this sunday, the tragedies in texas another mass shooting. another grieving community. >> you look at this girl. >> another political debate about what to do about guns in america from democrats. >> what are we doing why are you here it's not -- possible existential as this. >> no amountof bloodshed seems

to be enough. ♪ >> from republicans. >> society what they want to do in their particular state. >> if you want to stop. ♪ violent crime ♪ >> the proposals the democrats have, none of them would have stopped this. >> plus, growing questions about why police on the scene took so long to stop the shooter. >> of course, it was not the right decision the wrong decision period. >> we will hear from cory booker and pat mclaurie and a former police chief the rescue attempt went to terribly wrong with the state senator who represents uvalde, a former mayor of baltimore, a parkland parent of a child killed in that school shooting to our panels. welcome to sunday in a special edition of ""meet the press." >> this is a special edition of "meet the press" with chuck

todd good sunday morning. i hope you're managing to enjoy a bit of this memorial day weekend. sadly, though, it's become our uniquely miracle of worlds after another tragedy. thoughts and prayers nothing we can do. no law would have stopped this the real problem is mental illness. if only the victims had been armed. more thoughts and prayers. how do we allow an 18-year-old, in this says, salvador ramos, to buy assault rifles and accumulate more than 1600 rounds of ammunition, all legally, mind you. we no longer have a politics that can meet these crucial moments that we face the deaths of 19 children and two teachers in uvalde, texas, will it change things? unlikely the murder of first graders at sandy hook didn't. no member of congress has been voted out of office for being too pro-gun. not one!

so until the manjorities claim they want tough background checks and guns off the street, we can expect to hear more calls from thoughts and prayers and that is it because this current version of the republican party is being held hostage by a vocal minority obsessed with an absolute right that does not exist. in the days of following this massacre, deeply troubling details of this botched police response have emerged. here is the time line as we now know it according to police right now. 11:28. after shooting his grandmother, 18-year-old salvador ramos drives his car into a ditch and emerges and shoots at two people outside of a nearby funeral home 11:30. the first 911 call an officer heads to the area unknowingly driving past the suspect. 11:31. ramos enters the grounds of robb

elementary school and fires multiple rounds outside the school 11:33, police say he enters the school through a propped open door and starts firing at least 100 rounds oench originally, police say an armed officer engaged ramos upon entry. >> a brave school district resource officer that approached him and engaged him. >> but now. >> he was not confronted by anybody. we clear the record on that. >> reporter: 11:35, uvalde police officers enter the school and are grazed by bullets from the gunman 12:03, 19 officers are in the hallway. the first 911 call comes from inside the classroom with the shooter, a student reports multiple people dead >> a lot of injury >> officers do not enter the classroom. the school district chief of police assess children are no longer at risk despite the calls coming into 911 reporting students still alive in the

classroom. >> of course it wasn't a right decision it was the wrong decision, period. >> reporter: outside, they federal government officers to do more. >> get across the street get across the street! >> you know that there are kids, right? >> reporter: 12:15, border patrol tactical squad arrives but are told by local law enforcement to wait to go after the gunman according to two senior federal law enforcement officials. for the next 35 minutes, several more 911 calls are made by two students inside the room on which operators can happier shots being fired. but little else is known about this period. 12:50, law enforcement uses keys from the janitor to open the classroom door and kill the suspect. joining me now is texas state senator roland gutierrez whose district includes uvalde good morning, sir. welcome to "meet the press." >> thank you, chuck. >> i know you've spent a lot of

time with the families of the victims. just relay some of the conversations that you've had, some of the -- some of the frustrations, the anger, the grieving, whether it's on the response time or the fact this happened in the first place. >> chuck, this has been an incredible episode over the last three days these families are destroyed yesterday, i met with yet another family and the father outside of his home, he couldn't let go and i couldn't let go of him. we both were just crying at the time it was so, so devastating. that particular conversation, their little girl had been shot in the back with one belt in the kidney area. she likely bled out, according to the first responder who would know what would happen to that little girl had officers showed up timely, had they gone in timely. so i'm not blaming anybody, but

