Transcripts For MSNBCW Morning Joe 20190610

Author of songs of america officially out tomorrow and morning joe and economic analyst Steve Rattner, along with president of the council on Foreign Relations and author of a world in disarray and also with us form of dccc, adrienne el rod, an ms red sox slugger david ortiz is in stable condition after being shot in the back. Police say ortiz was approached by two assailants, one of whom is still at large and the bullet that hit ortiz in the back exited through his stomach. According to witnesses, only one shot was fired. A Police Press Conference is expected later this morning. Jonathan, obviously shocking news not only for those of us who have grown up loving david ortiz and the Boston Red Sox, but bu also for all baseball fans, everybody thats known this man, as he was going into surgery he said something to the doctors that so many people that have known ortiz through the years inside and outside of Major League Baseball have known, and that is i am a good man, asking them to save him. He is a good man. In fact, ortiz said hed much rather be remembered as being a nice person than a great baseball player. This was truly shocking news when it broke late last night. Hes beloved there and it cant be overstated what he means to the city of boston and throughout new england. He was a fear competitor but an the clutch hits time and time again, he led the comeback against the yankees in 2004 that ended the championship drought and two more championships followed. A lot of people will remember him in 2013 after the Boston Marathon bombing, he gave this speech at fenway park that this was our [ bleep ]ing city. And that led the team to a world se sear. On the personal note, my son, david met him once and couldnt have been nicer to him. Big papi, were rooling. Our thoughts and prayer are with him and the entire red sox family this morning. Mika, why dont we start in mexico. The agreement that the United States and mexico reached on migration arerts the implementation of President Trumps threatened tariffs on mexican goods. President trump took to twitter on friday night to announce the deal, under troops throughout the country, mainly to its southern about expants a program called migrant, protection, protocols, which as their asylum claims are pending. Mexico also says it will offer those migrants jobs, health care and education. The agreement does not you which would have required the country to permanently accept most acai. The president pushed this as really great news this past weekend. But of course controversy arose immediately because many people in mexico, in the United States and also many reporters are saying this deal was nothing new. So theres been a back and forth this weekend over whether this was new or not. Well, trump called it, quote, a new deal. Reports say mexico previously agreed to deploy forces in march. A Key Administration official said key elements of the deal had been agreed to months ago but added the two sides had agreed to expand on some of the previous commitments. The official noted mexicos commitment to deploy up to 6,000 troops was modestly larger, up from about 5,400 and npr reports that full a federal judge blocked the implementation of that program but an Appeals Court said it could move forward while the legal challenge proceeds. So after averting a crisis he set into motion, President Trump is now dpee that critics say will do little to curb the migrant crisis. Arrests at the border have been soaring in recent months, to levels that are twice of what they were under president obama, putting President Trump under pressure to address the issue. As new yorker staff roois are the president s constant threat of sweeping go to the u. S. Now before its too late. Meanwhile, mexicans favorable view of the United States has been cut in half during the Trump Presidency according to pew research. Richard haas, a very good point made by the new yorker, and this is something weve seen from the very beginning. Barack obama over the course of the Obama Presidency had taken extraordinarily high illegal Border Crossing numbers and using both carrot and stick got those numbers down to 50year lows. President trump has come in and because of the threats, because of the sky is falling rhetoric, in large part because also as has been said here, playing into the smugglers hands, these actually created part of that crisis and of course the other part of the crisis is caused by the fact that hes cutting actually relief to those Central American countries that need it the most that would keep in the their. I think that last point, joe, is most critical here. Immigration policy cant start at the border and any time it does, youre playing defense and youre playing catch up. The us doesnt have this new agreement may not be all that implementation is lot in lf and one last thing and steve can comment on this. The fact that this was done using authorities, emergency authorities, that were never meant to be used for this purpose at a time the administration had just introduced or started the process of getting the new u. S. mexico trade agreement approved by the u. S. Congress. So its so inconsistent. What this does is undermine any confidence on the part of business i dont think this gained a lot of on implications b but. Peep may not realize just how important of a trading partner sfrp and its also, despite the fact at that the fact is their gdp is that plays right into the hand of those who would not wish the United States well just south of the border. Yeah, mexico is a huge trading partner. What people dont fully appreciate is that its not as if we just buy some stuff from co and many of our imports from mexico, youll see parts going back and forth across the multiple borders as Companies Optimize their supply chains and do some things in the u. S. And some things back in mexico. So for us to get into some of an economic war with mexico is terrible for mexico and its also terrible for us. Youve seen the reaction in the Business Community to what the president has been doing. President trumps been promising relief for American Farmers who obviously are getting hammered every day because of the president s trade war with china. On saturday he tweeted that mexico would be come together rescue, whiting in all caps mexico has agreed to immediately begin buying large quantities of our products. But three mexican officials told bloomberg yesterday they werent aware of any side deals. They wrote last week the importance of separating the signals and the ground noise. These false claims all ground noise, all intended to look tough to his ben mitt theyre nothing more than donald trump falsehoods. We may look back, remember the guy who whats landed his house in the pocket. And hes stlrichard with know more about this than i would. I continue to think that foreign leaders must look at this presidency in the way that we used to look at particularly unstable regimes. You just have to pick and choose and figure out who is going to be here for the long term, who is not going federal budget this would any foreign power theres only two problems with it. One is our allies. They count on our predictability and adversaries, theyre basically say they go can challenge us. They dont have to take it that seriously. So rather than deterring, the day and er day ander of. This past wook he was actually quite gracious to france and other western european allies. And then he turned his rhetorical fire south of of the border to mexico. Its interesting, looking at the Mexican Press this weekend, they have a very different reading of the way that this whole negotiation over tariffs went down. Their headlines are screaming things likes mexico wins, mexico has deactivated trump. Theyre definitely seeing this as something they got the better of the Trump Administration over. That probably unbut and i think thats whats really throwing other countries off. When i was in europe during the course of all last week, a part of the feeling is that, okay, we got oos what happens if theres another for years of donald trump . That is quantifying willbut also the relationship that they have to have with the us. Sfchl and what is the actual impact of these tweets, of these policies, of these tax . And and it interestingthis is a person who is going to be hurt to he wants the allcaps tweet. But at the end of the day, it working class and montanale and the farmers who will feel the pitch the Des Moines Register, media come cnn. Pole still has former Vice President in the lead but his share of the vote has dropped three points since march to 24 this while senator Elizabeth Warren has jumped 6 points to the 1 and mayor butte judge got a sixpoint budge to practically nothing in march to now take 14 of like live caucus goers. Meanwhile, seven others hit 1 in the poll, which helped them as candidates continue to work to qualify for one of the first debates, a lit more than two weeks away. I think the Elizabeth Warren might be the story but talk about those not on the list to this point. What happens to those campaigns . A couple observations about this poll. First of all, were seeing that the top field of candidates, the top contenders are starting to july. Secondly, as you noted, as opposed to 2016 when there was one other candidate i guess two if you want to include martin omalley. Bernie sanders does not exactly is. Hoose been in washington a long toop but he hasnt actually passed a will the of legislation that are saying maybe actually want somebody like Elizabeth Warren who does have a crack record. In terms of the rest of the field a couple of organizations on her as well. Aim aimee and they a lot of accolades because they had supporters where theres work teaking place behind the scenes and strong are base that may not always be reflected in some of these polls. But this really leads up to the fact that the debates matter so much, mika. Candidates will have a chance in a couple weeks to really show their stuff for lack of a better term and to cry to create some sort of buy at and that top tier is now solidby hoard before, hes to be doing everything right so far. Shes cut fire hp, for having detailed policy roles out, seemingly throughout the day. Shes really connected. And shes also sort of improved rapidly as a retail politician, which is always sort of a knock on her and she seeps to be really connecting and downbut his lead here is small are that be some of the National Polls that this steve, question for you. You know the democratic field and donor base and so on. Which campaigns here do you think because theres some bold faced names, governors, senators, the mayor of new york city, who doesnt even register on that poll. The debate will be a flash point for certain. But coming out of that, which campaigns are going to be in real trouble if they cant really start catching fire either in the polls its the people they would look this is support for all the candidates. But theres a disconnect between the people who my world like to see win and those who are actually dethe as we said. Nobody can really break out. As we said earlier, the campaign others enjoyed the rice everything loves to talk about it, its still too early, stl too early. When you have 21, 22 people in the field, its not too early to be sitting at 1 looking at all the people youre going to see Second Quarter fundraising reports coming out soon. I think youll see dramatic dropoffs and very small amou amouamount. People will say its going to be clear by the summer that many of tem is for iowa to super tuesday many and it includes california with eight media markets. Youre going to have a ton of monday really quickly to be able to compete in those primaries. So i think youre going to see money win owing out this feel all by itself in israel tifl short order. All right. Also just on Elizabeth Warren, its been fun to watch her kind of slowly climb up. We know how much she loves this. He loves doing town halls, she loves connecting with people. She so resilient and dogged and you see that happening on the campaign trail where she just keeps going at it and it appears to be paying off. Theres a new piept push to stop first, lets go to bill care ngs, a little on some damage at the university of duke and we had three fatalities as three men drove into this creek when the water was high. They didnt see how high the water was, they got a tran frn. So lets get into this forecast. We are watching that same storm system moving to the northeast today. Its not as bad as it was. We will have mine or travel delays. The othering about weather story is out in the west, a huge has moved in. We had one fire yesterday. Today 21 Million People are under ahead, could be rain on new york city saw just a pictures being almost as good as you nt youre watching morning joe. Well be right back. Joe. Well be right back. My experience with usaa has been excellent. They really appreciate the military family and it really shows. With all that usaa offers why go with anybody else . We know their rates are good, we know that theyre always going to take care of us. It was an instant savings and i should have changed a long time ago. It was funny because when we would call another insurance company, hey would say oh we cant beat usaa were the webber family. Were the tenneys were the hayles, and