Quote, go back and help fix the totally broken and crimeinfested places which they came from. Of course, three of the four lawmakers he was referring to were born here in the United States and all four of them are u. S. Citizens. But now, now the president is saying, he disagrees with the chant that echoed his tweet, and that he tried to stop the crowd. But heres the thing. Thats not what happened. Not at all. Take a look. If i may, when your supporters last night were chanting, send her back, why didnt you stop them . Why didnt you ask them to stop saying that . Well, number one, i i think i did. I started speaking very quickly. It really was a i disagree with it, by the way but it was quite a chant, and i felt a little bit badly about it, but i will say this. I did, and i started speaking very quickly, but it started up rather, rather fast as you probably noticed. Peter alexander at the white house with more about the president s latest walk back. Peter, the president was going hard at the congresswoman at the rally for days. He didnt seem to do anything about the chants at the moment or after the rally. What exactly has changed . Reporter yeah. Its striking because not only did he not say anything about those chants after the rally, after the rally he said just the opposite. He said, what a great crowd, great people at that rally last night. It was only hours later obviously that we saw him there in the oval office where he did try to distance himself from that chant. Sources familiar with the conversations tell us there were some calls that took place behind the scenes, including some senior republican lawmakers expressing their discomfort, frankly, their displeasure to the Vice President , mike pence. A white house official this morning tells me the president also spoke to pence and spoke to some republican lawmakers, but at least according to this white house official they say the president had already made up his mind before those conversations that he was going to Say Something about this. Again, remember, immediately after the fact he only praised the crowd at that event so it certainly doesnt seem to be the case. There is also reporting today that a member of his own family, ivanka trump had spoken to him urging him to speak out about it as well. Oftentimes in these situations we hear ivanka was among those saying something but, clearly, it had no impact if it is true on his comments at future rallies, certainly, given what we saw over the course of this last week. Steph . The president , though, is not backing down in terms of sentiment. He continues to go hard. Yeah. That is exactly right. And because, frankly, some of the president s allies say there is something to this. They think it could be politically advantageous for him to have sort of a showdown with these lawmakers that hes trying to cast as radical and unamerican. They didnt like the chant. They didnt like the go back tweet. But they think the message may be one that works. Thats why the president , today, is taking, you know, taking on the media again basically saying its the media thats become crazed over the chant in a new tweet this morning, basically saying that this was a big crowd in North Carolina and saying that the focus should be on what he characterizes as the most vile and disgusting statements made by the three radical left congresswomen. Its unclear why hes now referring to three congresswomen, not the four that he was initially focused on. I reached out to a white house official to see who is somehow off of that list. But going forward, its clear that the president s advisers are suggesting that that is a better strategy for him than how this all began with that racist tweet last weekend. Steph . All right. Peter alexander, thank you very much. Now we know what happened. Lets find out what it all means. The senior director of progressive programming for sirius xm and an msnbc political analyst and rick tyler republican strategist and also an msnbc political analyst, tim alberta chief Political Correspondent for politico and the author of the new book that i highly recommend american carnage. You know weve got to go local. Political reporter for the news and observer a newspaper in raleigh, North Carolina. Paul, im so glad you joined us. You were in the room. You were at the rally. President Trumps Campaign press secretary is now saying he simply couldnt hear the send her back chant. You were in the room. Could you hear it . You think he could . Id say thats not possible for him to have not heard it. We can all see the tape and hear it. It was not just one small group of fans. It was multiple if not hundreds of people on every side of the arena. Its pretty obvious that it was something that a lot a large percentage of the crowd was leaning into. No pun intended, rick. The president birthed this. He might not have turned to the crowd and say, hey. Lets cue it up. But he created this narrative that led to it. Why due think he is backing off now . He wrote the script. This is his play. He gave them the lines and they repeated back the lines. He teed them up to do this. No question about that. He went after them very specifically. The only plausible explanation for him backing off, which is weak, is that some weak, cowardly republican probably in the leadership made a call. But they wont say in public. Like none of my party, none of my party has come forward to be unequivocal about this and what it is and so is marco rubio going to show up the next rally in florida where they chant, send her back, to africa, which is what they mean . So in terms of this being a oneoff we