Them, lives cut short by this individual. The accused shooter of wednesdays massacre, nikolas cruz was arraigned today. Donald trump addressed the nation today. I want to speak now directly to americas children, especially those who feel lost, alone, confused, or even scared. I want you to know that you are never alone and you never will be. You have people who care about you, who love you, and who will do anything at all to protect you. Later this month, i will be meeting with the nations governors and attorney generals. We are making our schools and our children safer will be our top priority. It is not enough to simply take actions that make us feel like we are making a difference. We must actually make that difference. Those Public Comments followed a morning tweet from the president that read, quote, so many signs that the Florida Shooter was mentally disturbed, even expelled from school forbad and erratic behavior. Neighbors and classmates knew he was a big problem. Must always report such instances to authorities again and again. Here are all of the actions the community had taken to flag the alleged shooters troubling behavior prior to yesterday again and again. They identified cruz as a threat to the school. They expelled him from school for disciplinary reasons. The teachers warned via email not to allow him on campus with a back pack. They warned the fbi about a Youtube Video posted by a user named nikolas cruz who said, im going to be a professional school shooter, according to reports. Its also been reported that cruz was an outpatient treatment at a Mental Health facility hes hadnt visited in more than a year. Despite all this he is believed to have passed a background check and lawfully purchased an automatic weapon. Students, teachers and parents from the Marjorie StonemanDouglas High School community spoke out today about the president s response. I feel like he really needs to take into consideration all this gun control. There is no reason that a kid 19 years old thats been investigated already and not even a year ago being able to purchase an ar15 in our county right here. The latest statistic on, you know, School Violence and as a society, you know, as americans were failing our children. Were not keeping them safe and congress is failing us and the government is failing us and something has to be done. I dont want Something Like this ever to happen again. I want us to take action and i dont want this just to be another mass shooting. I want this to be the last mass shooting. President trump, if youre watching, we know you watch the news. A lot of these people may not have voted for you, but come here. Look them in the face and tell them that youre going to do something. You ran that you were a different person. You were an elected official. You wanted to make America Great again. Come here and tell these people, these families that youre going to help them. Lets get right to our reporters and guests. Nbcs Hallie Jackson joins us from the white house. Washington post White House ReporterAshley Parker is also with us. Joining us at the table, philip gump from the washington post, john heilman, nbc news and msnbc National Affairs analyst. Eddy, Princeton University professor and msnbc contributor. And dave cohen is here, journalist and author of the book columbine. Dave, let me start with you. I saw a note, your gut reaction. I dont know if its been tempered at all. What did you think when you saw the president s comments this morning . Infuriating because he gave a 7minute kind of poem and didnt say anything he was going to do. Thats not his job. Actually list nings to him again now, i was reminded of something different. The morning after columbine, the first big assembly was light of the world church when they got together the first time. There were 20 different officials who spoke from the community, fire department, schools, blah, blah, blah, everything. The kids sat sort of stone faced and listened politely. You could just see them just kind of distraught that all the speeches were sort of like that. And they didnt want to hear that. Kids arent dumb. Kids are incredibly smart. And they want to know what youre going to do about this. They dont want all these pl platitudes. They want know what youre going to do. The first standing ovation was for the principal who said, this is going to be really hard. This is going to be really rough. Its going to be awful. Im not going to sugar coat it, but im going to be there with you, and were going to get through this together. Heres our plan. And also said, i dont have a plan yet. Were figuring it out. But he was going to do something. Those kids theyre my new heroes reacting to trump. All right, what are you going to do . We dont want you to like pet us and patronize us and tell us its going to be okay. Your job is to change something. What are you going to change . We can agree or disagree, but so far zilch, hes got nothing. I have two thoughts. One im not sure you can say b. S. On television. The other thought i had i believe you can, i believe you just did. And im pretty sure you guys dont have the 7second delay on this show. As ive been warned on many occasions. Im grieved to hear the compassion from someone unfiltered. I had the same thought listening to the kids. I have to say that i had this feeling listening to these students that there is so much asymmetry to the Trump Presidency that normal lawmakers, normal reporters dont know how to cover him. Well, he just met his match in, i think there were about 3200 students at the school yesterday, because they are of a different era and they have footage that we wouldnt air as a news organization. They have comments. They have a platform. And they rapidly responded to him and they cut right through the what he said. I know a lot of kids youre still cool with the kids. I have a lot of friends who are breeders. Lets put it that way. I have a lot of kids around. I find liberals, kids of parents, are the most savvy people. Donald trump