were usaa members for life. Get your usaa Auto Insurance quote today. So, every day, we put our latest technology and unrivaled network to work. The United States Postal Service makes more ecommerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country. Ecommerce deliveries to homes a lot will happen in your life. Wrinkles just wont. Neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repairs dermproven retinol works so fast, it takes only one week to reveal younger looking skin. Neutrogena® cant see what it is yet. Re . What is that . Thats a blazer . Thats a chevy blazer . Aww, this is dope. This thing is beautiful. I love the lights. Oh man, its got a mean face on it. It looks like a piece of candy. Look at the interior. This is nice. This is my sexy mom car. I would feel like a cool dad. Its just really chic. I love this thing. Its gorgeous. I would pull up in this in a heartbeat. I want one of these. That is sharp. The allnew chevy blazer. Speaks for itself. I dont know who they got to design this but give them a cookie and a star. Welcome back. Joe bidens president ial campaign is not ready to say where the former Vice President currently stands on past positions related to abortion restrictions. Last week biden abruptly droppedless longstanding opposition to federal funding for abortions, due to what he said is an unprecedented attack on abortion rights. But it followed the blowback from an exclusive nbc report in which his campaign had informed that biten was still in favor of the restriction. In an interview, Biden Deputy Campaign manager Kate Bettingfield would not does he will he ask a potential Supreme Court justice. Is he now supported in its a crisis . Im not going to get out ahead of the Vice President. I think he has been very rather. Including two to jofr third trimesseder abortion. Would he support a restriction on that . He is a supporter of a womans right to choose. I am not going to get out ahead of him. So john meacham, last week when we were in normandy and i got the news that joe biden still supported banning taxpayer funding for abortions, i thought i saw the visit of the dnc rise from the mist in the distance. Were not going to see that, especially on the topic of abortion where it seems that roe is so under siege right now. Not only from donald trump but also from governors across the country. Yeah, its the ever expanding of polarization. Issues that at least had a 6040 consensus, e. Even if i can the arena where we cant talk to each other about it. I know from just talking in young are women and tennessee, a awill be to take on this president , whom even if hes not directly responsible for whats going on in the state, hes certainly the richest symbolic target. Mika, we have seen one state after another state after another state in the south pmt as weve been show over the past 11, 12 years, an extreme position, always causes an opposite lurch. And just a few weeks ago when this debate really started heating up, we were talking about, you know, half americans consider themselves prolife, half of americans consider themselves prochoice. Those numbers are changing and theyre chaining rapidly. Yes, they are. So over half of americans say they are in favor of legalized abortion, but according to they sel selfdown 12 points. By the way, as you look at those numbers right there, a swing on an issue that has been set in often f it tells you everything you need to know about the impact of these state laws that are being passed. Serve, just 13 wanted. But they are difficult described how limited the law should be. 21 believe protections should be expanded. 16 said leave it alobe. 14 want to keep they would not for a cant that would support theof clarity on the issue sp. Snlt or that he has on this issue is not exactly roo pskt look, the thing that i think candidates should realize and we saw this certainly with Hillary Clinton when i wacked on her came pain in 2016, candidates people evolve over im and heres why. Saw that hp fmt within 48 hours saying he supported the Hyde Amendment and he reversed course quickly. It didnt seem authentic or credible or general enough to a lot of potential voters. So i imagine, number one, this is something we will see and hear a lot about during the debates. Number two, i do think he needs to clarify his position on this. Kate benning field is one of the best in this business. I think he is and but in missouri, across the deep the roo strictive laws that are set up. Supporting these laws. Joe biden, can me not sacredably the facts have changed dramatically, i have sfrlt and say row of and the Supreme Court a snrmt abortion has always been tricky to pull because depending on how you can answer the question, you gblt its a little bit more fluid. But those thifrts as you point out, 20 points effectively over the course of this is not on about abortion, it about particularly those are the people that are really attacking and that mabs it in sfm theyre the ones being. From this mom eliminating it, it not had who has run pr president twice before. It hasnt gone that welfare reform. This was the night before they had nmt john meacham. Montana to n oh, suppose, but i think thats an hadnt i concern in a world where donald trump is sfrp do rue. From a ff sflt hoose been in the senate sense he was 937 you pretty much m and maybe people doesnt want this. In since were rahal on talk abo abouting from pennsylvania and sweep up the long necks he didnt even really clean it up. In other words, once you make that one switch, you know theres a twol tear. Agree. Basically, youre bef again, donald trump is very many of us. During the South Carolina primary while slashing and burning george w. Bush who at that time. In wuchlt fwhchlt in msh began, in oo kp you are watt rk lefthand f may be different than a strategy for a general election. Oh, by the way, a lot of prolife catholics in the state of florida as well. You take those five states that john meacham mentioned, those are going to be the five most important states in 2020. You had a lot of union workers, a lot of catholics, a will the of prolifers who want to beat kmak but for jm and the decision that he made on the. Respect for women, listening to him, beand he needs to try and figure out how to tell people where he hands on this and not forget the part of it that makes biden biden and that is where this went which was. Amade of a kpchl the sfchlt . They sure sound like they did the hundreds of thousands of dollars in expensive italian suits. Really . Its unbelievable. The Washington Post has details on this story next on morning joe. Applebees new loaded chicken fajitas. Now only 10. 99. And i dont add trup the years. S. But what i do count on. Is boost® delicious boost® high protein nutritional drink has 20 grams of protein, along with 26 essential vitamins and minerals. Boost® high protein. Be up for life. But allstate actually helps you drive safely. With drivewise. It lets you know when you go too fast. And brake too hard. With feedback to help you drive safer. Giving you the power to actually lower your cost. Unfortunately, it cant do anything about that. Now that you know the truth. Are you in good hands . Carol has the first question for you. Jonathan . First walk us through some of the eye popping questions, including 275,000 for Wayne Lapierre. He dresses better than i do. Is that a wait, hold on. The table has turned on me here. The table has turned on me. We thought your camo italian suit looked really good last week. Thank you. Secondly, the nra has wielded incredible political clout in recent elections, particularly in 2016. Talk to us about how that could change because of all the infighting that were seeing here and youve documented. In addition to the fact that i think you look quite fine finally some support. I will answer this question by saying this is maybe the ugliest family feud ive ever seen. You have the nra, the behemoth in conservative politics, such a force in controlling members of congress, telling them the way they would vote because their money was so valuable and important and now theyre having a fight about how they spend their own money. Whats important to me about these amounts of money that are going to Board Members is a board is typically in charge of good oversight and corporate governance, and thats in serious question when one fourth of your board is receiving some sort of financial benefit, either from the nra or its vendors or through contracts and Financial Transactions that initially were not reviewed by the board overall. So how can you truly exercise oversight over a group if youre getting money on the side from that group . The nra is also in a massive battle with its vendor, the ad agency ackerman mcqueen. Thats how these interesting dollar figures have come to light about section pensive italian suits that Wayne Lapierre is buying. There will be more disclosures about the kind of spending Wayne Lapierre was directing him to make so that members never knew what this money was for. They just knew they were paying their ad agency but a lot of this money went to increase the voltage of the lifestyle of Wayne Lapierre and other lieutenants of his, also raising questions about the governance of this organization and whether or not members dues are being used properly. Do you see any evidence that any of this or the stories between olli north and way lapierre are having, is this having any impact . In the years we have been covering the nra, i have never seen members go on the record to say essentially what is going on with my gun right group . What is happening with my dues . I absolutely do see and we quote several of them in the story, members just throwing up their hand and saying they view this as cronyism, as worrisome and that they dont trust the leadership of the nra today. Carol, thank you very much for your reporting. Please keep us posted. A great story. Also thank up for your kind words about jonathan lemire. Always appreciated. The Paul Manafort collection. Oh, god. I could do the oscars. Now available at rikers island. A lot of pushback those tryi support a prince who killed a columnist and also got us into a war in yemen. Theres leadership that acts in way that are not in our interest, may not even be in their own. But then again, the administration is choosing procedural mechanisms to bypass the role of congress. To say its an emergency and you therefore have to do away with congressional oversight, this ought to be debated and congress ought to have a say. Let me ask you about hong kong, a lot of protests going on there. Get us up to speed with that and then well go to Steve Rattner and get his response. Essentially theres this new law that allows local authorities there to extradite people there accused of crimes elsewhere and one of the places conceivably they could be extradited is to the mainland. And this doesnt take place in a vacuum. This takes place in a context since the handover 20 years ago, the mainland has moved to integrate hong kong in ways that essentially are beginning to undermine the various assurances that the people there receive and the british received at the time of the handover about hong kongs specialness and separateness. Thats being eroded regularly in all sorts of ways. This has implications not just for hong kong but also high want. This is part of the strengthening of the power of the Central Government in bay jiang, what it means for hong kong, what it means for taiwan. Its the first time youvine this kind of pushback against this encoachment. Hong kongs special liberal status that i i think when hong kong was turn over there were guarantees they would be treated under its own rules. But the broader con ticket is what they are doing there with respect to economic and social issues and trying to tighten his grasp around the entire country. It has implications for the market economy. Hes starting to pull back the rans about the Economic Sustainability of chinas economy. Can i just give you one quick fact and i heard and i just looked it up to confirm it, back to the nra. 60 of all the issue spending by conservatives is by the nra. They are a force in the conservative world like nothing else and it adds up to 60 . The unbelievable thing is, mika, theyve taken their members dues money and spent it on themselves . Have spent it on their on the and unfortunately is just the beginning of this story. Were going to hear a lot more about it and well see if theyre going to be in any position or have any money to actually engage in the 2020 elections because they certainly didnt in 2018. Well, coming up, the House Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing later today on the Mueller Report and Lessons Learned from the russia probe. Well talk to congressman and member of the Judiciary Committee David Cicilline about what hes hoping to hear from former nixon counsel john dean. And trump claims mexico is a big win but what is actually new . And senator graeme played golf with trump over the weekend saying i dont like what he says about john mccain, but when we play golf, its fun. Ut when we play golf, its fun. Award winning interface. Award winning design. Award winning engine. The volvo xc90. The most awarded luxury suv of the century. When i needed to create a better visitor experience. Improve our workflow. Attract new customers. Thats when fastsigns recommended fleet graphics. Yeah, and now business is rolling in. Get started at fastsigns. Com. So chantix can help you quit slow turkey. Rkey. Along with support, chantix is proven to help you quit. With chantix you can keep smoking at first and ease into quitting. Chantix reduces the urge so when the day arrives, youll be more ready to kiss cigarettes goodbye. When you try to quit smoking, with or without chantix, you may have nicotine withdrawal symptoms. 