winter and now we're back and we'll show you what you need to look for. and the news cycle still dominated by the mystery of a lifetime. where is that missing jumbo jet? i'm krystal ball. the malaysians don't know. the australians don't know. but could a seasoned american investigator have answers? we'll ask him. in today's trip down abby's road, my passenger is kenneth depage, so fasten your seat belts. good afternoon. as we all try to find our way through another american tragedy, the shooting at ft. hood, texas. we are waiting for another update in about an hour. this is the man army investigators say is behind it. 34-year-old ivan antonio lopez. a man with symptoms of depression and anxiety evaluated for post-traumatic stress disorder, but never officially diagnosed with it. also not considered violent or

suicidal. that doesn't help us explain why lopez allegedly killed three people and injured more than a dozen others before turning the gun on himself. les than 24 hours later, shock waves are still being felt from texas right through to the nation's capital, and the rest of the country. >> my thoughts and prayers will be with all those whose lives have been impacted by this terrible tragedy, and with the entire ft. hood community, which has displayed such extraordinary strength and resilience since the horrific events of nearly five years ago. >> please be near to the families of the victims of the ft. hood shooting. we pray in your merciful name. >> we know these families, we know their incredible service to our country and the sacrifices that they make. we're heartbroken that something like this might have happened

again. >> let's start off at ft. hood with nbc's charles hadlock. charles, how is everyone coping there? >> reporter: hi, abby. they're getting ready for another briefing here at ft. hood from the central command at ft. hood. the commanding general last night spoke and gave us a few details. we'll hopefully get some more about 4:00 eastern time today. but part of the investigation centers around the gun. the gun that was used in this crime was a .45 caliber handgun that was purchased here in killeen, texas. incidentally, it was the same store that major nidal hasan bought his weapon back in 2009 before he began his rampage here that killed 13 people. now, the command here does not know exactly what the motive was of this soldier who committed the crime yesterday. but they say that they will continue the investigation. the gun itself was a legal purchase, according to the shop owner, who says that the soldier passed all of the required tests

and inspections and background checks, as did major hasan. and guns are allowed on a army post. however, they must be registered first, and that's not what happened in either of the attacks here. >> all right, charles hadlock. thank you so much. we now want to take you to the white house, where president obama is now making a statement on that shooting at ft. hood. let's take a listen. >> many of them have been on multiple tours of duty. to see unspeakable, senseless violence happen in a place where they're supposed to feel safe, home base, is tragic. and obviously, this is the second time that the ft. hood community has been affected this way. so we join that entire community in honoring those who lost their lives. every single one of them was an american patriot. we stand with their families and their loved ones as they grieve. we are thinking about those who are wounded. we're there to support them.

and as we learn more about what happened and why, we're going to make sure that we're doing everything in our power to keep our troops safe and keep our troops strong, not just on the battlefield, but also when they come home. they've done their duty and they're an inspiration. they've made us proud. they put on their uniform and then they take care of us, and we've got to make sure that when they come home, we take care of them. and that spirit of unity is what brings us here today. because we could not be prouder of team usa. team usa. [ applause ] >> all right, you've been listening to the president about that ft. hood tragedy. let's now dig a little bit deeper into the investigation with nbc news justice correspondent pete williams. pete, what do you got? >> well, the investigation is on two tracks now. the military going back through ivan lopez's record to see if there's anything that stands out. and now a separate track looking at his computers, his e-mails, interviewing friends, his

relatives to try to find out if there's anything in his past that was a warning sign. so far, they say they found nothing. a federal law enforcement official says he had no record of anything in any of the federal files. they have nothing on him. he was not considered any kind of a trouble causer. in terms of his mental health, the secretary of the army told congress this morning that he had sought treatment because of depression, anxiety, and trouble sleeping, although none of those sound like very profound mental issues. he was seen last month by a psychiatrist. the army secretary says, and psychiatrist found no indication of likely violence or suicidal ideals. he bought the gun about a month ago. the question is was that related to this, can they find anything that links those two together. no answers yet, but those are the questions they're asking. >> all right, pete williams, thank you so much. brandon webb is a former navy

