Transcripts For MSNBCW MSNBC Live With Craig Melvin 20190904

Carolina, into North Carolina. Al rocker is standing by with a brandnew update from the National Hurricane center in just a moment. First, though, roughly 200 miles south of here this monster of a storm left the unimaginable. Left unimaginable devastation throughout most of the bahamas. You see the pictures there. It shows literally miles of homes and business without their leveled leveled cars cars scattered around flooded cars tossed neighborhoods. Cars tossed about like matchbox seven cars. Seven people have died so far. Officials there warning that thats a number that could rise dramatically as search and rescue efforts are under way. This before and after, this before and after of the nearly twoday hit, it shows the you devastation. You see it on your screen right thats there. Thats grand bahama before and this is after. Whole parts of the Northern Islands now under water. Meanwhile, here in the United States hurricane watches, mandatory evacuations now extend along the entire southeast dorian already coast. Dorian already battered cocoa beach, florida, overnight with the first band of severe rain, winds as well. Live Team Coverage stretching from the bahamas to florida where i am to georgia and up the carolina coast as well. Nbcs julia bagg is standing by. Julias about 15 miles up the florida coast from where i am right now. Shes in Daytona Beach. Julia, what are you seeing right you now. You know, craig, you talked about the waves shifting where you. We are seeing more intensity where we are as well. Get a look at the fury but stil watching and waiting, craig, for the storm to go ahead and move on out of here separate some good news to share with you, bridges are back open to thesex haliedw3 tbcdhallowed8 ahead and continue exiting. Seriously and take cover in areas that were underw3 a mandatory evacuation. This is an area that you know better than most. Thank you so much. Thanks for all your help this morning. Let us turn let us turn now, theres julia there at Daytona Beach. Julia, thank you. Here in smyrna beach officialsq say this is a city that is very much prepared. Alsog storms from time to time. Emuatjor concern is the the citys oceanside island. I] e1 it looks like a bit of a ghost down. Its aq ghost town because nobodys here. The storm surge and coastal flooding are concerns. What sort of precautions have you guys taken as a result . So for thefa flooding were kind ofok limited on what we ca do. Q we obviously offer we obviously offer sandbags to the residents. Theyre able to block off points of entry in theiro[ houses. We really just have a bear water away from when it does start tolp flood. Once the river rises and it starts to crest into the barrier island, theres no way to pump that away. M here in rough surf that you can see behind me, were starting to see pieces of buildings wash ashore as well. We think this may be from the rooftop or the siding from the hotel thats next to ours here. But one of the things that were starting to become concerned the winds that continue and the rain that has become more intermittent as, again, the eye of the storm has moved about 100 miles north of where we are here. Lets miles north of where im standing,q thats where molly hunter is standing e1by. What are you seeing there . Reporter hey, craig. Good morning. I heard julia talking aboutw3 bridges and roads opening back up again. Thats a big issue and a big worry here on tybee ismud. Reason and time is a around 1 19 this afternoon. Thats when the highest tide is happening and that coincides with the High Water Mark of everyone here is everyone here is supposed to be under mandatory evacuation. Theres been hard core surfers out there and others who didnt heed the mandatory evacuation order. It means Different Things to different people. Why are you staying . We evacuated duringq matthew and when he friends that stayed and they said they would stay again. Jf this this ones further off andrso we decided to play. Do you feel safe . Yes, yes we do. Weve gotxd power, food, water, everything we need and we did evacuate for matthew and irma. This onesf÷3xd tracking fur th so we think its going to be just tropical. Were just going to get strong winds because were getting battered pretty strongly rightok now. What precaution disease you take before now that youre staying . Did you board of your house . Did you put sandbags . Whate1 did you dse r t hahpu3 we sealed off atpittu doors. Were on the northq end of the island and were pretty well so so were just getting food provision dollars and water and ice and a generator. Reporter preparing for the inevitable that you might be cut off from the mainland. Thats correct. Reporter were going to head off the island in aq couple hous to check otv those roads. But this alle1 likelihood tybee island will be disconnected from the mainland. Were going back to where the high watere1 mark for the storm will coincide andt check out tt famous river front in savannah and see what its looking like. Craig. I know that river front well. Molly, tell me about the shelters there. I know that hundreds at onefa point boarded buses for shelter there in tybee island. Craig, say that one more shelters there, shelters on tybee. I know at one. Of folks were boarding buses forlp shelters there. Reporter thats exactly so yesterday so yesterday we were atkn one o the centers actually in savannah. So on the mainland. The city manager here said if you want to get out of tybee island and heed that mandatoryt evacuation order, you have to get out by noon today. There arent actually shelters here in savannah. What they were doing yesterday all day long until 6 00 p. M. Is anyone who couldnt get out on their own, didnt have transportation, it was too expensive, they had pets or someone