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Oh, look, karolyn, weve got a mathematician on our hands check it out now you can schedule a callback or reschedule an appointment, even on nights and weekends. Todays xfinity service. Simple. Easy. Awesome. Id rather not. These men came here, british, our other allies and americans to storm these beaches, for one purpose only, not to gain anything for ourselves, not to fulfill any ambitions that america had for conquest, but just to preserve freedom. Weve gotten over 100 billion from other countries where theyre starting to pay because it got to a point where we were paying so much, i think we were really paying close to 100 of nato. So we were paying to protect all of these european nations. That was dwight eisenhower. He just said we pay 100 . I know. The e. U. Has a Defense Budget thats bigger than russia and china. The europeans have been there shoulder to shoulder with us and helped news our long Twilight Struggle against communism, helped us defeat the soviet union union and assign them to the dust bin of history. Im hoping that was spoken in complete ignorance on the president s part. I hate to think he would deliberately lie about allies that would shed blood in the pursuit of freedom and as our allies across the globe aefr the past 60, 70, 75 years. You saw President Trump last week sitting in front of the graves of the dead from the battle in normandy. This is a president , giveagain, did not serve because he had bone spurs, or so he says, but nobody can confirm them. Welcome back to morning joe. We have mike barnicle, washington anchor for bbc world news america, katty kay. Historian and msnbc contributor john peameacham and professor ee glaude jr. And political reporter for the Washington Post robert costa, the moderator of Washington Week on pbs. Mike barnicle, we spoke last hour of the news broken overnight, former Boston Red Sox slugger david ortiz in stable condition after being shot in the back in a club in the Dominican Republic. What can you tell us . Thats about all we know, joe. The facts of what happened are still kind of vague. He was in a night club and he was shot one time. It appears to be a through and through wound entering his lower back and emerging from his abdomen. Thats a good sign. Hes in stable condition. He underwent surgery. Another person was shot, according to initial reports, from the same bullet. We also know this is not an odd thing to happen, unfortunately, in the Dominican Republic in santa domingo, which has become an increasingly dangerous place for tourists over the last few years. A lot of gunfire in that city, a lot of guns available in that city. Were awaiting word on exactly what the motive was. The shooter is in custody. Theres one other Person Associated with the shooter who appears not to have been caught yet but the shooter is in custody but we dont know what the motive was. So, mike, you know david ortiz better than most of us. Tell us a little bit about him. David ortiz is a genuinely good person. Thats the first thing you should know in addition to the hall of fame stats that he has. What he meant to the city of boston and the red sox over the course of a long career. He was a selfmade hitter, released by the minnesota twins, picked up by the Boston Red Sox in the spring of 2002, went on to establish himself as one of the most feared lefthanded hitters, hitters period, left or righthanded hitters in baseball, the clutch performances in playoff games are legendary. He is an iconic figure in Major League Baseball. Hes a very popular player among other players in Major League Baseball. Theres no sense of envy or jealousy toward him because of his exuberant personality and because of the way he has handled himself. Well, President Trump tweeted over the weekend, quote, if president obama made the deals that i made, both at the border and for the economy, the corrupt media would be hailing them as incredible and a National Holiday would immediately be declared, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. And then he does his best Rodney Dangerfield by saying i dont get no respect. Unfortunately for the president , some of his toughest critiques are now coming from the conservative wall street Journal Editorial Board who wrote this about the weak job numbers that arrived on friday. Mika . Well, he says employers added a mere 75,000 jobs last month but even these paltry gains were erased by the labor departments downward revisions for april and march. Job growth has averaged 164,000 this year compared to 223,000 in 2018 and 217,000 during Barack Obamas second term. The jobs trend this year is going in the wrong direction, the Unemployment Rate held at 3. 6 , the lowest in years. The u. S. Labor force has lost 583,000 workers since january, the first springtime decline since 2013. As we learned in the obama years, Monetary Policy alone cant overcome bad fiscal trade or regulatory policy. The may jobs report is a flashing yellow light that mr. Trump needs to settle his trade wars and get back to promoting growth. Again, that from the wall street Journal Editorial Board. Steve rattner, that expression, yellow blinking light, is an expression that you actually used on friday before tthe wall street journal editorial was written. We have been hearing despite, again, numbers that just on the surface look extraordinary, 50year Unemployment Rate lows and other really positive areas of the economy, were starting to hear concerns in the markets, were starting to hear concerns about blinking yellow lights, blinking red lights. Tell us about this economy. What can we expect . That is of course the 64,000 question. Were at one of those inflexion points where its really hard to know for sure. But what you have going on at the moment are really two factors that are interacting in a way thats kind of unfortunate. One, you have a general economic slowdown going on around the world for a whole variety of reasons. Europe is a mess, china we talked about the previous hour has its own set of challenges and so forth and the u. S. Was on a sugar high, which it couldnt maintain anyway. So you had a drop in Production Output around the world. Its even turned negative in some countries but layer trumps trade policies, which has completely discombobulated businessmen, which has put them in a position not to know how to organize, moving supply chains out of china and into southeast area. All of these are very disruptive practices and situations they have to address. It has caused a real pulling back. Even the Capital Investment numbers that trump has been trumpeting, no pun intended, has started to weaken. The wall street journal is saying dont use Foreign Policy tools as an economic weapon, try to keep them separately and try to remember why we, the wall street journal, was for you was because of your policies of deregulation, tax reform and promoting trade, not trying to curb trade. The worlds economy is very much at anflexion point. If you look at the bond market, which is a pretty accurate predictor of the future, it is flashing red, if not yellow lights, that it could tip in the future and trumps reelection, which is one issue hes been able to promote himself on. Youve had investors worrying about the impact on their jobs and wallets to a trade war with china and now a trade war with mexico. This deal that donald trump pulled together with the mexicans, whether its a real deal or not new deal. Whether its a new deal or not, well find out in the weeks to come. Was that deal made, quote, necessary, because of the revolt on the hill about this trade deal with mexico . The wall street journal editorial echos that there as a sense that the Federal Reserve and a possible coming rate cut could sustain the market but they really have fear about the trade war, both with china and with mexico, specifically with mexico if youre in the midwest and with china as well. And on immigration, there is some skepticism on background, if not always publicly at this moments against President Trumps deal because they know that the southern border of mexico is 600 miles long and they also know that the president of mexico was eager to cut a deal and theyre going to have a waitandsee mentality. They know this white house wants to play to the gop base ahead of 2020 because congress isnt appropriating much for the wall at all. They know the president is eager to show action. But they also have a waitandsee approach. Is this going to stop the migration coming up from central america. Thats certainly conservatives are eyeing already. And is this it for the election of 2020 . Is it all about the stock market numbers, the unemployment numbers . Is that going to be in the end determine whether President Trump will get a second term . I dont think so. I think they will play a role. Its always been the case, at least among the chartering classes, that its the they we have the lowest Unemployment Rate, folks are still trying to figure out how theyre going to pay for college for their kid, make sure they have food on the table and pay their bills and the like. But what im interested in in this moment is trump truly believes in tear is. Without evidence, he believes in the economic value of tariffs. So what im thinking about, is this an ideological dispute within the Republican Party thats now in full view . Because trump comes in office in some way skeptical of what bannon and others call globalists. He doesnt believe in the postwar war ii consensus, he doesnt believe in nafta, he doesnt believe in the philosophy of the global economy. So are we seeing on the editorial page of the wall street journal the ideological dispute that is trumpism in full view. I want to share my objects quickly. And you have this iz logically incoherent moment, so the free throw of people, the free throw of ideas, the free throw the goods. This is not a coherent chapter in that story. So to what extent was this a genuine conversion of a philosophy on the part of the Republican Party, i think deminute miss. I think this is a marriage of convenience that theyre going to end up regretting. Well, and, john, if you go through the checklist of what the Republican Party has stood for, what the conservative movement has been about from edmund burke through russell kirk, through william f. Buckley, through Ronald Reagan, it is, its free trade, its free markets, it is a challenge to the russian menace, it is the standing united with our northern atlantic allies, it is all the things well, its suspicion. Whether youre talking about j. F. K. Speaking in berlin or Ronald Reagan speaking in berlin. Right. They believed you used the power of the presidency to promote freedom at home and abroad, and not just in warfare but, more importantly, for those two with their words. They stood with the people of berlin, they stood with the people of eastern europe, they stood for democracies over totalitarianism. That has been core of the at ras the learn about it at the feet of my father thats what conservatism was once about. This moment appears to only be about trump, unlike reaganism. Thats why i dont think trumpism survives donald trump. You know, joe, i was going to ask you about just that exact point that you just pointed out. Trumpism, john, you used the phrase trumpism, as if it was an ideology of the Republican Party. Its symptoms. Tease what it is. Its not ideology. Its rooted in innorgnorance of things around us, its rooted in ignorance of the effect of widespread tariffs. What happens to the Republican Party when trumpism either fades away, diminishes, he loses, whatever. What happens to those people who are in awe of it right now . I think and i do think i agree with your description of trumpism, i also think that we would make a mistake to ignore its salience and its populous power to move people because its so elemental, its nativist. These are recurring features in American Life that ebb and flow. Right now theyre flowing, we need to find a way to ebb. My own sense historically is this is entirely about character, this is entirely about who steps forward to be the posttrum trump figure. We all know the day after the 2020 election, win or lose for the president , mike pence is going to be trying to cash in his chips. Hes put this guy in a bear hug and is going to want something back, it seems to me. Who are the people who will step forward and say we want a restoration drama . We want to make america truly great again, whatever the phrase is. I think the future of the Republican Party depends on who steps forward to lead. I also think, mike, that part of what is going to say to these people who are for trump at the moment, who believe in trump, that it really didnt work out so well is what is likely to happen in the economy over the next year, year and a half. I think were going to get to the next election and youre going to have Democratic