And according to his Campaign Manager, just about dragged him across the finish line. Vaughn hillyard is in louisville, kentucky, and Steve Kornacki is at the big board. Vaughn, lets start with you, reaction in the morning. Im guessing a whole lot of people are stunned. Reporter yeah, this is a race that folks saw this as being a possibility. And if you were the bashwas bes campai campaign, there was talk of a one or twopoint victory, but that was with everything going absolutely right. You had to have a strong surge of support in the suburbs, Northern Kentucky. You had to strengthen that margin in eastern kentucky, and you had to have good numbers out of louisville and the likes of lexington. This was an everything went right. This is a campaign that Andy Beshear Steve beshear was the father of andy beshear, and to note, was the governor before matt bevin here. When youre looking at these two candidates, you have essentially two different personalities. You had matt bevin, who is much more of a trumpian figure, somebody who is brash, somebody who turned a lot of people off across the state, particularly when he was talking about issues like education. There was protests among teachers here across the state over pension reform, and he went out of his way to say that they were throwing temper tantrums. And you know, when you were hearing and talking to folks, there was a very real possibility youre talking to republicans that were thinking of voting for andy beshear. I wanted you to hear from the candidates yesterday, because matt bevin was relying largely on the support of President Trump. Of course, the president was here monday night. And if you looked at the television ads, it was pretty much trump, trump impeachment, and trump. And i asked him about that yesterday. Youre going to hear from matt bevin yesterday talking about the type of race that he ran, and then youre going to hear from andy beshear last night when he took the stage. And i think its reflective of the entirety of how the democrat ran his own campaign. The fact that you ask why this is being nationalized and why people are talking about President Trump would indicate to me that you really have sort of maybe come out from under a rock, because here in america, thats pretty topical every night. Its a message that says our elections dont have to be about right versus left. They are still about right versus wrong. Reporter andy beshear really tried to drive home the locality of this, making this a state race. There were no 2020 democratic president ial candidates that came to kentucky, stephanie, but donald trump did come, in fact, for matt bevin, and matt bevin was hoping that the president was going to be able to surge turnout in these Rural Communities across the state. Perhaps he did, but if you look up in the suburbs and look at other places, ultimately, andy beshear, the surge of turnout for his behalf was too much for anything that donald trump was able to bring out on behalf of matt bevin. Mr. Kornacki, for people right now who are saying i dont live in virginia, mississippi, kentucky, why do i care, break down for us these results and what they tell us about the electorate, because these states matter. A couple things jump out. In kentucky, where bevin lost the turnout, the turnout was huge, 1. 4 million, a little bit more than 1. 4 million votes cast in kentucky. Put that in perspective. The last time they had a governors race in 2015, it was 973,000. So you had almost a 50 increase there in turnout from governors election to governors election. This is more on par with what you get in a midterm election. The president ial election numbers 1. 9 million in kentucky. So, its just huge turnout that you had there. You had a couple of core democratic areas in kentucky, around louisville, around lexington, huge turnout there, huge support for the democrat. I think the big story in kentucky that is the reason for bevins loss and that you have to ask is this part of a National Trend three suburban counties, three big suburban counties outside of cincinnati, traditionally republican, bevin had carried them strongly when he won in 2015, trump carried them strongly in a state in 2016. Bevin lost two of them and was down ten points off his old pace in the third one. Big reason why he lost last night, and the question is, does that Say Something about other counties like that outside of kentucky and where they are going . And its a complicated question. Its a little more complicated maybe than it seems, but i think its the big question posed by kentucky last night. All right, and we need more answers, so lets dig deeper. Joining the conversation, patrick wilson, politics reporter at the richmond timesdispatch, bobby harrison, senior capitol reporter at mississippi today, daniel dayresh oo at the lexington herd leader. All gentlemen have their respective papers frontpage stories. And bill payne, democratic strategist and former aid to Hillary Clinton and charlie sykes. Charles, to you first. As mr. Kornacki noted, there is something happening in the suburbs in a number of states that the president won in 2016. Tell us what youre seeing in wisconsin. How important could that be in 2020 . Well, that is the pattern that we need to watch here because the suburbs are where donald trump underperformed in 2016. Now, hes overperformed in rural areas, so lets not take our focus off of Rural America as well where he has shown a good deal of strength. But if you look at not just kentucky but also virginia and pennsylvania, its very, very clear that democrats are making gains. Also, i think whats really interesting is that i think a lot of republicans were hoping that a backlash against impeachment was going to mobilize their voters. And maybe to a certain