The Tea, Spilled by Morning Joe: Friday edition

This is the Feb. 6, 2026, edition of “The Tea, Spilled by Morning Joe” newsletter. Subscribe hereto get it delivered straight to your inbox every Monday through Friday.

My first memory of a Super Bowl was watching the flickering image of Super Bowl III on my parents’ television set. 

While Joe “Willie” Namath was shocking the world by carrying the New York Jets to their first — and only— Super Bowl victory, I vaguely remember my dad tying his tie and getting ready to take us all to church.

That was the thing about being a Southern Baptist back then. Just going on Sunday morning was never enough. My parents would also take us to services on Sunday nights and Wednesdays.

It wasn’t until we moved to upstate New York, when I was in fifth grade, that we got to see all the festivities and excitement surrounding the grand game. 

We were a football family. My parents threw me on the field when I was 8 years old and lined me up with my big brother’s team — playing against 12-year-olds. I’m guessing there’s a law against that now, but at the time, it just made players my age seem slower, smaller, and not nearly as tough as the guys I spent my first few years competing against. 

Friday-night lights, Saturdays dominated by SEC football, and Sundays focused on the NFL framed every weekend throughout the fall and winter. 

A sports depression set in after the Super Bowl was over. 

I still remember the first edition of my Sports Illustrated subscription arriving the week after the Super Bowl — and featuring the winners of the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. The swimsuit issue followed the next week and was enough to shock a sports-obsessed kid out of his sadness. 

I still don’t know to this day how that magazine made it past my mother without ending up in the kitchen trash. But it did. 

As the years went on, life took over — law school, raising kids, practicing law, running for Congress. Football was the last thing on my mind for a decade or two.

That all changed when fantasy football grabbed the attention of my boys, and suddenly we were all watching NFL RedZone religiously every Sunday.

We’ll all be watching again this weekend, and I’ll be excited to follow the game because my children are excited to follow the game.

But let’s be honest. All that really matters to me now in the sports world is that the Boston Red Sox find a right-handed batter and a second baseman before pitchers and catchers report to spring training in a few weeks.

Enjoy the weekend, and I hope your favorite team wins!

ON THE CALENDAR
Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow on Monday, and right on cue, we ushered in six more weeks of winter with temperatures set to plunge in the Northeast this weekend. 

Of course, winter is a prerequisite for the Winter Olympic Games, which kick off tonight in Milan, Italy. 

Meanwhile, weather won’t be an issue in San Francisco for Super Bowl Sunday. The unofficial national holiday features the New England Patriots facing off against the Seattle Seahawks — and a highly anticipated halftime show by Bad Bunny. 

And if the on-field action, prop bets, music performances, and commercials somehow aren’t enough, there’s always the Puppy Bowl — with Team Ruff and Team Fluff vying for the Lombarky trophy.

Away from the field, dogs are also stealing the spotlight at New York City’s Javits Center, where the annual Meet the Breeds expo gets underway.

Also in New York, the Metropolitan Museum of Art hosts a Lunar New Year Festival. 

In Washington, D.C., the National Museum of African American History and Culture presents a special exhibition exploring how historically Black colleges and universities preserve history — and help shape the future.

In the Steel City, waddle over to the Pittsburgh Zoo & Aquarium, where visitors can experience Penguins on Parade!

Theme parks aren’t the only fun in Orlando, Florida, where the DTOLive chalk art festival transforms city streets into colorful, larger-than-life canvases. 

And in the Windy City, the Chicago Auto Show rolls into town. 

Now on to your questions!

MAILBAG

Joe, love your attention to and on the Supreme Court. Do you have an idea why it is so reticent on rulings? Is there any way the public can demand more of this court? — Karen B., Dalton, Ga.

Hi Karen. Great question. My best guess is that the conservative majority is afraid of offending Donald Trump.

This is painful to say. 

I’ve been a defender of the federal judiciary in general, and the Supreme Court in particular, ever since Trump first entered office in 2017. 

While there were many Supreme Court decisions that I disagreed with over the years, I understood that most of them had far more to do with long-held ideological views than cynical, partisan posturing. 