Candidates and maybe even saying are you really better off than you were four years ago . The economy is going to be slower. There as a possibility were going to be in a recession and most importantly, willthose who elected him. I think theyre going to find themselves this is not what we signed up for. And theres an uncontrolled element. There is. And you have people right now that are grasping. Theyve been grasping for the past 15, 16 years searching for hope. So many people who voted for donald trump across those states we keep mentioning also voted for barack obama in 2008, voted for george w. Bush in four, voted for a democratic congressman who helped elect nancy pelosi speaker in 2006, two years after letting two years after that, they went back to check the tea party. Two years after that, they elected republicans again to check barack obama and donald trump got elected in 2016. But you talk about mike pence and i tell you whats going to happen to mike pence, the same thing that happened to george w. Bushs people that were all around him. They will not be welcomed into plig Polite Society inside or outside the Republican Party. Mika, as you know, unfortunately youve had to read them, ive written three books and theyre all the same book. They all talk about how republicanism and how conservatism fails when they spend too much money, when they become Big Government republicans. Well, you know and so many other people know the grief i caught from 2004 through 2008 for criticizing george w. Bush. I was hammered incessantly. Guess what . January 21st, 2009, suddenly everybody agreed with me. Conservatives agreed with me. Republicans agreed with me. Of course we didnt say we were on for kicking you know what out of joe for the past four years, but suddenly it was safe to say what i had been saying for four years once george w. Bush left town be and the wall street journal editorial page in 2004 already talking about Big Government republicans on the pages of the wall street journal in 2004. So there were a few other kfrs donald trump is in power. He will not be in power at some point and when that happens, this, quote, restoration will come as easily as lets say a nikki haley nomination or a marco rubio combination. Trumpism lives and dies politically with donald trump. There is no second act, there is no future. This a man who supported gun control his entire life, this is a man who supported the bank bailouts, this is a man who supported abortion his entire life, this is man who in 2009, think about this, in 2009 talked about nationalizing the banks. Ill say it again. A decade ago, donald trump supported the big wall street bank bailout and even said he would be fine if the federal government nationalized the banks. There is no trumpism after trump because donald trump believes in nothing other than power. And when that power is gone, trumpism evaporates with it. Well, congress is back on capitol hill this morning where democrats are trying to focus the debate on the contents of the special counsels investigation, with a House Judiciary Committee hearing featuring legal experts this afternoon entitled lessons from the Mueller Report, president ial obstruction and other crimes. One of the people who is to testify, white House Counsel john dean who was a star witness that eventually let to the impeachment hearings congressman, talk about john dean as one of the witnesses. What is the the aim there . Good morning. Well, the purpose of these hearings and well begin a series of hearings today that will begin to tell the American People about the contents of the Mueller Report. And john dean of course can tell better than anyone the kind of Historical Context of it, a corrupt administration and a coverup. But the real purpose of hearing are the other two witnesses who are going to help the American People understand the exact conduct of the president. The president of the United States ordered don mcgahn to fire the special counsel and then ordered him to lie about it and created false documents to support that lie and several other instances of obstruction of justice. So this will be an opportunity to tell the American People whats in the Mueller Report. Only 3 of the American People have read it. Its our responsibility to bring that roar to life, and this is the beginning of that effort. Congressman, we want to get your reaction, though, to what one of your republican colleagues told caskasie hunt l night. Here is republican congressman woodall explaining why he hasnt read the Mueller Report. Have you read the Mueller Report . I have not. Why not . I said when we started this conversation i trusted robert mueller. Every u. S. Attorney i knew said hes a man of great integrity. So why not read the report . I have a concern when you put the entire power of the United States Justice Department behind anything. You you can achieve an agenda, you can drive a message. Im at a loss of words. I dont even know what to ask you. The guy did not read the Mueller Report. Its a grave dereliction of duty. I read the Mueller Report in its entirety the day it was released. Everyone should do that. Its a complete dereliction of duty. Absolutely. And if people read the Mueller Report, theyll come to the conclusion that this president has engaged in serious misconduct, crimes and impeachable offenses. Everybody has what responsibility to read it, particularly members of congress who are required to make judgments on it. Maybe youll read it to him and read some portions to him and educate him as to what he didnt actually see because he didnt read it. In is a member of congress who doesnt read the special counsels report. I mean, its this is trumpism. A lack of knowledge, a lack of desire to even know anything that might be true. And sadly, mika, the republicans on the committee in the congress broadly have evidenced no willing news to hold this administration or this president accountable in any way. So its not hard to imagine theyre not interested in even reading the report because if gauging in robust oversight of a serious. How do you squared the ned for enand looking at what happened in ireland, for example, this weekend the debates there and the fact that nobody was talking about the mueller investigation, nobody was asking about russia, not even the candidates were talking about the mueller investigation. Look, i think we have to do two things. We have to continue to deliver on the important priorities of the American People. Weve passed 250 pieces of legislation, including Ten Health Care bills to drive down Prescription Drug costs, to protect coverage for preexisting conditions, weve passed equal pay for equal work, universal background checks, child care athe grim republicer, as he calls himself, hes not going to take up any of these bills but we need to continue to focus on the matters that effect the American People and we need to hold this they dont want to hear about the daytoday oversight responsibilities. They want us to deliver on the issue follow the facts, get to the truth and take the appropriate action. So, i dont thinkman, you indicated already that onlyso this inquiry that is about to begin today with john dean appearing is not your obligation given the illiteracy or functional illiteracy surrounding us, to tell a story and from woonsocket to watch hill in your state, a lot of people have not read this. So how are you going to tell this story . How are you going to make it compelling . Who are your witnesses going to be . Is it going to be a chase scene . Good guys, bad guys . Tell us how you intend to tell the story. Well begin that effort today. I think youll see members of the Committee Walk the million and theyll make judgment on what the conduct manse and well hear from the special counsel will continue to provide that information. But it should be remembered when the nixon impeachment inquiry began, only 19 of the American People supported impeachment. By the time it was done and the story was fully told and people understood what happened, the overwhelming majority of the American People supported it. Folks are leading their lives, taking care of their kid, working every day. They dont have the time to study this and read all this. Thats what they hired to us do. Thats our responsibility in congress. Members of congress have a responsibility to do that and use these hearings to tell the story of the pervasive corruption, abuse of power and my conduct of this president. Bob costa. Whats the strategy behind calling mr. Dean and continuing to talk about issues like water in the 197 0z when this was all unfolding. Well, i think it provides some important Historical Context. Certainly mr. Dean knows about a corrupted situation. He knows the power of a coverup. I think hes going to provide a really important Historical Context, the former u. S. Attorneys that will testify today, will we begin to really bring in the actual witnesses in the Mueller Report. All right, congressman David Cicilline, thank you very much today. Robert costa, thank you for your reporting. And still ahead on morning joe, the Washington Post bureau chief is here with her new book on the Great Successor, a revealing look at the young dictator and the millions of people forced to support him. 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Because now xfinity lets you transfer your Service Online in just about a minute with a few simple steps. Really . Really. That was easy. Yup. Plus, with twohour appointment windows, its all on your schedule. Awesome. Now all you have to do is move. That thing. [ sigh ] introducing an easier way to move with xfinity. Its just another way were working to make your life simple, easy, awesome. Go to xfinity. Com moving to get started. Hey, robert costa, i wanted to follow up with that conversation that we were just having with the congressman. Nancy pelosi is so disciplined. Ive always, whether i agree with her politically on every point, you just have to respect the discipline that she has over her caucus. And yet i would think shed be very uncomfortable with john dean coming, sort of the ghost of watergate swirling around the chamber where nancy pelosi herself has been trying for the past several months to tell everybody dont focus on impeachment, lets focus on getting people to work. And you dont hear Speaker Pelosi talking about john deans appearance as something thats shes touting, as something that she wants to be highlight for voters. But she also knows that representative cicilline and other members of the Judiciary Committee are far more down the line toward calling for impeachment proceedings than the rest of the House Democratic conference. So she, in effect, when you talk to her allies and associates wants them to blow off some steam, continue to investigate, to let them feel like theyre in control and to a certain extent be in control of some of these impeachment discussions. But she ultimately wields the gavel and has the power. Shes trying to manage them as much as shes trying to guide her party. So thats basically in effect what shes doing right now. I was going to ask what your reporting showed. She was opposed to it. She made the statement in caucus, that was very controversial, about him going to jail instead of being impeached. Is this nancy pelosi letting members let off steam while they push their own agenda. Its complicated. Shes showing her own members that she believes the president has committed conduct and had conduct thats appalling to her, but she knows that the public is not really there in terms of polling. So she wants to have solidarity with them in the mission but not necessarily in the strategy. But she cant control them. Shes are committ these are Committee Chairmen that have their own power and shes trying to support them and not force them either. What are you looking at this week . Your discussion about the Republican Party is a fascinating one, always looking at that. It is a tenyear story, joe. You think about the reaction to the global economy, talked about president george w. Bush, the Republican Party unraveling. It goes back to the january 2009 date. Ever since republicans now are trying to figure out is it going to be Vice President pence, is it going to be secretary of state pompeo, ambassador haley. They see democrats in iowa over the weekend taking that same populism that elevated President Trump and targeting major organizations. Republicans have taken that and targeted illegal immigration and said thats the answer to this reaction to the global economy. And thats the fight. Thats the coming fight. And what im looking at is both can Speaker Pelosi hold her ranks together and where does the Democratic Party really want to go at this moment and how is Vice President biden going to step up to try to give his party a real message that either counters or is in, again, solidarity with that left flank of the party. Thank you, bob costa. Thank you very much. Joining us is beijing bureau chief, the author of the Great Successor and its great to have you on the show. You were able to get exclusive access to kims inner circle, including his aunt and uncle, who posed as his parents when he was growing up in switzerland, accompanied Dennis Rodman and a downandout sushi chef who became his play mate and the first to identify him as his fathers successor. What did you find out . I