know that its not. And somebody who definitely knows it is tim obrien, trump biographer. He writes this this morning. Trump cannot just walk away from send her back because he has been awash in this sentiment for decades. To name a few, housing discrimination in the 1970s. Central park 5 in the 1980s. A Senior Executive at trumps Atlantic City casinos during the 80s described trump as someone whos, quote, prejudices didnt stop at the color of ones skin. Everyone was subject to judgment. It could be theireth nisty, their gender, their religion. It could be their social cast. Keeping a copy of hitlers collected speeches by his bed side according to President Trumps first wife. We know of course he is the founder of birtherism in 2011 and then just take a few months ago referring to some mostly black countries as of course charlottesville in 2017. So can the president plaus baib deny he is behind this when you look at his history . Tim says it might not be in his bones because its in his heart. He has been awash in it for decades. It doesnt matter what is in his heart. We can look at his actions and words and policies and see who they negatively impact. Somebody who doesnt have those feelings in his heart is probably not going to cage brown children and then defend that policy as a good thing. And i think that, you know, it doesnt really matter to me whether or not this is a political strategy to energize his base. The southern strategy was also a political strategy and it was racist. This is racist. We need to be calling it out because it is actually a threat to our national security. White nationalists have been murdering people. Thats something thats happening in this country on an ongoing basis. Month after month were seeing terrorist attacks fueled by this kind of rhetoric. Now, you had somebody send literal bombs to democrats including two former president s and they had trump all over their van. When are we going to make that connection and take this seriously and stop falling for it when he pretends like he didnt mean it. Rick, youve said we havent seen republicans disavow themselves from this. I want to share what marco rubio said. He says, the tweet was wrong, but then he goes on to say left wing politicians and the media are also wrong. Watch what he said. So heres how this has been working. The president says something and people cringe because you dont like it but then the other side, these left wing politicians, people in the media, they go crazy with their outrage and they demand that you immediately answer what he said and answer it the way they want you to. It is a game im not going to play. Its distracting us from the important things this country needs to be focused on. Im not playing this game anymore. Marco, listen up. Here is another quote from a republican. We must never remain silent in the face of bigotry. We must condemn those who seek to divide us. All quarters and at all times we must teach tolerance and denounce racism, antisemitism, and all ethnic and religious bigotry wherever they exist as unacceptable evils. They have no place in america and america has no place for haters. None whatsoever. That was ronald reagan. That was pretty unkwif call. I havent heard one single republican call this out in a way that is unequivocal. That used to be my party. And my party is gone. Because my party tolerates racism now. Racism is not a game. The idea that in your tweet or your statement about what the president said youre going to lead off with an attack on the congresswomen, double down on attacking their policies or, you know, their progressiveness or calling them socialists in the same tweet as youre condemning the racism is not how this works. This is about racism. Lets stay focused. Again, this is a broader conversation. Because you mentioned the central park 5. That was 1989. Donald trump put out a full page ad calling for their execution. They were later exonerated. He never apologized. The video weve been watching from 1992 with Jeffrey Epstein is just three years after the fact. So he is hanging out with an alleged child sex trafficker three years after he calls for the execution of five black men and never apologized. Its not a game. This is life and death. Its not a game whatsoever. But, tim, is it political strategy . Axio noting this morning that no matter what it is still all about the economy. They spoke to voters in warren, michigan. This is what they found. Quote, some swing voters here told us even though they hate President Trumps behavior theyll place more importance on the state of economy and their personal finance situations when deciding how to vote in 2020. This is republicans conflating the two issues, saying, if you vote with these people who have democratic, socialist ideas, youre going to be in a worse financial standing. So are swing voters out there actually listening to that . You know, Kellyanne Conway the president s senior counselor who was of course his Campaign Manager in 2016, she has a theory of the case here. It goes Something Like this. She says, you know, voters, 99 of the time, act on not what offends them but what affects them. That was her theory the weekend of access hollywood. She was proven right. She said, look. People are going to come back into the fold as disgusted and repulsed as they may be because theyll ultimately wind up voting not on what offends them but what affects them. The president s team Still Believes that today. My question when i hear that senior republican officials are reaching out to the white house, to the Vice President , to some of the senior west wing aides, and