extent, it did, but clearly, it also mobilized democrats to turn out. So i think those are two patterns to keep a close eye on. Joe, for 2020, should democrats be focusing more on suburban republicans and a moderate does last nights elections make democrats think more about what portion of their base matters more, moderate or more progressive . I think last nights elections kind of reflects a couple of things. One, candidates matter, right . Time, place, state all matters. Andy beshear was the right type of candidate for kentucky. Hes got a name in the state. His fathers a very popular, wellknown person in the state, and he demonstrated that he could run a kentucky first campaign. Matt bevin is the one that wanted to nationalize the race, which was much to his dismay. As vaughn hillyards reporting reflected that nationalizing the race was the worst thing that a republican could do right now. I dont think this necessarily says that democrats are absolutely going to win on impeachment all over the country, but it certainly says that republicans cannot make impeachment a toxic issue for democrats right now. Democrats have figured out how to talk to the American People about it. All of the scare tactics that republicans tried to use on impeachment didnt work here in kentucky. Patrick, lets talk about virginia. Democrats taking over the legislature for the first time in almost three decades. Tell us what youve seen on the ground, because one thing that hasnt been on the ground has been President Trump himself. He has avoided the state. And common sense gun laws have been so important to virginians. Sure, yeah. President trump remains pretty unpopular in virginia. Now, theres a lot of parts of the state where hes very popular, but overall, though, especially in the urban areas and the suburbs, trump has not been popular. For the first time in 26 years, the democrats are going to in january have the Governors Mansion and both chambers of the legislature. This momentum started in 2015 when they flipped 15 seats in the house of delegates, and that was almost entirely due to a backlash against trump. Virginia was the only Southern State that trump didnt win. Then last year, the congressional delegation in virginia flipped from seven to four republican to seven to four democrat. Three republicans lost seats last year in congress. And then this year, with a lot of money behind them, the democrats were back with the General Assembly election and ran a lot of tough races. They didnt actually do maybe quite as well as some pundits or journalists might have thought they could have. The republicans did hold some key seats down in Virginia Beach in the state senate, but the Virginia Senate is going to be 2119. The house is going to be, depending on how the final count goes, the democrats will have a 55 or 56seat majority in the 100seat house. Guns was a big issue in a lot of the races across the state. Republicans were actually in some of the suburban areas trying to talk a little bit like democrats and saying they were, you know, one of their priorities was gun violence prevention. And of course, democrats were hammering republicans on their voting record, saying it doesnt match your rhetoric here on guns. So, the gun issue was very important. One key thing, though, down in Virginia Beach, where the mass shooting happened at the municipal center, a republican senator was reelected with a pro gun record against a democrat, missy cotter smosel, who made guns a very big issue. This race was very close, but it appears that the republican there has been reelected. So, there was some strength for republicans down in the Virginia Beach area. Well, then in terms of legislative agenda, now that democrats have control, what do you think first thing theyre going to do is . I think theyll definitely do legislation on guns. Governor Ralph Northam this summer called a special session after the mass shooting, wanting the legislature to address certain things like expanded background checks, bump stocks, and the republicans felt like this was a ploy to set them up for electoral failure, and they ended that special session pretty quickly while referring all this legislation to a state Crime Commission to be studied. The democrats really tried to utilize that to their advantage and hammer away at that issue. So there are definitely going to be some Gun Legislation that passes and gets signed by the democratic governor next year. Daniel, lets talk kentucky. Bevins loss, is it more about him being an unpopular governor or is it more about the state of kentucky making a shift . So, its pretty much all about matt bevin being an unpopular governor. You know, when youre traveling the state, it is just kind of amazing to see how many people really, really dislike the governor. And a lot of that comes from the battles that he picked with the teachers groups, with the pension reform, with that sort of thing, in the language that he used when he was talking about his opponents during that debate. I want to share, the president tweeted this, this morning, daniel based on the kentucky results, Mitch Mcconnell will win big in kentucky next year do you agree with that . So, you know, its obviously very far out, but the big thing to watch, right. So, if you look at the governors race, yeah, that was a very close race, but the rest of the ticket went pretty solidly republican, you know. Was even to the point where the republican candidate running for secretary of state was able to take down a former miss america who was much better known than he was and who was known for bipartisanship. So you know, kentucky is still very much a conservative state. I think that if you want to take one lesson, i guess, from this race for the democrats, is that there may be a