seal. a result of an eye-opening new poll of america's vets. he's done a lot of work through his in-depth series after the wars. brandon, let me start with you. being a navy seal, you've been in war zones. you have seen the worst of it. here we have yet another fatal shooting on a military base. are you surprised that we're seeing this happen again? >> you know, i'm not surprised. ft. hood in itself has really turned into a symbolic target. you know, we have the shooting in 2009, and a thwarted attempt by an awol soldier in 2011. but i think what this shows you, my community from the special operations community, i think that the special operations folks are much better trained and prepared to deal with what they see in a combat zone. but the american war fighter has been in a sustained combat operation mode for over a decade and i really think you're starting to see the combat force starting to fray at the edges. and listen to the president's speech.

i do hope that we do take care of these folks that are coming back. and they've seen horrible things and now it's time to take care of them. and unfortunately, what i've seen is, you know, the v.a. and the help that these men and women are getting at home just isn't enough. >> yeah, and on that point, you've been writing about ptsd after both the iraq and afghan wars, and "the washington post" and the kaiser family foundation just came out with a new poll with some pretty startling results. tell us a little bit more about it. >> yeah, really remarkable findings, abby. almost 1/3 of service members who served in iraq or afghanistan say their mental or emotional health is worse than it was today than the day they were deployed. one in two knows someone who has attempted or committed suicide. the depth of the emotional and mental toll, 12 years of war has had on the 2.6 million americans who have served.

more than half say they feel disconnected from civilian life in america. more than 40% say their physical health is worse today than before they deployed. so even though the specifics of this case at ft. hood are still very murky, and it's not clear as yet whether his combat time, his time in iraq led to ptsd, led to his need for psychiatric care. what is clear is that he was seeking psychiatric care in a system that is already really overburdened, because of just the sheer number of service members who are in need of those services because of clear ptsd connections. you're talking about entering a military medical system that's really just bursting at the seams, and some important questions are going to have to be asked here, as to whether he was able to see specialists quickly enough. was he able to get follow-up care with alacrity, or was his care delayed because of just the sheer toll on the military

health system? >> brandon, you hear those very sobering statistics. i wondered if you could shed light on something that i find fascinating, which is military gun culture, especially that on bases, i understand mr. lopez, who committed this act, he had to get approval from his unit commander to have a firearm. how prevalent are personal firearms within base culture and within military culture, especially in the hands of a lot of individuals who might be suffering from ptsd? >> to be honest, most military operations are probably some of the largest gun-free zones in america. i mean, owning a firearm and having it on base is a very difficult to do, to get the gun registered. some bases just plainly don't allow firearms on the installation. to me, the situation is we've done an incredible job in the united states from the law enforcement led by the fbi and really training and identifying

how these active shooters develop over time and how to deal with the situation. but it seems to me that there's a lack of training in the mental health professional industry to really identify these warning signs. you look at a guy that sought psychiatric help and purchased a firearm within a relatively short time of seeking that help. to me, that's a red flag. i think we need to train our mental health professionals to identify these warning signs and help prevent any more of these terrible mass shootings. >> brandon, i think a lot of people have been surprised that this apparent shooter had come back from combat in 2011, was just now being evaluated for ptsd. is there something more proactive the military should be doing with regard to service members who are exposed to trauma rather than waiting for them to seek psychiatric care? >> yeah, i mean, to point out an important factor, the military traditionally has been very not open to seeking psychiatric

help. and i think only in the last, you know, maybe five, six years it's become -- even in my community, in the special operations community, it's become more acceptable to seek help and you're kind of not painted in a certain negative light. so i definitely think that there's a ton more that we could be doing to support these folks. not only when they come back from overseas in a combat environment, but helping them transition to civilian life. we're seeing one of the largest transitions from active duty to civilian life in many years in this country, and probably are at -- you know, over a decade of sustained combat operations, it's probably the longest in u.s. history. so it's a tremendous toll that has taken on the u.s. war fighter. >> absolutely. >> i think what they said earlier, we're starting to see it fray at the edges. >> rajiv, on that toll, going back to the poll that abby referenced earlier, a

