News, give it a try, frame the morning for us. Well, i think a lot of people are actually saying what you had the white house spokesperson yesterday the politicizing of any soldiers death is aappa aappalling and disgusting. Thats exactly what donald trump did when he brought up general john kellys son a few days ago and this has continued for the past several days. Its unfortunate, but it does show you the state of washington under donald trump. Also, another telling story yesterday, one that actually has a significance for onesixth of the economy has to do with some of these Health Care Reforms that a Bipartisan Group of republicans and democrats on the hill are trying to pass t. President said hes for it. He must have talked to steve bannon. Now the president says hes against it. We have a lot of polls, a lot of back and forth. Mainly the catch word is chaos. Chaos. Chaos that continues to grip this administration and because of that, this country. You always wonder what theyre actually selecting from. That often is the case. We will get to that controversy surrounding the president s handling those four servicemen killed in action and the growing question as to how and why they died in the first place. First this new poll, the prospect of going to war, survey monkey online poll, 72 of americans are worried the u. S. Will become engaged in a major war in the next four years. 26 are not concerned. Thats marginally better than july. When it comes to threats at home split on what poses the immediate danger to the United States, their say terrorists, 34 say a nuclear strike. Only 2 believe a military threat is the immediate danger. On expanding the nuclear ars fal, americans are split and 43 are opposed. According to nbc News Survey Monkey online poll, 54 believe north korea poses a greater and immediate threat more than russia, china or iran. That is up 13 points since july. When it comes to the american response to north korea, 64 favor diplomacy over military action up five points from july. On iran, 55 say they disapprove the way President Trump handled that country. Joe, what do you think . Well, willie geist, you had candidate donald trump saying it was going to be tough and fearless, that he was going to get us out of war, that he was going to be more responsible and people across the world, dictators would respect us because he had a strong hand there, you look at these number, americans have jitters, theyve got i mean over 70 of americans concerned about nuclear war. Youve got over 50 concerned about north korea. You can go up and down. They disagree with what hes doing when it comes to north korea. They disagree with what hes doing with just about everything it seems when it comes to Foreign Policy. This lines up, as you said, joe, with what i hear as you travel around the country with all the noise created around politics and often around Donald Trumps tweets about issues that concern him in that day, its the issue with north korea and these numbers bear that out. I think some of his supporters have said until pos they wished he wouldnt tweet so much. When le has loose talk about new york and maybe his time has come, those threats of war certainly are concerning to the American People, less so i would say the minute to minute, day to day political noise surrounding the things he says in tweets. Mark halperin, you have to go back to the cuban missile crisis 55 years i guess to find an america as concerned about a major war, concerned about a nuclear war, these are height of cold war numbers. These are 1962 numbers. These are numbers we have fought seen certainly in the past 20 years. Youd have to go back further than that to find an administration whose upper reaches of the National Security team, adviser, chief of staff, secretary of defense are military men who historically have not been as willing or eager to get america into an armed conflict. I find it difficult to discern what the strategy and there is rhetoric and daytoday, one great man said day trading, its hard to work with allies, threatening military action, its hard to see where this goes rather than daytoday whirling in waters. You see that in the poll numbers. Especially, mika, when you have a president , a commanderinchief, who under cuts his secretary of state who is trying to avert a Nuclear Showdown daying, hey, secretary of state, are you wasting your time, there is only one thing thats going to work here. Its going to be war. Actually, he said, youll find out. But hes waving the impression that its only a war a. Guy who is saying before, we should use our nuclear weapons. Again, there is a good reason for americans to be concerned. I have been shocked by a lot of things. Ive heard people say, mike barnical and i were at a baseball game a few weeks ago, a guy said to us, he said, well, you know, i never thought i walled say this, but there is a chance that this country could be obliterated in a nuclear war and this was an educated Top Executive and you have those fears creeping through america pause donald trump has such an unsteady hand in the white house. You know, joe, its interesting. You bring up the contrast between okay 1962, the cuban missile crisis, 55 years ago t. Governance of this country then and the constituency that they were dealing with, the people of the United States, we are surrounded with two worse, world war ii and korea, both wars, so millions and millions of americans few the cost of war. Today, very few people know the cost of war and there has been an inability or an unwillingness just in this administration and the past administrations to explain what were involved with here. Were involved in a global war on terror that dependant