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 Hend Salama Abo Helow | Jul 20, 2026 | Gaza, Genocide, Israel, News Analysis, Palestine, water rights
Each Tuesday, at exactly 8 a.m., Abo Watan Al-Shararha’s mornings are marked by the distant sirens of humanitarian water trucks. The 39-year-old, who struggles to provide for his family of five, must carry empty jerrycans and venture through the rubble of his neighborhood in al-Zawaida, hoping he will make it to the trucks before the drinking water runs out. For Al-Shararha…
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by Kap Seol | Jul 18, 2026 | Charlie Kirk, China, Christian nationalism, far right, MAGA, News Analysis, South Korea, Yoon Suk-yeol
South Korea is often regarded as an example of a young and vibrant democracy. Merely two years ago, mass protests thwarted a self-coup attempted by the sitting far right President Yoon Suk-yeol. But due to an array of social factors, the support of wealthy donors like retail tycoon Chung Yong-jin (the chairman of the conglomerate that owns Starbucks Korea), and growing links to the U.S. right…
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by David Rohde | Jul 18, 2026 | Donald Trump, News Analysis, White House
Documents that President Donald Trump ordered released don’t support his sweeping claims made during a primetime address on Thursday that China manufactured fake votes for former President Joe Biden in 2020 and that a “deep state” cabal hid China’s activities from him.
A review of the declassified intelligence reports showed that, in fact, his current CIA director, John Ratcliffe, either was part of the deep state plot or failed to discover it when he was Trump’s top intelligence official during his first term. It also showed that Trump was briefed in June 2020 on China’s efforts to influence American politics.
Conspiracies that China took actions to change vote totals in 2020 were investigated and debunked by intelligence and FBI officials during Trump’s first term administration, documents show. Many of the claims in the documents were also not new.
Trump’s Thursday night speech, though, may have already done its intended damage, according to former intelligence officials and election experts. He is using the same playbook he did in 2020: spreading conspiracy theories, describing himself as a victim of plot and refusing to accept election results.
Only this time, his target is the midterm elections.
“He’s buying an option on any election,” said a former senior U.S. intelligence official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “If Republicans win, he can say it’s because they fortified elections, and if they lose, that’s proof of his claim that they’re rigged.”
Either way, Trump “wins,” said the former official, “and the country loses trust in a fundamental pillar of our democracy.”
“He’s buying an option on any election,” said a former senior U.S. intelligence official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, referring
by Shahad Ali | Jul 16, 2026 | Gaza, Genocide, Israel, maternal health, News Analysis, Palestine
Birth and motherhood in Gaza, which were once filled with joy, love, and anticipation, have been transformed into an ordeal marked by suffering and distress since the start of the latest Israeli war on Gaza in October 2023. The widespread destruction of hospitals across the Gaza Strip and severe shortages of medical supplies due to Israel’s relentless siege have stripped away the basic…
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