expressing their displeasure with this, is that because they are sincerely disgusted by what theyre hearing or is it because theyre worried the president s rhetoric is alienating suburban moderates . That is really the important political angle here, stephanie. For all the talk about the president s base and you turn on cable news and thats all we hear, the base, the base, the base. President trump won in 2016 not just because blue collar, working class americans turned out for him in big numbers but because he was able to convince a lot of very reluctant, socially moderate suburbanites, college educated, traditionally Republican Voters, to pull the lever for him because they didnt like hillary clinton. They wanted lower taxes, deregulation, maybe even conservative judges. Whatever the reason was, there was a reason that so many of these people ultimately did pull the trigger for trump no matter how hesitant they may have been. And for every one base voter donald trump is mobilizing with this kind of behavior he is alienating another suburbanite in his coalition who he needs to get reelected. Okay, then, paul, take me back to North Carolina. Both the people at the rally and the people of the state, people care about what affects them not offends them. I didnt hear the president talking at all about health care and he hasnt offered a new plan. That certainly affects millions of americans. Thats right. He briefly mentioned health care during his speech and saying that republicans would do more to protect preexisting conditions than democrats would, obviously, we havent seen that plan. And at this rally, you know, it was more about people people decided what they wanted to vote for before they went. I mean, there was a couple i spoke with, the wife was from l. A. , and the husband is an immigrant from guatemala. They said they care about family values and they said they vote for trump because of that. And theyve been convinced that people who are coming in the country illegally through the southern border are more likely to be violent or have drugs, and those types of things. So hes effectively convincing some people that the immigrants coming through the southern border are unsafe. Did they give any explanation for how they defined what family values are . Its a really broad term we hear all the time and id love a definition of it. Thats right. They didnt give a definition. They said that they care about things like traditional family, whether thats code for, you know, male and female marriage, or whatever. Im not sure. They mentioned abortion and things like that. But, no. They mostly talked about their fears and how trump was going to protect them from those. Family values. Families most often rooted in love. Paul, thank you so much. Stick around. We have a lot more to cover. Coming up, you want to hear this. A Tiny Movement with a massive impact for some of the most important americans, veterans. You must see how it works. Plus, joe biden maintaining his lead in the brand new nbc News Survey Monkey poll. By how much . Well break it down. Steve kornacki is in the house. As your life grows, so do your needs. And with bank of america and merrill, the benefits you get can grow, too. As a preferred rewards member, you can enjoy Priority Service and exclusive discounts. So your growing life can be more rewarding, too. What would you like the power to do . What would you like the power to do . {tires screeching} {truck honking} [alarm beeping] avo life doesnt give you many second chances. But a subaru can. dad you guys ok . You alright . Wow. avo eyesight with precollision braking. Standard on the subaru ascent. The threerow subaru ascent. Love. Its what makes a subaru a subaru. High protein. Low sugar. Tastes great high protein. Low sugar. So good high protein. Low sugar. Mmmm, birthday cake pure protein. The best combination for every fitness routine. 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 . Welcome back. Im stephanie ruhle. Democratic chairman of the House Judiciary Committee jerry nadler wants to talk to former White House Communications director hope hicks again, calling the closed door interviews she gave last month inconsistent after federal prosecutors released new, unredacted, that means all the black marks are cleaned out, and we have all of the records, those documents yesterday detailing calls between hicks, President Trump, the president s former fixer and lawyer michael cohen, and American Media executive david pecker that fbi agents believe to be specifically about hush money payments to adult film star stormy daniels. During hicks june, 2019 interview she was asked directly, numerous times, if she was, quote, ever present when cohen and then candidate trump discussed stormy daniels, to which she repeatedly answered, no. Joining me now, former u. S. Attorney and former assistant director for the fbis office of Congressional Affairs under jim comey and a former federal prosecutor who worked in the Justice Department in the civil rights division. Help us get smarter here. Prosecutors are saying there will not be any charges for hope hicks. Does that mean the evidence against her wasnt that clear . Well, it means i think to this point that they simply dont plan on additional charges based upon the underlying conduct but, of course, if chairman nadler is correct in assuming or at this point believing that miss hicks may have misled or made misstatements to the committee she may have a whole new set of legal problems with respect to potential false statements to congress so the chairman as you mentioned has asked miss hicks to clarify her