million-plus veterans report having outbursts of anger that can be associated with ptsd. we don't even know that the alleged shooter was having these sorts of emotional outbursts. we don't even have a diagnosis here of him having ptsd. so do we need to be careful making the connection between ptsd and this type of active shooter willingness to take your own life and that of others? >> well, yes. you have to be careful here. there are a lot of troops who suffer post traumatic stress who get treated and are just fine. and there's a real danger in looking at these cases and then trying to sort of cast an entire group of americans as damaged goods because our nation's veterans are far from that. and most of them who go off to war come back just fine or their treatment makes them just fine. this individual's psychiatric issues could have had nothing to do with combat. but what we have to look at is

whether the health system actually was able to treat him quickly enough. what brandon was saying was really important. are the diagnostic tools good enough? i was talking to a four-star general just before coming on air who was noting to me that the military still uses essentially a 20-question checklist to determine ptsd. after hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent on studies in the wake of these wars, it really isn't a very sophisticated set of tools that are being used. he was arguing to me that more needs to be done to more accurately identify the depth of psychiatric and mental health issues that may exist, and more sophisticated treatments need to be developed. in some ways, this needs to be yet another wake-up call to the military to really redouble its efforts there. >> such a sad reality. thank you so much. we've got a lot of news to get to this thursday. the floodgates opened for money and politics. time running out on flight 370's black boxes. and a twister alert for the

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money talks, and in politics, it just got a whole lot louder. we first told you on yesterday's show, the supreme court threw out a decades-old cap on the total aggregate amount that any one person can donate to federal candidates. that's plural. but it left intact a cap on how much people can donate to individual candidates. a little more than five grand. but here's the problem with that so-called cap. in the dissent, justice briar lays out several big loophole

where is a donor could give millions potentially to just one candidate. to illustrate one scenario in which a rich donor could do exactly that, they could give $3.6 million of their money to what's called a joint party committee, which includes all of a party's national and state candidates. then, that joint committee gives the money to its candidates who instead of keeping it for themselves, funnel millions to one lucky candidate, who may need it more than others. now, in the majority opinion, justice roberts assured us all that this actually happening is farfetched, impossible even. >> inconceivable! >> you keep using that word. i don't think it mean what is you think it means. >> steve kornacki is always on the up and up. after all, he is the host. one thing to lay on you here. if you want to react to that directly. one thing i find interesting here is when we're talking about the number of people nationwide

who this decision impacts, in 2012 there were 591 people in the country that hit the federal max that this decision impacts. that is .0000019% of the population. >> oh. >> the supreme court is so concerned with the free speech rights of .000019% of the population, that they are willing to trample on the free speech rights of essentially everyone else. quickly, justice briar had a quote that i thought really nailed this. he said the first amendment advances not only the individual's right to engage in political speech, but also the public's interest in preserving a democratic order in which collective speech matters. >> well, there's also -- there's an argument to be made here, even by people who don't necessarily like this ruling and people who don't like the increasing role of money, and the super rich people in politics and especially in wake of citizens united in 2010. there's an argument to be made

that actually in a way this ruling could correct some of the problems that emerge in the system in the wake of citizens united. the problem is this right now. right now, you have basically unlimited money outside of official campaign. unlimited money outside of whether it's john boehner or nancy pelosi, they want to set up some kind of joint committee. you have unlimited money outside of this. you have the billionaire -- the sheldon adelson primary in vegas last week. the one billionaire who can bankroll a candidate with the so-called independent committee. >> which none of that is going to change, though. >> this gives the actual political parties and this gives leaders of the political parties a little bit more of an opportunity. they can go out and they can collect big money. it could potentially put a little bit more order into a system that right now has no order in it whatsoever. >> so you trust the parties more than the billionaires. krystal had a long-winded question there. i'll do a really short one. john mccain had a great quote in "the washington post."

