Saying anything is perfect, and yes, will some people be affected yes . Will some people be affected badly, yes. We have to get our country open. I call these people washiers, and im actually calling them the nation warriors, we cant keep our country closed down for years. But the white house is clearly not immune from coronavirus. The president has tested negative, but at least two people inside the white house have tested positive. This week we learned the president s personal l. A. Nbc news has confirmed that dr. Robert redfield is expected to selfquarantine for two weeks after exposure to one of those aids. Steven hahn has said he will selfquarantine as well. New polling suggests that the president s messaging on reopening does not quite match the mood of the country. The latest abc news poll shows 64 of americans think opening the country right now is not worth it. Because more lives will be lost. 34 say it is worth it to rekindle the economy. That breaks sharply along partisan lines. 92 of democrats oppose reopening now. Just 35 of republicans oppose reopening. Also barack obama held a Conference Call with exmembers of his administration yesterday. The former president said the partisanship starts at the top and it is hurting the fight to save lives. It would have been bad even with the best of governments. Its been an absolute chaotic disaster, when that mindset of whats in it for me, and to heck with everybody else. When that mindset is operationalized, in our government. Plenty for us to talk about tonight. Lets dive in with our first panel. Andy slavit is the acting director in the obama administration. Also joining us, three msnbc contributors. The former White House Health policy director also for the obama administration. Chief Public Affairs officer for moveon. Org. And Maria Teresa Kumar is the president and ceo of multitivo. Id like to get your reaction dr. Patel. Let me get your reaction to something the president said earlier this week. Oh, no, i agree, mr. President. Because ive heard the opposite. I heard they are loaded up with gowns now, initially we had nothing, we had empty cupboards, empty shelves, we had nothing. Because it wasnt put there by the last administration. He was responding to that woman in the blue scrubs who said she had heard of facilities that were not doing well on ppe. Dr. Patel, your thoughts on that . Sure, joshua, heres the truth, its really kind of obfuscating the facts when you try to Say Something about the Previous Administration and simply not taking responsibility. Health care workers, my own colleagues, theyre still going home and not having the protective gear to protect themselves, their own families and their own patients. Why would we be trying to make this up . Its simply a fact that if you are trying to take care of patients, you have to have the protective gear and honestly, weve had months since the president has talked about the defense production act. But as you saw from that footage, were still having a conversation about not having enough equipment and we simply do not have that equipment. Andy, what about you . It is worth noting in different prices we are hearing enough things about who has enough ppe. Mayor de blasio said were finally doing okay in terms of the ppe we have, and are building a pipeline for getting more in the future. What do you make of the president s comments. Happy mothers day to everybody. Lets start with my mom as well, but also all of you. Look, i think the president has yet to accept responsibility for anything that hasnt gone well, and yet to not try and swoop in and claim credit for things that arent going well. We all at this point in our lives know and are related to people who have been on the front line of the health care fight, and we know theyve had difficulty staying safe, staying protected. He wants to talk about us warriors and himself as a wartime president. The first thing you do as a wartime president is making sure why are troops are property equipped. Putting them on the front line and then correcting your front line soldiers in front of them isnt filling the country with a lot of confidence. We have to move past that, solve these problems, execute the plan we have to open the country. Lets do it safely. And i think the country will be much more confident in the president if he actually stuck to some of the things they need that they see in front of him. Let me move to you. I think andy was trying to upstage me by saying happy moeschs day before i could. I havent had a chance to say it to my mom. Now youre in trouble. I think were going to lose andys feed for the rest of this conversation. Your moms going to call you right now. You think she wont . I got my phone right here. As soon as she texts me, i will let you know. President trump said at that same oval office meeting, he wants to terminate obamacare. To the best of our knowledge, theres no new plan in place to do this. This did not come to pass despite repeated attempts. What about that comment. Is that a new policy focus . Is that an offhanded comment from the president . What do you glean from that. We do know that it is mired in the force, because hes trying to undo it, hes trying to pivot, trying to pivot to a policy that everyone realizes how much they need. Look, the health and wealth of this nation is on the line during this pandemic. And if you look at what other leaders arrange the world have been able to do to stave off massive deaths and economic downfalls, you look at singapore, south korea, who started with the pandemic just when we did. You look at germany, they each country dealt with it completely differently, but theyve all staved off a crisis, that is when the leadership at the top matters so much, this president , the biggest challenge we have with him, we dont even know when he tells us the truth. Now you have all these states who are reliant on flimsy information about what is actually going to happen if theres another wave of covid, and theyre trying to do the best they can. We feel for those small businesses, for those workers that are living paycheck to paycheck, and its this absence of leadership from donald trump. If you look