path, right. There is a path, and a lot of that is doing really well in lexington and louisville and Northern Kentucky and even in bowling green, so that you build a cushion and can survive the rural areas. The difference is that kentucky still really likes President Trump. When you go out on the campaign trail, you know, people are in eastern kentucky, in western kentucky, they love the president , and he would be at the top of the ticket in 2020, and you have to imagine that he would be able to help carry the rest of the republican ticket in that election year. Mr. Sykes, President Trumps Campaign Manager put out a statement, writing this the president just about dragged governor matt bevin across the finish line, helping him run stronger than expected in what turned out to be a very close race at the end. The president was tweeting about bevin for days. Could this serve as a warning to other republicans that they shouldnt nationalize these races or use President Trump . Is the president and his Campaign Manager right that even though bevin lost, trump helped him quite a bit . No. Look, im not an expert in kentucky politics, but its very, very clear that matt bevin was different than the rest of the republican ticket because he wrapped himself around donald trump so tightly. He made this a referendum on donald trump. He made this election a referendum on impeachment. And fact that he ran so far behind every republican, despite Donald Trumps intervention, ought to be a warning sign that even though donald trump may be popular, he doesnt necessarily have the coattails that i think that a lot of republicans might have thought he had. So, if youre sitting in washington or youre sitting around the country, and youre looking at donald trump right now, you have to ask yourself, how tightly linked to him do i have to be . Because it did not work, it did not work for matt bevin. And as a couple of people have made the point, clearly, nationalizing this campaign was the worst thing he could do. When you had republicans running on local issues, running on, you know, traditional republican issues, they did fine in kentucky. Matt bevin, who was uniquely toxic, made himself the trumpiest candidate and he went down to defeat. Bobby, talk mississippi. Full republicans tweet. Thats right. I guess im here to kind of throw cold water on the democrats big night. They suffered a real shellacking here in mississippi. Hood, our attorney general, the only statewide elected democrat in the state, was viewed as a real contender to beat you know, we havent had a competitive governors race since 2003. This one was competitive, but in the end, it turned out that for big picture for republicans, not only in the governors race, but now they had a lot of statewide elections, and the republicans finally also picked up a few seats in the legislature, so it was just a big night for republicans and a bad night for democrats. And you know, quite frankly, sitting here this morning, im not sure where the Democratic Party goes in this state. You know, we dont have the suburban base that the other panelists were talking about. Jim hood did do pretty well in some suburban areas, but in the rural areas, including his home area in east mississippi, where he had done so well in past elections, he suffered just big defeats, you know, and donald trump, republicans did nationalize the race here. Donald trump came to the state, came to jim hoods home area, one of those real rural areas that jim hood had done so well in, in past elections. He came there friday night and fired up the base, and it just turned out really well for republicans last night. Last point to you, steve . Its interesting. I think everybody today is trying to figure out this question of trump and bevin in kentucky and trump coming there for bevin, bevin wrapping himself so tightly around trump. What was the effect of that . I think there are two ways of looking at it, because on the one hand, you could say, well, sure, he didnt win. Trump came in there at the last minute, told kentuckyans, dont embarrass me, and after that, bevin falls about 5,000 votes short. The other way of looking at it is matt bevin had a 34 Approval Rating in kentucky, a deeply i think there was a National Poll of all 50 states. He was the second least popular governor in the country. So if hes running on his gubernatorial record, if hes running on local issues, hes running on a 34 portion approv rating. That might have been a dead end for him. His only option might have been nationalizing it, getting the trump effect, and you could argue that the trumpera polarization is the only thing that kept him in the race. It wasnt enough to put him over the top and win, but in the face of a 34 Approval Rating, it might have been the only thing that made him competitive. All those teachers that he called cry babies, they may be saying this morning, whos crying now . Thank you all so much, helping us break down those very important races. Still to come, are you better off . We keep asking the question. And this morning, weve got a new look at a report which tells a very different story from the one you hear from the president. But first, a Top State Department deputy arriving on the hill moments ago to testify one day after the president s man in europe goes back on what he told the impeachment inquiry, admitting to knowledge of aid for dirt on the bidens. Im talking Gordon Sondland, the president s handpicked ambassador to the eu. The latest dramatic details on the impeachment inquiry, next. N the peimachment inquiry, next. What i love most about being a scientist at 3m is that im part of a community of problem solvers. We make ideas grow. From an everyday solution. To one that can take on a bigger challenge. We are solving