was pitching in, loading boxes and supplies to help victims in houston the catastrophic flooding from harvey has displaced many people. texas governor greg abbott says there are 258 shelters housing more than 42,000 texans and today, the death toll stands at 42. the national guard is going door to door rescuing those still trapped in their homes, and volunteers and neighbors are also pitching in. one such person is houston s don paolo. he has been rescuing his neighbors with his canoe even as his own home remains flooded. he joins me now from houston convention center. thank you for taking the time amidst all of your struggles. that is very kind of you. the first thing i want to ask is, how are you? i m good, thank you. actually, i feel like i m better than most. i ve got a wonderful support network in my friends and my neighbors. my house i had six inches of
melissa to you. alex, thank you. you are watching plump liv watcp live in houston. he and the first lady have been helping pack up cars to deliver to hurricane victims in the various shelters and to all those who may not have made it, you know, out to an evacuation place as of yet. so they are on the ground there in houston for the second time in a week and today, they are very hands on. earlier, they were playing with children and you can see now that they are helping to load up a lot of supplies. with me now is kevin, chief washington correspondent for bloomberg news and senior political correspondent for bustle.com. kevin, let s begin with you. compare today s visit to texas to the president s trip there on tuesday. and what does he need to accomplish today? well, i think there s a couple of things. first and foremost, the images that you re seeing from president trump touring these areas as well as really getting that hands-on help and
welcome back, everyone. i m alex witt here at msnbc world headquarters in new york at 31 past the hour. what you re seeing there is the president and first lady who are right now paying a visit to those impacted by the wrath of hurricane harvey. they arrived a little bit earlier, better part of an hour ago at the nrg stadium in houston. we have been watching the president greeting children, taking photos, sitting down at toy tables and asking the kids to play and saying, hey, i like that. he is definitely showing a much softer side to his persona after being criticized earlier this week for not reaching out to individuals and showing enough empathy, if you will, when he was there in the region earlier. joining me right now, martin o malley, former maryland governor and democratic candidate in this past election. thank you for joining us. my pleasure. so your reaction, sir, to the criticism that the president got during his first visit to texas, mainly because he didn t meet with fl
of empathy and compassion. yeah. hey, carrie and peter, hang on. i want to welcome to our conversation right now republican congressman french hill of arkansas. congressman, i hope you re able to see what s going on there inside of the nrg stadium in houston. right now, sir, if you can see it, we see texas governor greg abbott putting a young child inside that shelter, very large shelter, on his lap there in the wheelchair and perhaps giving kids a little bit of a ride. even more notably we are seeing the president posing for pictures, really reaching down on the level of the young kids, picking up some kids. this is a much different president than the one we saw earlier this week in houston or the one that by reputation we usually see. what are your thoughts? well, i m glad to see president trump return back to texas to show his empathy for the today tras toef that
the past. we just heard him say he loves the d.r.e.a.m.ers so why would he end the policy? well, this is the question, does he have courage. the courage and real leadership is telling your own people something they don t want to hear. it s easy to beat up on the opposition. there s a guy named jesus contreras who is a paramedic in houston. he has spent six days, 0 hou20 a day, rescuing people. he happens to be a d.r.e.a.m.er. you going to kick him out, mr. president? i d like to see some presidential courage. telling your base something they don t want to hearing, that is the ultimate in great statesmanship. we rarely see it. we met him in the past hour right here on msnbc, as a matter of fact. nicole, to you. many in the president s own staff remain divided on this program. some like speaking paul ryan advising against it and others like kansas secretary of state chris ckobak advising against scrapping daca. what would you make of all these