Congress to help struggling americans. Yesterday with members of his private new jersey guolf club looking on, the president signed a series of executive actions he claims will provide aid to millions of americans in need but the reality is, the documents signed in big black marker cant provide anywhere near the help that a bill from congress could. One action set a weekly federal unemployment benefit of 400, 200 less than before and states have to contribute 25 for americans to qualify. Another action suggests federal agencies quote consider some eviction protections. The catch is the tax doesnt prohibit any evictions. A third action defers the payroll tax for workers that earn less than 100,000 a year, the catch is the government could simply choose to collect that money at a later date. And all of this is to say nothing of the looming constitutional questions. Republican senator ban sass said the pen and phone therapy is unconstitutional slop and quote President Trump does not have the power to unilaterally rewrite the payroll tax law. Once upon a time, President Trump probably would have agreed. You know, obama signs his executive orders all day long because he cant get along with anybody. Its not the way it supposed to work, as you understand. He doesnt work the system. Thats why he signs executive orders all the time because he cant get his own people to go along. So he signs executive orders and then everybody sues and youre not supposed to be doing that. He goes and signs executive orders. In htheory, the Old Fashioned wy get everybody into a room and get something people agree on. The whole concept of executive order is not the way the country is supposed to be run. Youre supposed to go through congress and make a deal and go and talk to people and get the guys in there, and, you know, whether youre republican or democrat, youre supposed to all get together and supposed to make a deal. But because the president couldnt make a deal, this series of legally questionable half measures is what americans are left with. And now, the Trump Administration and republicans in the senate are essentially daring democrats to take legal action, and caught in the middle are Everyday Americans struggling to make ends meet as this pandemic rages on. I lose my job. I lost Everything Else. No money. No nothing. My mental and Emotional Health is struggling. Whats at stake for my family is being able to stay who we are. Being able to maintain the life that we have. Dont know how im going to continue to pay my bills. Im going to have to borrow, i guess, and hopefully everything gets paid. And with that, id like to welcome in my panel tonight, jonathan swan, Washington PostWhite House Reporter and msnbc analyst Ashley Parker and political reporter and could be content executive and contributor shauna thomas. Welcome to all of you. Shauna, let me start with you on the broad picture here. It seems the president wants headlines saying he did things to help and there is a world where that weve been covering the last several years. He was able to write those headlines, write those the way he wanted them to but in this particular case, americans across the country are living out the experience and the reality is he simply cannot help them as much as congress could. So is this what is clearly a political strategy from him going to work . I mean, i think its a political strategy white houses have done before. There are a lot of executive orders out there written pretrump that were just for political purposes. Id like to remind people barack obama signed one about Guantanamo Bay and closing it when he first took office but what i think is there is a sugar high that the president might get from that. I was looking through newspaper headlines during the day and the denver post trump ordered by pass congress. The Dallas Morning News trump sidesteps congress on relief. The atlantic journal constitution trump signs executive orders. It makes it look like what weve been talking about, take charge, do something, be president ial. Unfortunately, what you pointed out was that, you know, people are going to see this and be like hey, okay, so am i getting my 400 check . The answer to that is well, maybe. So i think like it is good to point out people are going to either feel the effects of this or not. At some point, the people that you showed before are still not going to get that check. I mean, some of them might and some of the states may have the money to match what the president did, if we find out thats legal and doesnt get overturned in court and all the things were used to. But in the end, people are still going to vote on how they feel once we get to november. And, you know, i think republicans on capitol hill are essentially daring democrats to take this to court as you elude to because their calculations is the headlines generated out of that would not be great and this perhaps takes the Unemployment Insurance question off the table in negotiations. I mean, my understanding of that is still as you point out, its so complex. Its really hard for me to see how this diffusions the issue. Ashley parker, your story in the Washington Post, you talk about President Trump as the guy who sold himself to the American People as a deal maker. You say he was the negotiator, ultimate deal maker repeatedly found strategies by the pressure and law making in washington and relied on show menship and pageantry to turn fail injuries in failures into victories. Do you think it will work in this situation . Well, the president , as you discussed, got the headlines he wanted but this is not longterm effective and as shauna said, people in the country at the end of the day know if they did or did not receive a 400 check. They know if its 200 less than their current checks and know if they didnt get a check at all. I was talking to some Senate Republican aids today