problems that improve lives. When youyou spend lessfair, and get way more. Enge. So you can bring your vision to life and save in more ways than one. For small prices, you can build big dreams, spend less, get way more. Shop everything home at wayfair. Com thbecause with nband after thleague pass on xfinityr. You can watch the out of market games you want all season long. And with the allnew xfinity sports zone, you get everything nba all in one place even notifications about your favorite teams. Watch the dropped dimes, monster blocks, and showstopping dunks. Plus get instant access to your teams with the power of your voice. Thats simple, easy, awesome. Say Nba League Pass into your voice remote to upgrade for a great low price or go online today. Welcome back now to the latest in the impeachment inquiry. Just a few moments ago, we saw david hale. This is one of mike pompeos top deputies at the state department, arriving on the hill this morning. He will become the 14th witness to testify. While we wait for that, headlines remain focused on a previous witness, ambassador and bigtime trump donor Gordon Sondland, who amended thats right, corrected, changed his testimony, in a newly released transcript. In it, sondland said he now remembers that there was a plan in place to hold up military aid until ukraine agreed to seek dirt on the bidens. He is now the fourth witness to testify to that, something the president has repeatedly denied. Garrett haake is following all of the action on the hill. Garrett, first i want to ask you about todays witness, david hale. Democrats want to build a very simple case against the president. Does hale help him do that . Reporter we certainly hope so. Hale breaks a streak of the last six witnesses who have not shown up here to testify. Hale is the topranking state Department Official to come testify so far in this probe. It doesnt get much higher up in the hierarchy at state than hale. Hes the number three person in the whole building, and democrats hope that his testimony will buttress that of marie yovanovitch, the depositions talking about yovanovitchs ouster from the state department, the lack of cover from pompeo and what the political machinations were behind the scenes. If that all sounds like information we already have, thats part of the democratic strategy here. They want to make sure that the testimony, particularly of the folks who they ultimately end up calling to appear in public hearings, is totally locked down, buttoned up, and airtight. They want to make sure they present the simplest, most incontrovertible evidence they can and back up the others. They feel thats crucial to convincing the public and hopefully some republicans in the public phase of the inquiry in the not too distant future. Do we know hes going to do that . Could he not be the complete other side . Reporter well, he would be in trouble if he were. Look, we know from michael mckinleys testimony that hale was involved if a lot of these decisions, copied on emails, part of discussions. We know that he was central to this process, so the expectation is that his testimony will line up. Now, whether he comes out and says something wholly contradictory from what weve heard from all of these witnesses, i suppose that would be newd worthy in and it of itself, but theres no word to say hell come out with a much different story than the well documented story of yovanovitchs ouster. All right, get ready to cover this. Now we have to dig into the why. We have a fantastic group here to help us. Michael allen, former member of the nsc and staff member with the intelligence committee. Glen kirshner, and anna palmer with politico, coauthor of politicos playbook. Glenn, you build prosecution cases for a living. Look at the democrats plan, specifically using vindman, taylor and yovanovitch as their key witnesses. What do you think. Steph, they must have some pretty good prosecutors advising them on tactics, because heres why. When we investigate cases, we investigate expansively, and that results in us running down a lot of dead end alleys, talking with a lot of knucklehead witnesses. But then once you prove the case in court or in an impeachment hearing, you want to prove the case narrowly. So, i think what the house is doing is exactly right tactically, because think about it, if you put like a Corey Lewandowski on the stand, hes not going to persuade the people of anything. I mean, if he tells me his name is Corey Lewandowski, i want to see his drivers license as corroboration. We saw his clownish performance, but once the American People get to see career patriots who really are lawabiding, they take their oath seriously, and you can trust when they relate facts to you under oath, like Lieutenant Colonel vindman, ambassador yovanovitch, bill taylor. I think the public is going to sit up and take note. Thats going to be the house putting its strongest foot forward. All right, michael, we must look at Gordon Sondland. He amended his testimony, and i dont mean amended like oh, i had chicken, not fish for dinner. He amended the heart of the testimony, now saying he does remember military aid would not be delivered until the ukrainians committed to these investigations, investigations looking into joe biden and his family. How big of a deal is this in terms of democrats case against the president . I think its a very big deal. First of all, Gordon Sondland is a pivotal player, as you well know. He at different times has been on all sides of the question on whether there was a quid pro quo. By the way, this is quite a refresh of your memory to come back and absolutely sort of countermand was you had testified to previously, but i think he is a pivotal witness. And, by the way, hes the one who says that he received the