found out that kim jong un is not the joke that we make him out to be. He looks like a dictator who should have a white cat on his lap that hes stroking there. He has approached this job very strategically to be able to engineer his ways through the power structures in north korea and to defy all of the expectations. Very few people thought he would be able to keep a hold on the north korean regime but seven and a half years in, hes still there and he appearings to be very strong, no signs of any cracks to the leadership. To what extent does have Donald Trumps endorsement, to what extent has that helped him domestically . Or does he not need help because hes head of the kim dynasty and no one is going to help him anyway . It does help. He also a been able to present himself as being the equal of the leader of the free world. This is great for his propaganda photo album, his brag book in north korea to be able to say, look, i am an internationally respected global statesman, im the right guy for this job, but also really importantly, hes been able to say that he has done something that both his grandfather and his father before him wanted to do but never managed to do. Lets hone in on him personally. Did he know his father . How well did he know his father . Yes, he knew his father. When he grew up, he spent a lot of time in the same compound. So so he never knew his half brother, the guy he had killed in the airport how does the government manage to restrict the access of information to the outside world to so many people of an entire nation . How does he do that . Its hard to overexaggerate just how repressive north korea is. It is completely closed off from the outside world. There is no internet, there is no foreign media whatsoever. You can try to pick up radio waves but they peacekeeper up the signals all the time. But its coming from foreign media. Of all the defectors ive met, ive never met a Single Person who hasnt seen a south korean so opera or chinese action movie. The real question is with this information secretly coming into north korea, why hasnt there been any change . Why hasnt north korea opened up or more . He knew his father but you say in the book the most significant thing is in some ways whats missing . What is it about. Its really hard to figure out what is going on with kim jong un. He is so isolated. So few people have met him or know about his childhood. But when i was reporting this and going out around and trying to meet books and i went outside the Apartment Building where he lived and i aukd and the school. He had a very normal experience in middle and there was a lot of education that he spent these four formal years that he would be open minded and pro reform and things that i actually think its the you know, he had trouble communicating, he didnt stand out at all. I think that probably proved to him why he needs to keep this system in tact. If it wasnt for this bizarre penalty cult and oppressive system, he would just be another normal person. In the last two weeks there were reports he killed people working for him. Its not clear who, in anyone, actually was caught. How routine is that for him in terms as a mechanism for enforcing his control. Its become very routine for him. This is how he has kepts the system together because he doesnt care about the messes at all. He only cares about that 1 in pyongyang, the elite leadership who keeps him in power. So he has coddled them. Life has gotten much better for them but at the same time, anybody who runs afoul with him gets the chop basically. So he is distach and there he had report gun. So that is how he has reinforced his rule because its a very powerful deterrent to think if i question this guy or raise my eye about him in a bureau immediating, i could be nextle. Amazing. Fascinating. Fright againing. The Great Success oof. Thank you so much. Thanks, mika. And last week parachutists marked the anniversary of dday by recreating jump the brave soldiers made into normandy 75 years earlier. Yesterday congressman jason crowe and Michael Waltz also paid tribute by recreating the jump themselves in period planes and dress. The congressman joins us next on morning joe. Every day, visionaries are creating the future. So, every day, we put our latest technology and unrivaled network to work. The United States Postal Service makes more ecommerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country. 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This is supposed to be today a storm. Its a little like the invasion itself. The weather was a big factor, they delayed it a day and it worked out okay. You look at the weather we have. We have beautiful weather. Its been this way wherever ive been. Weve been now for three and a half days. Im saying is it always like this . Its pretty beautiful. But it can be pretty rough. My god. So hes asked about whats going through his mind thinking about what happened in normandy 75 years ago and he just riffs about the weather. Joining me a former army ranger who earned a bronze star during the invasion of iraq and served two additional tours in afghan san. Democratic congressman jason crow of colorado. Yesterday he commemorated dday by jumping from a world war ii era plane into normandy. I hope the weather was good. I actually think theres something more than symbolism in what you did. I think theres such a lack of value in history and facts these days with this presidency that remembering is so important. And i just want to ask you what that jump felt like and tell us why you did it . Good morning, mika. First off, its good to be here on the ground with you in the u. S. Yes and thanks for having me on here. It meant so much. That experience of jumping out of a vintage aircraft wearing world war ii uniforms, you know, 82nd Airborne Division airborne. The same unit i served in, in the army. And jumping into the same fields and cow pastures that those paratroopers jumped into 75 years ago was such an honor. And a lot of it was to keep that story alive. We wanted to be able to tell that story of extreme sacrifice, service to the country, you know, service over self and what that means and the sacrifice that those men made that day, to keep us all free was really important. Yeah. Mike . Thank you for your service and thank you for the jump you made over the weekend. And hopefully you had someone pack your chute for you, because its been a while since you packed your own chute, i bet. Its been a while. You know, i was thinking, listening to you speak and i was thinking, last week, when we were there during the show, i was honored to have known in a peripheral way, general gavin, who jumped into st. Maragleise 75 years ago. And the first wave on omaha beach was a slaughterhouse. And history hasnt really recorded what a slaughterhouse it was. But what you did yesterday and what youre doing in congress, how can we keep this story alive . The real story, the real history of what dday meant, not only to those who died and sacrificed their lives, what it meant to the world . Because i think its important now that we these stories still resonate and theyre not right now. Yeah. First of all, i think its important that we keep on telling the story. You know, i dont think we can tell that story enough, that there were people throughout the history of our country who made great sacrifice, put their lives on the line, their freedom, their fortunes on the line, so that we could be here free today. The second is we have to act in a way that honors them. You know, the way that we act, the way that we conduct ourselves. I was really honored that i did with think friend, mike waltz, a republican congressman from florida. We did this as a bipartisan jump, were both combat veterans. And we dont agree on palaolicyl the time, but we both came to congress with the idea that we were sent here to find Common Ground. To look at where we can see shared values, where we can find Common Ground and actually get things done for people and not play political games. And i think its more important than ever that we act in the way that we want our country to be. That we respect each other, that we show that we can actually Work Together and get it done. And you know, thats leadership by example. You know, we learned that in the army. Thats the first element of leadership is, you just do it. And you show the people what you can be. So congressman, given that we saw the clip at the beginning of this segment of the president sitting in front of the war graves in normandy during the course of that interview, he also talked about other american politicians in ways that were particularly derogatory. Do you have qualms as a veteran yourself looking at that image . Well, you know, its no surprise that im not a fan of President Trump, but what im going to do is just keep on keeping the focus on the men who made the sacrifice. The focus needs to be and should be there. That is what this was about. The sacrifice 75 years ago. I cant control President Trump. Thats very clear. You know, he has a history of doing things like that. I dont think thats going to change anytime soon. The best i can do is just lead by example and tell the story of people that made sacrifice, work with people across the aisle, to keep on telling that story, and leading by example, and finding some Common Ground. Because at the end of the day, you know, the trump era will end at some point. And you know, its no surprise to people that i hope it ends sooner rather than later, but were going to have to go forward then as a country and figure out a way to build bridges, to come together and move Forward Together. And thats what im spending a lot of my time doing. Who are those people, what are those relationships that i can build . What are those areas of Common Ground that i can find, so that we can move Forward Together . And its what those men did 75 years ago. You know, they came from every corner of the country, from the bronx, from farms in kansas, from colorado, from the beaches of california and they you know, when they came together, they may not have had a lot in common, but they found a way to come together, find that Common Ground, fight together, and for me, thats the story. Well, congressman jason crow, thank you, on many levels. Thank you and great to see you back on the show again. Thank you. Some winners from over the weekend in sports and entertainment. A surprise ending to an already curious triple crown season as tentoone long shot sir winston held out favorite tactitus to win the 152nd belmont stakes. That was an incredible race, as well. An historic day in paris, where rafael nadal captured his record 12th french open title with a fourset victory over dominique thiem, the only player to win any major 12 times. Nadals 18th major victory of his career moves him just two away from Roger Federers alltime record. And broadway celebrated its biggest night yesterday at the 73rd annual tony awards, hosted by the late late shows james corden. Hadestown was the nights biggest winner, taking home a total of eight tony awards, including best musical and best original score. And it was a night of firsts for tootsies fontana and the chers show, both winning their first tony awards for best leading actor and actor in a musical, respectively. The ferryman won four tonys including best play and briyan cranston won best leading actor for network. And ali stroker made history after she won the award for best featured actress in a musical for her performance in oklahoma, making her the first wheelchair user to receive a tony. And congratulations to ali. Still ahead, President Trump hits back at critics for questioning the administrations new deal with mexico. The acting Homeland Security secretary says the deal is all new, but the New York Times has fact check on that. Plus, Democratic White House hopeful stormed iowa over the weekend, hoping to win over voters ahead of 2020. We are digging into new polling from the first in the nation caucus state. Youre watching morning joe. Well be right back. Ng joe. Well be right back. Let me ask you something. Can the past help you write the future . Can you feel calm in the eye of a storm . Can you do more with less . Can you raise the bar while reducing your footprint . For our 100 years weve been answering the questions of today to meet the energy needs of tomorrow. Southern company has been excellent. They really appreciate the military family and it really shows. With all that usaa offers why go with anybody else . We know their rates are good, we know that theyre always going to take care of us. It was an instant savings and i should have changed a long time ago. It was funny because when we would call another insurance company, hey would say oh we cant beat usaa were the webber family. 