This is the June 25, 2026, edition of “The Tea, Spilled by Morning Joe” newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered straight to your inbox every Monday through Friday.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“No one gives a shit about housing.” 

— President Donald Trump, March 2026

JOE’S NOTE

The stage was set yesterday in Statuary Hall. A desk, the presidential seal, a dozen flags were perfectly placed for the signing of the most significant housing bill in a generation.

Then the president backed out. 

He wrote on Truth Social that the event was cancelled “until such time as we pass the desperately needed SAVE AMERICA ACT, which I consider to be a National Emergency.” 

Republicans in Congress were deeply disturbed. John Cornyn called the president’s actions “inexplicable.”

“I don’t know why you’re holding a bill that’s ready for signature hostage over a bill that will never pass this Congress,” Thom Tillis said. 

I support voter ID. So do 80% of Americans. But the SAVE Act is about voter suppression, not fair elections. In 44 states, a driver’s license wouldn’t even be enough to comply. And the Republican bill creates real problems for women who dated to get married and changed their name. 

And now it’s the ransom Donald Trump is demanding for supporting a bipartisan housing bill that would help working families who need it most.

STEVE RATTNER’S CHARTS

As the United States and Iran slouch toward an agreement to end the war, the White House’s suggested outcome would deliver a massive financial windfall to Iran. And the payoff would come far more quickly than it did for Barack Obama’s JCPOA.

Iran has already had sanctions lifted on its oil sales, a move that is expected to provide the Persian Gulf country with an additional $6 billion of revenue during the proposed 60-day negotiating period.

Iran will then have $12 billion of its frozen assets released before a final deal is agreed to. (Neither of these gifts to Iran happened before the JCPOA was signed.)

A side-by-side comparison of the two deals shows stark differences.

Obama did not give Iran sanctions relief until the entire agreement was signed. The Trump plan gives the terror state billions before the first item is agreed to.

By the end of his negotiations, Obama unfroze about $50 billion of “usable” Iranian funds.

Trump will likely unfreeze nearly $80 billion.

Two important collateral effects of Trump’s war with Iran: In order to maximize oil supplies, the president relieved Russia of the price cap that had been imposed on that country’s exports as punishment for its invasion of Ukraine. That has provided Russia with an estimated $22 billion in oil revenue just during the 98-day period the price cap was suspended.

ON THIS DATE

In 1973, recently fired White House counsel John Dean began testifying before the Senate Watergate Committee, tying Richard Nixon directly to the cover-up for the first time. Months earlier, Dean had warned the president of “a cancer growing on the presidency.”

WHAT THEY SAID

Sam Stein on Ukraine 

“Trump’s doing foreign policy based on vibes and video clips. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s backers on Capitol Hill are more confident now about coming out and saying, ‘We can expedite this war if we push more aid to the front lines. This was the path we should have taken all along.’ Vladimir Putin looks foolish for having launched this war, and this is a real opportunity to create internal strife inside Russia.”

David Ignatius on Iran 

“There’s still a cat-and-mouse game going on. We haven’t seen evidence that the hard-liners in Iran are prepared to work with the United States, but that’s the premise the administration is betting on. We all want to see some transformation of Iran. But what we have so far is more a wish list than any systematic pathway to ending the war.”

Anne Applebaum on Russia 

“There’s an enormous amount of discontent moving across Russian society, and there are people inside the Russian elite who dislike the war. There’s now a clear battle for influence over the president — and that could result in Putin looking for a way out.”

Mara Gay on NYC elections

“Many Americans, not just Democrats, see that the party establishment has failed to make their lives better and prevent Donald Trump from gaining power. So they’re taking a chance on something new. The DSA is bringing competition to primaries that had very little. More competition is good for democracy — and voters should have their say.”

EXTRA HOT TEA

$880 million

— The amount Republican-leaning donors have poured into this year’s election cycle, compared to $290 million by Democratic donors. See who the biggest individual donors are.

ONE MORE SHOT

Secretary of State Marco Rubio meets with Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud in Manama, Bahrain, on Thursday as he seeks Gulf allies’ support for the interim U.S. deal with Iran.

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