about this decision. he said, there will be scandal. there's too much money washing around. there will be a scandal. steve kornacki, you're an investigative reporter. what will this scandal look like? >> we'll give you time to think about it. >> money in politics, there could be a scandal. >> right now, it is a scandal. >> this decision specifically, though. how does it open itself up to scandal? >> i don't know that this particular ruling does. i mean, i'll steal this analogy. i can't remember who i heard it from. but likening money and politics to a leak in the roof. it's always going to find its way into the basement. no matter what kind of regulations or tweaks you have, the bottom line is money is going to find its way into the system some way or another. john mccain learned that lesson the hard way. john mccain spent basically a decade of his public life in part trying to atone for all the problems he got into.

but he wanted money out of politics. and he and russ feingold teamed up and they -- the bipartisan campaign reform act of 2002, and i think of john mccain, in a better or worse position on money in politics. >> i mean, the system is so completely screwed up and script that even something like this doesn't make a huge difference. i want to get josh in here as well. but my problem is not really with the amount of people you can give with the capped amount. you said this, the amounts that we can spend. if anything, i think this helps level out the playing field for a number of candidates that don't have the popularity, don't have the name recognition, that are not leading the polls. the folks that actually need the money. krystal can probably attest to this when she ran. i sthaw this with my dad that would say i'd love to give to you, but i'm already maxed ow. -- out. >> the court is supposed to tell us what the constitution says.

they've been clear going back to buckley v. valeo, that giving money to candidates is a speech activity and is entitled to a wide variety of protections. it's then up to congress to make the rules to mitigate against that. so like the thing justice briar described, congress could pass a law prohibiting the campaigns from giving money to each other. steve, do you see legislative action that's likely to come in response to this trying to restore some sort of limits on campaigns? >> that was the republicans in charge of the house i think joining this lawsuit. but i think it raises the interesting question, too, clarence thomas -- >> he wanted to go further. >> right. he was saying not only did they say that money is speech and politics, they upheld limits. do away with those limits altogether. >> i'm afraid that's where things are headed. as you and all up against the clock fans know, this saturday it is championship saturday. >> go, krystal! >> i, krystal ball, will go up

against kate and alex. i am favored, of course. >> going down! >> and steve the man. that's because of my training regimen caught on tape by krystal watchers. >> isn't until the end of the month. >> i know. i've got to get ready. >> we've been doing some flash card work. >> it's going to be a real cinderella story. you don't see stuff like that every day, thank god. see you saturday at 9:44-ish for the big game. we will be back with the regularly scheduled program next. but before we go, i want to thank all of our facebook fans who have been sending me all of your verbal encouragement. keep it up, fans, and i will do my best come saturday. guy around 2 percent to manage your money. that's not much, you think except it's 2 percent every year. does that make a difference? search "cost of financial advisors" ouch! over time it really adds up. then go to e*trade and find out how much our advice costs. spoiler alert. it's low. really? yes, really. e*trade offers investment advice and guidance

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these days, everything is done on the internet. and tomorrow you'll do even more. that's what comcast business was built for. slow dsl from the phone company was built for stuff like this. switch to comcast business internet. then add voice and tv for just $34.90 more per month. and you'll be ready for tomorrow today. comcast business. built for business. a severe storm threat leads off the news cycle this afternoon. a sixth of the country could experience the first significant tornado outbreak of the year. it's later than normal because of the extremely cold winter that wouldn't let go, but the areas at risk over the next

several hours into tonight include little rock, memphis, and just south of st. louis. president obama and the first lady just wrapped up an event welcoming olympic and paralympic athletes to the wlous. they all represented the u.s. delegation this year in sochi. speaking of russia, it will also be a topic of a meeting with house and senate leaders this evening. stocks are near lows for the day as stocks anticipate march job reports. economists expect something in the neighborhood of 200,000 jobs were created, decent, but below the blockbuster month. jared bernstein will be here tomorrow to help us break down the numbers. >> always fun. time is running out on the batteries powering the black box location signals from malaysia flight 370. today a british sub picked up a sonic transmission, but it, like all surface debris so far, has not been linked to the wreckage. air crews didn't find any clues today either, despite clear skies. those conditions could soon