elderly, they werefalp providing the city was providing basses with bathroomsk really comfortable coach buses to go to augusta, georgia, where theres an evacuationco center. But here on tybee they have no Evacuation Centers or shelters. But if you dont think you could ride it out like our friend the marshes, you have toco get out d craig. All right. Molly hunter there on xdtybee. Be safe. Thank you so much. Right now one of the chief concerns here in florida and in georgia as well, molly is in South Carolina, Power Outages. White spread Power Outages as the wind continue so far 10,000 homes and businesses at last check herejf in florida were withoutjf power. C but whatever damage and destruction that we see here in maybe even North Carolina, whatever damage we see there will likely pale in comparison to what they have seen in theni and where we go about 200 miles south of here. She has made her way from florida to where she was in nassau in the bahamas where 7 people have died so far. Reporter craig reporter craig, i want to begin by giving you an idea of begin by giving you an idea of where i am we know that the worstok of the devastation happened in abaco island and freeport. Q thats a 45minute plane ride thats been the biggest challenge is getting those rescue crews over there. We know that the weather has finally improved allowing those here in nassau, according to hospitalco officials here at Princess Margaret hospital, the as been nrrrgaret hospital, the tlood flooding in ya flooding in ya flooding in areas like floodi village. But this hospital is starting to but this hospital is starting to ge get the evacuees from freeport and abaco island. Ok 38 total according to kpub communications. 35 from abaco 35 from abaco island and three from grand bahama. She couldnt confirm many details about their injuries, but she told me there were a lot of broken bones, head injuries, there, pregnant mothers brought in here and children thato[lp sustained injuries. So they are just patching groups of three through medical teams out to these areas starting the the two first onesokco already at 9 and 10 appl 00 a. M. Theres another one leaving at 3 00 p. M. And they arenico compd of jfdoctors, theyre sending surveillance experts just to even survey the area. One of thenrxd biggest challeng im being told is getting clean water to these communities. Around 60,0pqujp e p struggling right now here in the bahamas to get accessnrxd to cl water after theni devastation. So theyre also sendingni dpoex to deal with waterborn disee 9n meco its a structure thats 60 years old so theyre trying to free up5q n other areas to brin those folks in. And basically in there right now, theyve set upni virtual areas, if you will, to try give these people everything4 they need from trauma help as well a] sort of a mini icu they have set up for the folks coming in. Its going to be a critical couple of days here and were hoping toe1 hear from the prime  later today. Craig. Xd okay. Mariana, keep mariana, keep us post. When we look at the images there and your hearts really go outi]o the people there in the bahamas. Mariana, thank you. I want to bring in al rockerq m now. Mr. Roker, i know weco just got that latest update a few moments ago from the National Hurricane center. Whats the latest on this storms path . Interestingly enough, one of the things we always worry about during even igc its not a landfall, when a system is this close, we worry about tornadoes. And there is now a tornado warningq in for st. Augustine, q so theres a so theres a lot still goinge1 with this. Little closer to the coastline. Theres a lot going on with a slowmoving system. Lets get right to it. You can see right now, even up to savannah were getting wind gusts of up to 30 miles per hour. Tropicalforce tropicalforce gusts in daytona q latest from the National Hurricane center. 205 miles south of charleston. So here we go. Theres charleston, theres the eye of theok storm. 105mileperhour winds an its moving to theqco north northwest 9 miles per hour. We have hurricane warnings stretching from melbourne all the way to Cape Hatteras. Weve also gotni Tropical Storm warnings but just west of north, central, andt north nor carolina. Weve weve gote1 Tropical Storm watcs so were seeing this now storm, theres still a lot of 4. Thei] latest track from the National Hurricaneni center. Getting much closer now to actually the shore. So thursday morning 8 00 a. M. Its just north of savannah. And then it continues by thursday evening its pastw3 could we could we havee1 ae1 landfall . Just a little bit of afv 1nxd 50 miles to the north or northwest we could be looking at a landfall. Then c] qing across we have the landfall somewhere on the outer banks early friday into early friday afternoonop and then it continues out into k the atlantic. But still probably causing may cause some rain bands into the new york area, into the northeast and parts of new heres specific impacts, in if youe1q will. 60mileperhour winds. Those are sustained. Storm surge of 3 to 5 feet. As you look and you seew3 that tomorrow 50 to 85mileperhour winds. 4 4 to 7 foot storwk surge. 