All the democrats fault. Mr. President , what about the daca kids . Should they worry about whats going to happen . They had this great opportunity. Democrats have really let them down. Its a shame. Now people are taking advantage of daca. Fact check. Undocumented immigrants who come into the country now cannot, as he said, take advantage of daca. Only those in the country before 2007 are eligible for the program. Its written down, its on the books, its all right out there. President trump was also the one who originally pulled the plug on the program. Remember when he wanted to Work Together on a deal . I feel having the democrats in with us is absolutely vital, because this should be a bipartisan bill. This should be a bill of love. Truly, it should be a bill of love. Lets debrief with our team of reporters. Katherine lucy is a White House Reporter for the associated press. Ashley parker is a White House Reporter for the washington post. And an msnbc political analyst. And ken vogue el is a political reporter for the New York Times. Ken, its not just dreamers or daca or amazon or democrats, i should say, hes also going after amazon, china is out with new tariffs. Stocks are sinking. Anyone in the white house concerned about whats going on right now . Sure. A lot of people are. And as you mentioned, theres not a whole lot of message discipline. Partly, maybe thats because of the lack of Communications Director after hope hicks departure, but we havent seen a whole lot of the folks around donald trump at any point during his presidency have a whole lot of luck reigning in him on this. Where you do potentially see some effect from this, and maybe even some consistency in the message is that he is making a lot of our allies uneasy, and perhaps intentionally, in the case of mexico, you see with these trade actions, a willingness to get tough on trade in a way that is consistent with what he said during the campaign and the threat of using immigration policy and the border to potentially change, to use that as a bargaining chip and nafta negotiations, thats making mexico uneasy. And you saw that with the message from the mexican president ial candidate. Maybe thats something that does sort of down to his benefit and that could be as a little bit of strategy behind this otherwise seemingly unstrategic set of tweets. Ashley, who is in charge of messaging right now . Over the weekend, he was left with Stephen Miller. He was left with sean hannity, others who were at maralago with him. But chief of staff john kelly was not with him. Whos the one that has his ear . Whos the one helping him shape these tweets . Anybody . Well, the truth is, the person who is in charge of messaging is the person who has always been in charge of messaging. And thats President Trump himself. Obviously, now, he has lost his Communications Director with hope hicks leaving, but she never sort of played that traditional role of, you know, messaging and talking points and thinking longterm about that. It just wasnt what she did. She played an important role, but it wasnt that. And this is a complaint that a lot of west wing and white house aides have. Which is that even if you do have someone in these roles, in the constructer role, may or may not get filled anytime soon. But even when you do have a Communications Director and a chief of staff and a top political strategist, they say the president believes and acts as his own Communications Director, his own chief of staff, his own political director. And thats really the challenge. So there are people who are in his ear, as you know, when hes at maralago, hes talking to a lot of friends, a lot of club members, a lot of people who dont have quite as good access to him with the strictures of the white house. But at the end of the day, its the president himself. Let me ask you about that messaging. The the president aware of the policy, like, for instance, with daca. Hes talking about how people coming across the country or coming over the border will take advantage of it now, when they cannot. Theres already regulations, there are rules that would disqualify anybody coming in now. Does he not understand the policy . Does he not know it . Or is he lying about it . Its unclear. The president historically is not a deep student of policy. Hes not someone who gets into the weeds on things. You know, there are things, for instance, his advisers tried to explain to him and sometimes they say he sort of doesnt seem to understand or doesnt care to understand. And at other points, he sort of may understand and just chooses to ignore it. So, there are people in the white house who do understand the policy, who do understand, you know, to get those daca protections, you had to be here in 2007 and you had to be a certain age. And i have to imagine that was communicated to the president. But what youre seeing, he either knows and doesnt care or hasnt quite taken the time to understand those pretty basic nuances. Im not sure which one of those is better. What does it mean, though, for the policy, katherine . Whats going to happen with daca . I know its being held up right now in the courts, but the president ultimately had multiple opportunities to cut a deal on it, but