is not a creation of media. By and large they all look at him, people talk about Young Children being scared of trump. Im sure there are children of immigrants who are scared in this environment, no doubt. But by and large, the vibe that i get off of kids around trump is that hes a clown. They sort of like see it as an act. They see it as this is another television performance. So, when theyre in a situation like this where their lives have been lost, of their peers, they very quickly move from hes an act that kind of can be dismissed as funny to, this is just all that word that dave just said. Hallie jackson, i guess this becomes the lead today, because the gun debate is mired in the intractable. The statement from the podium after the massacre in las vegas was, its too soon. Were just sending thoughts and prayers because its too soon to talk about gun control. On the other side of that debate, democrats and everyone who disagrees with that position almost talks of themselves. What these kids did this morning by responding in real time to donald trump was almost d decapitate the gun debate in america. I want to play it again because i really think they cut right to it. I wonder if you heard anything from the white house, and if the white house is preparing for a visit to that community differently based on the students responding in realtime to the president s comments this morning. Reporter so, ill tell you this, nicolle. I think what we are hearing today is what we have heard many times in the past, and that has been that this is a moment for the nation to come together. You heard the president himself say it. Not about and again, we keep saying this every time horrifically theres another shooting, as there has been in this administration, past administration, not a time for policy, right . Those kids, as you rightly point out and your guests at the table point out, have changed that. They want to talk about policy. They are the survivors, they are the victims here, and they are the ones who want to have the conversation. Everybody says we need to listen to their voices or defer to the victims and survivors here. In deferring to them you would be having the policy conversation. I think there will be pressure on the president to Say Something policy related potentially when he heads to parkland. We know those plans are in the works. We dont know specifics yet of exactly where hes going to go. Will he visit the hospital, will the first lady be visiting him. Parkland is not too far from maralago. It was expected this would happen given the president was traveling down to south florida for the weekend. I would also just point out, you talked about the statement from the podium after las vegas. There was no statement from the podium after this shooting. The president waited a day to come out and deliver those statements from the diplomatic room. That was i think the president and folks who wondered where the president was in this instance, why he didnt Say Something sooner. Obviously one last point because i sat in that Briefing Room and asked Sarah Sanders and others, youve said in the past it wasnt the time to talk about policy, specifically gun control, after a School Shooting, which again, we have seen after a mass shooting we have seen in this administration. Yet after other horrific events, for example, terrorist attacks, there is a conversation about policy. So in those moments you press officials here on the record about why those two things are different. What makes that different. And there is not a clear answer to that, nicolle. Its a great point. Ashley parker, i sat in this chair because tragically it was the 4 00 hour that the terrorist attack on halloween took place in new york city. Yesterday it was just before the 4 00 hour that the Deadliest School shooting in Florida State history went down. Hallie is absolutely right. An entirely different response. The facts were not all known on halloween, yet the white house weighed in i believe on vetting and immigration policy and the lottery system. Were now, i think it was about the 20hour mark before the president addressed the nation, and your colleague phil rucker sent out a tweet last night that caught my attention. He said he was in the white house when president obama went to the Briefing Room after sandy hook the very same day, and that there was almost a chilling sensation to getting the news yesterday that these arent phils words, but i thought when i read his tweet, a lid had been put on, there would be no comment from the president of the United States after the Deadliest School shooting in Florida State history last night. Youre right, phils tweet was spot on. And it was interesting to see how this administration chose to handle it. As hallie pointed out, there is an argument they are making sort of publicly and privately, he wanted to make sure all those facts were known. Its not the time to talk about policy. But thats a little disingenuous because on a number of other issues, especially when its sort of a foreign, something he believes is tied to terror than pure domestic violence, hes more than willing to weigh in with a tweet or comment before all the facts are known. And sometimes when the facts are still coming in and he ends up being proven a little wrong. And one thing that makes a big difference, of course, is his base and politics. Youll notice in todays speech about six minutes he did not mention the word gun once. His base is very eager to hear from him, for instance using an attack to make immigration policy, his base all supports gun rights. And it is just not an area he feels comfortable wading into and going against his base on this. So, he is feeling more pressure potentially from the students and those comments. It is interesting as they pointed out, we may not be your voters. Well, that is a very interesting question. Because they are not necessarily his base and his voters, does that change how he handles things 12 things . Were going to have to wait and