8 to 15 inches of rain. E1 5585mileperhour wind gusts, and that will continue on. The storm surge potential. Weve been weve been talking about that. Thats where most of the deaths happen. Were talking high tide tomorrow morning, early tomorrow morning around 2012 55 to 1 15 a. M. From Cape Canaveral into jacksonville beach. Then we move into tonight. Again, early tomorrow morning. A 6 to 9 foot storm surge. Charleston, myrtle beach around 2 00 a. M. High tide as you move into Cape Hatteras around 12 30 or so. Thats going to be a very dangerous time. Amounts of up to 15 inches fallinge1 before we get into saturday stretching from savannah, charleston, wilmington, Cape Hatteras. Zuve seen the powerfa already in florida. We have the potential for widespread powerlp outages fort pierce, melbourne, daytonafa beach, up into jacksonville and then as we move into tomorrow, look at how much orange and red there is stretching from savannah, charleston, myrtle beach, lawrence. You getlpe1 inland, raleigh,e1 carolina,fac theres ae1 decent potential for Power Outages as southern del marjffae1xd penins. Theres a lot still goingok on. Weve had a little bit of aco shift in the track to the west which brings on shoremileperhour of this activity. And as you lookxdt herefa at t latest faradar, its still offshore. And heres and heres an interesting fact, craig. Slowest major hurricane ine1 th atlantice1ok over a 20 fwou4hoa when it was grinding over the bahamas, that set the record for thejjutau major hurricane in a 24hour period. Theres a lot going on. Fa its not moving that fast. Moving north northwest at nine. Generally we would have expected it to pick up more speed. Theres ae1 lot of potential damage that can happen. People cannot, i cannot stress this enough, cannot let their guard down from central and northern florpf , georgia, coastal georgia, and thexd and now e1 and now e1virginias in play, coastal virginia. All right. Mr. Roker, thank you as always, th sir. Thank you. Thank you very much. Wash ashore here in newxd smyrn this just washed up during als forecast there. I want to bring in the mayor now, the mayor of New Smyrna Beach. This is russq owen. That looked like it may have been a piece of a wall or roof yeah, i dont know exactly what that is. That may be debris,fau seen earlier somebody posted a social media a menu from the bahamas that had washed up here locally and they grabbed. That may be debris thats caught up and come this far or maybe some construction debris here locally. I know we chatted yesterday last evening one of your chief concerns was thew3 storm surge, coastal flooding. Is that still one of thee1 primy yeah. I got to tell you everything were seeing right nownr looksf really, really good. It looks likexd weve been very n sustained, no flooding that ive i seen. Im sure there will be some scattered but none that ive seen so far. Think weve been very, very power power you spotty outages but, again, our crews were already mobilize and the highest the highest was about 500 in my community as of last updatee1 w had 20 or so people that were out of power. Folks here really seem to heed those warnings about getting out of town. I mean, it seems like they listen to their local officials. You know, were very fortunate. I think many, many do doh bec because weve been because weve been through this many  times. Theres really no downside to leaving. If you come back and everything was okay, then there was no i think most folks do heed those warnings. Any idea when you might allow folks to come back in and check on the homes and businesses . Were in the process of clearing allxd the roadways and making sure theyre clear. The bridge r barrier island. Thanks forxd coming. Thanksxd for your hos tality pi that is the that is the latest from New Smyrna Beach herelp in florida, the statew3 ofo[ florida avoid direct hit. Nonetheless, as al just mentioned there, as weve heard from a number of folks, we are expecting someni widespread pow outages in some of the areas along the coast, not just in florida, in georgia and South Carolina as well. Of course the wind and the rain1 expected to hammer . ; South Carolina and North Carolina and georgia, of course, over the next 24, 48 hours. Well keep a close eye on that. Back up for now, im going to and that over . ; to my colleagun new york city who will have mori ahead this hour on dorians progression and how residents along the southeast coast continue to brace for the fullj impact of the storm. Thank you very much. Just surreal image to see uet island, the cobahamas, theco iss that you show earlier at the top of the program flooded under water. I think it captures for a lot of people what is atea stake as fs begin to recover fvrj devastating hurricane. Thank you very much, craig. Welli] have a lot more about ts throughout the course of the hour and the day. Switching gears for a moment, the Worlds Largest retyr er takes action on guns. The white house and Mitch Mcconnell are still struggling to come to an agreement on legislation. n table. Plus, plus, riding a rube t duck into alligator infested waters. Thats how one cogop strategist bribes President Trumps reelection hopes being pinned on the state of the economy. And as we head to break, heres part ofw3 what former defense secretary james mattis said about his relationship with the president on morning joe. Over the months that, you know, almost two years, two years that i was secretary of defense, i would talk to him on the phone occasionally. I didnt like that as much. I like going to facetoface as i get to know my boss. Say youre riding for the brand. I swore an oath toxdnpuphold t constitution so i rode for the brand. On so i rode for the brand. The United States Postal Service makes more ecommerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country. Ecommerce deliveries to homes lets get down to business. The business of atlanta on monday. Cincinnati on tuesday. Philly on wednesday. And thursday back to cincinnati. Modernized comfort inns and suites have been refreshed because when your business keeps going, our business is you. Get the lowest price guaranteed on all Choice Hotels when you book direct at choicehotels. Com. Into our subaru forester. We fit a lot of life dad its good to be back. mom it sure is. mom vo over the years, we trusted it to carry and protect the things that were most important to us. We always knew we had a lot of life ahead of us. mom remember this . mom vo thats why we chose a car that we knew