This is the Sept. 14, 2026, edition of “The Tea, Spilled by Morning Joe” newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered straight to your inbox Monday through Friday.

“I’m just getting started and I’ll be back here again.” 

—

American tennis star Ben Shelton after losing the U.S. Open final on Sunday  

When you’re losing big, your character comes out. I always told my children to be at their best when their team was down by 5 runs or losing by three touchdowns. 

Keep your head up. Work harder. Forget the scoreboard, and focus on the next play. 

Comebacks happen one play at a time, while your character is measured best in adversity. 

I loved watching Ben Shelton yesterday. After the 23-year-old lost a brutal second set, Shelton continued smiling, kept his focus, and proved himself to be worthy of the moment. 

When the U.S. Open was finally decided, Germany’s Alexander Zverev showed as much graciousness during his celebratory remarks as he did grit during the match. The winner hugged his opponent at the net, then went out of his way to console the American challenger’s father, telling him what a great son he had raised. 

Alexander saluted Ben’s family and told his opponent that he’d bet his last dollar that the young American would one day win the Open. 

Zverev then paid tribute to his own mother’s determination to make sure her four-year-old diabetic son would never be limited by his disease. 

Sportsmanship is often seen in such moments. But yesterday felt particularly special.

Their display of character and class stood in such stark contrast to so many course politicians and public figures who have littered America’s pop culture landscape during the age of Trump.

It may not have been the ending that many of us wanted to see, but just maybe it was the one Americans needed to watch. 

Good luck, Ben. Cheering for you to win a major soon!

CHARTS OF THE DAY

Source: CBS News/YouGov poll of 2,460 U.S. adults interviewed between September 8-11, 2026. Margin of error: ±2.3 points.  

AI Leaders Sound the Alarm 

“Whoever wins AI, wins.” 

That was President Donald Trump’s response Sunday to new warnings from leading tech executives about the catastrophic threat artificial intelligence could pose to humanity. 

For Trump, the more immediate risk is falling behind China.

On Saturday, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei called for “pacing the frontier” — slowing development of the most powerful AI models while safeguards are put in place. His three-step plan calls for independent third-party safety evaluations, coordination among democracies, and eventually, cooperation with authoritarian governments.

Amodei’s proposal quickly won support from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Elon Musk. 

Meanwhile, House Democrats urged Speaker Mike Johnson to cancel the late-September recess and take up AI legislation, including the bipartisan AI Kill Switch Act, which would allow federal officials to shut down a rogue AI system. 

Johnson balked, saying he wants to consult industry leaders before rushing legislation that could give China the upper hand. Trump doubled down, saying there was a “SICK conspiracy” against AI and data centers.

The debate comes as Chinese President Xi Jinping prepares to visit Trump in Washington on Sept. 24, with AI expected to be on the agenda. 

WHAT THEY SAID

Jonathan Lemire on A.I. 

“This is all anyone’s talking about right now: these worries about AI. The political conversation has focused on data centers, higher bills, fears about jobs. But what happened last week went beyond that. There is a real concern here — and the industry is calling for the government to help to lead. They may not.”

David Ignatius on the midterms

“The irony is that Donald Trump may get just what he wants, in that this November people are going to act as if he’s on the ballot — and he’s not popular. He doesn’t seem to realize that.” 

Ed Luce on Ukraine/Russia 

“We have these false dawns, where we think the White House has finally seen the light that Russia is the aggressor and Ukraine needs help. But Trump does not deviate on this. He’s sympathetic to Russia, and I think we delude ourselves if we think he’s ever going to change his mind.”

Pablo Torre on NFL Week 1 

“It’s like the disclaimer you get on investment advice: Past performance is not a guarantee of future results. No sport is more drastically different from the preseason to the regular season than the NFL. There’s a biorhythmic adjustment for every team now, where your body, your health, and your sanity is on the line.”

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