This is the April 29 edition of “The Tea, Spilled by Morning Joe” newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered straight to your inbox Monday through Friday.
BREAKING NEWS
The Supreme Court has struck down a Louisiana congressional map in a major blow to the Voting Rights Act.
Read more from MS NOW below.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“You recently commented, Mr. President, that if it were not for the United States, European countries would be speaking German. Dare I say that, if it wasn’t for us, you’d be speaking French.”
— King Charles III, at the White House state dinner
JOE’S NOTE
In December 1941, three weeks after Pearl Harbor, Winston Churchill walked into Congress and reminded a shaken nation of its greatness.
Yesterday, the King of England did the same. King Charles got American politicians to their feet cheering for values they once championed themselves.
The king reminded them that the Magna Carta has been cited in more than 160 Supreme Court cases, “not least as the foundation of the principle that executive power is subject to checks and balances.”
He spoke of America’s direction being shaped “not by the will of one but by the deliberation of many.”
He praised Ukraine’s bravery for pushing back against Russian invaders who continue to kill grandmothers and kidnap children.
And Charles defended NATO, which freed Europe from the slavery of the Soviet Union.
Here’s what Donald Trump’s dwindling minority should understand: The ovations in Congress weren’t so much for the king, but rather for the ideas that most Americans still believe in.
Sixty-two percent support Ukraine.
Sixty percent say America benefits from NATO.
And the overwhelming majority support America’s “special relationship” with the United Kingdom.
What the king said yesterday is what Republicans once believed — but are too scared to say in front of Trump.
History will not be kind to any of them for it, but they will remember a king who came to Washington to remind Republicans that they are better than what they have become.
CHART OF THE DAY
Source: Reuters/Ipsos poll of 1,269 U.S. adults including 1,014 registered voters, margin of error of 3 percentage points; Harvard CAPS/Harris poll of 2,745 registered voters, conducted April 23-26, 2026, margin of error: +/- 1.87 points
Supreme Court splits 6-3 in striking down Louisiana congressional map
The Supreme Court’s Republican-appointed majority this morning struck down a Louisiana congressional map, over dissent that said the ruling made a key section of the Voting Rights Act “all but a dead letter.”
Justice Samuel Alito said in his opinion for the six-justice majority that the act didn’t require Louisiana to create an additional majority-minority district, so there was no compelling interest justifying the state’s use of race in creating the map, and it’s therefore an unconstitutional racial gerrymander.
Read the full story from MS NOW here.
ON THIS DATE
On April 29, 2018, “The Simpsons” aired its record-breaking 636th episode, dethroning “Gunsmoke” as the longest-running scripted prime-time show in U.S. history. The show has since blown past 800 episodes and is renewed through Season 40 — Springfield, it seems, will outlast us all.
A CONVERSATION ABOUT JAMES COMEY’S INDICTMENT
The Trump Justice Department indicted former FBI Director James Comey for the second time yesterday — over a since-deleted Instagram photo of seashells on a beach, arranged to spell out “86 47.” MS NOW justice and intelligence reporter Ken Dilanian, former U.S. attorney and MS NOW legal analyst Joyce Vance, and New York Times columnist David French joined “Morning Joe” to discuss the charges — and whether they have any chance of surviving a First Amendment challenge.
WG: Ken Dilanian, how did the DOJ get here?
KD: Todd Blanche and his aides have made no secret about accelerating many of these retribution cases that Donald Trump cares very much about. They claim that any reasonable person who saw that photo would interpret that as a threat to the life of the president of the United States. That’s obviously false: Some legal commentators have called that the most embarrassing paragraph they’ve ever seen in a Justice Department document.
This is exactly the kind of political weaponization of the Justice Department that Donald Trump and his allies baselessly accused the Biden administration of doing.
JL: David French, what does the term “86” actually mean?
DF: Speaking as a former waiter, when you say “86” something, you mean “get rid of it.” So if you hear “86 the chocolate lava cake,” it means we’re out of chocolate lava cake. It doesn’t mean brutally murder the cake.
There’s actual Supreme Court authority here. In Watts v. United States, the defendant stated the first thing they would do if they were drafted would be to get Lyndon B. Johnson in their sights, specifically meaning with a rifle, and the Supreme Court ruled it was political hyperbole. This is protected by the First Amendment. So if somebody is going to back this indictment, you can write them off as hopelessly partisan.
JS: I remember the hypocrites in MAGA world clutching their pearls and falling on their fainting couches time and time again about the left not respecting free speech. The same people are now arresting people for taking a picture of seashells and putting it up on Instagram. Joyce Vance, is this going anywhere?
JV: No. The government will have to convince a jury that it has proof beyond a reasonable doubt of this case — and no jury will [agree]. He was on vacation, strolling the beach, posted on Instagram. Was it good judgment? Reasonable people can debate that. Was it a threat to harm the president? Clearly not.
This conversation has been condensed and edited for brevity and clarity.
EXTRA HOT TEA
19,070
— The number of fans at the Buffalo Sabres’ Game 5 matchup with the Boston Bruins when singer Cami Clune’s mic cut out mid-anthem and the crowd took over, finishing “O Canada” without missing a word. “Well that was interesting,” Clune said afterward. “We have the best fans ever.”
ONE MORE SHOT
Vehicles pass a billboard reading “The Strait of Hormuz remains closed” and “The entire Persian Gulf is our territory” at Revolution Square in Tehran yesterday — two months after the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran. President Trump issued a fresh warning to the country this morning, posting that it had “better get smart soon.”
CATCH UP ON MORNING JOE
The post The Tea, Spilled by Morning Joe: ‘If it wasn’t for us, you’d be speaking French’ appeared first on MS NOW.