statements. It does appear as though the unsealed documents contradict what she has said to the committee and that could be a real problem for her. But what does that problem look like, cynthia . Weve heard it over and over again. Theyre in trouble. This is a problem. What are the actual ramifications . Lets say she shows back up again and says, well, i said no, because i didnt remember. Whether or not she is telling the truth, lets assume she says that. Then what . Well, first of all, it would be nice if they would swear her in. Last time she testified they didnt swear her in. Why . I dont know why. Id have sworn her in but they didnt do it. Were not looking at a perjury case but 1001. What does that mean . It is just a different charge. Still, i prefer the perjury charge. We also dont have, interestingly, the underlying fbi interview that she did where she supposedly said she didnt learn about the payments until november. We have statements to congress. She also did an interview. We dont have that underlying 302. We have statements from the fbi agent who applied for the warrant saying he had read what she had said in that 302 but we really need to see that specific 302 to find out whether or not she has a problem regarding not telling the truth to fbi agent. Greg, lets switch topics briefly. Accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein denied bail yesterday. Does that come as a surprise . It really does not. Primarily because it does not surprise me that the judge found him to be a significant flight risk and that is typically the reason for a request for a pretrial release to be denied. Beyond that, though, i think it is clear to all of us that given the high profile nature of the case and the details of the accusations, it would have really been difficult for this judge to allow mr. Epstein to be released. It would have looked like yet another sweetheart deal for a rich defendant and i just didnt think the judge was going to do that and he did no the. I cant believe, frankly, that an appeal if one is sought would be successful. Then how long does he sit in jail . What happens next, cynthia . Hell sit in jail until the end of the trial. Theres always this interplay with defendants about do they want a speedy trial or do they want to slow the process down . Defendants that are out of jail, you know, a dead case is as good as a win, they say. Defendants out of jail dont really want to go to trial too fast. Defendants that are in jail typically want to go faster. Unless evidence is overwhelming and then who wants to be convicted . So theres this sort of back and forth. Well see if he does this appeal. That will take extra time that he sits in jail. If he changes lawyers, which is something hes done in the past, that will take more time that he sits in jail until lawyers get up to snuff. And we also have to wait and see in terms of his trial date whether or not there is a superseding indictment. You know, the fbi is looking at the thousands of photographs and if it turns out those photographs are child pornography, there will be a superseding indictment and that will postpone. As far as im concerned, he can rot. There you go. One more topic for you both. We know that Congress People or at least their staffers are going to be doing their homework this weekend because next wednesday Robert Mueller is set to testify before congress. Greg, to you. If you were one of those questioning him, whats your question . Well, for me, the key question remains the following. Mr. Mueller, if this wasnt the president of the United States, who according to doj policy is immune from prosecution, did you find enough evidence to indict him on at least obstruction of justice questions . That remains the question. The report seems to suggest that the answer is yes but bob mueller needs to explain to the committee and to the public exactly how he saw the evidence and whether there was enough to charge. Cynthia . I completely agree. And then as a followup i would like to know why he didnt interview don jr. Why he didnt push for more interviews of the president. And other interviews that werent done. But the central question, i agree with greg, is, is there enough evidence to indict the president for obstruction of justice. Thank you both very much. We are only five days away from it. Five days away from Robert Muellers testimony. Make sure you join msnbc for all day coverage starting at 6 00 a. M. To get ready for the hearing tune in on sunday evening for a special look at the mueller reports biggest revelations. The mueller report, what you need to know this sunday at 9 00 p. M. Eastern. You also have in the next five days you can read all 400 pages. I assure you its exciting. Coming up next, the stage is set for the Second Democratic debate. Whos going to be facing off this time around . Plus a brand new nbc news poll showing the surprising reason joe biden remains the frontrunner. Driverless cars. All ground personnel. Or trips to mars. 4. 95. Delivery drones or the latest phones. 4. 95. No matter what you trade, at fidelity its just 4. 95 per online u. S. Equity trade. High protein. Low sugar. Tastes great high protein. Low sugar. So good high protein. Low sugar. Mmmm, birthday cake pure protein. The best combination for every fitness routine. Look limu. A civilian buying a new car. Ug lets go. Limus right. Liberty mutual can save you money by customizing your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. Oh. Yeah, ive been a customer for years. Huh. Only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. 