at how californias governing, gavin newsom is saying, were going to partially reopen, theyve been ahead of it. States are trying to make sure they dont go into bankruptcy as Mitch Mcconnell is encouraging people to do. And making sure that americans dont die. And this president s been so cavalier with the deaths of americans, that is really difficult for us to swallow that. Corinne, let me come to you with regard to the comments that president obama made. What do you make of those . Hes been pretty quiet about politics since leaving office. Well, president obama is absolutely correct, hes 100 . You have a president who is incredibly partisan, hes not a president for everyone. One thing that we are learning currently for many of us for a long time, three years, even, is that this president is ilequipped and unfit to lead. And heres the thing you have him in the beginning of the segment, you showed clips about how he wants to reopen the government. He has no plan. There is no plan to reopen to reopen the country or reopen the government. There is none. All he has is this adhoc open prayer that its going to work out imagimagically. In the white house itself they cant go back to work. You have the white house, the safest in the country and yet the top aides around donald trump are spreading the virus. Theyre supposed to have the best testing, the best Contact Tracing in the white house, but they cant even contain it themselves. We, the people, we did our job. We stayed in for two months in the hopes assuming that donald trump and his administration would have a plan. A plan for testing, a plan for Contact Tracing. They have nothing. Not only did they waste february and january and april and march. They really left us in the lurch for five months. And why . Because of this failure of the administration. So barack obama, president barack obama is 100 correct. It is the partisanship, it is Donald Trumps own kind of selfpreservation, he only cares about his political health. This is the situation that this country is in right now, and they have no plan, and it is a complete failure. And let me come back to you. The Washington Post reports that white house officials were encouraged to come to work and not selfquarantine for two weeks after traveling. Now the staff is being told to work from home as much as possible. That is probably safer for everyone. But what does that say about the administrations coronavirus efforts. Does it say anything to you . Well, it says to me that hes asking the country to do one thing. And hes doing another. Hes reportedly getting daily testing, and then he goes and tells the country that testing doesnt matter because apparently you can get a negative and negative and then get a positive. The truth is, that testing at its most basic level is meant to make americans feel safe. Its meant to help us understand consider whether or not we can do things, go places, be out in public and go back to work. With a solid testing plan and a Contact Tracing plan, we could open this country safely step by step, without it, what hes doing is saying, whats good enough for me, you cant have. Hes basically saying, go ahead, take that risk, and i think it has a little bit to do with the fact that he now perceives that many of the people dying are elderly people in nursing homes, in public housing, in jails, people in meat packing plants, people who are of color or who are sick. Once i think he made that realization and got the stock market to move back a little closer to where it was. His urgency changed. His urgency 340e6shed away from the public emergency that we all think it is, and moving toward getting the economy boosted in the eight states he needs to win in november. That is worth noting. The stock market has been going up. Its almost back where it was from october of last year, certainly wall Street Investors believe our economy is going to bounce back in one form or another. With regards to a vaccine, let me get your reaction to Something Else the president said yesterday. Listen. I feel about vaccines like i feel about tests. This is going to go away without a vaccine, and were not going to see it again hopefully after a period of time. What evidence have you seen that this is going to go away without a vaccine. I rely on what doctors say. Its not to say it will be gone this year or by the fall. The question is, will we need a vaccine . At some point it will probably go away by himself. I do not know of any are who have ever intumated that this virus would go away on its own. Viruses are by definition, opportunistic, they replicate until they cant any more. President trump has said im not a doctor, which is increasing li apparent. How much do you think when the president says things like this, that it even matters, that it even makes a difference . Weve learned to listen to doctors about doctory stuff, right . Yes, i certainly hope so, joshua, at the same time, apparently people are listening, because we have seen after he talked about how he want a doctor, but he thought it might be wise to think about looking into ingesting in disinfectants, we saw an uptick of calls to poison call, patients calling in wondering if this was legitimate. This is another case of did he legitimizing science, and its from our commander in chief. I certainly hope the American Public does list ing to doctors. There is no journal, no scientist, no Public Health official that i know of that thinks we can wait this out and it will go away. Dozens and dozens of people developing and trying to work on a vaccine in an unprecedented way. It is counter to the facts as we know them. Thats becoming a theme with this administration. Karin, before we move on, where do you see the white house working in a bipartisan way to help with this pandemic. What looks the most promising to you . I think thats not promising at all. It doesnt seem like thats the direction donald trump wants to go. Hes made this very much political. Hes looking at the next five to six months, hes looking at november, hes looking at his reelection, and thats the focus. Thats why you see these red states, very red governors, states who are reopening, because he wants