direction from the chief of staff, mick mulvaney. And so, if youve got sondland sort of turning states evidence, so to speak, and he is a key to bringing the argument closer to the president by way of the chief of staff. Glenn, are there no legal ramifications to changing your testimony this dramatically . There are. Its called perjury. The question is, whos going to bring a perjury charge . Not attorney general barr or the people that hes directing at the department of justice, which, steph, makes it a little bit of a surprise that sondland felt compelled. By what, we dont know, but he felt compelled to go back in and correct his testimony. Thats not unusual. But you know, i think the reason its so impactful is because trump lashes out at everybody who provides ysiinformation abo him as a never trumper. Well, sondland was an always trumper, at least until something put the fear of god in him and he went back in and he told the truth. An always trumper to the tune of 1 million in support for the president. Anna, who will do republicans play this . No one can say hes a double agent for a foreign country, hes a never trumper. How do they handle this change in sondlands testimony . I think republicans are very disappointed in ambassador sondland. They thought that he was going to be one of the few people in these depositions who were going to bolster the president s case. Ive spoken to republican staffers who said that clearly is not the case. I think the problem for a lot of the republicans is this kind of case is being built, and every Single Person that is going up and is being interviewed is kind of adding those different Building Blocks to the same story. And so, ambassador sondland all of a sudden having to kind of completely refute and remember his testimony differently is not a good thing for the republicans. I think they feel like they have they are in a really weak position right now going into the public hearings. 1 million to the president s inauguration. And remember, ambassador to the eu. Ukraine is not part of the eu. It has been said over and over, sondland and Rudy Giuliani were part of this shadow Foreign Policy team. Glenn, i want to play part of what Lindsey Graham said in late september and then what he said yesterday. If youre looking for a circumstance where the president of the United States was threatening the ukraine with cutting off aid unless they investigated his political opponent, you would be very disappointed. That does not exist. Ive looked at the phone call. I find nothing wrong here. Im not going to entertain impeaching the president over this matter, period, done. But you said in the past that if there is quid pro quo yeah, show me where there is. Youve got some guy presenting something. Okay, glenn, the phrase quid pro quo keeps getting thrown around here. Does that help the American People understand it, or is it about attempted bribery here . Yeah, no, quid pro quo is a quaint and confusing little latin term that i think we should completely move away from. We have two things here we have bribery and we have extortion. Bribery, steph, is nothing more than giving a public official money or some kind of an inducement to take an official act. Thats what trump did. He told zelensky, i am withholding this aid. Thats an inducement. You can bribe somebody by withholding something they have a right to. And he told zelensky, im withholding this aid until you announce your dirty investigation into biden. Thats bribery. Extortion is lets take the stereotypical example i will burn your house down if you dont give me money. What did trump do . He basically said, i will let russia burn your country down by withholding this military aid unless you announce a dirty investigation into biden. You know, often when somebody commits a criminal act, steph, it violates multiple statutes. This does, both bribery and extortion. But we know bribery is one of the big four in the constitution treason, bribery, high crimes, misdemeanors. Lets go with bribery because it is that. Behind door number three, glenn is going with bribery. Michael, last word to you. Well, glenn is very persuasive, but i think thats going to be a bridge too far, even for some democrats to argue bribery and extortion. I get what hes saying. I think what theyll go for is a more narrow impeachment clause to the tune of abuse of power. That was in the nixon era. And i think, look, the republicans are struggling. First they had to attack on the basis of hearsay. Theyve tried to deflect with the bidens, but i think as more witnesses come forward, it gets a little bit tougher to find a political narrative to push back on the progress. All right. Thank you all so much. Were going to leave it there. 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What we do here at danafaber, changes lives everywhere. Everywhere. Everywhere. Everywhere. Everywhere. Are you better off than you were four years ago . That is the question that helped Ronald Reagan win the white house back in 1980. 