don't even have to learn Spanish. They just is better if they learn to dance. But some Bad Bunny observers say there will likely be some kind of statement. And S.A.D. as wrote a book on how Bad Bunny became the global voice of Puerto Rican Resistance. I think everyone needs to be looking for the messaging in the symbols. And the Puerto Rican flag is at the light blue one. That's the one that's known to advocate for independence. In an interview with the New York Post, President Trump said he was not happy with Bad Bunny's selection as the halftime performer or the pre-game performance of Green Day. Their lead singer, Billy Joe Armstrong, has also been critical of him. Trump's telling the paper quote, "I'm anti-them. I think it's a terrible choice. All it does is so hatred." Back to you. Yeah, that's fascinating. Emma's now is Nick McCool, but that before. I love Mike Johnson. Only New Bad Bunny is this. Really? I don't even know who Margot Robbie is. Please. Please. Please. Don't even admit that if it's true, Mr. Speaker. Just go back to Bible explaining to the public. away. -Catty, I'm curious. Let's go around favorite halftime shows. What's your favorite halftime show? It is Super Bowl. -Okay, this is going to date me. Prince singing Purple Rain in the Rain. Do you remember that last thing? -I remember. -Yeah, my amnesty. -Right, amnesty. -2009, 2008, something like that, 2007. Anyway, that was not just a mixture of right here. -Yeah, yeah, yeah. -Lady Gaga. -We were also amazing, but Prince. -Oh, my God, Lady Gaga. That was remarkable too. Willie, your favorite halftime show? -I was going to go, Lady Gaga a couple years ago, just blew the roof off the place, but I have to go back to you two after 9/11 when you opened his jacket to the American flag and the names of the dead scrolled up behind him. -Come on. -I'll still get chills thinking about that. Also, just this is not a halftime, but the anthem, you got to go Whitney Houston one, obviously, which was in the track suit. -Oh, I can't get that. -I will say a couple years ago, Chris Stapleton gave her a run for her money. He's 1A or 1, depending on how you rank these. -Yeah, dug out about it. Jonathan Olmier, your favorite halftime show? -Yeah, Prince is right up there, but I'm also going to go with Willie, U2 in 2002. The country was so fragile at that moment, and it was such an emotional performance from them. That was also, I'll note, that aforementioned Pat's ramps are horrible. -Get out of the way. -Let's do good vibes there too. -Good vibes. Pablo, Pablo, your favorite halftime show. -I'm going historical, Joe. I was just thinking, as I was listening to DJ Mike Johnson talk about musical acts. The NFL is so good at popularity now. It's like, you think you know better than the only organization that has the attention of everybody. It's kind of a metaphor for this administration, not understanding the polling of actual mainstream America at this point. But Super Bowl halftime shows, we're not always this fancy. I'm going Super Bowl 1 because Super Bowl 1, we did an episode of this on my show, "Pobletory Finds," that we found the hidden tapes because they've been lost to history. Super Bowl 1, so long ago, it was a bunch of dudes with jet packs. It was like a marching band. -That was not. -It wasn't always big business. And so to see the evolution in the NFL, controlling the evolution has been fascinating for that reason. Jet packs. -I have vibes. -I've seen the tape of the jet packs. That was the only fascinating thing that happened in Super Bowl 1 because-- -Free battle, it was. -History book show is-- -Find some party just absolutely crushed the chiefs. I've got to say, Prince was extraordinary. -Next level. -Explosion. -Next level. I will say for those of us who remember, I remember wiping tears from my eyes repeatedly throughout the YouTube performance, as they're singing where the streets have no names and the names of those who died on 9/11, flashed on the screen behind them. It was a transcendent moment that I think brought sports fans, Americans, the world together. It was just extraordinarily epic. -I totally agree. Guess you're not asking me, but I'm going to say anything. -I know. -All of those are next level and I agree. Bruno Mars. -Brennest. -Brennest. -Was so incredible. And I think I'm going to love bad money. Anyhow, MSNow contributor, Pablo Torrey, thank you very much. -Store your day with the MSNow Daily Newsletter. Each morning, read sharp insights from the voices you trust, catch standout moments from your favorite shows. -The second Trump administration has gone to unprecedented lengths to radically transform America. Help to speed on our latest podcasts and MSNow events and get fresh perspectives from expert shaping the news. Sign up at MS.Now.