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Good morning and welcome to morning joe. It is monday, june 10th. With us, we have White House Reporter for the associated press, jonathan la mir. Washington anchor for bbc world news america, katty kay is with us. Historian, msnbc contributor, and rogers professor of the presidency at vanderbilt university, jon meacham. He is coauthor of the book songs of america, officially out tomorrow. And former treasury official and morning joe economic analyst, Steve Rattner, along with president of the counsel on Foreign Relations and author of the book a world in disarray, richard haass. And also with us, former chief of staff to the dccc and a former director of Strategic Communication for Hillary Clintons president ial campaign, adrienne elrod. Shes an msnbc contributor. Some breaking news overnight. Former Boston Red Sox slugger david ortiz is in stable condition after being shot in the back at a club in santa domingo, Dominican Republic. Police say ortiz was approached by two assailants, one of whom is still at large, and the bullet that hit ortiz in the back exited through his stomach. According to witnesses, only one shot was fired. A Police Press Conference is expected later this morning. Jonathan la mir, obviously shocking news not only for those of us who have grown up loving david ortiz and the Boston Red Sox, but also for all baseball fans. Everybody thats known this man as he was going into surgery, he said something to the doctors that so many people who have known ortiz through the years, inside and outside of Major League Baseball have noun, and that is, i am a good man. Asking them to save him. He is a good man. In fact, ortiz said that he would much rather be remembered as being a nice person than a great baseball player. Thats right, joe. This was truly shocking news when it broke late last night. I mean, david ortiz, hes beloved in the Dominican Republic, hes a native there, hes done a lot for the community there. And it cant be overstated what it means to the city of boston and new england and throughout baseball. He was a fierce competitor, but also an oversized teddy bear. And his legacy in the city of helping kids and helping various charitable endeavors, you know, was met by how great he was on the field, the clutch hits, time and time again, he led the comeback against the yankees in 2004 that ended the championship drought. Two more championships followed. And what a lot of people will remember him for is in 2013, that after the Boston Marathon bombing, he gave that speech at fenway park and declared this was our bleeping city, that became really a rallying cry for a region that was healing after that terrible day in april. And that led the team to a world series that year, as well. And on a personal note, my oldest son, david ortiz, his first sports hero, and david met him once and couldnt have been nicer to him. So big poppy, were rooting for you in our house, for sure. And certainly, we are, as well. Everybody know is and our thoughts and our prayers are with him, his entire family, and the red sox family this morning. Mika, a lot to talk about over the weekend. Why dont we start, though, in mexico. Yeah, the agreement that the United States and mexico reached on migration that averts the implementation of President Trumps threatened tariffs on mexican goods. President trump took to twitter on friday night to announce the deal, under which mexico will deploy 6,000 National Guard troops throughout the country, mainly to its southern border with guatemala. It also expands a program called migrant protection protocols, which allows u. S. Immigration enforcement officials to send Central American migrants to mexico as their asylum claims are pending. Mexico also says it will offer those migrants jobs, health care, and education. The agreement does not include a major Trump Administration demand that mexico agree to a, quote, safe third country designation, which would have required the country to permanently accept most Asylum Seekers from central america. So mika, this obviously, the president pushed this as really great news, this past weekend. But, of course, controversy arose immediately, because many people in mexico, in the United States, and also many reporters were saying, this deal was nothing new. So theres, a back and forth all weekend over whether this deal was new or not. Well, trump called it a, quote, new deal, but thats up for debate. The New York Times reports that mexico had previously agreed to deploy its National Guard during highlevel secret talks back in march. A senior Administration Official told nbc news that some key elements of the deal had been agreed to months ago, but added the two sides had agreed to expand on some of the previous commitments. The official noted that mexicos commitment to deploy up to 6,000 troops was modestly larger, up from about 5,400. And npr reports that full operations are not expected to be up and running until 2021. In addition, the migrant protection protokols progracols the arrangement that allows Asylum Seekers to remain in mexico while their cases proceed in the u. S. , was reached and announced back in december by then Homeland Security secretary keirstjen nielsen. A federal judge blocked the implementation of that program in april, but an Appeals Court said it could move forward while the legal challenge proceeds. So, after averting a crisis that he set into motion with a sudden threat to impose tariffs, President Trump is now defending a deal with mexico that critics say will do little to curb the migrant crisis. Arrests at the border have been soaring in recent months, to levels that are twice of what they were under president obama. Putting President Trump under pressure to address the issue. As new yorker staff Writer Jonathan blitzer tweeted, the president s constant threats of sweeping action at the border, closing it, ending asylum, imposing tariffs, cutting aid, play right into the sales pitch of smugglers in region. Go to the u. S. Now before its too late. Meanwhile, mexicans favorable view of the United States has been cut in half during the Trump Presidency, according to pew research. Richard haass, a very good point made by the new yorker, and this is something weve seen from the very beginning. Barack obama over the course of the Obama Presidency, had taken extraordinarily high illegal Border Crossing numbers and using both carrot and stick, got those numbers down to 50year lows. President trump has come in and because of the threats, because of the sky is falling rhetoric, in large part because, also, as has been said here, playing into the smugglers hands, hes actually created part of that crisis. And of course, the other part of the crisis is caused by the fact that hes cutting actually relief to those Central American countries that need it the most, that would keep people in their Central American countries, instead of fleeing, seeking asylum. I think that last point, joe, is really whats most critical here. Immigration policy cant start at the border. And anytime it does, youre playing defense and youre playing catchup. So the administration doesnt really have an integrated policy that would include helping the Central American countries deal with their challenge. This new agreement may not be all that new, to say the least. Implementation is a lot in life, and the idea its going to take years for the mexicans to get there, their new National Guard up to speed, is a critical thing. And one last thing, and steve can comment on this. The fact that this was done using authoritieses, emergency authorities that were never meant to be used for this purpose, at a time that the administration had just introduced or started the process of getting the new u. S. mexico canada trade agreement approved by the u. S. Congress. So its so inconsistent. Because what this does is undermine any confidence on the part of business, as well as mexico and canada, that were willing to essentially honor the trade agreement before the president goes back to tariffs. So i dont think this gained a lot on immigration, but it certainly complicated our relations with mexico and canada and certainly made life a lot more difficult for american businesses and american workers. You know, steve, people may not realize just how important of a trading partner mexico is with the United States. Its extraordinarily important to our economic wellbeing. And its also, despite the fact that the president and other people constantly downgrade the importance of mexico, the fact is, their gdp is just about the size of russias. So what is the impact of having a president of the United States with a 5 approval rating, that plays right into the hands of those who would not wish the United States well, just south of the border . Yeah, mexico is a huge trading partner, and also what people dont fully appreciate is that its not as if we simply buy some stuff from mexico and sell some stuff from mexico. Because of nafta over the last 20 years, weve created a completely integrated supply chain between us and mexico. Spo for example, the automobile industry, one of the sources of many of our imports from mexico, youll see parts going back and forth across the mexican border, multiple times, in the course of assembly, as Companies Optimize their supply chains and do some things in the u. S. , some things back in mexico. And so for us to get into some kind of an economic war with mexico is terrible for mexico economically, but its also terrible for us. And youve seen this in the reaction of the Business Community to what the president has been doing. Still ahead, the latest poll numbers from iowa, where joe bidens lead is narrowing just a bit. Well show you which candidate is seeing the biggest bounce. Morning joe is back in a moment. Biggest bounce morning joe is back in a moment we still need glasses on table ten. Hed be proud of us. A Family Business should stay in the family. See how lincolns Insurance Solutions can help protect your family, your business and everyone who counts on you, at lincolnfinancial. Com has been excellent. They really appreciate the military family and it really shows. With all that usaa offers why go with anybody else . We know their rates are good, we know that theyre always going to take care of us. It was an instant savings and i should have changed a long time ago. It was funny because when we would call another insurance company, hey would say oh we cant beat usaa were the webber family. Were the tenneys were the hayles, and were usaa members for life. Get your usaa Auto Insurance quote today. We have an updated look at the standings in the first contest of the 2020 democratic president ial race. The Des Moines Register med mediacom cnn poll still has former Vice President joe biden in the lead, but his share of the vote has dropped three points since march to 24 . Senator Bernie Sanders is eight points behind at 16 , down nine points from march, while senator Elizabeth Warren says jumped six points to 15 and mayor Pete Buttigieg got a 13point bump from practically nothing in march to now take 14 of likely caucusgoers. Senator Kamala Harris stayed put at 7 . Senator Amy Klobuchar and beto orourke each dropped to 2 . Meanwhile, seven others hit 1 in the poll, which helped them as candidates continue to work to qualify for one of the first debates a little more than two weeks away. Adrien adrienne, i think the Elizabeth Warren part of this poll might be the story, but also talk about those who arent even on the list at this point. What happens to those campaigns . Yeah, mika, so a couple of observations about this poll. First of all, were seeing that the top field of candidates, the top contenders are starting to gel. Of course, that includes biden, sanders, mayor pete, Kamala Harris, and Elizabeth Warren. Secondly, as you noted, sanders is losing support and hes losing support to candidates like Elizabeth Warren and mayor Pete Buttigieg, in part because they have policies that are on the same track or record as his, but i think one of the problems that Bernie Sanders has, especially with more candidates in the field in terms of 2016 when it was just one other candidate well, i guess two if you want to include martin omalley, is that Bernie Sanders does not exactly have a track record in terms of getting the policies that he advocates for signed into law. So hes, you know, been in washington a long time. Hes talked about income inequality. Hes talked about breaking up the big banks, but he hasnt actually passed a lot of legislation that addresses these issues. So i think when youre looking at, you know, voters are looking at the slate of candidates, theyre saying, you know, maybe i actually want somebody like Elizabeth Warren who does have a track record of actually getting some of the policies that i support done. In terms of the rest of the field, a couple observations on that, as well. Amy klobuchar, this has got to be pretty disappointing to her. It is early, were slightly less than eight months away from the iowa caucuses, but shes from a neighboring state, minnesota. And she should be doing a little bit better in this poll. So the iowa hall of fame event was this past weekend. Amy klobuchar, beto orourke, cory booker in part got a lot of accolades because they have strong grassroots supporters who showed up at a lot of these events. Showed them a lot of support. You can tell that theres a lot of work thats taking place behind the scenes that some of these campaigns are doing to actually create a Stronger Base that may not always be reflected in some of these polls. But this really leads up to the fact that the debates matter so much, mika. Candidates will have a chance in a couple of weeks to really show, you know, show their stuff, for lack of a better term, and to try to create some sort of viral moment that will allow them to break out of the pack, especially