40 years later, americans are asking themselves that very same question. And a new poll from the Financial Times and Peterson Foundation spells trouble for trumps reelection. Almost twothirds of americans say they are not better off financially with President Trump in office with 31 saying theyre actually worse off under this current administration. Joining me now, jim doyle, president of the business forward foundation, and peter spiegel, u. S. Managing editor for the Financial Times. He is the person behind this polling. And back with me, my friend charlie sykes. Peter, the biggest driver behind people feeling worse off and i want you to tie this to the election last night, because when president obama was in office, we kept looking at the coasts, which after the financial crisis were doing a whole lot better, but what we didnt pay enough attention to were those swing states that said, no, sir, we are not doing better. Take us there. So, youre right. So, the dynamic of 2016 hasnt changed. This grumpiness in the electorate over the state of the economy, which really drove the trump surge, that still exists. That hasnt changed. People dont think that trump has changed the dynamic. But the one thing i want to pull out is we did some sort of drilling down over sampling in some of the big swing states. We didnt do virginia, but we did North Carolina, which is, some would argue, i would argue, is a similar state in this used to be the salad south. Georgia, North Carolina, virginia, they used to be solid republicans. Theyre becoming more purple. And what we saw in North Carolina is much higher, 31 nationwide, people saying theyre worse off, 39 in North Carolina. So, some of these regions, the midwest, the south, these are the regions that were sort of the overlooked. They are the ones that are saying that they are even doing more badly now under trump than they were under obama. Those are the ones where the Economic Issues may have and played a role in virginia in particular may have a role in undermining trumps argument for reelection next year. Economic expansion is usually a big win for an incumbent, but fact that so many people arent feeling well about their personal finance, are they going to give this president a bit of grace and say i like his policies, they just havent helped me enough yet . Well, thats what you hear so far, but like here in wisconsin, you have manufacturing not doing well, agriculture not doing well, but i also think that theres a different dynamic. In 1980, it was are you better off than you were four years ago. I think next year the big question people will ask is can you take four more years of this . And i think that when you look at the anxiety thats been created by the trade wars, by the debt, by the crony capitalism, you have real questions about where we are going as a country and where were going as an economy. Jim, you say theres a case against President Trump from a business perspective. The president didnt have Business Class voters last time around. Over the last four years, hes acquired quite a bit, whether its the tax cuts or just look at deregulation and the markets. Where do you see the case against him from a business perspective . Well, i think the fts results are driven by wages, as peter explains. Wages are based on productivity. Productivity is based on investment in facilities and skills. And frankly, with the trade war donald trump has started and the tax cuts that went disproportionately to the wealthy, theres really no incentive for businesses around the country to invest in their staff and their facilities, and as a result, wages are flat. Peter, party affiliation, how much did that have to do with the way people are feeling . Because the president , if nothing else, is an extraordinary salesman. And even if people arent doing better, they hear the president saying the economys great, im your pro business guy. So, if you actually ask specifically, do you think Donald Trumps economic policies are better for the economy or worse for the economy, that is a clear partisan difference. When using his name and tied to the economy. So, its 4545 our polls show that there is a complete partisan separation on is trump good for the economy. But i think the interesting thing about the more broader question which you ask are you better off than you were four years ago, that gets to your own personal situation and partisanness fades away when it talks about your own situation. So we dont know if people will vote for trump and if they do, it will be partisan, or return to the 1984 election and vote on personal Economic Issues. I think thats what we want to watch over the year. Does trumps Approval Rating sort of go along with their feeling about their personal finances . And we wont know obviously until election day. The other point on your question about the business vote. I had a meeting yesterday with a very senior banker here in new york, and i asked him that very question. I said, look, is trump good for banking . He said, look, if i was to vote on is my personal bank, the bank i run, is it better off under trump, ive got to say yes. Deregulation has been great. But the trade war, Everything Else he does for the economy, that is making me nervous. So its very interesting that, as you say, the coasts, sort of the wall street types who have traditionally been seen as traditional republicans, are very, very nervous the way trump is pursuing his trade policies. And even here we see the average voter, if you ask them, what is the biggest cloud hanging over the american economy, they say the trade war. But do wall street types, jim, to you, does the Business Community at the end of the day matter that much in the election . Not too many big business guys are wall streeters rocking up in swing states. Weve got 32 million Small Business leaders across the country, and theyre asking some very simple questions. Did i benefit from the tax cut . Is the trade war working . Is America First really a good deal for america . And the answer to these questions are generally no. President trump wants to spend 30 billion on a wall to keep people out. Chinas spending 1. 