to be able to say to his constituency. The people he believes he needs to gin up, the economy is okay, that everything is where it needs to be. This has been a presidency thats been all about partisanship, thats been all about selfpreservation for donald trump. And unfortunately, that is where its going to be. Someone said earlier in the beginning, there was a little bit of concern, there was a little bit. You saw some reaction. There was some working with the democrats in congress. And once hes he realized how this is affecting people, he doesnt care any more. Its all about himself. And this is where we are, and its incredibly dangerous. Now were approaching 80,000 people in this country who have died from this virus. Thats peoples moms, dads, cousins, uncles, friends, aunts and they are dying. And this president could care less. We have to move on. But i think, joshua. Yes, briefly. It is the people who are dying that he seems to be completely not even not empathetic at all, its not his base, and the moment he learned it was not his base, he turned a blind eye. And yet its 80,000 people that are elderly or front line workers. 20 of the latinx worker was excludesed from the care act because they were living with an undocumented person or they were undocumented themselves. Its not all americans, hes not the president for everyone, hes the president for a few. We have much more to discuss in a moment, before we end this segment, i thought maria teresa, you might be interested to know my mother texted me twice. Ed first, i heard that and the second text reads my mothers day is every day. Thats my mom watching from south florida. Thats a smart mom. I may have given her too much power knowing when she texts something it could make television. That may be a one time thing. Thank you very much for talking to us. And for talking to my mother as well. Dr. Patel and karine, stick around. Even protective masks seem to be turning into this partisan symb symbol. How does that affect our efforts to save lives. To soothe and moisturize a dry mouth. Plus, it freshens breath. Biotene. Immediate and long lasting dry mouth symptom relief. No uh uh, no way come on, no no nnnnono only discover has no annual fee on any card. That Liberty Mutual customizes your insurance, i just love hitting the open road and telling people nnnnono so you only pay for what you need [squawks] only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Right now, theres over a million Walmart Associates doing their best to keep our nation going, while keeping us safe. Weve given masks to all our people and were helping our customers practice social distancing in stores. Weve implemented shorter hours, so we can sanitize our stores from top to bottom while also restocking our products. But if anything, these days have reminded us why we do what we do. Because despite everything thats changed, one thing hasnt, and thats our devotion to you and our communities. Were working together, instore and online, through pickup and delivery, to make sure you can still get the essentials you need. And as we move forward, know that our First Priority will always be to keep you and our associates safe. Swithout even on yoleaving your house. Will always be to keep you and our associates safe. Just keep your phone and switch to xfinity mobile. You can get it by ordering a free sim card online. Once you activate, youll only have to pay for the data you need saving you up to 400 a year. There are no term contracts, no activation fees, and no credit check on the first two lines. Get a 50 prepaid card when you switch. Its the most reliable wireless network. And it could save you hundreds. Xfinity mobile. Tonight is the first time secret Service Agents were attending a meeting wearing masks. President trump noticeably did not wear one while touring a mask factory in phoenix on tuesday. On wednesday, he said he was told it was not necessary to cover his face during that tour. We then learned the president had been telling his allies wearing a mask would send the wrong message and make him look ridiculous. Yesterday afternoon, two dozen House Republicans met with the president at the white house. None of them was wearing a mask. Protective measures to stop a pandemic should be above politics. These days, just about anything can be a symbol of whos with you and against you. Back with us, is phillip rucker, an msnbc panelist. Glad to have all of you with us. Lets get back to basics for a second. Weve said this over and over. What should the public know about face massings and why they matter, one last time . Sure, one more time. A nonmedical mask can protect others from you. So it is incredibly important. Its very low tech, and it has zero risks to you other than the inconvenience of putting it on and hopefully washing it every day. It is a way to again, joshua, protect others from you by containing any of your nose or mouth droplets. Thats it. To make this political just doesnt make any sense. Theres no need for it. You have new reporting out tonight about a shift in strategy inside the white house. Theyre moving from hour to hour mitigation to a longer term plan. What message are they hoping to send to the public . Joshua, theyre hoping to send to the public a message of confidence to try to make people feel like they can return to work, return to their communities. Return to restaurants and shopping malls and what have you in states that have begun to reopen, and they can do so safely even as the death toll climbs. We continue to have somewhere in the ballpark of 2,000 deaths a day, and that does not appear to be dropping off, and theres been a shift in thinking inside the white house, according to our reporting that thats going to be sort of a new reality here goingforward for the near term, and the president wants to try to shift the psychology of the American People about the pandemic to make people feel like those deaths are okay, and that the deaths are a part of the new normal and its safe to go back to work, and that is at odds with what the public polling tells us americans feel, which is afraid right now, and feel like the social distancing restrictions should be con