you can t make the numbers work on the tax rate. where does it stand among republicans in relationship with the white house in terms of tax reform and what is realistic to get through this congress? well, look. the white house has a little bit of an issue right now with conservative republicans. the last time that mnuchin in the room with a bunch of them he was saying if you want to vote for hurricane relief you have to raise the debtcele and a lot of them look at him you were a democratic donor how long ago? i think serious alienation going on that front. i think mark s point is right about democrats and this is, again, the president had set up this new paradigm for himself. and yesterday, sarah huckabee was saying we want tax reform but not how mitch mcconnell was proceeding. i was in back and forth with mcconnell s office yesterday on this point. mcconnell hopes the democrats will get on board with this tax reform process, but they are
i know, mark halpern, you are not a fan of the way james comey has conducted himself the past 18 to 24 months. is it short sided for the white house so ever mention james comey s name? bannon s comment that comey s firing was the worst political statement made in political history. aren t they helping james comey and why not let it go and let the investigation run its course? mueller is ae(ú;pmsuu1w0k&ú threat than comey but comey is reportedly working on a book and being investigated by the justice department and his account of what the president did and said will be part of what mueller looks at regarding object instruction of justice. i think picking fights with comey probably makes the president feel good.
on. they go into the no column because it s a lot easier to explain why you voted against this bill than why you voted for this bill. paul ryan is right. a lot of the republican base, they have been waiting for seven and a half years for republicans to replace, repeal and replace obamacare but they most definitely have not been waiting for this bill. mark halpern, i think that is the mistake that both paul ryan and the trump administration have been making and it s a false choice that newt gingrich and his team would always give to us. either vote for this bill or we all go up in flames. no, actually, we can vote against this bill and then it goes back to committee. we watch schoolhouse rock and we understand how this system plays. we will just go back to the committee and this time we will do it right. isn t that the feeling that a lot of republicans on the hill
proper or not. mark, i really don t even know where to start. he actually says to hannity that his justification for blowing up the intel committee for breaking every precedent and basically shirking every responsibility he has in that position is because, quote, the president was taking some heat in the news media. but he keeps changing his story and, yesterday, he even admitted that he hadn t seen the documents and he s not even sure if the president s people were the ones that were caught up in the surveillance. again, this bizarre story keeps getting stranger by the minute. guy is super lucky the health care bill story was such a dominant story yesterday. you can expect sloppiness and often accepted by members of congress but not the chair of the intelligence committee and not someone who is under such pressure and scrutiny because of
yeah. it s written right there in the art of the deal. donald trump says you have to know when to walk away from the table and what he has decided today apparently. if they don t pass it he is moving on. mika was the morning off. with us is mike barnicle and elise jordan. former treasury official steve rattner. senior political analyst for nbc news and msnbc, mark halpern. so a check, first, on president trump s job approval numbers this morning around all of this negotiation. the gallup daily tracking pole shows 39% americans approve of the job he is doing. according to a new quinnipiac university poll, 56% disapprove