the democrats were complaining that wherever they cut a deal with him, he reneged and asked for more. Yes wing wh, i think what we waiting to see now, does this represent some kind of new push or is it really just the president venting after a weekend where he talked to a lot of people who had concerns on this issue, had time to watch, you know, cable news shows, talking about some immigration issues. And sort of letting you have steam. And another thing to think about here, as we look at what hes doing recently, we have seen this president , i think in recent weeks and months, become more sort of confidant and empowered in being his own messenger, which has obviously, always been his priority. But weve seen him change top staffers, bring in new people, and were seeing an increasingly sort of emboldened president. Just look at the dow right now, down more than 700 points. Theres also reporting that this quarter has so far gotten the worst start of any quarter since the Great Depression. The Great Depression, not the recession, so since 1929. The Second Quarter start is the worst. Ken, the president is also trying to pressure republicans into changing senate rules. He wants them and he said this over and over again, but hes bringing it back, to go to the nuclear option, which is 51 votes needed to pass things like immigration laws. Is this an indication that hes looking shortterm or longterm, because ultimately, Mitch Mcconnell said hes not going to change that law and if you have democrats in power in a 51vote majority, a whole lot of things that republicans or conservatives dont like would be passed pretty easily. I think its really an indication of the disconnect between the president and his policy staff. The white house policy staff rather, the Congressional Legislative Affairs staff is making no effort to push Mitch Mcconnell, to change senate rules, to allow for 50vote majority. And beyond that, if you look at the last time that we had any kind of effort on immigration reform, we didnt even get to that 50vote margin. So the last time that there was a bill that sort of encompassed what President Trump wanted. There was not even the support with a simple majority. So i think it shows a disconnect here. And perhaps more of the lack of strategy. Katherine lucy, ashley parker, and ken vogel, guys, thank you very much. A pleasure. And eddy glad is an msnbc contributor and chairman of Princeton Center for frame studies and rick tyler is a prm strategist and msnbc political analyst. Theyre here to chew this over for me a little bit. Eddy, i want to ask you my other big yes, which is, does the president understand the policy or is he lying about it . Ashley denied really know, but if hes being told, heres what things are, and then goes on twitter and says something else, i dont know. Whats your take . Whats worse . So, both of them are horrible. I think my instinct is that hes lying about it. I mean, its a consistent pattern. But at the end of the day, he doesnt care about the facts, right . I think its difficult to have this kind of conversation, because we could go through, katy, every point and show hes just simply gotten the facts wrong. But the point is that President Trump is not interested in the merits of the debate. Hes only interested in generating or ginning up a kind of moral panic to justify cruel and draconian policy. And so this is really about throwing red meat to his base. This is really about responding to ann coulter and those on the far right who said that theyre leaving him. It has nothing really to do with the merits of the conversation. And, of course, behind it, are folks like Stephen Miller and vn john kelly, perhaps trying to push him even more to the right. What is the strategy here, looking forward, though, rick . I mean, were coming up on the 2018 midterms. Could this be the president l k looking back and saying, heres what really worked for me. Looking at the criminals theyre allowing to come across the border, these caravans is what hes using now. Lets talk about nafta and trade deals. Lets talk about all the things that worked for me. Is this his strategy, because it worked in 2016, it will work in 2018 . I think thats exactly whats going on. I think the president has hes been very frustrated with his communications team, hope hicks never really, as ashley said in your previous segment, never really fulfilled the Communications Director. I dont think we really had one since mike dubke. So thats been left open. And hes in charge of the message and he sends out all of these conflicting points of view. But he wants to return, exactly what youre saying, to the red meat that seemed to work in the campaign. Unfortunately, now that hes governing, its having a backlash. You look at oberdor whos running for president of mexico, whos ahead 18 points and hes running on a nationalistic message thats antitrump and that the United States needs to show mexicans some respect. So hes not likely to work very well with donald trump in getting his objectives done, protecting the border. Doesnt donald trump want a foil . And wouldnt that allow him a great foil . Somebody to argue, somebody to blame, somebody to focus on, to say that heres heres why everything