would be there for us through it all. male vo welcome to the allnew 2019 subaru forester. The longestlasting, most trusted forester ever. Go where my baby lives b[ growl ]olle s good boy. Hey. Hey. You must be stevens phone. Know whos on your network and control who shouldnt be with xfinity xfi. Simple. Easy. Awesome. Welcome back, everyone. Were here in new you;n we arei] keeping our eye on the southeast coast as Hurricane Dorian continues to lashese1 pas of florida and georgia. This is a live look at the moment at the shoreline in New Smyrna Beach, florida. Were going to get another update from the outer banks in North Carolina coming up later on in the e1program. Switching gears to capitol hill where theres pressure frod republicans to change the gun t laws. They just printed the names of died at the hands of gun violence with the headline, how ore names will be added to, how thec list before Mitch Mcconnel acts on guns . Walmart Just Announced they will stop selling some ammunitione1 d it is asking shoppers not to openly carry weapons. And u the latest nbc wall str journal poll found e189 of americans support expanding firearms sales and transfers. Joining me now are senior white houseco reportercr nbc news digital Shannon Pettypiece and former democratic representative from maryland, donna edwards. Shannon, let me begin with you. I know you have new reporting on the president s plan for the pressure hes facing on guns. We heard clearly and we heard Mitch Mcconnell really putting the responsibility on changing anything to do with our gun a d on the white house. What do you have . Well, i mean, weve had about a month ofxd talks now between staff at thexdhtnijf white hou staff on capitol hill. Theres still no agreement on substance or on procedure5a regarding ghou forward on something. But they sort of have narrowed down what is on the table and what is off the table. The big focus of the white house senate. Sqmqutting aside ideology and principles, they want to get a few of the things that we know ,e on the tablejf at that point from the white housexd is still background checks,lp though not the house background checks bill which is au background checks bill. Theyre looking atxd a 2013 bil restrict commercial gun sale checks. Checks. Guns sold at gunvl something to something to heso state laws have a model for the sort of red flag laws which youve heard talked about a lot. They are not looking at any sort of broad federal red flag claw. But something they could x do help states implement the red flag laws. Theres a big focus in the white house on the deathni penalty. Thats a priority of thelp Vice President s and some sort ofe1 congressional action that could be taken to expedite penalty for people who committees mass murders. And then of course mental healt is a dig thing. Theyre looking at a bill that would limit the straw man for example, or having someone pay you and going in and buying a gun for someone w theres a lot of things on the table, a few things off the table, assault weapons ban, any restrictions on ammunition is still off the table. And so when you sort of step a things around the edges, tightening things up, closing loopholes, but no sort of expansive overhaul of the way we buy guns and ammunition in this skunt being discussed. Point i mentioned earlier which is a little bit of the blame game going on. Youve got Republican Senate majorityt leader eigch mcconne telling hugh hewitt hes waiting it wants to do on gun reform. We heard from shannon outlining what that might look like. But there are some who are looking at this and saying this sure seems likar epu cans pointing the finger at one another trying to come up with is, it is just simply to t 5 to run out the clock on this topic. Like theyre trying to run out the clock. And, look, the onus is squarely in the hands of mitchxd mcconne. He can decidee1 what to put on e floor ofjf theni senate. Next week when democrats get back i fully expect that they are going pass another of other gun safety, sensible Gun Safety Bills that they put on the floor, including making sure that we begin to deal with assault weapons, which is the weapon of choice in many of these massco shootings. ariculous putting the Death Penalty on the table. I mean, people who are committing Mass Shootings arent saying, well, iw3 might get the Death Penalty so i wont do it. 3 no, theyre getting these high capacity ammunition, and theyre killing, theyre mowing down hundreds, thousands of people every single yu . Oe1 just needs to do his job, put legislation one1 the floor of t senate so that it can pass. And if he does that, then the president will really not have a choice but to sign itr this s . aof going back and forth and blaming one another is really ridiculous and if mitche mcconnell doesnt want to do his job, then he should be relieved of his e1job. As this happens one1 capitol hill and at the white house, walmart, the countrys biggest retailer, took a big step on thiu1 topic. Its further than in fact most republicans are willing to go. Im curious to get your thoughts about this, donna. Did you evdc think thatxd you right of walmart on this . Retailers and stores to play while members of both parties drag their feet on this . Well, i think theree1 is. E1 walmart for doing this. I w3meaqa theres no reason tha thesee1xd highcapacitye1 magaz and this the ammunition thats used for assault rifles should be sold on the commercial market. I mean, i mean, these are weapons of a war. And soe1 good for walmart. ni and, yes, ceos need to step up just like Dicks Sporting Goods did last year. Ceos need to steha up and they can bring a lot to bear on this conversation on behalf of consumers, the people who are in their stores, and the people in their communities. And to that point, shannon, the e1nra, as you can