on september 11th 2001. It has continued for all these years and will continue for many more years. Its a generational war. Yet it has never truly been explained to our citizens, to to you, to me, to all of us. While the president s reaction to the loss of four american troops comes under scrutiny, there is also the critical question of what went so wrong during that military mission in niger two weeks ago, the pentagon has now sent a team of specialists as a part of this inquiry, they want to know if the u. S. Forces had adequate, protective equipment. Was there enough intelligence ahead of the mission . And what was the response to the ambush . One official says the amount of confusion during and after the mention was quote the. The body of the fourth american soldier wasnt found until nearly two days after the ambush. And to add to that confusion, its still unclear, who flew the medevac helicopter after the u. S. Attack. The u. S. Military first said it was the french military, then the u. S. Military, now it may have been a u. S. Contractor, now the chairman of the Senate Armed Services in the john mccain is demanding answers, telling reporters the administration has not been up front about what happened. Carol lee, what are you hearing about this . Reporter well, mika, there are so many questions about what happened here and its all getting covered, murred by this fight the president has decided he wanted to pick with the families of these victims and i think what you will see here if you look at just john mccain, if you remember when there was raid in yemen and there were questions raised about that, the white house really pushed back on senator mccain and basically said it was unpatriotic for anyone to question this raid and what happened. I dont think you will see that with this. Because, one, its become so front and center. Two, i think there are Lessons Learned from the way the white house and yemen went. The families have questions, theres plenty of reporting that has questions. This will be something the white house is financial to have to answer for. Which, of course, clint, it doesnt take a Rocket Scientist to figure out. Thats one of the reasons the president didnt talk about this, it appears it was similar to the yemen raid. A lot of questions on why were they there . Were they equipped . What happened that night and should it have been avoided . What can you tell us about this raid . Whats interesting about it, weve seen an aggressive stance on our Counter Terrorism pushing and the fridge of our Counter Terrorism fight. Ive worked on this area a little bit and you know we were worried decades ago, its a remote area, its hard to support. You talk about medevac and recovery and remember if there was an attack in benghazi we were talking about for years, this isnt that dissimilar, where we had u. S. Forces very much extended, out on the frontiers, did they have the right support . I think it will be very interesting in the days to report. So explain really quickly, why were they there . Why would they have been in such a remote region . In this area, its been a part of the Counter Terrorism initiative. It was to train and equip forces to do essentially Counter Terrorism and train up these forces, thats a special forces mission, if you look back the traditional special force mission is to build these indigenous force and go after threats way wide. Its sound like they were a part of a patrol working with nigers forces, i heard estimate i estimates up to 50 people ambushing this special forces team and a very weak force and they were very much extended. So when we are talking about medevac, who flew the medevac mission, there are few resource when you are that far extended to recover or support troops doing that. Clint, how usual is it for that fourth body, which turned out to be sergeant le david, he was left there two days. Its not often that you hear about that. You are talking very few americans out there running this operation, who are extended at tremendous distances, you are talking sometimes hundreds of kilometers between these pa patrols and the base. So i think once this happened and they couldnt locate that body, who is actually going out to do the search and Recovery Mission . Its so far extended into the desert. There is no resource toss do. Thats twoday period to do. Still a stun of questions about this. That brings us to the ongoing controversy of what the widow said, Congress WomanFrederica Wilson was in the car when the president spoke to the widow of Le David Johnson told us what she heard in that car and the widow myesha johnsons reaction. He was like almost joking. He said, i guess you know, something to the fact, he knew what he was getting into when he signed up. But i guess it hurts, anywaifr, you know, just matter of factually that this is what happens. She was in tears. And she said, he didnt even remember his name. Moments after that, President Trump tweeted this. Democrat Congress Woman totally fabricated what i said to the wife of a some who died in action. And i have proof. Sad t. Woman that raised him, his aunt was in the car and heard the president s call. She confirmed Congress Woman wilsons account. Jones johnson added, quote, President Trump did disrespect my son and my daughter and also me and my husband. Speaking from the white house, the president denied saying what he Congress Woman said he said. He elaborated open trumps quote proof of the accusation. Zplmplts. I didnt say what that Congress Woman said. Didnt say it at all. She knows it. She now not saying it. I did not say what she said. And id like her to make that statement again. Because i did not say what she said. I had a