who said look, there absolutely is a stalemate in the negotiations that has totally broken down and that is bad for the white house and republicans but they did think in terms of the messaging and the headlines at least in doing this someone likened it to playing tennis so at least now its the democrats serve. They think the president took some action. Small inconsequential legally dubious but at least put little in erm the it terms of messagin pelosi and chuck schumer. It may have accomplished what the president felt he needed accomplished for 24, 48, 72 hours. Well, certainly when we talk about messaging. This at least let the president s supresident e president s surrogates get on television. One sound byte from Peter Navarro stood out to us. Ill play it for you and talk about it on the other side. You have to understand, this is the hardest working president in history. He works 24 7. He can be in bedminster, ma marala maralago, the oval office or in between. The problem is capitol hill, the swamp. The two houses that are too far apart, i mean, the lord and the Founding Fathers created executive orders because of partisan bickering and divided government. Thats what we have here. The president is taking action. Jonathan, the lord . The lord and the Founding Fathers created executive action . Im interested in your reaction first of all and also, your reporting on how we got here from behind the scenes. Look, its fairly in character for mr. Navarro, that kind of rhetorical flourish. There is a real problem here, which, you know, weve sort of talked around a little bit but havent addressed directly which is if you actually think about it, its not that complicated an argument for democrats to make. Their argument is this is a crisis. This is a pandemic and more money is required. We need the 600, you know, extended into next year via unemployment boost and vastly more money to the states, et cetera, et cetera. Now, you can make a good intellectual solid republican argument, conservative argument based on fiscal restraint and discipline against that that the number needs to be lower and here is why. Thats not what President Trump is doing. Thats the problem. Deep down in his core, hes not really animated by fiscal restraint or fiscal conservatism. You have this situation where his team knows that if left on his own in a room with nancy pelosi and chuck schumer, donald trump and the treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin would go along with a huge deal, massive deal they could tote as the biggest deal ever. It actually mark meadows as annedan avenue very for republicans on the hill that are getting squeamish about massive spending and finally saying enough is enough. Thats where the block cage is. So you have this bizarre situation where President Trump yes, is doing executive orders but hes not really making the argument for why the democrats proposals are unacceptable beyond just a few broadsides that the states, were not going to bail them out for poor management. Really, thats the extent of it. It is a bit to get straight answers aside from pointing to things they claim are unrelated to Coronavirus Relief being too expensive and sahill, lets pick up on that and look at the policy here because the reality is every Single Member of congress is under pressure from their constituents here. Weve seen these federal Unemployment Insurance payments keep people out of poverty, if anything, stave off what could have been a much worse economic collapse. We got wall street analysts now looking at the fall, and others warning that if congress doesnt do something, we could be in an entirely different place. We know the virus is still getting worse, not better. Do you think the imperatives are going to be so strong to do something that this reality changes this week that, you know, these policies are so in demand or do you think that this state mate is the end of the story . Kasie, if youre the president the urgency and desperation for a deal is going up and up by the moment. The only the best shot he has politically for reelection is the economy starts to improve and there is come back narrative. This is proverse because he has the Opposition Party willing to inject a 3 trillion stimulus into the economy just before his reelection and President Trump and the republicans are saying no, they dont want to do that. With the series of executive actions that the president has taken, he is trying to trap the democrats into a situation of saying i did this for ordinary people and democrats are suing me. Pelosi asked multiple times this morning if shes going to file a lawsuit. She didnt answer. I asked a senior democratic aid and didnt get an answer. Democrats are much more comfortable talking about the policy and keeping it to flag a fragments because the people you showed at the top, people desperate and struggling and when its coming democrats are focussing their argument saying when the president is doing is inadequate, it is not what we need and we need much more and only congress can do that. I mean, shaunna it seems to put democrats in a box here. It is extraordinary hard to say were going to see the president for trying to give people additional unemployment benefits. How do they thread that needle . I mean, i think Speaker Pelosi wouldnt answer that question. Chuck schumer on a sunday show today wouldnt answer that. He said ill leave that to the lawyers. There is a possibility there is outside organizations that might go ahead and sue and take that pressure off democrats. The way they thread the needle is how we see now, you try to present what you did and i do think that the talking point we passed something way back months ago to try to deal with the fact that we knew that the things we already passed would go to sunset is a very good talking point, that they have already put something on the table with