imagine, immediatelyw3 firing back at walmart saying it is shameful to see walmart succumb to the elites9. Pr t hahp hc lines at walmart will soon will replaced by other retailers who are morexdxd supportive of amer3 fundamentallpe1 freew have with thiS White House and capitol hill to continue to block meaningful and sensible gun reform . Xd ive been asking some sortf republican strategists and conservatives about this because thereslp this perception that e that florida is weakened right now andt wouldnt this be a go time for sort of to get them while theyre down in a sense and can we get legislation passed now and the nra is dealing with issuesxd internall. But i think peoples ideology goes a lot farther on capitol hill than necessarily anything that the nra has been telling them for years. Tv ÷re are certainly a lot of members whot either themselves very strongly believe in the Second Amendment or havee1 libertarian views about right to bear arms or areok in districts where their constituencies have those. Ive gotten the ive gotten thelp sense that ev if the nrafa was gone tomorrow d they1y never gave any money to another political campaign, this is still an ideological issue individually and for members in their district that touches on so many things other than just when you come to the constitution or peoples own personal liberties, i think those are still there innr our society and members of congress are tryingfa to figure out how balance andt grappleok with th all right, thank you both for joining us this hour. We  look at bahamas left in the wake of Hurricane Dorian. We know first handxd whatf d k response effort is being mobilized. Plus, a live look at the shoreline in North Carolina as Hurricane Dorian continues churninge1 along the southeaste coastline. Conditions on the ground. Stay with us. N the ground stay with us lets see, aleve is proven better on pain than tylenol extra strength. And last longer with fewer pills. So why am i still thinking about this . Ill take aleve. Aleve. Proven better on pain. Liberty mutual customizes your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. I wish i could shake your hand. Granted. Only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Doprevagen is the number oneild mempharmacistrecommendeding . Memory support brand. You can find it in the vitamin aisle in stores everywhere. Prevagen. Healthier brain. Better life. My grandparents that i never knew. Ch about im a lawyer now, but i had no idea that my grandfather was a federal judge in guatemala. My grandfather used his legal degree and his knowledge to help people that were voiceless in his country. That put a fire in my heart. It made me realize where i got my passion for social justice. Bring your Family History to life like never before. Get started for free at ancestry. Com this melting pot of impacted species. Everywhere is going to get touched by climate change. But were also a company that controls hiv, fights cancer, repairs shattered bones, relieves depression, restores heart rhythms, helps you back from strokes, and keeps you healthy your whole life. From the day youre born we never stop taking care of you. Z back to hurri zb continues to push norto as a large category two storm. Rip current warnings stretch cu from florida allrren the way up new jersey as states of s emergencies and mandatory evacuation orders expand along a carolina. Banks of North Carolina could be the closest es dorian comes to landfall here in the United States. There. What prepara what preparations are you seeino on the ground as the storm continues to move northward . Reporter hey there, ayman. This is the day where those preparations better be in high gear as the conditions start to detear rate. We got word that were now officially in a hurricane warning. People got that on their cell phones andhat on t they are nowe that it looks like we are going at least get a very close brushs with dorianok here. So as you can see, the beachk  really desserted today. The no swimming flags are up. A couple of people way down the beach. But mostw3e1 of thexd tour ifis left. Theyre under a mandatoryis evacuation order. Ts hav also aevacuati mandatoryt evace order is in place for residents. We have seen people boarding upi the last day orng so. County officials are offering transportation for people who o may not be able tople get out their own. R own. Those buses are loading up and a headingnd ay q of it theyre preparing here. E1 the concern along these barriern islands is they are so narrow and as it looks the track will be coming up from the sound rom likely which could then wash ldt water about 4 to 6 feet over the entire island. Enti these are very lowlying areas. That could then meet withqnqe1 atlantic here and so we could see a situation where the waterh is over thet single road that a goes upe1 and down the outer bab potentially trapping people here for at least a little while. For at least a little while. Have seen that road washed out. So officials watching that very, very closely and quite concerned that some people are still on thing to stay saying theyve ridden outt; s hurricanes before saying they dont think this on is going to bew3 that bad. Officials say do not mess around, today is the timeco to c packed up and to get out, ayman. All right. Ll emergency and rescueand rescueni heading to the bams rig heading to the bahamas heading to the bahamas hes right now. Now. One ofq our own left for the t bahamasnr to help out. Reporter over my sh t8qq my you sh t8 can see some of the helicopters. These aree blackhawks with wit customs and Border Protection air marineni operation. Theyve already startedxd makin their flights. Two of flighte1e1 1e operations. Search and rescue as well as as helping those who need evacuations and medical assistance. Michael is michael is here, first