we have to have accountability as to what happened and who was there at what times and which agencies take operational control when those are big questions for me going forward. >> do you think someone should be held criminally accountable for the poor response? >> listen. i think certainly for me in texas going forward, i don't know that there should be criminal negligence or anything like that or criminal accountability but we have to make sure that this never happens again, because you and i both know there is probably going to be one of these instances happen again in this state and others. >> yeah. >> we have to learn from this, for sure >> is this a gun problem or a security problem >> we need changes oh, this is absolutely a gun problem. and it's all of those things

abbott thinks it's a mental health roblem? sure it is then go fund it properly we are dead last in mental health funding in the united states you know, we have got a crisis of infinite proportions in this united states. at the end of the day if we don't have the accessibility to minimize the military weapons, this doesn't happen, just like it doesn't happen in the rest of the world. they still have mental illness in england, asia go ahead i'm sorry. >> 15 years you've been in elective office in the state of texas in the house and the senate, and i'm actually been really focused on the last 15 years of gun legislation in the state legislature and astonishing amount of lifting of regulations on guns has taken place over the last 15 years ism putting on screen just what has been done in 2021 to weaken gun laws in the state of texas can you explain why there is this fervent attempt every legislative session to find some

way to send a message that, hey, we are going to weaken gun regulations in this state? whether it's a hotel, a car. i mean, all sorts of bizarre pieces of legislation that gets thrust upon you guys in the legislature. >> you know, i can't imagine what the field is to the enter i only suppose it's money to fund their campaigns i say they being my republican colleagues or republicans in the house or the senate at the end of the day what has happened over these years has been simply preposterous culminating last session with their open carry bill. not one law enforcement agency -- everybody in texas, every law enforcement agency said don't do this i gave a closing argument on that bill. i said because of this bill, kids are going to die. i never thought that that bit of hyperbole was going to happen in my community i never thought.

>> what are you going to say to the president today if you get a chance what do you want him to do >> well, i want him to comfort the people that he is going to visit with that is first and foremost i want him to assure as i have that we will have the necessary resources for them going forward. no family in the united states should have go through what these folks are going through. it is -- these people are destroyed. they lost their 10-year-old children some of these folks, they lost their only child it's horrible. secondly, to make sure that we have the resources we need going forward. we talked about a grant already to raze this school. we are looking at things to try to make people whole you and i know we will never able to bring these children back and so he is doing what he needs to do. i appreciate all of the effort

it's more than we have seen from our governor >> senator gutierrez, again, who represents the district, i know you're from san antonio, but you represent uvalde there we appreciate you coming on and spending a few minutes with us thank you. >> thank you, chuck. we want to broaden our discussion a little bit and we will continue about guns and school safety about three people whose lives and jobs have been dramatically impacted by gun violence here are my guests tony lost his daughter gina in the parkland school shooting he has pushed for increased background checks and for a federal red flag law look i'd like to start with you, cedric i want a quote here from an active shooter prevention expert that "the washington post" tabbed and what he said there and break down what happens in the respond here he said, quote

is he correct? >> well, here what has to happen is this. in those events, and certainly we found this out post-columbia. officers on that scene who arrive first, you go inside that building, you follow that gunfire. the whole intention is move that gunfire away from the innocent victims who are innocent and defenseless and you move that gunfire towards you. you have an opportunity to win that gun battle. remain is no other option. there is nothing else to talk about. that is what we have to do today. >> it looks, in hindsight, you had a unch abunch of first resp officers who feared they were out-gunned is that what you think happen? >> i don't know what went in

their heart of hearts when you respond to that scene, that is your training and what you've been traped to do the last 23 years so that is what you do, whether you you go in there. you take whatever you got in there with you and you go in there and deflect that gunfire away from you. these innocent babies had absolutely nothing, nothing! so it is your responsibility it is my responsibility, if i'm the incident commander or i'm the last person hired, i got to go in there. i got to deflect that gunfire. i got to follow that and find that target and i got to neutralize that target as quickly as i can until other help come. that is what i was sworn to do and that is what i get paid to do is it dangerous? yes. but it comes with the territory. >> tony, you're been abdicating and figuring out ways to give more access to security assessments for schools. explain what you think could be the answer for schools. >> well, it's a multifaceted