these guys who are in the 1 to 2 range. You know absolutely. Jonathan la mir, i mean, my takeaway from the poll is, this really does firm up the fact that we have now two, even three tiers. And that top tier is now solidly occupied by joe biden, a slipping Bernie Sanders, a surging mayor pete, and a surging Elizabeth Warren, who i will say, what weve been saying all along, who seems to be doing everything right so far. Thats exactly right. She has certainly caught fire a little bit here. Shes having a moment. And its that her idea of having a plan for, you know, any number of things or having detailed policy rollouts, seemg lseeming the day, which not many of her competitors have been able to do that, has really connected. And shes improved rapidly as a retail politician. Which was kind of a knock on her and wasnt a real strength. And she seems to be connecting with audiences, particularly women. And we are seeing that its a multipletier race and joe biden is ahead, but his lead here is smaller than it has been in some of the National Polls weve been seeing. We know how much iowa is going to matter. Yes, its still eight months out, but theres going to be real momentum from that coming up one way or the other. Coming up, state lawmakers are putting abortions back in the headlines and thats having a big impact on president ial politics. Well run through the weekends developments next on morning joe. Developments next on morning joe. Everyones got to listen to mom. When it comes to reducing the sugar in your familys diet, coke, dr pepper and pepsi hear you. Were working together to do just that. Bringing you more great tasting beverages with less sugar or no sugar at all. Smaller portion sizes, clear calorie labels and reminders to think balance. Because we know mom wants whats best. More beverage choices, smaller portions, less sugar. Balanceus. Org plants capture co2. What if other kinds of plants captured it too . If these industrial plants had technology that captured carbon like trees we could help lower emissions. Carbon capture is Important Technology and experts agree. Thats why were working on ways to improve it. So plants. Can be a little more. Like plants. So, every day, we put our latest technology and unrivaled network to work. The United States Postal Service makes more ecommerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country. Ecommerce deliveries to homes theyre americas biopharmaceutical researchers. Pursuing lifechanging cures in a country that fosters innovation here, they find breakthroughs. Like a way to fight cancer by arming a patients own tcells. Because its not just about the next breakthrough. Its all the ones after that. Welcome back. Joe bidens president ial campaign is not ready to say where the former Vice President currently stands on past positions related to abortion restrictions. Last week, biden abruptly dropped his longstanding opposition to federal funding for abortions due to what he said is an unprecedented attack on abortion rights. But it followed the blowback from an exclusive nbc report in which his campaign had affirmed that biden was still in favor of the restriction. In an interview on msnbc, Biden Deputy Campaign manager Kate Bedingfield would not say whether the new circumstances affect other positions biden has held. Does he now support a litmus test for a Supreme Court justice on the issue of abortion . Will he also a potential Supreme Court justice how he would rule on roe . Does he now support it if its a crisis . Im not going to get ahead of the Vice President. I think hes been very clear on is he not ruling it out anymore . Im not going to get ahead of the president . What about his votes five times in the 1990s, including two to override a democratic president to ban partial birth abortion. Does he regret them or stand by them . He used to draw that line. Does he still draw it . I am not going to get out ahead of him on any of this . Is there any limit he would support . Third trimester abortion, would he support a restriction on that . Steve, i dont know how else to answer the question. He is a supporter of a womans right to choose. I am not going to get out ahead of him. Jon meacham, last week, when we remember in normandy and i got the news that joe biden still supported the Hyde Amendment, which would ban taxpayer funding for abortions, i thought i saw the visage of al fromme and the dlc rise from the mist in the distance. But thats probably not the case, were not going to see that, especially on the topic of abortion, when it seems that roe is so under siege right now. Not only from donald trump, but also from governors across the country. Yeah, its the everexpanding polarization, right . Issues that at least had maybe a 60 40 consensus, which in america is pretty strong, when you think about it. Were really a 51 country on a lot of issues. But, you know, this was sort of a 60 40, conservatives could say its established law. You know, there was something there. That seems to be hurtling toward the arena where we cant talk to each other about it. And i know just talking to younger women in tennessee, theres a lot of concern about whats going on in alabama and the other states. Its and i think its actually, i dont want to say a sleeper issue, thats not quite right, but it is a very live issue with folks who are unclear what who their vessel will be to take on this president. Whom even if hes not directly responsible for whats going on in the states, is certainly the richest symbolic target. Well, you know, mika, we have seen one state after another state after another state in the south pass very restrictive laws, as it pertains to abortion, even in some cases, not allowing a woman to have an abortion in the case of rape or incest. As weve been saying on this show repeatedly over the past 11, 12 years, an extreme position always causes an opposite lurch. And just a few weeks ago, when this debate really started heating up, i was talking about, well, you know, half of americans consider themselves prolife, half of americans consider them prochoice. Those numbers are changing. Yes, they are. And theyre changing rapidly and the support for overturning roe v. Wade has plummeted to its lowest numbers ever. So over half of americans say they are in favor of legalized abortion. But according to a new pbs newshou Newshour Marist poll, 57 of americans polled say they selfidentified as prochoice, up 10 points since february, while 35 said they are prolife, down 12 points. By the way, by the way, if you look at those numbers right there, a swing on an issue that has been set in stone for as long as it has, mika, for you to see basically a net 20point move, it tells you everything you need to know about the impact of these state laws that are being passed. Several states restricting their abortion laws may be behind the recent shift, according to pollsters on the landmark roe v. Wade decision, 77 of americans say they would like the Supreme Court to keep the ruling in place. Just 13 want it overturned. Just 13 . But they are divided on how limited the law should be. 26 said the court should keep roe, but add more restrictions. 21 believe protections should be expanded. 16 said leave it alone. 14 want to keep roe with some restrictions. And more than half of americans said they would not vote for a candidate who would point a judge to the Supreme Court that would overturn roe v. Wade. So adrienne, is this an uncomfortable position that joe biden is in . At some point, does he have to do something to give some sort of clarity on the issue . He does, mika. I mean, this is not a position the position that he shares right now or that he has on this issue is not exactly reflir reflective of the majority of americans or certainly the majority of democratic voters. You know, look, the thing that i think candidates should realize, and we saw this certainly with Hillary Clinton, when i worked on her campaign in 2016, candidate, people evolve over time on issues. So you can come out there and say, you know, perhaps maybe at one point, this was my position. But i have now shifted to this position and heres why. Of course, we saw that happen a little bit with joe biden last week, but it was so hastily done within 48 hours of him coming out and saying that he supported the Hyde Amendment, then he reversed course quickly and it didnt seem authentic or credible or genuine enough to a lot of potential voters, so i image, number one, this is something that we will see and hear a lot about during the debates. And number two, i do think that he needs to clarify his position on this. Kate bedding field, his lead spokesperson, is a very good friend of mine, shes one of the best in this business. She did the best she could in that interview with Steve Kornacki in terms of trying to frame where he currently stands, but i hope he allow his staff himself to go out there and he himself will go throughout and create a little more clarity for voters in terms of where he stands on this. And up next, senator Tammy Baldwin weighs in on this, plus, the state departments decision to restrict u. S. Embassies from flying rainbow flags during pride month. She joins the conversation, straight ahead on morning joe. Straight ahead on morning joe. Cancer is the ugliest disease mankind has ever faced. We got the idea that if we took two dimensional patient imaging and put it in holographic displays, we could dissect around the tumor so we can safely remove it. 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I would pull up in this in a heartbeat. I want one of these. That is sharp. The allnew chevy blazer. Speaks for itself. I dont know who they got to design this but give them a cookie and a star. Time now for the mustread opinion pages. And david french has a new piece for National Review entitled the cruelty is the point. He writes in part, a fundamental aspect of truly trumpist Political Engagement is the intentional infliction of harm on political opponents. Cruelty is the point of their interactions. Thats the purpose of their communication. Donald trumps personal pugilism has been adopted, refined, and magnified by a legion of his supporters and these they dont care to win an argument. They dont care to persuade. They want to harass and swarm and mock in a carnival funhouse imitation of the online mobs generated by the woke social justice left. When does the cruelty end . After all, they have mapped out a goal for the culture war that they cannot possibly achieve, thus the commitment to enmity is indecent. The liberal right will snarl its way into oblivion. Lets pray that the inevitable deniz is not too great. Lets bring in peggy and kurt bar d bardella, and professor of history at tulane university, water isaacson. Jonathan la mir, katty kay, and eddie glad jr. Are all still with us as well. Walter isaacson, for the past week or so, there has been a battle, believe it or not, in the conservative ranks over, quote, frenchism. David french, david french, the man who is supporting all of the antiabortion laws that are being passed across the southea southeast, david french is being attacked for being insufficiently tough as a conservative. And in fact, the attacks are that david, while being very conservative, also believes that you need to treat those with whom you disagree with in political battles with respect. Is it a rejection of the sort of trench warfare politics that donald trump supports. But for that, he has been vilified by the illiberal right. What are your thoughts. I think this is symptomatic of the larger debate we have in this country, which is that we used to have some civil discourse. I think part of that has been destroyed by online media and social media. You know, i read davids piece and its very good. I wonder how much of the phenomenon he detects is partly just twitter mobs, much of who are probably robots or trolls in st. Petersburg, russia. So you have to keep that into perspective. But the main thing to realize is david french is a man of high integrity. He has a great reputation for intellectual, you know, thought. I dont agree with him all the time, but, you know, his reputation should not be shattered. And weve created a culture in this country and a culture on social media in which we just shatter peoples reputation. And hes right. If you do that, youre not going to convince or win arguments. Youre only doing it to feel good and to destroy the fabric of our society. When you look back over the 2016 campaign and you look, the targets of many of the most harsh Trump Supporters have been conservatives themselves. You look at david french, who was savagely attacked for adopting a little black girl from africa. You look at other conservatives that have been savagely attacked with ben shapiro received more antisemitic attacks, Tammy Baldwin, than anybody else, any other journalist in the 2016 campaign, because he was critical of Donald Trumps antisemitant antisemiti antisemitism. And so it seems i wonder how much do you feel this in the senate . How much is this impacting the work of the senate . Well, i would say within the institution, very little. We still recognize, as a body, and this may surprise people, but we recognize as a body that you need 60 votes to pass substantiative legislation. And that Means Nothing gets through without the partys working together. When