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. In 11 days the Second Democratic debate will take place in detroit, michigan, and last night the matchups were officially revealed. Headlining night, one will be Bernie Sanders. Senator Elizabeth Warren, mayor Pete Buttigieg, former congressman beto orourke and senator amy klobuchar. Night two joe biden, senator Kamala Harris once again facing off with senator cory booker and Julian Castro both looking to repeat their strong performances from the last debate. Joining me now to help us understand all of it, msnbc national Political Correspondent steve kornacki. A couple things to keep an eye on. The first night as you say sanders and warren the only candidates right now polling in double digits who are going to be on that stage the first night. The new name joining the debate for the first time, Steve Bullock the montana governor. He did not make the first round of debates since then. Eric swalwell has dropped out. Something else to keep in mind on this first night and also the second night a bunch of these candidates, marianne williamson, tim ryan, amy klobuchar, john hickenlooper, john delaney, Steve Bullock, they are fighting for their political lives. Why . Because this is the last chance theyll get with an audience like this to get some attention and traction and get their poll numbers up. If they dont, they are in danger of missing the next round of debates that start this fall. They expect a big crunch. A lot of candidates were expecting to drop out around labor day. Keep an eye on those in particular. And the second night as you say is the night joe biden takes the stage. Kamala harris will be right next to him. All eyes will be on those two after we saw in the first debate. Keep an eye on cory booker, Julian Castro. They saw what happened with Kamala Harris when she went after joe biden in that first debate, how she got traction from that. Are they going to try to take a page from her book . Also, bennett, gillibrand, gabbard, inslee, de blasio, in danger of missing the next round of debates. Theyve got to do something to stand out as well. Talk to me about the new nbc news poll showing joe biden maintaining a really strong lead. Yeah. So take a look at this. This is our new nbc survey monkey. Nationally 25 . Sanders, warren tied for second. Harris pretty much a three way tie for second you could almost say at 14 right there. What were seeing and also i should say we added a regional poll and put a bunch of Southern States together just to get a sense of how things are shaping up in the south. Remember a lot of Southern States going to vote on super tuesday. You can take a look at that. Looks pretty similar to what youre seeing nationally. The reason biden is ahead right now though we can show you there is a racial divide here. Among white voters in the democratic primary, biden and warren are one, two. It is very close. In the south. It looks similar nationally. Among black voters, biden continues to have a very strong advantage. Again, this is in the south but were seeing the same thing nationally. Essentially at this point, black voters are accounting for the lead that joe biden has nationally in this race. All right. I need to bring back steve, i want you to stick around but i want to bring back rick tyler and also well conduct another poll. Rick seems to be growing his hair out. He is going to get a hair cut tomorrow. I think it looks really good like this. Thank you. Before he does i invite you to weigh in. Before we get to your hair lets talk Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. Theyre on the stage right next to one another but the rest of that night is basically more moderate candidates. Are these two going to be focused on knocking one another out or is it going to be the left versus the center . I dont see either one of them having the style of knocking each other out. They should. But heres bidens problem. Biden doesnt have a lot of growth room. So if you look at all the establishment im going Bernie SandersElizabeth Warren. Right. Theyre all competing for the progressive zone. He is in the establishment zone. Theres a few others in the establishment zone but theyre all in Single Digits so as those, as steve was talking about, when those people drop off, wheres the lift . Hes not going to have lift. As progressives drop off they start to consolidate and joe biden is, from this poll, he may be ahead. Hes in real trouble. What do you think the game plan is going to be for Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders . Those two, as long as those two are staying in the race, theyre splitting a vote. Yes. If theres one of them, theyre really giving joe biden a run for his money. I think they largely agree on ideology and some policies but their approach could not be more different and their messaging could not be more different. But their base could be is really similar. True, but i think certainly when youre talking about the black vote Elizabeth Warrens approach of saying i have a plan for that and heres what im going to do as president , that has a real appeal particularly among millennials of color. So i think while theyre fighting for that same base, they have a different way to approach the policies that theyre talking about as theyre trying to attract those voters and i think that it could be an interesting contrast in terms of style and substance when you see the two progressives on stage. One, who frankly, talks in platitudes from time to time. And could do a better job in terms of Bernie Sanders, could do a better job articulating the specifics of his policy. You have another person who is pretty