problem, chuck parkland looks at securing the camp campus we have worked with the u.s. secret service and its national threat assessment service to go around the country and educate and train local school staff and local law enforcement and local mental health professionals on the results of their studies which are behavioral threat assessment process this threat assessment process identifies children who are exhibiting troubling behavior and then it gets them the help they need long before they resort to violence that is the key is being pro-active and preventive. and then we also need to have a monitorsing piece we monitor them and make sure they are on track for the best possible outcome. >> we have had two 18-year-olds the last month okay legally purchasethese weapons. this is noga legally do this. would this have prevented this >> well, in the new york case, he was subject to a threat

assessment but they failed on the monitoring piece so that might have helped stop that the shooter this week in uvalde, which we feel for the families, without a doubt, that shooter had some information that he put out online and if someone had come forward and mentioned that, we might have seen some intervention before the tragic loss of life. >> i invited you on because this gun problem we have in america is -- we focus on it when there are mass shootings but it's every day there is not a city in america -- there is something, i think, only two states where gun violence is down, not up. >> it is a horrible problem of gun violence and, you know, sometimes i feel like with the division in our country, we want to talk about is it the violence in our cities or the mass shootings? it's all of it you know it is dealing with a complex

problem with complex solutions i think part of it starts with us owning who we are as americans. i think sometimes we need to find mirrors that work in our country because too many people look in the mirror and see -- they think they see someone who values life but if you say you value life and you let these babies die and do nothing and you can, your mirror is broken so i really think we need to start looking for ways parents and the people who have been impacted by the daily violence and these mass shootings to come together and work with our elected officials on some real common sense gun reform. >> i want to ask all of you, though cedric, is this a gun problem or a security problem >> >> it's a combination of it all but certainly a gun problem in our country and have to get our arms around this and particularly assault rifles that are out there. you're talking about high velocity 3,000 feet per second

tools of nothing but destruction. what is the purpose of them being out on our streets police, quite frankly, being a former police chief twice, that is one of the most -- if anything keeps me up at night, it's knowing that the possibility of my officers and people in the public are going to have to come in contact with these weapons -- this time type of weaponry. there needs to be a real conversation around these assault rifles and how they are so easily, easily, you know, attained by anybody who wants them you don't have to go to a gun store, chuck you can find them on the street at this very moment in any city in the usa. >> do you feel that gun violence in baltimore is outgunned? >> i think it is across the country. we are more guns than people in this country so i don't think a way to look at those numbers and seeing we are outguns and we are outguns if you listen to the

polls that says the vast mantle of us believe in responsible gun ownership. so i know it's possible for us to do better. >> tony, you have to live this tragedy over and over again. something you'll never get over. nobody should expect you to. does the public need to be shaken more by its lalapels? my friend jai johnson said they need emmett till picture for the people to see the pictures of what happened to emmett till is that something you would be comfortable with as a parent >> personally, no, i would not be comfortable with that it's terrible to lose your child or to lose your spouse, especially in a school shooting where they should be safe. i would not want those pictures of my daughter out there and made public. sadly, i may not have that choice as the trial of the killer proceeds in florida but cedric talked about the power of those weapons

people who shoot them, people who like them should imagine what they do to the bodies of children in schools. we do need to have a look at ourselves. and what question really need is stop pandering to the folks on the far right and the far left we need to come together as an american family and do something about this problem congress has yet to act. we have seen president trump and president biden support red flag laws where is congress acting on this these are also pro-active. they allow people who are concerned about someone to report them, have due process and then have the weapons removed from they resort to violence and that is what we have to do. >> thank you all for coming. keep in mind, folks, they needed to do dna match to identify some of these bodies in uvalde. thank you all. when we come back, i'll talk to democrat senator cory booker

and whether there is anything that can be done to help as we go to break, we remember the 19 children and two teachers who so tragically lost their lives on tuesday ♪ your projects done right . with angi, you can connect with and see ratings and reviews. and when you book and pay throug you're covered by our happiness check out angi.com today. angi... and done. ok, let's talk about those changes to your financial plan. bill, mary? hey... it's our former broker carl. carl, say hi to nina, our schwab financial consultant.