2 trillion on roads, bridges, highways and ports to bring people into their country. There are all sorts of things that Business Leaders are dealing with on a daytoday basis that are breaking. There is an effect on President Trumps promises and his record. And if we answer that question the 10 of people in the middle are asking, we wont just decide who the next president s going to be, its important in helping fix america. We cant fix america if we dont really Start Talking middle 10 . Will there be a democratic candidate who can make a case for economic expansion for all . Thank you all for helping us all get smarter on this topic. Coming up, making the grade. Maybe not. More and more are failing. How american schools, more importantly, our very own kids are doing. A new report paints a very troubling picture. But next, the latest on the conditions of the young kids who defy the odds and survived that horrific, terrifying attack in mexico, which left three mothers and six children dead. Stay tuned. Youre watching msnbc. Dead. Stay tuned youre watching msnbc. When you shop with wayfair, you spend less and get way more. So you can bring your vision to life and save in more ways than one. For small prices, you can build big dreams, spend less, get way more. Shop everything home at wayfair. Com when i switched to geico. And this is how it made me feel. It was like that feeling when you go to taco night at your favorite restaurant. And theyre the besttasting tacos in the entire world. And just when you think it couldnt get any better, they bring you out another taco. Cuz they made an extra one. Extra taco geico. Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on Car Insurance. Fifteen minutes could save you vo thewith every attempt, strto free itself,piders web. It only becomes more entangled. Unaware that an exhilarating escape is just within reach. Defy the laws of human nature. At the season of audi sales event. Welcome back. Im stephanie ruhle. Investigators in mexico announced this morning that a suspect has been arrested with a possible connection to the brutal killing of nine americans, including six children, in northern mexico on monday. The suspect was found with two hostages, thousands of rounds of ammunition, and a bulletproof suv in a town in mexico near the border with arizona. Were also learning of the heroic actions of one of the survivors. 13yearold devon langford, who lost his mother and two siblings in the attack but managed to hide several of his wounded siblings in bushes before he walked 14 miles to get help. Miguel almaguer joins us now from tucson, arizona, where some of the victims are being treated. Miguel, give us an update. Reporter stephanie, we know from a relative of the victims that many of the children are now out of surgery here at the hospital behind me in tucson. That is certainly good news. One of the children, were told, still does need surgery after he was shot in the face, but the good news here is that some of those survivors are now slowly beginning to recover, but this is clearly going to be a long road to recovery as they were severely injured. The hospital here is being very tightlipped because of security concerns about giving any information about the children. But again, the family says they are slowly recovering, stephanie. Some good news here after that terrible shooting in mexico. Tell us about the suspect arrested. Reporter well, we dont have a lot of information. The mexican president just held a press conference a short time ago, but what we do know is that Mexican Police say one suspect was arrested in sonora. They say hes being held and questioned as a possible connection to the mass shooting or the massacre that happened in mexico. Police are releasing very few details, but they say he was arrested with a large cache of weapons and ammunition and also two people that were being held hostage, so were waiting for new information on that lead as well, stephanie. All right, miguel. Thank you so much for joining us to give us an update on this terrible story. Up next, a report card is coming out. Why . Because it is, of course, report card season for our nations own education system. Heres the bad news, the results are not good for americas children. Someone who has changed the game on how we educate some kids will be here on how we can turn things around. Thousands of women with metastatic Breast Cancer, which is Breast Cancer that has spread to other parts of the body, are living in the moment and taking ibrance. 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This morning, there are new stark warning signs that americas 4th and 8th graders are losing ground when it comes to reading and math. The test was administered to more than 600,000 students enrolled in public and Catholic Schools from every single state. The findings are stark. Since 2017, the reading scores among 8th graders dropped or remained the same in every state, with the lone exception of the district of columbia. And among 4th graders, only mississippi showed improvement. Math scores among 8th graders have remained flat since 2017 with an increase in just three states. Joining me now to discuss, the ceo of success charter networks, a group of Charter Schools that serve nearly 18,000 students in the new york area. Whats your reaction to the report card . Its heartbreaking, first of all. There are a few bright spots, dc, mississippi. But overall, this is very bad news for the nations children and families. The report card shows that students at the bottom are getting even worse. Some attribute some of this to money being taken out of the system and going to Networks Like yours, Charter Schools. Whats your reaction to that . Thats ridiculous. Public education is public education, whether theyre served in a district or a public charter, it doesnt really matter. And that cant account for these bad results. I mean, i think there are a number of things going on, some of which have to do with schools. But as the mother, a mother of three children, the home also has to take some responsibility, for example, for reading. If kids are on social media six hours a day, theyre