The Dictatorship
The Tea, Spilled by Morning Joe: ‘They smashed up things and creatures’
This is the Nov. 3 edition of “The Tea, Spilled by Morning Joe” newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered straight to your inbox Monday through Friday.
Mar-a-Lago’s glittering “Great Gatsby” party this weekend laid bare the country’s widening economic divide and the president’s disconnect from working Americans. While Champagne flowed in the opulent South Florida club Saturday night, millions faced the loss of food assistance and skyrocketing medical bills because of Republican cuts. Trillion-dollar tax breaks aimed at billionaires, multinational corporations and tech monopolists make the rich even richer while those trying to make ends meet in Red State America head into winter facing rising heating prices and grocery bills.
The “Gatsby” soiree mirrored the Jazz Age excess that led millions blindly into the Great Depression. That Mar-a-Lago event was called “A Little Party Never Killed Nobody.” Don’t tell that to families relying on food assistance or a little help with their health care premiums.
For too many working Americans, the music stopped long ago.
They were careless people, Tom and Daisy — they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess.”
F. SCOTT FITZGERALD, “THE GREAT GATSBY”
THE SHUTDOWN STRIKES BACK
Republicans may have misread their formerly feckless Democratic rivals. With Congress careening toward a record-long government shutdown, it may be Trump and the GOP who are the ones with reason to worry.
New polls show most Americans blaming the president and his party for the shutdown, according to new NBC numberswith the fallout starting to hit Republicans where it hurts.
And this week, that’s in Virginia and New Jersey, where polls show Democratic gubernatorial candidates Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherill with the advantage.
The real problem for Trump and the GOP is that Americans no longer trust the president on the economy. As we reported last week in The Tea, Spilled By Morning JoeTrump’s long-touted economic edge is slipping fast while the “right track/wrong direction” mood has turned grim for the White House.
Meanwhile, only one-third of Americans believe that Trump has lived up to expectations on the economy — while two-thirds think he’s fallen short.
With numbers like these, the president is now reportedly getting involved — pouring millions into the New Jersey and Virginia races.
But it may be a little late. Can Mikie Sherrill really lose when the president boasts that he killed a tunnel that would’ve created thousands of New Jersey jobs and eased workers’ brutal commutes? And how can Abigail Spanberger fall short with federal employees from Northern Virginia facing layoffs while Trump brags about Russ Vought — aka “Darth Vader” — slashing even more?
Chances are good, they won’t.
TALKING BASEBALL WITH BARNICLE
JS: Mike, you believe we just witnessed the greatest World Series ever played. Why?
MB: I had always believed the 1975 World Series between the Reds and Red Sox was the greatest ever played. You had so many iconic moments, like the Carlton Fisk home run. And after baseball had a bad 10-year run, that World Series brought Major League Baseball back into the conversation of popular sports.
But I believe the World Series we just witnessed was actually the greatest World Series that has ever been played.
JS: We know this Dodgers team is historically good. But talk about magic of the Blue Jays?
MB: The Blue Jays were a really good team all along because they played baseball the way it is supposed to be played. They actually put the ball in play. There were a lot of unknown players, but they all did their jobs. They actually hit a lot of singles and a lot of doubles instead of always swinging for the fences, and a lot of those Blue Jay players became heroes through the course of the series by playing the game the right way.
DEATH STAR: 1, BASEBALL: 0
There are nights when fans are reminded why they fell in love with baseball. As Pablo Torre said on “Morning Joe,” the Fall Classic proved again this year to be a timeless event where anything is possible, a game where Miguel Rojas can join the sacred company of Bill Mazeroski with the swing of a bat. In that swing, Rojas delivered October dreams that generations of Dodgers fans will be talking about.
Channeling Pablo here: Game by game, minute by minute, second by second, baseball often seems to stretch time itself. Sometimes that clock runs forever, like the endless night last week when the Blue Jays took the Dodgers 18 long innings before losing.
But baseball fans didn’t just get one classic game from that long night — they got a series packed with them, one magical feat after another, until the story of this entire series became baseball scripture worthy of Cooperstown, N.Y., itself.
BOX OFFICE BLUES
Hollywood wanted a happy ending. What it got instead was a horror show.
This was Hollywood’s worst October in 27 years, pulling in just $425 million domestically. Big titles like “Tron: Ares” and “Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere” failed to catch fire, making this the worst box office weekend of the year.
Halloween weekend only deepened the gloom. “Regretting You” opened to $8.1 million while “Black Phone 2” hovered near $8 million, marking the feeblest Halloween weekend since 1993. The slump capped months of frustration as studios continued their struggle to get audiences back to theaters.