wonky, former teacher, who really gets down into the details. It could be an interesting contrast to see that on stage at the same time. Im really interested in seeing that. I want to go back to the poll. The new nbc news monkey poll said 68 of voters said the condition of the National Economy is good. We mentioned it earlier and axios poll out saying voters are willing to overlook President Trumps rhetoric and be the chaos if the economy is good. We know the economy were living with right now is the same economy in terms of framework as we got from president obama. Of course. President trump won on zoning in on the fact that its broken, a bifurcated economy. Is that what these Democratic Candidates should be focused on . What they have to do is convince everybody that this economy because people vote their selfinterests. They vote their pocketbook, the idea that theyre going to have a reliable job. Theyre going to have healthcare, all of these things. And trump is actually in a very advantageous position, except he is so off message all the time. Hes never gotten over 48 . He should be at 60 , 70 with this kind of economy. He is not. The problem i have, im not a democrat so take my advice for democrats if you want or dont. If you disrupt if you give the voters the idea youre going to disrupt the economy like taking away their Health Insurance which medicare for all does. That is the bill that does do that. They may have different plans. But when you introduce Something Like that, that may and they can say, this is going to disrupt the economy. This is going to be lead to the next recession or do, that will make people nervous. And so you have to talk about the economy in a positive way. You can do it, you know, talk about the environment, creating jobs. Dont talk about the environment were all going to die in 12 years. Talk about the environment can create good paying jobs. That i think there is a message there. We know people feel good about the economy but the economy isnt actually working that much better for many people but the president does a good job selling it. The democrats need to take a page from the president in terms of selling the economic message they have. I do think so and they should talk about how his policies have impacted certain communities who voted for him. Like his trade policies for example. There are a lot of aspects of the economy that are not working for everyone. Essentially the line from democrats, the top line message is, this economy is not working for everyone. Its only working for those at the top. That was ironically Hillary Clintons top line message as well. I think in this moment when the economy is largely basking in the remnants of president obamas policies and trump is getting some residual impact of that, there are negative consequences as well. The fact that the house just passed a 15 minimum wage is a huge victory for many working class people and families in this country. It will never get through the senate. And so perhaps the democratic message is, listen. You need to put us in power because we are actually passing bills in the house. Mitch mcconnell is blocking them. The bills will help american families. Thats not a blow up the system message but lets give a new and improved tweaked version. What the president is doing is preying upon people saying theyre going to blow the system up. It might not be great for you but isnt it good enough . Well, the president is lying, right . The president is not telling the truth, right . So i think as people who focus on the facts, lets just stick to the facts. Lets analyze the facts and have a debate about policy and how it impacts certain communities. Thats how you have a serious political conversation. We just dont take the president at face value because hes not telling the truth. All right. Thank you so much. Weigh in, twitter. What due think . He is going to get a hair cut tomorrow. Coming up supporters of President Trump chanting, send her back, at his rally in North Carolina. But a brand new book traces this rhetoric back to one former Vice President ial nominee. Can you guess who it is . Of savings and service. Whoa. Travis in it made it. Its amazing. Oh is that traviss app . Its pretty cool, isnt it . Theres two of them. 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To conveniently makesend money sier, to your babysitter. For overtime. Or pinacle, to tap into your organization in the office, on the go, or in the stopandgo. Pnc make today the day. The business of family time. And downtime. And you time. And forgetting what time it is. Altogether. Modernized comfort inns and suites have been refreshed because when your business is making time, our business is you. Get the lowest price guaranteed on all Choice Hotels when you book direct at choicehotels. Com. The president is trying to distance himself today from the send her back chants aimed at congresswoman ilhan omar that broke out at his rally in North Carolina wednesday night and even as he says he disagrees with the chants inspired by his own tweets and actions, the moment left many questioning the future of the Republican Party and whether this is the new normal. There were signs nearly a decade ago that Republican Voters were craving this kind of unconventional, offensive rhetoric. That sign was sarah palin. Quote. Even as democrats ran away with the election of 2008, palins appeal was a revelation. She was connecting with portions of the electorate in ways that nobody had seen since reagan. But unlike the gipper, she was not channelling their hopes and ambitions and highest aspirations. Instead, she