worsen dramatically. a tropical cyclone is now brewing. for now, the search zone is about 932 miles out to sea, and nbc's ian williams is in perth where the malaysian and aussie prime minister met today. >> reporter: good day to you, abby. the prime minister of malaysia was here in perth today meeting his australian counterpart, and also meeting the air crews who are at the sharp end of this search, a search which the prime minister says will go on until answers are found. his australian counterpart tony abbott said we're throwing everything we can at the search. today that meant eight aircraft, nine ships and a british nuclear powered submarine. tomorrow, friday, the u.s. pinger locater arrives in this area. that's the device which when towed behind a ship should be able to detect any noise, any pings from a black box. but in order to do that, they need to massively narrow the search area.

and that means finding wreckage. as of now, they still haven't found anything that's anything to do with flight mh flight 370. the prime minister of malaysia was also briefed by those running the search operation here. angus houston, the australian in charge told him that the search was going on, there's no timetable behind it. but he also warned that -- and this is the first hint of perhaps a slight change of strategy, that if they continue to find nothing, then a new approach might be needed. back to you guys. >> nbc's ian williams in perth, thanks so much. >> with us now is dr. allen deale, a former ntsb investigator and the author of "air safety investigators using science to save lives one crash at a time." your book is dedicated to the families of previous plane crash victims and you write, "ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you angry." we've certainly seen anger and confusion among the flight 370

families. you say the malaysian government is botching part of this investigation. what should investigators be doing that they're not? >> well, the problem right now, we've got to find these black boxes, these pingers, and we have more time than we think. they last for more than 30 days. i just talked to the man who tests the batteries, and we've got several more days than we think. but not many. i think it's really up to the president to call the malaysians and offer significant numbers of search aircraft. the eight aircraft that are out there now, the dozen ships are just not enough. >> doctor, one thing that you have suggested is that we're running out of time on the black boxes, and you have what some would say is probably a radical solution to this. you want to completely change how the search is being conducted, essentially saying that we should have submarines trying to detect the ping sign from these black boxes?

>> right. i'm glad to see the one british nuclear sub showed up. these nuclear subs, as you know, travel at 30-plus miles an hour. they can go very deep, so they can get close to the signals. they operate all day at 30 miles an hour. the towed pinger operates at 3 miles an hour. we don't have much time on those batteries. we have 41 of these nuclear subs. certainly we could send one into the area in the next several days. we also have fleets of these p-3 aircraft that can drop listening devices as well as another aircraft that can be helpful is the mc-140 special forces transports. those can be area refueled, unlike the p-3s. the mc-130s, which are air force transsports, can stay out there all day long by being refueled. >> you're an expert, we know the

transponders were shut off on this flight. what does that and other data tell you about potentially what happened on this flight? >> it certainly offers clues, but i know everybody's saying they were turned off, but there could be some kind of electrical problem that can also shut off such equipment. back in the swiss air crash in '89, they lost the auto pilot and instruments. i'm not saying there was an electrical fire. i've spent 40 years looking at these things. but no crystal ball. >> we do! >> a call needs to be made to the australians and say america stands ready to extend extensive support to finding these pingers before the batteries do die. >> thank you so much. up next, high anxiety ahead of historic elections in afghanistan. the taliban already making good on threats of violence to rock

the vote. what the future holds for this country in transition. "time's" powerful cover story, that straight ahead. we asked people a question, how much money do you think you'll need when you retire? then we gave each person a ribbon to show how many years that amount might last. i was trying to, like, pull it a little further. [ woman ] got me to 70 years old. i'm going to have to rethink this thing. it's hard to imagine how much we'll need for a retirement that could last 30 years or more. so maybe we need to approach things differently, if we want to be ready for a longer retirement.