very nice conversation with the woman, with the wife, who sound like a lovely woman. I did not say what the Congress Woman said and most people are too surprised to hear that. Let her make her statement again and you will find out. Let her make her statement again and youll find out. What proof does President Trump have when he says Congress Woman wilson is not telling the truth . Are there recordings of his phone call . No, but there were several people in the room from the administration that were on the call, including the chief of staff general john kelly. What do you say about her comment that he did not know as a wife the widow, said that the president did not know his name, he kept saying, your guy, your guy. Just because the president said your guy, i dont think that doesnt mean he doesnt know his name t. President stated the hardest job he has is making calls like that. I think it is appalling what the Congress Woman has done and the way shes politicized this issue and the way that the is trying to make this about something that it isnt. So, joe, there are some people who suggested that Congress Woman wilson did not come into this with good will. She has called for the impeachment of President Trump previously and she saw a moment to make political hay out of this. To believe she is not telling the truth, you have to believe the woman who raised Sergeant Johnson is also not telling the truth. Shelves in the car. Johnsons wife, excuse me, his mother died when he was 5yearsold and raised by his aunt. So you have to disbelieve both of those account toss think theyre lying. You also have to trust Sarah Huckaby sanders and donald trump to be telling the truth and they have a, the worst track record probably of any white house spokesperson and president in recent u. S. History. Mark halperin, as you see the back and forth. I suspect this is exactly what you were worried about yesterday morning, that this sort of back and forth is unbecoming. Nobody wins. It just gets uglier. You had Sarah Huckaby sanders once again throwing john kelly under the bus saying he was there. Now hes i suspect they want him to come out and denigrate the memory of this young man and his wife and everybody else. Its a nowin situation. You see Claire Mccaskill and other people there trying to get some policy done. This seems like this is a distraction that, obviously, yes, an offensive thing. So i think its safe to presume donald trump is going to say offensive things. At this point, though, i think everybody in the media should tie a bow on this and move on to Nuclear Korea insuring health care for onesixth of the economy. I agree with that. Fixing health care. The media is filled today with stories of going back and interviewing families from the past who have gotten calls from president s after they lost a loved one making the ultimate sacrifice, there is lots to scrutinize about the president. He started this. The responsibility begins with him at the white house. But i just, this is a part of america, a part of the reality of a nation at war. I dont think scrutinizing the calls and asking for different accounts, putting the pressure on the president to give his version. I dont think it serves the National Interest to have this discussion the way we have now. No. I agree, do think we have to talk about what happened over the past several days on this story. It would make more sense to talk about what the president did to the chief of staff and his wife and their daughter in law and their family. When the president dragged their son into the limelight for a chief shot open a radio show. He used his sons body to attack barack obama. By extension, other predecessors, if there is going to be a discussion, i think thats the discussion to be had. Exactly what is john kellys respon response . Im looking back at how we started the show this morning with the fears of the American People, fears of a war and im sorry, i would venture to think that a lot of people looking at that man speaking there in the white house and answering those questions does not seem fit for the job. Thats the big picture still ahead this morning, we will get a rare look inside the secretive rocky nation with north korea with nbc news keir simmons the president shifts his stance, we will get reaction from a number of as far as, bill cassidy, tim caine and michael bennet. You are watching morning joe. Well be right back. So youre looking for male customers, ages 2554, who live within five miles of your business . Like these two. And that guy. Or maybe you want to reach women, ages 18 to 34, who are interested in fitness. Namaste. Whichever audience youre looking for, well find them were the finders. We work here at comcast spotlight, and we have the best tools for getting your advertising message out there. Anywhere, any way your audience watches. Consider them found. So earlier we showed you those new polls that show americans fears about the prospects of war with north korea. Nbc news keir simmons in inside north korea now with a rare firsthand account. Kir. Reporter mika if you are voting from the Democratic People os republic of korea known to you and me as north korea, where we are quickly learning that President Trumps rhetoric is having a profound effect. Officials who we speak to quickly want to talk about a President Trump and ask us about President Trump. The vice foreign minister telling us that he believes the region is on the brink of war. If that is the case, then this, perhaps, is the front line. We are right on the border here between the north and the south. I spoke to one lt. Col. Who is based here. I asked him, what do you think of President Trump . He, quite plainly,