The year 2025 remains way below pre-pandemic highs, and the hope of a blockbuster season has faded.
Studios hope a stacked holiday lineup — “Wicked: For Good,” “Avatar: Fire and Ash,” “Zootopia 2” and “The SpongeBob Movie” among them — might turn the tide. Add Quentin Tarantino’s “Kill Bill” rerelease and a “Wedding Crashers” nostalgia run, and there’s still some optimism left in the projection booth.
The question heading into 2026 is whether moviegoing has a future — or is as passe as Donny Deutsch’s black Baby Gap T-shirts.
INTERLUDE
Incidentally, we had Mara Gay on this morning to discuss the mayoral race in New York City — but we did find time to ask her about her watch- and playlist:
“I’m reading Ada Limón’s “Bright Dead Things.” I’m listening to Lainey Wilson and Aretha Franklin’s “Amazing Grace” album a ton.
And I just finished “Slow Horses,” about the wayward MI6 agents. Desperately sad it’s over for now.”
EXTRA HOT TEA
1 in 7 men report having no friends. Boys are less likely to graduate from high school and college. Men account for 3 out of every 4 deaths of despair. And 98.4% of mass shooters are men.”
SCOTT GALLOWAY, author of “notes on being a man”
CATCH UP ON MORNING JOE
Trump hosts ‘Great Gatsby’ Halloween party as food assistance expired for millions
Joe reacts to new poll numbers breaking against GOP on economy
What to look for on Election Day in Virginia, New Jersey and NYC
SPILL IT!
This week, Maria Shrivernamed to Forbes’ “50 Over 50” list for her work with the Women’s Alzheimer’s Movement and other initiatives focused on women’s brain health and impact, joins us ahead of the 50 Over 50 luncheon. Want to ask a question? Send it overand we will pick our favorite to ask on the show!
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And thank you to our many readers who write to us! We appreciate all your well-wishes, questions and feedback. (For inquiring minds — Joe will have answers about his band soon!)
Have more to say? Just write here.
Former Rep. Joe Scarborough, R-Fla., is co-host of BLN’s “Morning Joe” alongside Mika Brzezinski — a show that Time magazine calls “revolutionary.” In addition to his career in television, Joe is a two-time New York Times best-selling author. His most recent book is “The Right Path: From Ike to Reagan, How Republicans Once Mastered Politics — and Can Again.”
President Donald Trump was “thunderously booed” Monday night at Madison Square Garden in New York City when he was shown on the Jumbotron ahead of Game 3 of the NBA Finalsaccording to the White House press pool report.
The stadium’s reaction comes after some New York Knicks fans warned he would not receive a warm welcome during the home game matchup against the San Antonio Spurs — despite New York City being the president’s hometown.
The White House press pool report described the boos as “loud and long” and noted the reaction “quickly changed to cheers when the camera quickly panned to [Knicks guard] Jalen Brunson on the court.”
Trump was “standing with his hand over his heart” during the National Anthem as he was met with boos, the pool report said, adding that he was standing between his granddaughter Kai Trump and Knicks owner James Dolan, who “seemed to be smirking at the boos.”
The president’s posse included several administration officials, also watching in the suite, including Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.
At least one Trump official made a courtside appearance with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick seated next to rappers Fat Joe and famed producer DJ Khaled.
The Knicks came into Monday night’s game leading the series 2-0, and fans are hoping for a sweep. That is, defeating the Spurs in four consecutive games without a single loss. The team is on the precipice of earning its first championship since 1973, but Trump’s attendance has sparked outcry from many fans.
Trump, who was invited to attend by Dolan, is the first sitting president to attend an NBA Finals game. Security at the arena has been enhanced in response, and fans attending the game have been encouraged to arrive at least two hours before tipoff to allow extra time for TSA-style screening.
To many fans’ disappointment, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced that the watch party typically held outside MSG during games has been canceled due to Trump’s visit after the mayor, the U.S. Secret Service and the NYPD determined that it would hinder the heightened security measures required for Trump.
Mamdani announced Monday that Bryant Park will serve as a free alternative Knicks watch party location.
The president’s attendance comes against the backdrop of high-stakes elections and international conflict, including the war with Iranwhich has entered its 15th week, marking just over 100 days since the U.S. and Israel launched a joint attack against the country on Feb. 28. His visit also comes weeks after he declined to attend the wedding of his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., citing “a thing called Iran and other things.”
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Erum Salam is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW, with a focus on how global events and foreign policy shape U.S. politics. She previously was a breaking news reporter for The Guardian.