not going to be good readers and we have to change that. But is it social media . Many would argue from the American Federation of teachers, theyve said the evidence on achievement on voucher programs has not found statistically positi positive gains for students using vouchers and most studies have found that students actually saw relatively large learning losses. They say betsy devos has put her finger on the scale and that has taken money from public schools, where you, yourself, had to turn away thousands of students and you know those thousands of students are going to failing schools. Really theres nothing sadder than the lottery for us. But we also know when our kids go to success academies and other highperforming charters, they are massively outperforming the district. If a child doesnt learn to read by third grade, their chances of economic success and academic success are severely limited. And so we must as a country turn this around. And there are very simple things we could be doing. So for example, the evidence suggests that evidencebased reading programs work. Thats called phonics. When we took phonics out of the school system, were surprised that kids arent reading . No good educator is surprised, because every child needs phonics. We also need core knowledge. I think people have underestimated how important it is to have foundational knowledge in order to read. You have to know something to learn something. And if you take out history and science out of the school system, youre going to disadvantage kids. But youre also taking the best and the brightest, those who you dont take, those who are at the bottom, what are they left with . Because theyre spending trillions of dollars on education in this country and still were failing so many kids. We spend more money in this country on education than any country around the globe. And yet our results are the report card. And so its not money helps, but it wont guarantee you excellence. We have to do things differently. We have to train teachers differently. We have to use better curriculum, better math problems. And we have to be invested. We have to have the political will to solve this crisis. It is the largest domestic crisis we have. Do we not have the political will . Look at the candidates. Is anyone talking about excellence in education . I dont hear republicans or democrats talking about what yeah, Kamala Harris started her campaign talking education. Kamala harris said in her first 100 days she would give teachers a raise. One out of six teachers in this country has to have a second job. I support teachers and higher salaries, but that is not going to change the outcomes for kids. We are going to have to redesign schools from top to bottom to make sure that kids are getting what they need. Is betsy devos as the education secretary making that happen . Is she making things better for students . These bad report card results, theyre bad today but weve been on a negative trajectory for years. That is true, but education in america is largely a local and state matter. It happens locally and in the state capitols. Thats where the Public Policies need to change. Then is the issue when you look at local budgets, you see voters vote yes for raises for firefighters and police officers, because Everybody Needs them. But unless you live in a School District where your kids go to those public schools, you dont vote yes on those budgets. Well, that is true, but i can tell you in new york city were spending 34 billion every year to miseducate the vast majority of children. And so money is not the sole problem. Do you think were intentionally miseducating them . Not intentionally. I think teachers have the best of intentions, educators, politicians. But i dont think we are providing kids with the necessary level of rigger that we need to educate kids well. Betsy making it better or worse . I dont think she has much to do. Doesnt that sound crazy . Shes the education secretary. The federal government provides resources, but it doesnt write fundamentally educational policy. Thank you for joining me and congratulations. Talk about success. The success academies are certainly making it happen. That wraps us up. This was a very busy hour. Im stephanie ruhl, i will see you again at 1 00 p. M. You can find todays good news ruhles and check out the modern ruhles podcast wherever you get your podcasts. Im sending you down to ms. Hallie jackson. All the action is happening, most of it as we speak. Brand new developments in the impeachment inquiry on two front. First, the state departments number three is on capitol hill. Were talking about this guy, career diplomat david hale. Hes showing up even though the white house didnt want him to. New reporting on what hes telling impeachment investigators right now behind closed doors. What are you going to tell the commits today . Meantime, somebody who has already testified, Gordon Sondland, is now being accused of fabricating his testimony. Were going to tell you who is making the claim. And two more noshows from the administration, with a third Energy Secretary rick perry expected to do the same this afternoon. That is not stopping democrats. What sources are telling us about their next moves, who they want to bring in to testify publicly and when. All of it goes down as impeachment gets its first real test with voters. And there may be a canary in the Kentucky Coal mine for team trump 2020. It looks like the democrat running for governor is pulling off an upset. In virginia you also have dems turning the statehouse blue. What that means for the next november. Voters in kentucky sent a message loud and clear for everyone to hear. Do you all like the color blue . Virginia is officially blue. Congratulations. One of those