was provoking their fears, fanning their anxieties, inciting their animosities, and it worked. Tim alberta the author of american carnage and Senior Correspondent at politico back with me. Tim, again, this book is stunning. I highly recommend it. Karl rove says sarah palin was, quote, an Early Warning bell for what were seeing now. I think many of us forgot it. Then we read your pages, and its like, wow. The trifecta joined us a decade ago. It is really tempting to believe donald trump materialized out of thin air and nobody saw this coming but in fact as i try to do in the book in reconstructing this past decade of republican politics, and of course i should say one could argue this goes back much further than a decade, but just looking at this decade in american politics sarah palin was a harbinger of something and obviously there is a great deal of irony in the fact that john mccain the late senator who was arguably the most outspoken critic in the Republican Party of donald trump and constantly rebaking him for his rhetoric which he found to be offensive and racist and unbecoming of the highest office in the land, john mccain planted this in many ways by i dont want to climb inside of his head obviously but the fact of the matter is he had only spent a sum total of a couple hours with sarah palin before he chose to put her on the ticket and arguably, potentially one haefrt beat from the presidency of the United States. Obviously john mccain late in his life just before he died expressed regret over picking sarah palin i think probably for that reason among others. What she did is she exposed this gulf between sort of the republican governing class, the chamber of commerce, country club, upscale republican, and a lot of these more conservative, you know, rural, and noncollege educated blue collar working class republicans who felt as though the party elite looked down on them and ignored them, that they were ignorant to their economic troubles, some of their cultural anxieties. We knew this was sort of simmering below the surface but never had we seen it explode the way that it did as when sarah palin was introduced to the national ticket. In so many ways you can draw a Straight Line between her rhetoric and appeal in 2008 and donald trump eight years later. Where does the Country Club Republican go . Do they visit the bush library and golfing with paul ryan . Because the current Republican Party has stuck by the president s side for so many of these moments. Charlottesville, then of course this week. All of that being the case what does it mean for the future of the party . Look, it is a great question. There is this theory obviously that people around the president believe and it bears out to a great extent which is that voters are going to act in their selfinterest, what affects them not what offends them. There is a breaking point obviously and a real question about if you are a republican, donald trump is going to come and go but these forces that produced sarah palin and donald trump will still remain. What does the party do when he is out of office . There is going to have to be a reckoning obviously because the country is changing and undergoing this sweeping, unprecedented demographic transformation and the rnc autopsy that said after romneys defeat in 2012 that, hey, we cant win elections with just white voters, donald crump crumpled up the autopsy and threw it in the trash can. It still holds true. It is just a question of timing. Donald trump might be able to assemble that coalition again in 2020 and win but republicans over the long term are not going to be able to win the presidency, not going to be able to win National Elections by alienating a rapidly diversifying electorate. Everybody in the party understands that. The issue right now is that many of them are just too afraid of the president to speak out against him. They understand it is not just tax cuts and conservative justice which they all like, if you are a Republican Party official you dont want to be the next justin amaj who is forced to leave the party because you understand if you speak out against trump you are putting your career on the line. Except of course you run for office representing that party because in theory it you represent their values. I want to share a scene in the book where you highlight different reactions to the president s 2016 victory. This one stood out to us. You write, when a friend texted south carolinas governor nikki haley expressing dismay at the nights outcome she replied, cheer up. We just won governors races in vermont, indiana, and north dakotaa. She of course went on then to work for the trump administration. What do you think was behind her reaction and then her going to the white house . I think its a combination of what was behind it for so many other republicans. I think obviously there is a great deal of discomfort with donald trump to put it mildly for a lot of these folks. But then he wins the presidency and a lot of them think, look. This is sort of a binary choice at this point. Either influence over this administration and i try to help, you know, keep this thing on the rails as paul ryan liked to say, keep the ship from sinking. Or i walk away and i can look at myself in the mirror every morning. But i know maybe theres something that could have been done in this administration by somebody like me. Instead, they have the third stringers in there, who are not going to keep the president in line. That is the calculation a lot of people like nikki haley made. Im not say its the right calculation. Look, nikki haley, where we go