by Joe Scarborough | Jul 24, 2026 | Morning Joe, News Analysis, Tea Spilled Morning Joe, The Tea Spilled Morning Joe, The Tea, Spilled
Thirty-eight thousand people packed Fenway on Wednesday night — the biggest crowd in a decade. The Red Sox lost. Such a Red Sox thing to do, but as I’ve always said to my long-suffering Sox friends, baseball season doesn’t really begin until after the All-Star break. This year’s Red Sox team proved that again, with a dismal spring and early summer. But a historic run in July put them back in the pennant race.
Baseball is life. A long season. Head down. Learn from your mistakes. Burn the bridge behind you. Win the next tonight. Take the next series. And then focus on the game after that.
As I told my daughter as she went off to college, don’t get overwhelmed at everything coming at you at once. Eat the elephant one bite at a time.
The Sox play the Blue Jays tonight. Tomorrow doesn’t matter. One bite at a time.
Here are some fun events you can have a taste of this weekend:
In Queens, MoMA PS1’s “Warm Up” returns today, the courtyard dance party that’s been a summer institution in Long Island City for more than two decades. Six Fridays, all summer long.
In Newport, the Folk Festival takes over Fort Adams this weekend, with three days of music at the grounds that gave us Bob Dylan’s historic move of going electric and Joni Mitchell’s return to the stage. An American original since 1959, and it still sells out for a reason.
In the nation’s capital, Poet’s Homecoming wraps this weekend with its “Big Old Kids Party”: part poetry brunch, part indie wellness fair, all of it free.
In Chicago, Double Dutch Fest takes over South
by Joe Scarborough | Jul 22, 2026 | Morning Joe, News Analysis, Tea Spilled Morning Joe, The Tea Spilled Morning Joe, The Tea, Spilled
This is the July 22, 2026, edition of “The Tea, Spilled by Morning Joe” newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered straight to your inbox every Monday through Friday.
There’s a traditional notion in Washington that a president’s second term tilts toward foreign policy in an attempt to solidify a global legacy.
That’s proven true for President Donald Trump as well, despite his “America First” agenda. The war in Ukraine, global tariffs, battles with NATO allies, regime change in Venezuela, the ongoing war with Iran — all of it has dominated the Trump administration’s focus since he returned to office last year.
Trump voters chose a candidate who promised to keep America out of foreign wars, and specifically warned that his opponent would attack Iran. He assured his supporters that domestic concerns would come first.
But look at what’s happened.
He threatened Greenland, Canada, and Cuba.
U.S. troops invaded Venezuela and bombed Iran on his orders.
Trump insulted NATO, attacked the prime ministers of Italy and Spain, and raised tariffs on our closest friends— all while pulling troops out of Germany and warning he would take them from Poland.
So much for America First.
Eighteen months into Trump’s second term, we invited three foreign policy experts to join us on “Morning Joe” to discuss the president’s legacy and where he might take America in the years ahead.
Richard Haass, president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations:
“Almost two years into Trump’s second term globally, I would define his foreign policy as a kind of aggressive unilateralism.
“Traditionally, the United States has pursued what I would call an imperial foreign policy — promoting a rules-based order, building alliances, maintaining stability. Under Trump,
by Joe Scarborough | Jul 10, 2026 | Morning Joe, News, Tea Spilled Morning Joe, The Tea Spilled Morning Joe, The Tea, Spilled
This is the July 10, 2026 edition of “The Tea, Spilled by Morning Joe” newsletter.Subscribe hereto get it delivered straight to your inbox every Monday through Friday.
ON THE CALENDAR
It’s a World Cup weekend. Spain meets Belgium at SoFi this afternoon. Norway vs. England and Argentina vs. Switzerland tomorrow. France already punched its ticket last night — and Mbappé is now one goal from tying Messi’s all-time record. Somewhere in between all of that:
In New York, watching movies at home is out; watching them in the park or on a rooftop is in. And if a concert is more your speed, take your pick: Jay-Z at Yankee Stadium, Meghan Trainor or AfriCarnaval at Lincoln Center.
Just down I-95, “Beetlejuice” is back in Washington, D.C., for a run in the capital’s National Theatre. Go catch the ghost with the most, babe.
In Chicago, things are less “race” than they are “racy” at the 22nd Annual World Naked Bike Ride this weekend. The dress code is “bare as you dare.” Questions? Us too.
For the peachy keen in Georgia, PeachFest at Underground Atlanta takes over Sunday — live fruit-bearing trees, 30-plus chefs whipping up their best peach-forward meals, and a peach-cocktail-off, all on the menu.
Out west, Shohei Ohtani makes his final pitching start before the All-Star break tonight against the Diamondbacks. A 1.79 ERA tends to be worth the price of admission.