isnt working, because of this leader down in mexico. Could that work for him, eddie . Not really. Outside that 30 to 42 , outside of that number, i dont think so. Remember, its really about him moving beyond those folks who will support him no matter what. And what we know about donald trump is that hes never been interested in expanding the electorate, in terms of his support. Hes always, in some ways, governing towards and speaking to, right, that particular base. And insofar as hes doing that, its always appealing to their lesser angels, trying to activate, right welco, that ugl dimension of who they take themselves to be. Trying to exploit their fears for their own ends. I dont see this as having any kind of good political outcome. Rick, the dow is down the dow is down 700 points. The president had talked about how when the dow is up, its all because of him, he champions it. How much of a price is he going to pay for an unstable stock market . Well, i think this dow plunge has a lot to do with him, and particularly because china has now retaliated on trade, thats going to hurt our states in the south and pork farmers in iowa. If youre looking to get reelected, you want to protect iowa. Hes not doing that. And, you know, other than the fed chairman, who usually is is pretty cautious about their public remarks, because they do have an impact on the dow, you can see directly what the president s remarks on the dow and also amazon, he seems to be attacking amazon. Amazon is wildly successful, so jeff bezos, because people like amazon, yet he doesnt seem to be upset with amazon, he seems to be upset with bezos other acquisition, which is the washington post. Yeah. Rick tyler, eddie glaude, gentlemen, thank you very much. Its not stocks, its not the economy, its not russia, its not stormy, its not the wall. A new article makes a different case for what could ultimately do in this president , thats coming up next. Day. Over the years, paul and i have met regularly with our ameriprise advisor. We plan for everything from retirement to college savings. Giving us the ability to add on for an important member of our family. Welcome home mom. With the right financial advisor, life can be brilliant. Thisat red lobsterest. With exciting new dishes like dueling lobster tails and lobster truffle mac cheese. Classics like lobster lovers dream are here too. So enjoy these 10 lobsterlicious dishes while you can because lobsterfest wont last. You know whats not awesome . Gigspeed internet. When only certain people can get it. Lets fix that. Lets give this guy gig really . And these kids, and these guys, him, ah. Oh hello. That lady, these houses yes, yes and yes. And dont forget about them. Uh huh, sure. Still yes xfinity delivers gig speed to more homes than anyone. Now you can get it, too. Welcome to the party. We are continuing to keep an eye on wall street, where the dow has fallen almost 700 points, down 688 right now. That drop was precipitated by a fierce of a trade war with china and the president s most recent attacks on amazon. Well keep looking at it throughout this hour and let you know if it goes down even farther. So far, scandals bounce off President Trump like a geyser on goretex. We saw it during the campaign when he descended his golden escalator to tell everyone that mexico was sending rapists over the border, when he bragged about being able to grab women by their genitals in the access hollywood tape, when he was accused by more than a dozen women of Sexual Harassment and worse, and we continued to see it after he took office, when he called a group of White Supremacists in charlottesville, virginia, fine people, when he fired his fbi director, when his campaign officials, including his former Campaign Chairman was indicted for conspiracy in the russia probe, when his National Security adviser pleaded guilty to lying in that same probe. And when more recently he was accused of sleeping, cheating on his wife, and paying off a playmate and porn star. Nothing, so far, that has moved the needle for this president , whose Approval Rating hovers around 40 right now. But one writer thinks he knows what trumps ultimate kryptonite will be. In a piece out today, a new york magazine, Writer Jonathan chait suggests his greatest political liability isnt racism or sexism or russia, instead, it is corruption. Chait writes, theres a reason trump labeled his opponent crooked hillary and it stems from the law of american Politics Democrats would be wise to remember. To be out for yourself is probably the single most disqualifying flaw a politician can have. Jonathan chait, a daily columnist joins me now along with mimi rocah, a distinguished fellow in criminal justice at Pace University law school. Jonathan, welcome to the show. I think its your first time on with me. Thank you so much. I gobbled up your article today. I think its a fascinating take. All of these scandals, though, have been pretty apparent since day one. Why do you think that theyre going to make the ultimate difference in 2018 or 2020 . I think its a rubric thats wide enough to encompass a lot of the scandals that are in the news about trump and a lot of the policy that trump and the Republican Congress have pushed. Keep