theres no cameras running, when the limelight is off, you know, were interacting, were trying to find Common Ground. I would say thats particularly true of the senate women who make a very strong habit of getting together on a monthly basis to solve problems and get to know each other better and figure out what our commonalities are. But i know the listening audience, the watching audience are saying, theres no way what shes saying is happening, because in the media, of course, if it bleeds, it leads, right . And so the contention is going to get the headlines. So more of that cordiality happens in the senate than you would know. But we still have to, as Public Officials be concerned with this rhetoric and where its gone in recent years. And you know, sit starit starts top and our children are watching. Theres a current story to tell when we think about our current moment. We can go back to the news and think about the ways in which Newt Gingrich was characterized and the way he engaged in politics. And talk about how cable news impacted the discussion. So in some ways, the ways in which were thinking and talking to each other now in this uncivil way, it feels like old Newt Gingrich rhetoric on meth. So its not wholly new and distinctive to this moment, its just new vehicles of communication. Now, lets go what you just said. You say that theres work happening outside of the lights in the senate, but we that headline, grim reaper, were doing the business of the people in the house and then that legislation makes its way to the senate and it dies. Give us some concrete examples of the work you just described thats happening behind outside of the lights. So on big issues, i would say the farm bill that passed, a fiveyear authorization as a person from an agricultural state who got a lot of policies into that, that makes a difference. I would say the Work Together on the opioid epidemic. While far from what we need to do to finally turn the corner on this epidemic, it was a congress, bipartisan basis stepping up and getting resources to the localities and states that are meeting this headon. There are smaller pieces of legislation. I worked for a long time with Susan Collins to pass legislation that acknowledges the role that family caregivers take, uncompensated, but you know, their value is the same value as medicare in this country, because of what they do for elderly loved ones or loved ones with disabilities. These are discreet, this some cases, enormous in others, but you would have trouble listing those office, like i just did, because were talking about the fact that for the last six weeks, the senate has done nothing but nominations, mostly judicial, and has been, indeed, what theyre calling the graveyard of great ideas that are coming over from the house. Well, lets talk about the house. Kurt bardella, in terms of oversight, what is the democratic strategy right now . We have john dean testifying before a committee today, looking at the lessons tlaer s from the Mueller Report . Whats the strategy as it relates to oversight versus impeachment . The democrats are starting to lay out the public groundwork for why there may need to be an impeachment proceeding. And having this expert Watergate Panel that can talk about what obstruction of justice is, why its important, what was in the Mueller Report that could constitute the action that might be needed to take the president towards the impeachment path. Its been very clear that nancy pelosi is hesitant to hit the impeachment button, despite the public rhetoric, despite the rhetoric from house democrats, rank and file members, who are getting antsy with, they want time to pass between the release of the Mueller Report and where we are right now and shes trying to have these show hearings in part to mollify that part of her caucus to show that we are doing something, we are publicly taking a stand. And letting the Legal Process work out. It was weeks ago when two legal decisions that came down that basically told donald trump, yeah, saying no to congress and not complying with legal subpoenas, thats not going to be a viable option for you. So shes trying to extend the clock a little bit, to let the Legal Process happen and to allow these public hearings happen, that hopefully her mind could raise the level of public support for impeachment. Let me get you on the same topic here. Do you see any lessons from history that could be applied . But more than that, is it possible this is going to do more harm than good to the democrats and allow republicans to paint it as, this is just a nonsensical display . I think the main thing to do with these hearings is something that we lack, and if i may say, the Mueller Report lacked. It was one of the things that disappointed me. Which is a clear narrative. We tell we make sense of facts by weaving them into the stories in a narrative way that they happen. And we dont have a narrative of the entire corruption that was at the heart of the Mueller Report. The entire sense of approving of really bad things and approving of obstruction of justice. And i think if it gives us a narrative, it will be useful. I think if its a lot of shrill hearings of people just shouting and trying to grandstand, it will certainly backfire against the democrats. And its a reason that they should not proceed towards impeachment if its just going to be that. Senator, its pride month. And a number of u. S. Embassies have been petitioning to fly the pride flag but have been told no by the Trump Administration. I want to get you in on that, but more than that, theres the equality act that passed the house and youre doing some work on it in the senate. Can you give us an update as to why its needed and what chances it has of passing . Absolutely. It starts with pride month. Its a special pride month, because later this month, well observe the 50th anniversary since the stonewall riots, where new yorkers who were facing nightly acts of Police Oppression stood up, spoke out, courageous acts. And its been 50 years since then. Progress, for much of that time has been very slow, but in recent years, weve seen some really exciting things happen, particularly under the last administration. And the Supreme Court deciding the Marriage Equality case. That said, in 29 states, lbgtq americans can be fired, can be evicted, can be denied Public Services because of who they are or who they love. And so the equality act is such an important additional step that we need to take as we try to win full equality and acknowledge that were doing that at a time where this administration, it seems, for the first time in a long, long time in our nations history, is trying to take us back. So theres both the offensive battle to advance the equality act, at the same time that were defending ground that we thought had already the progress had already been achieved. The equality act is really simple. It says, no discrimination on the basis of Sexual Orientation and gender identity, in employment, education, housing. And it brings protections for those in states and localities that have none. Well, senator Tammy Baldwin, i wish you the best of luck with that. Thank you very much for being on the show this morning. Thank you. Thank you, kurt, also for being with us. Of course, were going to see you tomorrow and you sit down and help us interview jon meacham and tim mcgraw who is going to oh, my god, he is going to so regret teaming up with mika. There are only so many rhymes that you can make out of the story of sheas rebellion and the french dominion war. Well talk about that tomorrow. We have a lot more ahead. As we go to break, whats making headlines in a few of the early voting states around the country. In iowa, the Sioux City Journal leads with the 19 candidates audition. In new hampshire, the Concord Monitor goes with 2020 dems focus on climate change. And in the state, sanders beeves up ground game, getting early South Carolina endorsements. So much more ahead. H more ahead they can help gut check your strategies and answer all your toughest questions. Sounds perfect. See, your stress level was here and i got you down to here, ive done my job. Call for a strategy gut check with td ameritrade. Applebees new loaded chicken fajitas. Now only 10. 99. Im and im an emt. Erer when i get a migraine at work, its debilitating. If i call out with a migraine, thats one less ambulance to serve a community. I just dont want to let these people down. Excedrin migraine. Relief that works as hard as you do. music plays throughout Award Winning interface. Award winning design. Award winning engine. The volvo xc90. The most awarded luxury suv of the century. Joining us now, a former u. S. Marine who served five tours of duty in iraq and afghanistan. Author elliott ackerman. He is a recipient of the silver star, the bronze star for valor and the purple heart. His new book is places and names on war, revolution and returning. Thank you very much for being on the show this morning. Walter isackson has the first question for you. Walter . Your book, mr. Ackerman, alternates between you as a soldier you as a marine, actually, fighting and then you going back as a journalist, starting going back as a journalist to a refugee camp, i think, in turkey. Can you tell us the different ways you looked at war and the different stories you heard going there as a fighter and also going there as a journalist . Absolutely. I think this book doesnt necessarily have a straight narrative arc. Its pretty optimistic, and as i was writing it, i wasnt sure of the form it was taking. I was kind of walking in this circle. And there was a center of the circle, and the center, i think, were my experiences. But each point at that circle is some different place, whether its being in a refugee camp sitting down with a member of the Islamic State whom i had fought against, or being in turkey, or going back to old battlefields in iraq. Again, at the center im trying to understand those experiences from 10 years before through, really, the prism of what was going on in the arab spring wars and the syrian revolution. The book, elliot, places and names on war, revolution and returning has a sense of michael hoars dispatches as you read it. 12 years after you go house to house in horrendous fighting in the battles of falusia, you return to falusia. When you return, your thoughts about who you were there with, what happened there and the meaning of it all in terms of the policies of the United States of america. What rumbles through your mind when you were there . The book is really a distill legislati ation of these experiences. Not from just the Vantage Point of other americans but the impact its had across the region. With the title, the real thing i take away is that the only words that are true, the only thing you can really hang your hat on are the verities of the places and the names, where these things happened and who they happened to. The words and politics behind it, words like world, honor, heroism, they all kind of fade away and youre left with a truth of a city like falujia. You went back after 10 years and found that falujia hadnt really changed. Add another word to the ones youve thrown out. Would it be futility . You fought in it as well, and do you ask yourself whether this whole 16year where was that america has conducted is full of futility. It hasnt changed on the ground. Its a very personal question for the people involved, so for me to answer that, i would have to go back and say, if you had found me in 2004 when i was fighting in felujia and looked at me and said, elliot, why are you here, and if i had given an honest answer, it would have been to frame a relationship with iraq. I would have said, im here because of adam bonatai, or the guys on my left or right. I wish i hadnt been there for those people. I wish we hadnt done the things we had done for one another. Its not about you, its about america, american policy futile, sure, but people will often look at the veterans asking us whether or not it was futile. Dont ask us, i have my beliefs about whether it was futile, but i ask you, do you think it was futile . The military is not the only ones that go to war. I talk about one thing that was surprising when i came home is i would often have strangers come up to me and say, did you ever kill anybody . That was a personal question and i didnt know how to answer for a while. My friend told me a good answer, and it was, well, you paid me to. The first person who ever asked me that question was my cousin. Shes six years old, so you cant say that to her. But there arent answers to any of this. This is what it means to go to war. The new book places and names on war, revolution and returning is out tomorrow. Elliot ackerman, what an incredible perspective. Thank you for sharing it with all of us. Thank you for having me. That does it for us this morning. Stephanie ruhle picks up the coverage right now. Thanks, mika, thanks, joe. Im Stephanie Ruhle and we have a lot to get to this morning. Our team of extraordinary msnbc reporters are here with new d details on the stories impacting your life today. Starting with tariffs avoided for now. President trump declaring victory saying an agreement has been reached with mexico on Border Crossings as critics say mexico agreed to these concessions many months ago. And the Mueller Report back