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♪ i've been everywhere, man. ♪ ♪ i've been everywhere. ♪ welcome back whenever there is a mass shooting, especially one involving children, we collectively ask will this change anything? experience offers no reason for optimism still bipartisan group of senators have been meeting with the aims of extending background checks and red state flag laws to keep guns out of the hands of

dangerous people joining me now are democratic senator cory booker a strong opponent of -- easing of guns and patrick mccorey were also mayors of big cities we asked each of the senate's 50 republicans every single one of them to join us and none agreed on this weekend. senator booker, let me start with you it looks like, if anything happens in the senate, it will be very incremental. you have called for some boulder proposals. is this a time for incrementalism to get something or bold if it leads to nothing >> well, whatever we can get done, if it saves a life, it's worth doing. my colleagues were entering a bipartisan talks i fully support that but under no illusion that things need to be done that the majority of americans overwhelmingly support republican and democrat that can

create significant safety. we know, even though the cdc has been undermined by the gun lobby where senate republicans won't allow scientific research on gun violence, we know enough to know that there are things we can do that will dramatically lower gun violence so the question is -- when will we do it and the problem is, i return again and again to how change has been made in america when your children died, for example a bombing in birmingham when four little girls died, the national rallied and movement continued until we demanded change and it was made those people who did not make the change, civil rights movement, suffrage movement, paid at the polls. until that happens, we are going to see, at best, incremental change as far as the federal level, i'm not that hopeful. >> the red flag law or this expanded background check would have done anything both of these 18-year-olds

legally purchased everything they used, including the massive amount of ammunition and body armor. it feels like you're going to involve a problem that doesn't address the problem. >> well, again, this is not a one-move solution. there must be many things done but we know background checks make a difference. we know gun licensing supported by the majority of americans make a deference heck when connecticut did it their gun rate fall 40% and when missouri got rid of it, their gun rate violence raised 20% we are at a point we have to mobilize a greater movement. just expressing regret and so sorrow until the rlevel of our childre is stronger than the level of our guns and money and power, until that level of our children

turns into action, then nothing is going to change and i'm -- and so many generations before us knew this as frederick douglas said power can see nothing without a demand if there is no struggle, there is no progress we have got to begin to hold our congressional leaders more accountable for change >> what role should the white house play here? looks like right now they are standing back and the president is not involved in these talks because he wants to see what happens. we are getting to a point -- i've heard from a lot of democrats on the road sitting there voting rights, nothing hum. gun violence, nothing. abortion rights, nothing how concerned are you that there is not just an appearance any more congress is just functionally inseptember dealing with a major problem, say, in this country. >> frauirst of all, when we say nothing has changed it is a defusing comment because things are changing

the kids from parkland and moms demand action, they have changed dozens and dozens of laws around this country and state after state that is making a difference and that movement is growing. i say it's like judging the 1950s civil rights movement as not -- >> this is decades long, you believe? >> sometimes longer. we just passed legislation to make lynching illegal. took a century to do it. but i think this is a movement that is growing. i think what we need now is not professions of impassy, we need people hard work of galvanizing these various movements to save our children's lives and have to have people off the sidelines and get into the arena. >> i want to ask you about police reform. you're negotiating partner here tim scott, republican from south carolina, put out an interesting what i would call a backhand ed answer on the president's

orders he said, quote it was a qualified immunity the sticking point why you guys were in agreement on 87% of this but that was the breaking point? >> no. this is like the issue we are talking about. wide agreement i was able to get the majority of police officers in america come together around a bill. we should stop talking about the margins in this country. there are so many issues from police reform to common sense gun safety that the mantljority us agree on. we are so out of step with the rest of the world. everything we are talking about today does not happen in other countries. just here because we tolerate it and that is the question how much endurance do we have for horror and wretchedness and

pain and death we need more people to be engage i said. >> you and i have been on this show way too on whicften after e moments 6 tragedy. thank you for joining me i want to start with an old quote. i would like you to help explain to the viewers where the gun rights movement moved? in 1999, wayne la pierre said this in front of the congress. >> we think it's reasonable to provide criminal background checks for every sale at every gun show no loopholes for anyone anywhere. >> something has changed from then to now where reasonable regulations were at least openly debated by gun rights officials and now you can't do it now without looking like you're --

the second amendment. >> in north carolina, there are grassroots kind of organizations that are making nra actually go more to the right on this issue and different from what the chairman or the president of the nra has to say so they are being pushed politically more to the right on this political issue, as president trump was during his term where he was going to institute some policies and then he was pushed to reverse that decision but, you know, i think we need to be very strategic in how we say this one thing we can't have is the candidate from the -- the governor candidate in texas saying we need to get rid of all guns or we need to confiscate guns because that makes people back into the corner even more and say, wait a minute, they are trying to take away from our guns there is a reason people are buying guns right now. right now, gun sales are up right now after this tragedy.

