This is the August 6, 2026, edition of “The Tea, Spilled by Morning Joe” newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered straight to your inbox Monday through Friday.
As I wrote in The Atlantic, one of President Donald Trump’s political superpowers has long been his shamelessness:
“Most of the time, he demonstrates a singular ability to shrug off — or flat-out lie about — scandals or missteps that would have caused another politician’s career to self-immolate. Get caught on an ‘Access Hollywood’ video boasting about abusing women? That’s just locker-room talk! Grow insecure about crowd size? The photo must be doctored! Mistakenly suggest that Alabama was in the path of a hurricane? Someone get a Sharpie and a map! Trump has long been able to shrug off a bad headline and move on to the next news cycle, counting on his base to swallow his claims and never waver in their support.”
But that seems to be changing. In recent weeks, Trump has furiously lashed out after being embarrassed by two things important to him going awry. He wanted the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool cleaned up ahead of the July 4 celebrations, only for it to turn green and have to be closed down. Furious, he blamed vandalism — and a former Olympic canoer — even though there was no evidence to support such a claim.
And then his new, gifted Air Force One was deemed not secure enough to fly near the Iran war zone. That time, an enraged Trump ordered an investigation into New York Times reporters who broke the story about the Secret Service’s security concerns about the plane. Subpoenas were soon served to the reporters, some at home.
In both cases, the investigations were later tabled. But the message has been sent that Trump is willing to pull the levers of government to punish those who he believes have wronged him. The question now: How will he next lash out against Iran, which has humiliated him repeatedly for months?
WHAT THEY SAID
Richard Haass on Iran
“The administration can talk tough, but at the end of the day, they are going to have to accept a more influential Iran. Iran is better off for all the damage we’ve inflicted, and the United States is worse off in this part of the world. And more broadly, it raises fundamental questions about the dependability and reliability of the United States.”
Nicolle Wallace on voter sentiment
“It is amazing that the Republicans whose careers are on the line in November do not have the self-awareness to realize that voters are tired of waiting for their politicians to be responsive to the things they’ve been saying for 10 years. Donald Trump is the greatest beneficiary of that in American political history, the reaction to voters feeling like politicians weren’t responsive to their needs. So this is one of the great ironies — his inability to recognize this moment.”
Story 2 ARE AMERICA’S CYBER DEFENSES UP TO THE TASK?
Reported cyberattacks on several states’ water systems have raised concerning questions about America’s cybersecurity.
A U.S. official with knowledge of the matter told MS NOW attacks on dozens of Minnesota water systems were probably the work of Iranian hackers. It appears the hackers were stopped before water was rendered unsafe to drink. But Cynthia Kaiser, former FBI deputy director of cyber, said the situation could have been a lot worse.
“It’s really difficult across, especially rural America, to have the right amount of funding and resources to be able to harden themselves against these attacks,” Kaiser said.
Kaiser said while this attack was unsophisticated, it’s still critical to shore up America’s defenses — and weakening infrastructure. At least a dozen states have reported similar cyberattacks on their municipal systems, resulting in service disruptions, boil-water notices and local flooding.
“America is really under attack,” Kaiser said. “Americans should be a lot more angry about what’s going on in cyberspace than they are.”
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