Up the coast, San Francisco’s Free Folk Festival returns to Golden Gate Park all day Saturday for its 50th year. Half a century of free music in one of the great American parks.
In Miami, Turntable Bagel asks the brave question: “What if we could shmear
by Joe Scarborough | Jul 8, 2026 | Morning Joe, News, Tea Spilled Morning Joe, The Tea Spilled Morning Joe, The Tea, Spilled
This is the July 8, 2026, edition of “The Tea, Spilled by Morning Joe” newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered straight to your inbox Monday through Friday.
“I don’t want to deal with them, but they’re scum. You know what scum is? They’re scum, they’re sick people, they’re led by sick people, and they’re vicious, violent people. And if they had a nuclear weapon, they’d use it. As far as I’m concerned, it’s over.”
— President Donald Trump, saying the memorandum of understanding with Tehran is over in his view, after the U.S. and Iran exchanged new strikes
JOE’S NOTE
JD Vance went on CNN last month and called it “the coolest thing” that IRGC officials were willing to sit down with the United States.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is a U.S.-designated terrorist organization that has spent 47 years funding terrorism — killing Americans and our allies.
There is nothing cool about lifting sanctions and allowing $10 billion in oil revenue to flow to the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism.
There is nothing cool about promising Iran $300 billion in reparations — more than Germany had to pay at the end of World War I at Versailles.
There is nothing cool about a memorandum of understanding worth half a trillion dollars that does nothing except let Iran blackmail us with the Strait of Hormuz.
Before the administration lifted sanctions, the State Department warned that the money would be used to fund terrorism and kill Americans. One week later, it lifted the sanctions anyway.
The Obama administration understood that there was no deal until the entire deal was done. You do not give away your leverage in installments and hope
by Joe Scarborough | Jul 3, 2026 | Morning Joe, News, Tea Spilled Morning Joe, The Tea Spilled Morning Joe, The Tea, Spilled
AMERICA’S 250TH — A GUEST ESSAY BY WALTER ISAACSON
When Thomas Jefferson finished a first draft of what was to become the Declaration of Independence, he sent it to Benjamin Franklin on the morning of Friday, June 21, 1776. “Will Doctor Franklin,” he wrote in his cover note, “suggest such alterations as his more enlarged view of the subject will dictate?”
For the next 10 days, the drafting committee made edits and tweaks. Most notable was the crafting of the soaring second sentence. Other nations had been born out of conquests and rebellions, usually based on tribal or religious identities.
But the United States was born out of an ideal, which they proclaimed in the memorable words: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
It may be the greatest sentence ever crafted by human hand.
As we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the nation it brought forth, we have become increasingly polarized. But birthdays can be a time to put differences aside and celebrate, with gratitude, who we are. One way to lower the temperature is by appreciating anew the sentence that became our common creed and mission statement.
ON THE CALENDAR
No birthday party quite like a 250th. Americans will turn out this weekend in red, white and blue for barbecues, fireworks, parades and more in New York, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, Houston, Charlotte and everywhere in between. Happy birthday, America.
In the Big Apple, the “largest flotilla of the world’s tall ships” from more than 20 nations
by Joe Scarborough | Jun 24, 2026 | Morning Joe, News, Tea Spilled Morning Joe, The Tea Spilled Morning Joe, The Tea, Spilled
This is the June 24, 2026, edition of “The Tea, Spilled by Morning Joe” newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered straight to your inbox Monday through Friday.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“They want you and your family and all of us to be killed. They want to wipe our civilization off the map. That’s their national motto.”
— Republican senator and former Navy SEAL Tim Sheehy on the Trump administration’s push to normalize the Iranian regime
JOE’S NOTE
Tip O’Neill, the legendary Democratic speaker of the House, liked to say all politics is local. He always said he got the line from his father.
And last night, Democrats showed they still understand that.
Pundits and podcasters are going to look at New York City, where Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s endorsed candidates swept all three of their primaries last night, and say the Democratic Party has gone too far left.
But when I ran for Congress in Northwest Florida, people didn’t care what was happening on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. They cared about Northwest Florida.
And that’s exactly what we’re going to see in South Carolina.
Democrats there nominated Nancy Lacore, a retired three-star admiral who devoted her life to this country — until Pete Hegseth fired her.
South Carolina voters in November aren’t going to be thinking about whether Mamdani is too much of a socialist or too tough on Israel. They’re going to look at the two candidates in front of them and decide: the war hero or the one who does whatever Trump says?
Same story up north of New York City, where Democrats nominated Cait Conley to take on Mike Lawler. Conley spent 16 years in the Army as