>> the gun manufacturers market the tragedy. that is sort of grotesque about this they are marketing towards this violence in a weird way to increase -- >> there is a feeling out there of institutional breakdown not just at the local and federal government but the local and state also because we are all involved we were both mayors together at one time at that time, every one of our shootings that occurred when i was mayor, you take it personally you go find out the 17 or 18-year-old killed who was involved in a murder or was killed, you go back and find out that that incident could have been prevented long ago. there was a breakdown in the family, there was alcohol and drugs in the household, there was domestic violence, there was dropout in school, there was violence in the school. >> everycountry in the world has these issues but they don't have the easy access to the weapon. >> i don't know if every country in the world has what we are seeing of an institutional

breakdown in all of our organizations. it's like spaghetti right now. no one is talking at each other at the local, state, and federal level. we saw at the shooting we had all different police staagencies come and they are not communicating with each other. at the mack rope federal, state, and local, just a disjointed policy and disjointed operation of that policy and what we have right now from a business standpoint, i'd look at it and go, we got angry young men who are doing most of these killings, whether it be in chicago or whether it be in mass killings it's angry young men we got to target our resources toward these angry young men that you and i have seen killed or doing the killing and then somehow prevent them from getting this -- these weapons of mass destruction. >> well, i want to get to the weapon kevin kramer, who is a republican senator from north

dakota, basically, he has been one of the few that sort has admitted the political reality he could support the most modest effort and maybe raising the minimum wage of buying a weapon of war from 18 to 21 and he would lose a primary that is the bottom line why elected republicans are afraid of touching gun regulation they are willing to talk red flag laws and these other things, but they won't touch the gun -- >> when i was a mayor 14 years and i reduced the murder rate by over 50% due to tough law enforcement and mentoring and other programs i lost a primary two weeks ago to a congressman who had a gun in his front trousers in a commercial. >> and every tv ad. >> in every tv ad. that was a more powerful message to the constituency voting in that primary he was tougher, i was weaker yet, my record of accomplishment in fighting crime is unsurpassed. >> it's about the gun but not

about the record >> it's a symbolism. it's a symbolism right now, we got people who don't trust right now the electrical justice system. we are letting criminals go. you see they are letting criminal go after crime after crime after crime and people say i'm taking this in my own hands and i'm going to protect my family and my home absolutely the violence is a culture problem that this country must face and it's got to be common sense. as i agree with the senator. we have got to come up with some common sense solutions i'll give you one quick example. >> very quick. >> our share -- in north carolina can do a red flag check on any handgun owner because they though know who the troublemakers are. i had to fight to keep the power of that as a governor. >> thank you i appreciate both of you joining me when we come back, we have heard

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ali is joining me and the governor pat mccorey is back with us and chief of the "the washington post. during the break, senator booker was actually reading our minds because he talked about all of the advertising that features guns and that is exactly what we put together this. just how important guns are to republican primary politics. these are ads airing around the country right now. >> i'm willing to do whatever it takes to return this country back to its former glory. >> in 2022, i'm going to blow away the democrats socialist agendas. >> you don't know who has got what in their purse! lipstick an iphone? or maybe a smith and wesson 38. >> ali, kevin kramer, i think, sort of said it best, right,

which this is all about the primary voter. >> it is always about the primary voter. i think this is a key litmus test when you look at the primaries how pro-gun are you? you can't be too pro-gun in a republican primary i think the structure if you're in an election but not everyone in washington is and i think it speaks to the climate on the hill especially where i spend my time that none of these 50 republican senators wanted to come on and talk to you at a time when, in theory, senate minority leader mitch mcconnell blessed this bipartisan. i looked at his words. this is a guy who says what he means and carefully says what he says an outcome directly related to what happened here in texas this time you look at the way this group is bipartisanly breaking up the issues you're looking at school safety and background checks and red flag laws. but like if the mood on the hill is so unoptimistic, there can be all of the blessings you want