in mind, democrats have to run against congress, as well as running against President Trump in 2018 and in 2020. So i think this idea that theyre out for themselves describes what theyve done in regulation. It describes what theyve done on taxes. And also a lot of these scandals revolving around selfenrichment and even the russia scandal. A lot of that is just them trying to get money from these kind of shady people in russia. Which of the scandals or the controversies do you think are punching through . Is it Jared Kushner . The cabinet members . The president s ties to russia . Which one . I think theyre all having some effect. You know, as you said at the top of the segment, hes hovering around 40 . And thats pretty bad for but thats where hes been since day one. Right. And thats what elected him, that 40 . I mean, among republicans, its still a very high number, much higher than 40 . Right, sure, among republicans. But he needs more than just republicans. He needs to get close to 50 . He needs to get into the upper 40s to win. And right now, hes at 40 or in the low 40s. The difference between low 40s and upper 40s is the difference between winning and losing. So i think to keep him down at 40 or below 40, i think you need some theme that his supporters can understand. And i really think that theme is this original promise he made in 2016 that he was going to be greedy for us. He was going to stop caring about his business and do what he could for the american people. I think off point with that, but heres my one pushback. I think what voters saw in donald trump was the truth. That he wasnt going to lie about being rich and wanting to get money himself and grabbing everything in front of him. What they saw in other politicians was that they were doing, but they were lying about it. They saw that politics in general and lawmakers in general were corrupt and they believed them to be corrupt and what they cared about was, how can you help me . How can you put money in my pocket . So if donald trump does put money in their pocket, says the tax bill, puts a little extra cash in there or these tariffs or whatever, say they work for those voters. Well, those voters care that donald trump himself is skimming off the top . Well, that really wasnt hi s promise. He said he was going to put all of that aside. He didnt care about his business. He would stop being greedy for himself and be greedy for us. He would become this public servant. That was the whole story of his campaign. And i think once you make that point and once you get that across, then you can dispute his claims that his tax cuts have helped the average person as opposed to help egg people like donald trump, including trump himself, who Wont Disclose his tax returns. It would be fascinating to see his tax returns. I personally would like to see what is in there, since he wont show them. It makes it more questionable. Theres unethical, mimi, and then theres illegal. Any of the things were seeing. The questions that are arising around this white house around donald trump making money in his d. C. Hold, Jared Kushner having meetings in the white house and then his Company Getting loans from the people that he had meetings with, the questions surrounding the russia probe, what ventures into illegal and what could be used against him in a court of law . Well, it all, potentially, could be criminal he could have criminal exposure for all of it, potentially. So, you know, its interesting, because it all comes down to greed, which is what the article was about. And greed is so often, in my experience, as a federal prosecutor, what gets people in trouble with the criminal law and ultimately is their downfall. They just dont know when to stop. And it does seem that were seeing this pattern over and over, whether it be, you know, with the emoluments clause lawsuit, the idea of foreign money influencing potentially, you know, policies of this administration. Whether it be the russians potentially getting their hand in our election, in exchange, possibly, for something in exchange from the administration. And its a common theme. And it all comes down to, potentially, greed. And i have such faith in the Mueller Investigation to be able to sort of get underneath all of this. I know, politically, people are sort of exhausted and, you know, wiknow, want this investigation to be over, but its actually moving very quickly. And i think at the end of the day, were going to see that this greed is going to be, at least criminally speaking, his downfall. Whether that plays out politically or not, i dont know. Do you think Robert Mueller has his tax returns . Yes, i do. No shadow of a doubt there. Its one of the first things prosecutors look at. It takes a while to get them, which theyre in a vault in the irs. Thats what were always told. Theyre in a vault and guarded and no one can see them. Probably. Mimi rocah, thank you very much for coming on and joining us. Jonathan, welcome to the show. Thank you very much. Thank you so much for having me. His articles in new york magazine. Today, the president is defending Sinclair Broadcasting group after a video showing local news anchors reading the exact same script on, quote, fake news goes viral. Unbelievable, is next. More and more people are finding themselves in a chevrolet for the first time. Trying something new can be exciting. Empowering. 