up close. was that the invitation you were just referring to? that s right. thank you. tom brokaw started his career at nbc news 50 years ago and tom joins us at the top of the hour ahead of this sunday s new prime time special featuring men from his unparaeled career. also ahead a border adjustment is said to be on the buffet of options to get mexico to pay for trump s promised wall along the border. former president of mexico vicente fox reacts and he ll join us after this. are you getting this? these numbers are off the charts. sir! what s the status? there s a meteor hurtling towards earth. how long until impact? less than a minute. what do you want to do, sir? listen carefully. if we all switch to geico we could save 15% or more on car insurance.
so tom brokaw, you giving us context is more important now than ever. and we look back on your 50 years at nbc news. it might be an appropriate moment to take a look at your time covering president ronald reagan. take a look. los angeles in the mid 60s and out of hollywood, a former movie actor and television host. mr. ronald reagan. reporter: conservative and ka ris m ris mattic. he was running for governor. i covered ronald reagan ago s h went up and down the state in a greyhound bus. at first, the opposition laughed at him but ronald reagan won in a landslide the beginning of a political career i observed up close. was that the invitation you were just referring to? that s right. thank you. reporter: when he ran for president, many in the eastern establishment didn t take him seriously. questioning his qualifications.
first day at the pentagon? first half day? he had to take a urine test. that s right. he peeed in a cup. the second full day, he got a haircut at the pentagon barber. here is about the pentagon barber. you go there and you get one question. civilian or military is in the civilian haircut, i ve gotten one, no comment now is shorter and takes 60 seconds and cost 13 bucks. joe, do you tip on a 13-buck haircut? he do. hans, i think comfort in washington that general mattis is there as sort of a buffer to donald trump. is that the feeling inside the pentagon as well? it s the feeling inside the pentagon, particularly on this issue of torture. what mattis is telling people he gave both his word and his commitment and his opinion that torture doesn t work and that he is going to hold the line on that. in all of the conversations mattis is having he has had
going to provide the funding. word of a proposed 20% border tax on mexican imports sent shock waves across the political war and reince priebus walked the statement back and telling nbc s peter alexander it was only one idea in a buffet of options. but then last night, alexander talked directly to the president at the white house who said of a 20% border tax, quote, we are going to tax people coming in. look. we cannot lose ourompaes to mexico or any other place and then we have them ke the product and just send it across our border free. we are going to put up substantial tax on those countries, okay? and that is why. by the way, they are coming they are all coming back, okay? without that, they don t come back so easily. let s stop here and get reaction. because this is a great place to just stop. yep. and explain. that the position that donald trump came to yesterday was a position he originally opposed two weeks ago and that actually
is, steve, 20% border adjusted tax. the house republicans have been pushing this for sometime because it would fund corporate tax rates and also fund a cut in personal tax rates. it s not a radical idea. it s not this punitive tax that donald trump seemed to suggest he was going to levy yesterday. this is actually a tax that a lot of companies don t like and a lot of economists don t like but it is not a radical idea but that is something lost in translation, as well as the fact that at the end of the day, this tax will be paid by american consumers. well, you ve asked the question and you also answered it but i ll answer it again. which question exactly did i ask? there s so many. there wasn t a question. maybe just an answer. this is what is called a conversation. so, look. point one. everybody agrees the corporate tax system in this country is screwed up and that it favors