of e1allf this chopper i takee1 it is just getting ready to go itself . Yes, sir. Ise1 ourw3 second u. S. 50 black hawk that will befa taken off t where we are staged in the the islands. Islands. D rft rescues up in the northern bahamas area. Give me an idea what the challenges are rightn idea now. G weve seenht some of this horric some of thee1 some of thee1q challenges arr rightfa now are space available. Lots of aircraft in the area. Were tryingfa to get assets ov there and staged in the right right people. Ople aircraft over there, which i chi understand is a problem. The governor of bahamas is directing them to nassau. As youre flying into those areas, what sort of stories are you hearing from people and whal are the medics encountering enu right now. Right now we haveg six medi in country and basically taking care of anyone injured or needsd rescued from a certain locationt theyre going out and plucking them out, getting them on board and getting them to safety where they can yget advanced medical. Reporter im going to let ot you get back too where youre this helicopter this helicopter thats being prepared right now, if all goes as plan, we will be on board tob show the work that theyre at doing. You can see these you can see these are some of the other aircraft thate theyay have here that are going hopefully be deployed as well to help those who right now are in desperate, desperate conditions. When it comes to the protection, well be launching yet another helicopter soon. N. Back to you. Well have back a lot more when Kerry Sanders touches down in so the bahamas so make sure youwn u stay right here for that coverage throughout the course of the day. Meanwhile, the ba ge thr oue, the bahamas isthat beginning to scope the damage left by Hurricane Dorian. Icane what theyre saying is catastrophic destruction that has reshapedestr portions ofuct entire country after an onslaught very few places on s n earth have ever experienced the 185mileperhour winds, 43 inches of rain, 23 foot storm surges, all of that for about 40 continuous hours nonstop. I want to bring in two people who know what a recovery effort of this magnitude will take. The Florida Division of Emergency Management during gemt Hurricane Irma and a former fema deputy administrator, great to a have both of you with us. Rich, let me tap into your experience. The images out of the bahamas, apocalyptic to say the least. Miles of leveled buildings, streets choked with debris, neighborhoods underwatered, crippled hospitals, sunken docks, and an area thats completed flooded. That doesnt account for some of s rescan damage as rescueded. Efforts continue. Ue ive got to get your ef thoughts on what will bahamas what will bahamas recovery looko where do where do youk even begin on da one like this . I think one of the first things to remember its about su life safety at that point in y time during the recovery process. Right now looking for any people that need to be rescued, as we just saw in the seconds before. Rescuing people now is the most its about the peop its about the people and getting them safe and getting de them initial shelter. Shelt also want to take the take opportunity to make sure thatth people realize that people who are puttingha their lives in danger to save people and get to the survivors that really need d the help most is the First Responders on the island weve seen throughout the veday, thos are some of the true heroes, the emts, police officers, offic firefighters, as weller as somef the u. S. Federal authorities and other countries that are going in there to help. Right now its about saving lives, getting them safe and eventually getting them some shelter. And its to that point, rich, let me follow up on it, how do o you get access on to the grounde when you dont have safe landing space, when you dont have safe clean Drinking Water to try to offer some of those folks that you are saving either an exit i off the island or a safe place p on the island so you canla get them more supplies in how do you get those outfits to that location . Weve been seeing that a lotg of helicopters are bricking bringing those bringing those in. If there if there are ports on the islaba that people would be able to e o come into to bring in more assistance and relief. When people go to help and a lod of help will be needed in the i bahamas and the United States, e hopefully not ass, bad, that ad people can donate money. Dont donate things. Right now thoughts and prayers a are needed, but also cash is needed. Dont donate things because its more difficult to get them there ri now. Right now the First Responders from the United States, are from other countries getting in and assessing the damage, saving , lives and finding a way now to o start to build the recovery. Brian, let me give you a u perspective on this as well particularly here in the unitede states, some folks may be b breathing a sigh of relief that the hurricane is not making landfall directly in parts of f but but conditions are still worsening across parts of florida, georgia it seems the th storm is moving slow li across there. It really hugs theross entire eastern coastline. How do you prepare for warnings across such a large area that stretch from new jersey all the way down to the middle of f florida . Well, youre right. Were not going to see any any conditions anything close to g what wereclose seeing in the m and thankfully. But we do need to continue to take this storm seriously. As youve seen in the forecast,e were going to have strong storm surge, heavy rains. Rai well have coastal flooding as well as inland flooding from al of that. Hat. Wind gusts still up in the 80 to 90mileperhour range and weve seen a lot of tornado warnings a this morning as well. Folks need to continue to pay pa attention to their local