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Were live in avenell, katy tur, news 4 new york. That is obviously quite old. I used to work in local news, i covered everything from fires, shooting, the lot. I got to know the city the way it pushes back, the way it heals, or doesnt. And viewers here got to know me. Local reporters and local stations are the heart of any given city. They cover stories that matter at home, from Little ThingsLike Community board meetings to the big things like police shootings. Dont think they matter . Ask a viewer. Local public media stations are like Public Libraries and local museums in that they preserve culture, educate, and engage in order to build understanding on important issues that are expensive or difficult to cover, one told pointer in 2015. People watch because those local stations are often built with local people. Locals who earn the communitys trust. And at a time when trust in the media, especially the national media, is at an alltime low, the local stations matter even more. Which is why this should freak you out. The sharing of biased and false news has become all too common on social media some policies simply arent true without checking facts first unfortunately, some members of the media with their own personal bias and agenda to control exactly what people think. This is extremely dangerous to our democracy. Those are local news anchors from sinclairowned stations from across the country reading the same corporate script warning viewers not to trust the media. The mashup went viral over the weekend. We should note, sinclairs Senior Vice President of news, scott livingston, told the Baltimore Sun that the script was written to take a stand against fake stories like pizzagate and to reiterate the companys commitment to truth. But if the language and message sound familiar, thats because it sounds a lot like donald trump. A lot like his complaints about the media. In fact, the president tweeted about sinclair today. Quote, so funny to watch fake news networks, among the most dishonest groups of people i have ever dealt with criticize Sinclair Broadcasting for being biased. Sinclair is far superior to cnn and even more fake nbc, which is a total joke. Heres a little background. Sinclair is the countrys largest broadcaster, owning and operating 193 television stations, including 15 nbc affiliates. The company is owned by Julian Sinclair smith. It is run by his son, david. The New York Times reports david and his brothers, that some of their giving has been to democrats, mostly for state and local races in maryland, but a vast majority of their money has been funneled to republican causes. Critics say their bent is abundantly clear. During the 2016 election, Jared Kushner made a deal with sinclair to air what he called straighter coverage of his fatherinlaw, which in reality was trump interviews without commentary. In effect, he tried to cut out the National News media, which at the time was asking him tough questions about his policies, his controversies, and his inconsistencies. In short, reporters who were doing their job. Today, along with that bias warning, which some described as more of a hostage video, sinclair ordered stations to air mustruns, as well. Among them, a report on the deep state produced by a former reporter at the russian outlet, rt, along with bottom line with boris, political commentary from former Trump White House official, boris epshteyn, which paints a rosy picture of things, Like White House turnover. The president deserves to have staff around him who support his agenda and are doing a good job. It is also important that an agency is not bogged down by infighting and alleged ethical shortcomings, as have unfortunately become the case with Veterans Affairs in the last few months. Longevity in a position does not equal success. President obama had just two secretary of states, Hillary Clinton and john kerry. Secretary clintons four years on the job left us with a total meltdown in the middle east, resulting in the rise of isis. So, again, why should this freak you out . Because sinclair isnt only trying to tear down real news. Its trying to expand its own reach from about 200 to 233 stations. If the fcc gives the okay, sinclair would then reach 72 of the nations households. And given todays tweet, the president looks like hes okay with it. The question is, are you . For more, im joined by jeff jarv jarvis, professor at kuni graduate school of journalism and also the director of toe Knight Center and the author of media blog buzz machine. Jeff, really glad to have you here in person. Honored to be here. This mandated script. Theres a lot of reporting out there that said that the reporters who did it, the anchors who did it were very uncomfortable doing it, but they were ordered to do it by corporate. A lot of the stations that you see on there have nbc logos, they have abc logos, cbs logos, fox logos. But theyre not abc, nbc, cbs, fox stations. Can you differentiate between an affiliate and an owned and operated . Very simply, the