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in afghanistan, adding to concerns about the future of the country ahead of high stakes elections this weekend. in recent days, taliban militants attacked election headquarters with assault rifles, machine guns and rpgs. they are blamed for killing one candidate and a number of his supporters in a suicide bombing at the entrance gate to the interior ministry in kabul killed six afghan policemen. the taliban looking to assert its control over the country as afghans head to the polls. nbc's richard engel is following it all in kabul. richard? >> reporter: presidential elections are scheduled for afghanistan this coming saturday. despite all of the violence that has increased over the last couple of weeks, officials in

this country say the elections will go ahead on schedule. there are three leading candidates. abdullah abdullah, a former foreign minister who ran in presidential elections in 2009. he believes he was cheated in that presidential election by president karzai. many people, including the united nations, accuse president karzai of stuffing ballot boxes and of his campaign manipulating the votes in order to secure his victory. abdullah abdullah is coming back again, and he hopes to have a much better showing this time. the other main candidate is well-known to the international donor community. he is an economist. he taught in the united states. he is taking somewhat of a hard line nationalist position. the last candidate is much more of the leading candidates is much less known. he's close to karzai. he is one of the last foreign ministers that karzai has had. and critics say that he is quite

close to karzai, and some people say that if he wins, that it would really be a vote for kay psi, who doesn't necessarily want to step away from politics completely. back to you. >> nbc's richard engel. thank you so much. march marked the first time in 11 years that no american troops were killed in afghanistan or iraq. while that's promising news as the mission winds down, the question of what america leaves behind in afghanistan is still yet to be answered. this week's "time" magazine cover story "return of the taliban" details the taliban's violent quest for power, marring afghanistan's drive towards democracy. here with us now is michael crowley. thanks so much for being on the show. >> thanks for having me. >> i was blown away by a quote that came out of this article. can't say i was surprised, but it does i think stick with you if you've been following this story. it says this. "afghanistan has been here before. in 1989 after the soviet union ended a decade-long occupation, the country went into a period of unstable and weak national

governments that were unable to halt a civil war, fought mostly along ethnic lines. seven years later, the taliban an alliance of islamic clerics, students and former fighters against the soviet occupation, rolled into kabul. are we repeating this from 1989 with the removal of the soviet union? is the taliban going to fill the vacuum once again? is history repeating itself once again? >> well, that's the great concern. i don't think we're at that point yet, fortunately. and these elections that are an important step forward. if they can be executed relatively peacefully, relatively successfully, not too badly marred by fraud as they were last time, as richard just discussed in that segment, that will be a huge step forward toward having a more stable and legitimate and functional afghan government that can hold the country together. but the separate question is, a

question of pure muscle and military power. are the afghan security forces that that government controls capable of fending off the taliban? and the big question above that is whether the united states will still be there after 2014. it looks like we will. but what role will we play and will it be enough for the afghan government to defend itself against the taliban. >> michael, the story has a number of inspiring, almost defiant quotes from voters in kabul, who are standing up to the taliban and really want to go out and have a democratically elected government. do you have a sense of whether that's a sentiment that spreads nationally through the country, or is this another thing that's dividing afghanistan and there's maybe less support for a democratic government than other parts of the country? >> well, you know, i'm not on the ground there right now, so i don't want to pretend to know more than i do. i encourage people to read the story from our correspondent who spent a lot of time there and talked to a lot of people. there certainly does seem to be a welcome support for this process, and, you know, the

taliban have never been particularly popular. i mean, one thing that the u.s. has had going for it in trying to stand up this afghan government is afghans in general did not like taliban rule. they did not welcome a return of the taliban. so it's not as though people feel overwhelmingly like these democratic elections are imposed by the u.s. and it's not really what they want and they want taliban to come back in. but i think it varies throughout the country. one reason afghanistan is so frustrating and also may be hard for americans and outsiders to comprehe comprehend, there are a lot of different ethnic groups that see the things very differently and there are parts of the country that are going to be more sympathetic to the taliban and maybe don't want these elections. parts of the country that absolutely don't want to see a taliban return, want to see a strong central government. it's a little bit hard to generalize. but if you read our wonderful story this week, you'll see that there clearly is a reservoir of support for having a fair and honest election that can move the country forward and not back