officials, heed their warnings, stay inside, stay somewhere safe. Dont try to go out in the t int middle of the storm because we a dont want to putus those folksn jeopardy. We want to make sure their safe so that our First Responders cae focus on those who are mostsp i need. Brian youve been in this t situation before. N before how do you fight hurricane fatigue . Weve been covering this g hurricane now for the better foh part of a week and as fafrt forecasters, we know that hurricanes change. Icanes but how do you make sure people follow through on the mandatory evac weighi evacuation orders before they start tuning it out a bit . This is the fourth year in a evs be row inh ye florida where were f dealing withlori major hurrican. You try to explain to them whatm our thought processes are. S why youre make the decisions that youre making in terms of shutting down schools and scho shutting down government, ol closing roads,s own ordering helping them helping them understand that g were doing everythingthat we co save lives and that, yes, we will evacuate folks unnecessarily potentially from a we we will close schools that ultimately may not have been en needed to be closed. But, in the big c picture were going to safe save lives and a thats what were focusing on. Their cooperation in that efforo is going to make the difference. It could result in their lives being saved. I think helping them understand, arming them with as much much knowledge and involving them in thee and in process could help m that hurricane fatigue that you mentioned. Rich, let me get your final o thoughts on this as you talk u k about the efforts underway to save and rescue the lives of th folks in the bahamas. S this is goingin t to need an Ne International effort. Give usternatio the long term lk ahead, not just in the immediate shortterm of rescuing lives, but give us the one week, one month, one year look ahead. Iok think in the first week sowe were going to be looking g still saving lives, getting people safe, having temporary gp shelter for folks over the nextn month or so, making sure people have somewhere safe with Drinking Water, food, medical ,i supplies over the next month to two, 3 months. Onths. Then the long term how do we actually rebuild . Ly and how do we rebuild better ane how do we rebuild safer . D those are some of the long termr goals which is going to take a multinational effort. The bahamas are a small country and how theyre able to bring folks together. This is an opportunity for folk to really take and plan out pla Going Forward in the future and thousand best rebuild the t commun thats essential thatsrebu the communities are the First Respond and the lastat responders. R we have continue to corporate rate the local communities needm as a priority and they know what they need better than anybody else. I was going to say, the t haa bahamas arey, such an such a International Destination theyre going to need the help of many countries around theint world in that road ahead. Brian, rich, thank you you you gentlemen both for your time this hour. Still ahead, the warning signs are flashingahea brighter the president on what should beb his greatest reelection advantage. Well tell you about that next. Well tell you about that next tech vo this teacher always puts her students first. Student i did mine on volcanoes. Teacher you did . oh, i cant wait to read it. Tech vo so when she had auto glass damage. She chose safelite. With safelite, she could see exactly when wed be there. Teacher you must be pascal. Tech yes maam. Tech vo saving her time. [honk, honk] kids bye tech vo . So she can save the science project. Kids whoa kids vo safelite repair, safelite replace big dreams start with small steps. But dedication can get you there. Easily set, track and control your goals right from the chase mobile® app. Chase. Make more of whats yours®. Set yourself free with fleet. Gentle constipation relief in minutes. Little fleet. Big relief. Try it. Feel it. Feel that fleet feeling. The way you triumph over adversity. And live your lives. Thats why we redesigned humira. We wanted to make the experience better for you. Now theres less pain immediately following injection. Weve reduced the size of the needle and removed the citrate buffers. And it has the same effectiveness you know and trust. Humira citratefree is here. A little change can make a big difference. Humira can lower your ability to fight infections. Serious and sometimes fatal infections, including tuberculosis, and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened, as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. Tell your doctor if youve been to areas where certain fungal infections are common and if youve had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flulike symptoms or sores. Dont start humira if you have an infection. Ask your doctor about humira citratefree. Heres to you. Welcome back. Were continuing to track Hurricane Dorian as it lashes parts of florida and the carolinas today. This is a live look at Daytona Beach where theyre seeing the storms outer bands. As President Trump ramps up his reelection bid. A Top Republican strategist has a warning about the economy. A form theyre riding a rubber ducky into dangerous waters. James mattis told morning joe where he stands with the president. I dont know how i could have spoken to more loudly than what i put in my letter of resignation and quitting a job when i had not completed it two years in. All right, joining me now our New York Times chief White House Correspondent, peter baker and associate editor for commentary magazine and msnbc contributor, noah rafa. Peter, lets talk about the warning signs. Walk us through the potential pitfalls that lie ahead for this president , specifically on the issue of the economy and how aware is the