brand you see on your local tv news, nbc, abc, is a deal that they have. The Company Behind it that owns the station may not be nbc or abc. In fact, in most cases, is not. Because the networks are unlimited. So sinclair is now the largest owner of local tv stations across all the brands. And when you watch your tv news, you dont know whether sinclair is behind it. And sinclair, weve always known, has been extremely conservative, has had these mustruns, but now this dead spin video you showed is an amazing example of how you can see how words were literally put in the mouths of journalism and that to you and me is not journalism. Whats sinclairs goal . Sinclair is a conservative outlet. Jeff zucker recently called fox news staterun tv and a Propaganda Machine and sinclair is the same at a local level. Sinclair will bring the impact that fox has had, i think fox downright damaged our democracy, changed the way we think about democracy, now thats happening at a local level. And as you said, local tv news is still the most trusted part of news. News as a whole is less trusted than it ever was before. But local news for better or for worse is on top of that, is sinclair will now take apart its credibility. 72 of the stations im sorry, they would be able to get into 72 of american households if this deal goes through and everyone expects it to go through because the Trump Administration is friendly to sinclair. Talk about why local journalism is so important and without it, if we deteriorate the trust there, what happens . I think people dont trust news, period. I think that the trust in largescale National News, as you say, is down. And im a liberal and im in media, and i watch cnmsnbc all e time, but i actually argue what we need in this country is an investment in more factbased conservative media to provide competition to both fox and sinclair. Now if you dont like fox or the washington post, we leave you one option nationally, fox, and one option, sinclair. Sinclair has a memo out that msnbc has just confirmed. The memo basically says, the critics are now upset about our wellresearched journalistic initiative focused on fair and objective reporting. Just looking at what was said, theyre saying theyre trying to push back against pizzagate and these conspiracies floating on social media. Looking at the words that were used, somebody watches it and says, listen, theyre telling us theyre going to uphold fair and unbiased standards and theyre going to report the news in a way that is down the middle. They use that phrase that has been weaponized by donald trump, fake news. So fake news now means news you dont like. And sinclair is there to echo trump in that same view. Im told by my friends and researchers and journalism to not use that phrase because it has been taken over and weaponized. Its a meaningless phrase now, but its the phrase that sinclair used. So what can people do . People can try to find more sources of news. They can try to find some triangulation of crosssources and go to the sources you dont like. Im not crazy about fox news, but i have to watch it once in a while to see whats being said there. Jeff jarvis, thank you so much for joining us. We appreciate it. Thank you, katy. Coming up next, ousted va secretary David Shulkin insists he did not resign but was actually fired. Why that matters for his successor. Stay with us. I feel chronic, widespread pain. Fibromyalgia may be invisible to others, but my pain is real. Fibromyalgia is thought to be caused by overactive nerves. Lyrica is believed to calm these nerves. 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Safe driving bonus checks. Only from allstate. Switching to allstate is worth it. Thank you to secretary shulkin, general h. R. Mcmaster. I wish Rex Tillerson well. Gary cohn, the president of goldman sachs. Hope hicks. Director comey. The greatest businessman in the world. Carl icahn. Omarosa is actually a very nice person. General mike flynn. Sean spicer. He is a wonderful human being. I like mr. Bannon. Reince is really a star. Secretary price, whos behind me. Im really at a point where were getting very close to having the cabinet and other things that i want. What a walk down memory lane. You heard it right there, President Trump is saying that hes very close to having the cabinet he wants. I would hope so, because the white houses revolving door, fidget spinner, i like to call it, hasnt stopped spinning since he took office back in january of 2017. Nbcs white house unit puts the number of staffers that have either been fired or resigned at 60. So many people we often cant get through this scroll in one segment. But of all the people who have left, few has been as vocal as David Shulkin. Just six days ago, the white house announced that shulkin would be replaced at va secretary. Since then, hes been making the media rounds, defending his performance and insisting that he did not resign. I came to fight for our veterans and i had no intention of giving up. There would be no reason for me to resign. I made a commitment, i took an oath. And i was here to fight for our veterans. So why would the white house say technically you resigned. Did you submit a letter of resignation . No, we did not. Were