see friday. Hallie, i want to put this up. President bush at ground zero, 9 11 was controversial. That he spoke to the nation was not in question. President clinton after oklahoma city, never a question whether or not he spoke for the nation against the atrocities carried out by timothy mcvay. President obama, whether or not you came down in favor or opposed to the gun control measures president obama and vicepresident biden fought valiantly for after newtown, there was no doubt that in president obamas comments after newtown when he went there, that he spoke for the nation. I wonder if there is any sense, hallie, at the white house, do they think they succeedsed in speaking for the nation this morning. Reporter i think that they will tell you that the president spoke for the nation. And im not sure that thats how it was received in every corner of this country, nicolle. Im not sure that is surprising either given where we are right now in this moment politically, in this moment culturally. You have people that are extraordinarily dissatisfied with what donald trump said today. Partly for the reason ashley points out, that he never once said the word gun. And then theres the tweet. So, he tweeted, he essentially blamed the community for the atrocity yesterday. The president tweeting, quote, so many signs that the Florida Shooter was mentally disturbed, even expelled from school forbad behavior. Neighbors and classmates knew he was a big problem. Must always report such instances to authorities again and again. Do you think the white house thinks do you think theyre proud to work for a guy who essentially blamed the community, said they needed to report things again and again when the community did just that . Reporter yeah, i dont know i can speak to the level of pride for the staffers, nicolle. There are those who would point out neighbors and class made did think that there was something these red flags with this young man, obviously very troubled angry person, the suspected shooter here. And i think that in that instance what you hear again and again, you know this, is the president s tweets speak for themselves. The white house has done a job, not just today in this instance, but certainly has made a real effort over the last year to distance themselves from Donald Trumps twitter and that extends all the way up the chain to the basically second in command at the west wing to john kelly himself. Dave, ill bring it back to you because youre my b. S. Guy today. How do you reconcile an Early Morning tweet blaming the community for saying its their job to go to the authorities again and again which we listed all the ways in which they did, to coming out and saying were going to do whatever you need . Pretty irreconcilable. I think, i think the culture has gotten to a weird place where actually i saw some statistics in media reporting. The last couple big shootings, theres been not much coverage. The one in kentucky we barely heard about it. I heard about it the next day because i wasnt watching my news feed closely. Even though i think the Church Shooting in texas, it was about two days where theyre usually five or six days. And i think the country is reaching sort of a compassion fatigue, but also a frustration level and throwing up our hands, we cant do anything about this. But this has sort of brought it back, i guess its because its kids again and because those images yesterday were so horrifying of kids running out of the school. This is the country has been horrified again. Our horror level has gone back up. I keep wondering if there is a moment it seems like people have reached a point of really frustration and like god whatever. When are they going to do something . Instead of just like oh, they never do anything, like why are we putting up with them not doing anything . I dont know. Im in new york and i talk to a lot of media people. If im in a bubble, but i really get a sense from lots of victims i talk to and people out in the country, you know, im from chicago. Theyre like it is something. I dont know what its going to take to break that logjam. People are ready to punch a wall kind of mode. So, president obama tried to speak to this. He tweeted, were grieving with parker but were not powerless. Caring for our kids is our first job and until we can honestly say were doing enough to keep them safe from harm including long overdue common sense gun safety laws that most americans want then we have to change. The person who has tweeted out the most compelling poll numbers for support is our republican colleague joe scarborough. Something like 80 plus people support background checks. 70 plus people support not letting people buy automatic weapons which is what the shooter used yesterday. This is not even a right left divide. This is a majority megaminority. Ive been struggling to find words to respond to this because as a parent, you know, you worry about your child. Even though mine i cried all the way home. Dave has the profanity switch. Yeah, i think i sent in this amazingly emotional text this morning. I know he thought something was wrong with me. But, look, were not going to be able to address this. Were not going to be able to do anything until were honest about the problem. This is not a right to bear arms issue. This is a right to sell arms. This is greed. This is pure unadulterated greed. Folks are making money off of selling these weapons and they dont want to stop. They dont want to undo their business model. They dont care if an ar15, nicolle, is killing our children. They dont care if its killing our first graders, right. They want to make money. And until we admit that thats whats driving paul ryan, thats whats driving donald trump, thats that drove tom delay, right, in 2004 to let it expire, that its money. Money is allowing these folks to allow our babies to die, period. You write about how this is a uniquely american problem. I mean, its sort of obvious. We simply dont see these stories around the world. Should be. Thats