for these conversations and just matters of what actually happens. >> i think when you look at that advertisements that are happening out there, we can't decouple sort what have is going on with guns from what we see the nationalist movement in this country. chuck, it is frightening to think that we are mixing easy gun access with the rise of nationalism and the toxic sort of hate, grievance politics, replacement politics, and we are mixing sort of easy access to assault weapons in this toxic mix. my god this cannot be the way forward for this country it's not a right or left problem, but look at the nationalist movement you're seeing there we got grievance politics and we have replacement theory and let's all grab assault weapons this cannot be the way forward for this country. >> one thing that is fascinating

is the conventional wisdom which used to be true. it used to be this is about the power of the nra that was potentially true after sandy hook when they were trying to do manchin saying if the nra had not come out against they would try to get something doing opinion now enter is weaken through their own making but primaries in the republican party and being an absolutist on the second amendment is incodified in that party and value ga nob galvanizing you see in those commercials. his theory of the case is interesting and interesting to see what happens is that democrats need to try to make this as galvanizing a for their side as republicans have for theirs and that will be the only way that things change it's unclear to me and to a number of democrats if democrats can do -- make gun control as powerful as featuring guns in

political ads. >> my theory on why cmitch mcconnell this small effort he is concerned about voters in various states you got to look like you want to try to solve a problem your primary opponent is a gun store owner. is this a negative for him in his general election or a positive for him >> that is going to be interesting because in the primary lelections you got to remember the demographics have changed the last 25 years. democrats used to have control of the rural voters in the old days and especially in the south and now it's almost all republican voters. in the rural area, guns are part of culture and i'm talking about law abiding good people where guns are part of the culture no way with a congressional gerrymandering you know your votes in the rural areas will you say anything about guns because they are law abides

citizens who primary like guns and it's a part of their hunting and their protection now the urban centers, especially in georgia and north carolina, you got two senate races now in the general election which i wish i was in, but i'm not. that is life you've got a different demographics and it's going to be how the soccer mom responds in one way, the soccer mom is go going i don't like this crime in our cities and i'm mad at the d.a.'s and defunded police, but they also don't like the major shootings. so there is a conflict there. >> can i get back in here quickly? i want to pick up on both points that pat makes if this is not the year of the angry mom, i don't know what is the year of the angry mom. the truth of the matter is -- >> whether it's tlcost of livin school safety. >> how about you taking away the right to choose what is happening in my body take the right to choose -- i think there is an opportunity

for democrats. if democrats make this election about anything except sort of what is happening in our schools and what is happening sort of these mass shootings and a woman's right to take care of her body, they make it about health care but democrats have historically won from this because they have been afraid of this issue but now i think it is is a galvanizing issue both choice quickly. nonparty group called highlands project and did a poll of african american women those african american women who are less likely to vote once they heard about roe v wade being overturned, 60% are more motivated to vote. >> i think if you're going to put this through a gender lens i look at the message and messager what a lot of female lawmakers pointed to after this mass shooting and making a point a lot of the mass shootings are young men and there is gender here that young men have a link to hating women. these are democratic guardrails and whether or not they can galvanize them. >> i will pause the discussion

here as we go to break, as we do every memorial day weekend at "meet the press," we want to remember the american service members who died in the line of duty since last memorial day, this list includes 13 killed in the terror bombing ♪ miss allen over there isn't checking lesson plans. she's getting graded on her green investments with merrill. a-plus. still got it. (whistle blows) your money never stops working for you with merrill, a bank of america company. ♪ it's the most wonderful time of the year ♪ your money never stops working for you with merrill, it's spring! claritin provides non-drowsy symptom relief

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a-plus. still got it. (whistle blows) your money never stops working for you with merrill, a bank of america company. welcome back data download time becomes routine and calling for more restrictive gun laws echo across the country after this last mass shooting in uvalde they want it to be different this time but if something is going to happen it needs to happen fast. overall the country is more divided on guns than i think people realize when we have asked this question, 45% fear that politicians will go too far.