you asked to submit a letter of resignation . No, i was not. He says he was forced out. The white house insists he resigned. The truth could have longranging implications. Will fisher is an iraq veteran and a purple heart recipient. Garrett haake is also with us. Garrett, whos telling the truth . Shulkin or the white house . And if he didnt resign, if he was fired, why wouldnt the white house just say so . Well, weve heard conflicting stories from the white house, even today, one white house spokesperson said that general kelly had reached out to David Shulkin and essentially gave him the opportunity to resign, which shulkin says he didnt take. And that he waited for the actual tweet here, the axe to fall, to ultimately lose his job. It matters for a couple of reasons. On the perception side, it matters once again that youve got the president essentially forcing someone out of the job who this person says they were, in fact, doing a pretty good job, and trying to keep their reputation clean, and put this on the president and on some of the chaos of the white house here, making it sort of a political issue for them being pushed out. Theres also an untested theory here about whether or not the president would have the power to name the successor acting director at the va, beyond whoevers next in line. The rules are pretty specific. It doesnt mention if someone is fired in this case. It might take a lawsuit to test the theory, but its another headache that the Trump Administration doesnt need, when they now have three cabinetlevel positions they have to fill with confirmation hearings coming up in the next couple of weeks, none of which will be easy. I think thats the understatement of the day award, garrett. Lets jump of what he was talking about. Shulkin says he was doing a good job and the firing came out of nowhere. Was shulkin doing a good job . Look, David Shulkin, things were improving at the va. And i dont think theres really a lot of dispute to the claim that David Shulkin was forced out because he wasnt being aggressive enough in bringing about the destruction and privatization of the department of Veterans Affairs. You think that is ultimately the issue, that the Trump Administration wants to privatize the va . Absolutely. And what would the why would that benefit the va, to privatize it . Oh, it wouldnt benefit the va at all. And it would not benefit veterans at all p. A privatized va equals worse benefits for veterans. But who this would benefit are private Health Care Providers who stand to make millions and millions and billions of dollars. There are 9 million veterans in the Va Health Care system right now. And if all of a sudden they were all being sent to the private sector with a voucher and a pat on the back, thats a lot of money going a lot of tax dollars going out of the va and into the pockets of millionaire and billionaire hospital executives. Ronny jackson has to be confirmed. Shulkin, in the past, previously recommended him to be va undersecretary of health. Is this an example of sour grapes for shulkin, not liking jackson now or is there real concern about the job this man will be able to do if he does get confirmed . I think its real concern, because David Shulkin has been in that seat. And he can look at dr. Jackson, the president s personal physician, who by all accounts, is a nice guy, right, but what managerial experience does he have, to oversee 330,000plus employees, to oversee over a thousand facilities, all around this country. And to oversee a budget of over 250 billion. And also, where does dr. Jackson stand on issues related to privatization . Your guess is as good as mine, katy. Im sure that donald trump had conversations with admiral jackson about that, but i really think, more than anything, the reason donald trump picked admiral jackson is because of the press conference in which, you know, admiral jackson described donald trump as being a picture of health. Perfect specimen of health, i think thats what it was. Perfect specimen, okay. Will fisher, garrett haake, gentlemen, thank you very much. Thank you. You bet. And kids out of school in two states while their teachers kids are out of schools in two states while their teachers are picketing. What is behind the nationwide fight . We take you live to oklahoma, next. Oh, sorry im late, sir. I had a doctors appointment. When you said you were at the doctor, but your shirt says you were at a steakhouse. Thats when you know its halfwashed. Now from downy fabric conditioner comes downy odor protect with 24hour odor protection. Downys powerful formula conditions fibers to lock out odors all day. Hey, your shirts making me hungry. Ha ha, derek. Downy and its done. Every single Public School in kentucky is closed. A number are also closed in oklahoma. The reason thousands of teachers have walked out and calling for more funding for schools and an increase in wages. This is the latest protest in response to budget cut and low funding in schools nationwide. Todays events follow last month in west virginia, teachers who received a 5 raise. For the latest, im joined by marianna attencio in oklahoma city. It looks like it has died down. And what does it look like today and what sort of raise