president of this danger . Yeah, look, the strongest political asset the president has had in two and a half years in office has been the economy. He inherited a good economy, hes continued a good economy. He argued hes built the economy into a much better shape than it was. Unemployment is near the lowest point in 50 years. Wages are on the wise. Theres a lot of great things he has to argue about. Thats been the area that voters have given him the most credit on if you look at polls. The warning signs are there. Yesterday, in fact, we saw that manufacturing is down for the first time in three years. Thats been a central focus of his priority. Reviving manufacturing. Weve seen other indicators of trouble ahead in terms of bond yield and possible recession on the global front that could affect us here. Tariffs are weighing on a lot of people. Consumer confidence went down in august more than than it has since 2012. A poll showed more americans believe the economy is getting worse than getting better. Thats a real risk for this president heading into a reelection. He wants the economy to have a good economy and believe its a good economy. To that point, politico writes about the economy, more than at any point in his presidency, trumps biggest asset looks like it could become a liability. What trigger point should the president fear the most from some of those peter just outlined. His Political Base especially the contraction of the Manufacturing Sector is a really big problem. A lot of his base believes that donald trump was elected in order to reorient the american political consensus away from the kind of internationalist Service Sector oriented policies that have predated him and more towards the blue collar sector, Manufacturing Sector. If that begins to contract that could hurt him politically significantly. The biggest fear in my view isnt necessarily two quarters of retracted growth, but a return to sluggish growth. Maybe the economy is pushed along by Consumer Spending while the Manufacturing Sector retreats. Then youll have a limited interest in washington to deal with. No one will want to acknowledge the fact we have a retracting economy for certain types of voters who arent central to the core message of either the Trump Campaign or the democratic party. Theyll simply be forgotten. Thats the real risk of a tragedy. Do you think that was part of the president s decision when he delayed the tariffs going in on the Consumer Products that you were talking about, let the consumer aspect of the economy slug it through. Absolutely. I acknowledged that American Consumers are paying tariffs. China is not flooding the treasury. The consumer economy is really moving this economic growth. We see some retracted interests and investment of Capital Investment from businesses. Thats the sort of thing that keeps the bottom elevated. We see less and less and thats very concerning. Peter, let me get your thoughts on another development. Jim mattis, former defense secretary talking about his time serving this president. Not exactly i would say the rosiest picture painted by the former defense secretary. But weve heard him, you know i guess to the extent that james mattis would be critical of this president , thats the extent he went this morning in his interview here in morning joe. Does that in any way, shape or form put this president s reelection efforts in danger when youve got a number of respected people who served this president , leave their administration before completing it. Some very much kroecontroversia ways, others by their own design. I think the people who are troubled by that are troubled by that long before jim mattis came out with his book. Given hes not going to be out there with a much more full throated denunciation of the president , i dont think his sort of mild mannered explanation of his departure is going to change those dynamics. We already knew he was not on the same page as the president , particularly on the issue of syria, which is the most proximate cause. We know a lot of people have come and gone in this administration. Remember, the highest turnover of any white house in modern times. So i think thats already factored into the equation. I think voters who are tired of the sort of drama of thiS White House, you know, are already there. Those who write say its not that important. I trust the president isnt going to be swayed unless jim mattis would be a more vocal critic of the president. Let me get your thoughts, the president losing to almost every democrat thats been put forward as a name. A New York Times White House Correspondent tweeting out some of the president S White House advisors are concerned about Elizabeth Warren being the nominee. Theyre saying that he cant simply hate tweet her away. Shes got populism. She can run as an outsider. How legitimately concerned should the white house be about Elizabeth Warren . What have you been hearing about that . White house should be concerned about all these democratic challengers. Theres a temptation on the part of donald trump to say dont believe the polls, its so far out. Remember what happened in 2016. Elizabeth trump appeals to a demographic President Trump does. The president is in a trough. Hes never been above 50 approval rating. Those are big warning signs. For the president to say i can issue main tweets to make the candidates go away is very ill fated. Gentlemen, thank you both. That wraps up this hour of msnbc live. Andrea mitchell reports start right now. Right now on Andrea Mitchell reports. Path of destruction. Much of the bahamas underwater after two days of relentless record setting winds and rain. Now dorian is moving dangerously close to the atlantic coast. Our priority at this time is search, rescue, and recovery. Under the gun. The nations largest retailer