respect to the house democrats. But in the end, you know, i believe Peter Navarro on meet the press said negotiating on tv isnt the way this should be done. What i heard on tv is nancy pelosi saying hey, were willing to drop money from ours by saying some of these things set earlier than wanted. I heard republicans on tv say there are some movements that we can make. I think the way they thread the needle is by continuing to say come to the table, come to the table, come to the table and putting the focus on those people who you showed earlier. All right. Shauna, thank you for your reporting and analysis. Appreciate it. When we continue, well have brandnew reporting on the president s debate prep plus, women and in particular women of color are facing sharper job cuts than men. Our latest reporting on the she session. Plus, russia, china, iran try apparently to interfere in the election. Again. Intelligence Committee Member jim heinz up next. Committee me jim heinz up next. Hey, can i. Hold on one second. Sure. Okay. Okay safe drivers save 40 guys guys check it out. Safe drivers save 40 safe drivers save 40 safe drivers save 40 thats safe drivers save 40 . It is, thats safe drivers save 40 . Hes right there. Its him hes here. Hes right here. Hi hi. Hey thats totally him. Its him thats totally the guy. Safe drivers do save 40 . Click or call for a quote today. And get way more. Ith safewso you can bring yours 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 today. Asaving 50 vs. Other carriers built just for customers 55 and up. With 2 unlimited lines for less than 30 each. Call 1800tmobile or go to tmobile. Com 55. But what if you could startdo better than that . Like adapt. Discover. Deliver. In new ways. To new customers. What if you could come back stronger . Faster. Better. At comcast business, we want to help you not just bounce back. But bounce forward. And now, were committed to helping you do just that with a powerful and reliable internet and voice solution at a great price. Call or go online today. Welcome back. The u. S. Gained 1. 8 million jobs in july but longterm unemployment, people out of work for over three months spiked dramatically. Joining me is nbc news political reporter ally ali vitale. Hi. Hey, kasie. Think about what closed down when the initial rounds of shutdowns came in the spring. Nail and hair salons, restaurants, schools, all of which are sectors of the economy that have high numbers of women, meaning when the layoffs came, thats where the losses were. Despite the pandemics major blow to business, theres a lot of gratitude at d. C. s coiled salon. We try to keep each other on a positive note because its hard. We we reporter the coowners were forced to close, filing unemployment and seeking ppp loans. Its a lot but worth it. Its worth it if its going to help your business come out of this whole covid19 thing and be a float. Were not a big salon. So we kind of dont have all those things in place, you know what i mean . Reporter yeah, its being a small business. Yeah. Reporter meanwhile, cora was grappling with how to keep her dream alive. I opened up a business to be able to provide jobs for my community, hire those who look like me. Reporter before the pandemic, she was bringing on new employees and growing her Baltimore Area business. Literally two to three weeks later, covid and it just completely wipedo us out. Reporter april was the worst. Women made up a majority of the 20. 5 million jobs lost. Skyrocketing female unemployment into double digits for the First Time Since the numbers were tracked. Black and asian and Hispanic Women were hard hit. Diane limb is an economists. They worked in sectors of the economy most adversary affected but the stayathome orders and the business closures. Reporter more than half of people in retail and personal service lost their jobs. Food Services Like coras cafe also saw huge cuts. All those sectors, majority female work forces. Because were in the food industry, for us everything shut down. I think we just got back to work sometime in may with limited hours, limited days. Basically no staff. Reporter werent these the jobs and sectors of the economy considered recession proof. Yes, because during the great recession, these were recession proof jobs. This is not like any economic recession weve ever had because its driven completely by the control or lack of control of the disease. Reporter and things have gotten even more difficult as work life collides with home life. Its the she session because of the types of jobs women hold but its also the she session because of the demands that women have at home right now. Im only working weekends, friday, saturday, sunday because there isnt any camps or anything or anywhere i feel comfortable sending my child. So now i dont have any flexibility like i used to. Reporter jobs are starting to come back, but slower with each new report. Women are getting more of those jobs than men but they still lag far behind their prepandemic employment levels. An Analysis Shows 8 of women who have been laid off have no chance of rejoining the work force. Job loss seems to be becoming more permanent than economists first expected it would be. Reporter even those who jobs have come back are wondering if it will last. Are you nervous there will be another shutdown and youll be forced to close . Im not nervous but im sure there will be another one. Reporter its worth hammering home, kasie, how different this recession is from 2008. During that recession, people stopped buying big ticket items like houses and cars but all of these majority female sectors that weve talked about, they were relatively stable. Then again, that was a normal recession. This is a recession amid a pandemic and women workers are disproportionately bearing the brunt. Ali, thank you for your reporting. Thank you. Joining me is democratic congressman j