That was even true when the court overturned Roe v. Wade, despite my repeated warnings that doing so would seriously undermine the court’s credibility with the American people. The Republican-appointed justices were far too flip about tossing aside a 50-year precedent that enjoyed overwhelming public support. 

Still, the truth is that many of those justices had spent most of their adult lives criticizing Roe’s legal reasoning. As misguided as I believed that decision was, I knew it reflected their long-standing beliefs.

Federal courts also stood up to President Trump’s deranged conspiracy theories regarding the 2020 presidential election. They handed the Trump administration 63 straight losses, and even the Supreme Court pushed back on his lies.

Unfortunately, the highest court in the land began pulling their punches when he was running for office again in 2024. Their decisions appeared designed to delay prosecutions against Trump throughout the election year. 

Justice delayed was justice denied. 

Trump never got his day in federal court because the Supreme Court used procedural tricks to stop Jack Smith’s cases dead in their tracks. 

Then came the ruling on presidential immunity. While most commentators overstated its long-term impact — and the safeguards put in place to protect future presidents against political prosecution — parts of the decision were deeply disturbing and seemed clearly aimed at protecting Trump. 

But 2025 was the year the Roberts Court betrayed America’s interest most dramatically. 

The justices clearly knew that Donald Trump‘s use of the National Guard and Marines for domestic policing was illegal. And yet they did nothing to stop it until the last day of the year. 

Had the court acted sooner, much of the chaos that unfolded in the streets of Chicago, Los Angeles, and Portland, Oregon, could have been prevented.

The justices’ low point came last September, when Brett Kavanaugh ruled that people could be stopped on the street based on their race, accent, and place of work.

It was a bigoted and profoundly un-American decision. And it took more than three months for Kavanaugh to reverse his own shameful holding. 

We will see how long the Supreme Court sits on its hands before ruling on critical challenges to the Trump administration’s unlawful actions in Minneapolis and Fulton County, Georgia. 

What can the American people do? Elect presidents who respect the rule of law, civil rights, and the constitutional norms that have guided this country for years. 

What is the consensus amongst you, Mika, Willie, and Jon Lemire for Super Bowl picks? Mine would be the Patriots! Drake Maye will have a great game. — Nina S., West Palm Beach, Fla.

Nina, I’m so glad you asked. Willie, Jon, Pablo, and I believe the Patriots are going to upset the Seahawks to win the Super Bowl. However, Mika is going with the Seahawks. And for some reason, Mika usually gets it right when it comes to sports predictions!

Here’s hoping we have a great game!


Hey Joe, what do you think is the real reason for sending ICE agents to the Olympics, knowing nobody wants them here, especially after the recent events in Minneapolis? The people here will surely stand up against this. We know that this administration despises Europe, so what’s the sense in this? Thanks. — Anna, Lübeck, Germany

That is a great question, Anna. I wish I had a better answer than I do.

Millions of Americans are horrified by how this administration has deployed Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers on the streets of our country.  

They’re also embarrassed by the president’s continued attacks on our closest friends and most valuable allies. 

Americans remember the sacrifices our NATO allies made after 9/11 — and I remember what a critically important ally West Germany was throughout the darkest days of the Cold War. Your country was the “tip of the spear” against the Soviet empire, and we will always be grateful for your friendship. 

ICE does not belong at the Olympics, and it does not belong in the streets of America. We can protect our borders and deport the “worst of the worst” while being humane to migrants and refugees. 

Thank you for being a friend to America, even when some politicians make that a hard thing to do. I am grateful.

ONE MORE SHOT

Vic Stein/NFL/Getty Images via Smithsonian Magazine, Al Bello /Allsport, Jamie Squire/Getty Images, Kevin Mazur/Getty Images

A man with a jet pack at Super Bowl I, 1967; Diana Ross performing at Super Bowl XXX, 1996; Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band performing at Super Bowl XLIII, 2009; Prince performing during Super Bowl XLI, 2007.

CATCH UP ON MORNING JOE