are the teachers out there looking for. Reporter it is dying die a little but to my right there are still a ton of people there and buses that brought people in. You could see hundreds of peek circulating the Oklahoma State capitol and going in there and talking to legislators. We just cant get that close because there are so many people with cell phones that our reception was giving us trouble. But im here with alist yua priest, the president of the Oklahoma Association biggest union. What will we expect for tomorrow . Will you be back out here . Well be back here at 9 00 in the morning for the same reason until our Legislators Fund the childrens education appropriately and pass the plans that we need passed and make sure the funding is there well be here. Reporter is this part of a trend in gopled states across the country . I think anywhere where there have been cuts as drastic as here, 28 in the last ten years of our Education Funding cut, then teachers are standing up for their students and for themselves and advocating unapologetically. Weve got to Fund Education for our kids. Reporter you guys say youll continue the walkout. What about the impact on the children of not having school . The reality is the impact of not having a funded Education System is much more desperate than our students having a couple of days off. That well be making up later. Reporter thank you so much. And already here in oklahoma, oklahoma Public Schools and tulsa Public Schools announcing closures for tomorrow. Katy. Thank you very much. Really important story. Glad youre on it. Coming up after the break. We have one more thing. But first remember to follow the show on all of these great things. Facebook, twitter and instagram. Katy tur nbc. Catch our unbelievable segments on there as well. We repost them. Stay with us. vo you can pass down a Subaru Forester. But you get to keep the memories. Love. Its what makes a subaru, a subaru. avo get 0 apr financing on all new 2018 Subaru Forester models. Now through april 2nd. But he hasoke up wwork to do. In. So he took aleve. If hed taken tylenol, hed be stopping for more pills right now. Only aleve has the strength to stop tough pain for up to 12 hours with just one pill. Aleve. All day strong. One more thing before we go. It is the day after easter and for the second year in a row President Trump and the first lady kicked off the annual easter egg roll on the white house lawn. Bunny check. Eggs check. Kids check. We promise they are there. Politics check. For a second year in a row, the president talked less about easter and more about the state of the country. Here he was last year. And we will be stronger and bigger and better as a nation than ever before. Were right on track. You see whats happening and we are right on track. And here was President Trump this morning. And were going to make it bigger and better and stronger, our military is now at a level will soon be at a level its never been before. You see what is happening and you see what is happening with funding the funding of our military was so important. And so many military people are with us today. So just think of 700 billion. Because that is all going into our military this year. So i want to thank you all for being here. I wish they would pull out and just show all of the 4yearolds looking up at the president and thinking, what . Military funding . While were at it, lets talk about the bunny. It appears to be the same version of the costume once worn by sean spicer. Do we have that picture . Oh, god, please say we have that picture. No . We dont have the picture. That bunny has been around so long those glasses have gone out of style and come back into style. Those big dorky glasses. That will wrap things up this hour. Ali velshi we didnt have the sean spicer picture. But i was hoping to see the audience because i wanted to see the eraks the reaction. My favorite part is when hes talking to the 4yearolds gathered around about daca and it is the democrats fault and the kids are looking and saying can we look to easter eggs. Lesson to us. Know your audience. Have a good afternoon. See you at 5 00. Im ali velshi. Lets begin with the shock waves hitting the stock market. Stocks on track to have the worst april start since the Great Depression reacting to a possible trade war with china and president s fight with amazon. Now the dow is down 627 points. It has been down almost a hundred more points in the last hour. So ill keep a very, very close eye on stock markets for you as we are in our last hour of trading. Now in the last hour, the president met with his new director of the White House National economic council, larry kudlow. No detail onz wh on what came that meeting. He kicked off the easter egg roll with a pat on the back for the administrations efforts in the first year as which he touted the economy. This is a special year, our country is doing great. You look at the economy, you look at what is had a happening and nothing is easy but weve never had an economic lie now and were going to make it bigger and better and stronger. On sunday china announced they will snap back with tariffs on goods up to 3 million in response to the washington tariffs. A 15 tariff on fresh aut