ByRichard L. Hasen
During normal times, the president of the United States would not routinely claim, without evidence, an epidemic of “voter fraud.” But Donald Trump is on another tirade about supposed fraud — this time in California’s primary elections. If there’s any good news, though, the publicity and pushback against his claims will inoculate the public against similar unsupported charges in November’s midterms, if control of Congress depends upon late-arriving results in the Golden State.
Let’s begin with some obvious points. California’s vote-counting process is notoriously slow. Millions of the state’s voters choose to vote by mail, and election officials’ efforts to confirm that voters have followed all the rules take some time. The state has unusually lenient rules for both the receipt of mail-in ballots (timely postmarked ballots may be counted if election officials receive them within seven days of the election) and for curing defective ballots (such as mail ballots on which a voter forgets to add their signature). Despite the popularity of mail-in ballots, the state has not prioritized saving state resources over a quicker vote count.
Further, it is rather routine that California results show Republican and more conservative candidates doing well in initial tallies, only for Democrats and liberal candidates to appear to “gain” as more ballots are tallied. Voters who have lived in the same place longer, own a home, are white and are wealthier are all more likely to receive and send back their ballots early — and they are also more likely to vote Republican.
President Trump has incessantly fueled beliefs on the right that voter fraud is prevalent in Democratic states.
Think about election tallying this way. You have to be away from your television during the Super Bowl and so you record the game. When you watch it the next day — having avoided hearing the result in between — the game is already over. The winner was the same before you watched and after. It is the same with California’s election ballots: All the ballots were cast by Election Day, the election is over, and we just must wait to learn the final results.
The issue of late-voting Democrats was especially pronounced in last week’s elections. In the Los Angeles mayoral race, polls show many voters undecided between unpopular incumbent Mayor Karen Bass, reality TV star Spencer Pratt (running to her right) and Los Angeles City Council member Nithya Raman (running to Bass’ left). Bass made it to the runoff, and the first vote totals showed Pratt in second. But late Monday, with 93% of the ballots counted the Associated Press projected that Raman will join Bass in this fall’s general election.
In the state’s gubernatorial primary, the initial results placed Republican Steve Hilton in first, ahead of Democrats Xavier Becerra and Tom Steyer. As more ballots were processed, Becerra moved into first late Friday. Hilton is still likely to finish in the top two and advance to the general election, but Steyer has not yet been ruled out given the number of outstanding ballots.
This “blue shift” would not be a problem if we lived in normal times. If we have to wait a week or two to find out which candidates will face Bass and Becerra, that’s plenty of time to prepare for November. Unfortunately, President Trump has incessantly fueled beliefs on the right that voter fraud is prevalent in Democratic states, and in particular that California’s slow vote count shows that the system is “crooked.” He did it again last week. It undermines voters’ confidence in our elections’ integrity for no good reason.
And he’s not alone. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson told reporters the “efforts are so diabolical and so far upstream it’s impossible to prove. But I think everybody knows instinctively that something is wrong here.” Yes, the alleged voter fraud claimed by Trump and his allies is always the perfect crime: happening on a massive scale yet impossible to detect. It’s quite convenient to have a theory that is completely unfalsifiable.
Some supporters of Pratt have made similar charges without evidence or simply “asked questions” about potential fraud. They only embarrass themselves by showing that either they don’t understand how California’s process works or they are cynical enough to think the public will accept false claims.
Even now, there is much to worry about regarding November’s elections.
If the race for control of the House of Representatives is close in November, the balance of power could well come down to races in California. Media reports on early returns will show Republican candidates “in the lead” but Democrats “gaining” as more votes are counted. Should that come to pass, I fully expect that Trump and his supporters will again cry fraud and try to delegitimize any Democratic victories and the integrity of the election process.
Even now, there is much to worry about regarding November’s elections. Trump’s U.S. attorney in Los Angeles, Bill Essayli, said he is investigating potential fraud in California’s primaries based upon no evidence. This follows the administration’s ongoing probes related to the 2020 election — efforts that could be a test run for the midterms.
The administration is trying to assemble a national citizen database and attempting to forbid the the U.S. Postal Service from returning mailed ballots from voters who are not on approved lists, a matter now being litigated in courts. Both federal law enforcement and cybersecurity officials have reportedly canceled efforts to help state and local election officials secure the 2026 elections.
But Trump has shown his hand and he’s come up short. It is hard to overstate the importance of the exchange on Sunday between Trump and NBC News’ “Meet the Press” anchor Kristen Welker. Speaking about California’s elections, Trump said“They’re crooked just like you’re crooked, your press is crooked. And ‘Meet the Press’ is crooked.” As Welker pushed him repeatedly for evidence, Trump could only repeat his entirely unsupported charges: “There’s tremendous evidence. There’s nothing but evidence.” In the end, he stormed out.