after trump, people like nikki haley have a fascinating three dimensional chess move in front of them here, stephanie. Because they have to simultaneously figure out how to harness some of trumps populist appeal, some of the appeal to the cultural, blue collar voter, moving beyond and even denouncing his appeal to xenophobia, racism and everything else. Ni she is getting paid by Corporate America sitting on the board of directors for boeing. Tim alberta, thank you so much. This book is absolutely a must read. I highly recommend it. American carnage out now. On a single night in january last year, 37,800 veterans did not have a place to call home. 37,000. Think about that. The Veterans Community project is certainly thinking about it in kansas city. This nonprofit has transformed the lives of some Homeless Veterans now who have homes. Tiny homes that are complete with new furniture, appliances, and food. These homes all free of charge. This program now expanding to other cities nationwide. Im going to tell you about it. Joining me, former Army Intelligence officer and former secretary of state of missouri, jason candor, who will be leading this expansion. Jason, please tell us about this program. It is so important. Reporter first of all, thanks, stephanie for having me on. I appreciate the opportunity to talk about the Veterans Community project. I want to tell you how i came to know the project. I actually was running for mayor here in kansas city and get a vip tour of the place. Im a veteran myself. I was completely inspired by the combat veterans who started it. And then, as some may remember, about six weeks after that, i announced that i was going to pull back from politics for a while and get treatment after almost 12 years after my combat deployment for posttraumatic stress. When i did that, i went down to the va. One of the first things that happened was i recognized that the process was not as easy to navigate as i had hoped. And so not knowing what i was to do, despite the fact that i had a phone full of influential contacts, even i said im going to need help with this. So i turned to the folks at Veterans Community project and did what over 4,000 veterans in kansas city is done, go in for the walkin services they provide for homeless or otherwise. That helped me navigate the va process. As a result here i am eight months later able to sit with you and tell you that Mental Health process at the va has been an incredibly important step i have taken in my life. And i feel 100 times better. Now, after a bit, i got the opportunity to say, all right, this should be everywhere. Hundreds of communities around the nation have reached out. Now i am leading the national expansion. Two things it offers that every city in the country needs. Both of them have to do with filling the gaps in veterans services. Not complaining about the gaps. Not advocating for change at the government level. Coming in and rescuing those who have fallen through. The first is a walkin closet that provides onestop shot Outreach Services for veterans, team them up with anything they need. And the second is the transitional housing piece. Its making sure Homeless Veterans are moved into what we call the Veterans Village. And they can replicate the environment that they had before they left the military. It makes an enormous difference. It is inspiring to see. Jason, a veteran himself Pete Buttigieg visited a Veterans Village this week. What do the voters want to hear from the candidates . Reporte im sorry . Were looking at our screen right now of buttigieg visiting one of the villages. Look, as a veteran and somebody who has run for office a bit myself, i can tell you that i think when folks look at veterans running for office, what they see is no different than what they see when they see a teacher, firefighter, Police Officer or piece core volunteer. They say heres somebody who has done something harder than politics. Thats what people appreciate. And so, you know, when you look at the mission that we have at Veterans Community project, i mean, it is public service. Whether youre running for office or doing what im doing now with Veterans Community project, it is just about making sure that we do more than stand up at a ball game and clap for folks. We do more than say, thank you for your service at an airport. Im not criticizing anybody. Im saying americans want to do more than that. You will see it is an opportunity to be more than thankful to be involved. Without a doubt. Jason, thank you so much for leading this effort. Well be back with more. Well be back with more. Ey real 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. 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Preservision it is time for us to say goodbye to our executive director. Subsidize i have, tough in the best possible way and consistently to producing newscasts their h honest and objective which is obviously not always an easy task. In other words, nikki egan say great journalist and outstanding person. I like to say that it is our goal on this show to make you smarter and better every single day. And i firmly believe that we are all smarter and better because of nikki egan. Speaking for myself and our team, i want to thank you, nikki, for your friendship, leadership and job well done. That wraps up this hour. Im stephanie ruhle. You are in luck. My dear friend Hallie Jackson is here in new york city. What an amazing goodbye to our friend nikki. Thank you much. See you later this afternoon. We start this hour, though, with new reporting from our nbc news team out this morning on how exactly democ