50% fear it isn't go far enough. huge political divide between the two parties essentially polar opposites here three-quarters of republicans fear that government will be too far. now if you ever want to see action on guns, the time to do it politically is right after one of these shootings as you can see, right after parkland, you saw 67% wanted more strict laws and after sandy hook and after columbine, you se it fades over time when you throw out universal idea, all of this stuff is very, very popular but i want to bring you back to the first polling number i showed you because three-quarters of republicans fear that government will go too far, and that is what happens in a republican primary when any republican advocates any of these ideas. when we come back, president trump at the nra convention

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. welcome back this was a week that was pretty tough on donald trump politically, but he was at the

en nra convention and here is what it sounded like on friday when it comes to guns. >> the existence of evil is one of the very best reasons to arm law abiding citizens. >> this won't come as a surprise but donald trump was on another side on that issue not that long ago when he was actually sitting president. this is after parkland. >> well, i'm looking to do background checks. i think background checks are important. we must make sure that those judged to pose a grave risk to public safety do not have access to firearms. >> not surprising, donald trump has been on every major social issue but so surprise on this. i think it goes to is he leading his party or he is letting this wing of the party? >> even taking what he did as president. again, there was this hope he could move his party and after

parkland, what you had there was what you just showed there was he brought a group of bipartisan senators in he turned to the republican senators in the room and he said, you have to stop being petrified of the enter then guns disappeared. in all of these issues, former president trump has -- on these cultural issues at the end of the day he is afraid of them. >> but, ali, texas lieutenant governor dan patrick said maybe the wrong weekend to go to the enter convention this separated even what is a bad look >> kind of senator john cornyn didn't go to nra either but made a delineation -- >> impressive.

>> governor abbott trying to have it both ways by appearing virtually but not going physically in person yeah, certainly this is one of those moments that separates in the moment, but i still think that the larger permission structure in conservative politics be as conservative as possible on this on trump, though we have talked about the ways he is not we had to much ideologically. in the rooms of his rallies, certainly this got the largest cheers at the same time, the republican party doesn't need trump to lead them on the gun conversation right now. republican senators on the hill are doing it all by themselves the nra doesn't even need to give them that road map any more. >> cornell, does it help democrats most likely to help trump be the face of this gun movement >> it doesn't hurt but i think democrats are going to have to make their opponents the face of this this i think what is interestinging what senator booker talked about set up the votes and let them

vote down the popular things and let's go back and run again it >> that is not senator schumer's strategy. >> i think it hasn't been. but i think if you're looking foot head winds of the mid determine, listen, democrats are supposed to lose everything. history says that. we have an opportunity to change the dynamic. george bush changed the dynamic with national security economy was a big issue when george bush was running midterm. they never talked about it if democrats are not talking about saving children's lives and stopping hate crimes and a right for a woman to choose what happens in their body this election cycle, shame on democrats. angry mom voter, if you look at 2014 and 2010 there was barely any gender gap i think women broke two points in 14 points for demonstrates and if women break 19 points going into 2022 for democrats it's a different election. >> pat, why did you struggle without -- why did you struggle

as sort of the non-trump candidate compared to the others >> i have a club for growth. a super pact is now just spending money and made me something that i wasn't. false advertising. >> is there a lesson you could have taken out of this >> i think a big lesson for the general election is this what are the reagan republicans like myself, what are the independents going to do who go biden's policies are disastrous. they don't like the policies the economy is in the tank and, yet they don't like the character of trump but they liked his policies that is going to be the big swing vote is which way do they go and that is going to determine, i think, the senate in the future and maybe the presidential election. >> thank you all for being with us today thank you for watching try your best to compartmentalize and enjoy the rest of your memorial day

weekend. remember, if it's sunday, it's "meet the press. weekend. remember, if it's sunday, it's "meet the press."

the president and first lady are just back to delaware after a highly emotional sunday in uvalde, where they met with families, teachers, first responders and others in the reeling community now faced with planning more than 21 funerals >>ow the justice department is initiating a rare federal probe into the uvalde school shooting, reviewing what went wrong in the delayed police response. deadly gun violence range out across the nation in multiple states including texas, new york, pennsylvania and