In the long term, California should still do what it can to speed up the vote count; that would help maintain confidence in elections. With enough resources thrown at the problem and commands from the Legislature, election officials can improve their ballot processing time. But serious progress is unlikely before November.
For this year, election officials, the media and even the public all play roles in assuring voters about the fairness and integrity of the process. California election officials have been quite transparent about their processes all along the way, and that should continue. Media outlets should stop reporting which candidate is “in the lead.” This is not an ongoing election; the election is over, and the results are simply “too early to call.”
In response to charges of “voter fraud,” ordinary people can share media, such as the two-minute exchange between Trump and Welkerwhich show the emptiness of the president’s claims.
Rumormongering about California was always likely to be central to the president’s attempts to weaken faith in this year’s elections. But thanks to Trump himself, anyone paying any attention knows that California’s vote count is notoriously slow, that the “blue shift” favoring Democrats routinely happens and that Trump has produced no evidence to support his claims. The boy has cried wolf too many times, and if he tries this again in November, the appropriate response should be repudiation, not panic.
Richard L. Hasen
Richard L. Hasen is professor at UCLA School of Law, where he directs its Safeguarding Democracy Project.
Los Angeles Council member Nithya Raman will advance to the November general election in the mayoral race to face the incumbent, Karen Bassafter overtaking ex-reality TV star Spencer Pratt in the primary, The Associated Press projects.
Raman has steadily trended upward in the vote count since Election Day, and she overtook Pratt on Sunday. Monday’s vote update gives Raman a cushion of more than 20,000 votes, making her position in the top two safe, with an estimated 93% of the vote counted.
The runoff between Raman, 44, and Bass, 72, is the latest example of a younger Democrat trying to oust an older incumbent. Raman, a Harvard- and MIT-educated member of the Democratic Socialists of America who has represented LA’s 4th City Council District since 2020, launched her surprise mayoral campaign in February — less than two weeks after she endorsed Bass’ campaign for re-election.
The runoff between Raman, 44, and Bass, 72, is the latest example of a younger Democrat trying to oust an older incumbent.
She campaigned on a pledge to bring change to the city, but struggled to deliver consistent messaging during debates, where she walked back some of her more left-wing policy stancesincluding support for defunding the police and opposing anti-camping zones for homeless people.
Bass previously represented LA in the California Assembly, including as speaker. She has served six terms in the U.S. House and entered the mayor’s race facing extensive criticism from Angelenos over both her handling of last year’s deadly LA wildfires — she was in Ghana when the blazes broke out — and her failure to achieve her goal of ending homelessness by the end of her first term.
She has pledged that, if re-elected, she will deliver on that goal. She has also vowed to continue standing up to the Trump administration, pointing to her confrontation with federal agents when the president deployed Immigration and Customs Enforcement to the city last year.
In a statement provided to MS NOW Monday night, Raman thanked her supporters and sought to cast herself as a change agent, pledging to “fight for a healthier, safer, more affordable, and more joyful Los Angeles.”
“For too long, City Hall has prioritized giving political advantage to powerful interests that fund elections. Meanwhile, working people pay the price in higher rents, depleted services, and a city that has stopped working for them,” Raman said. “If you’re as frustrated by the broken status quo as I am, I hope you’ll join our movement to build a city that works for everyone.”
Meanwhile, Bass campaign strategist Douglas Herman said in a statement to MS NOW Monday night: “A campaign against Nithya Raman, who allows encampments near schools and cuts the police force, is one Mayor Bass looks forward to winning.”
Pratt’s fast rise, social media savvy and massive online audience also seemed to make it more difficult for Raman to break through in the primary. He outraised both Bass and Raman since launching his campaign in January.
But some strategists predictedPratt’s backing by MAGA, and President Donald Trump himself, would ultimately help catapult Raman to second place in deep-blue LA.
Indeed, Pratt’s lead over Raman steadily narrowed since primary night as mail-in ballots came in — a fact that Trump and other MAGA allies baselessly alleged proved “fraud” in the race. On Tuesday, Pratt led Raman by 9 percentage points; by Sunday night, she had overtaken him by less than 1 percentage point.
Spokespeople for Pratt’s campaign did not immediately respond to MS NOW’s requests for comment after the results were called Monday night.
Julianne McShane is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW who also covers the politics of abortion and reproductive rights. You can send her tips from a non-work device on Signal at jmcshane.19 or follow her on X or Bluesky.
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