toward the dark days of taliban rule. >> another thing that the story highlights, michael, is that women are really stepping up to the plate in this election. >> yeah, and you know, that's one of the really compelling story lines that is unfolding in afghanistan, as we reduce our footprint. you know, one of our most memorable covers since i came to town a few years ago was that really horrible image of a young woman who had had her nose sliced off her face in a taliban controlled area. and that is the kind of savage fate that will await women in parts of the country if the taliban are allowed to return to power or even if they are able to conquer certain amounts of territory. the stakes are higher for women here. and that's a really important story line to follow. and it does seem because women understand the stakes, that they seem particularly engaged right now. >> michael crowley of "time" magazine. thanks so much for joining us. from one tough foreign issue to another, the president holds

a closed door meeting with lawmakers at the white house tonight to talk ukraine and russia. but he's not the only one doing the talking. what one russian official thinks america should worry about instead. that next on "the cycle." this is mike. his long race day starts with back pain... ...and a choice. take 4 advil in a day which is 2 aleve... ...for all day relief. "start your engines"

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but russia doesn't seem too concerned. just today, a russian deputy foreign minister offered this advice on u.s. involvement. "what can we suggest to our american colleagues? to spend more time outdoors, practice yoga, separate food by various groups, and perhaps watch comedies on television." ouch. so is america losing its status as the world's superpower? our next guest says it isn't. bruce jones is a fellow at the brookings institution, and the author of the new book "still ours to lead." he joins us now. bruce, people often talk about these big emerging powers as a group called the bricks. brazil, russia, india, china. but you emphasize how russia is different. you say lumping in russia is odd in economic terms since brazil, india and china have a radically different relationship to the global economy than does russia. and it's odd geopolitically, too. if anything, its power is waning. why is russia such a special challenge and how can we deal with it? >> russia is a declining power in my view and a dysfunctional one. i think the president was right

to review to russia as a regional power. whereas china, brazil and india really are growing in stature. but even russia can pose serious challenges, as we saw last week in the ukraine and crimea. and it's still going to be the united states that everybody looks to to deal with this challenge. we hear a lot about american decline. i've taken a long, hard look at this and i conclude that the united states is an enduring power on the international stage, and in a crisis like ukraine, we see all eyes are turned on washington. >> a country that frightens us all the most is china. the uncertainty of what they are capable of. what will happen when they actually surpass us economically. you say, anyone who tells you that he or she knows what china wants or their goals are is simplifying. it's at least as complex and turf ridden as policymaking in washington with the add complications of secrecy. having spent a lot of years living over there, you worded that so perfectly. what does this mean for our relationship with china in the years to come? >> well, i think the risks from

china are being overstated. china faces a dilemma and so do the other major powers. they'd like to grow, they'd like to play a larger role on the international stage, but precisely in order to do that, they rely on a stable global economy and a stable international stable global economy and international system. they can't produce that by themselves. they have to cooperate with the united states to produce the very stability they need to grow. so for the next 20 or 30 years they're caught in the horns with that dilemma. they have an impulse to rival us on one hand but a powerful incentive for cooperation. that's the space the united states can exercise its points. >> are you concerned by -- i don't know if i want to call iti isolationist sentiment but views on the left and the right particularly in the republican party where it's been more of a hawkish party, more into intervention. there's this growing sort of semiisolationist view. is that concerning to you? >> yes, it is. that's important the way you phrase it. when you look at public opinion

polling, especially young americans understand we have to be engaged in the world. 30% of our economy is tied to global trade. we have no choice but to play in the world. the question is how far we use our military power. i think coming out of iraq and afghanistan there is shyness about the use of american power both in the public and in congress. and sometimes in the administration. we're going see that there's no real alternative, only the united states has the military power and the combination of military, economic, and diplomatic power to deter some of the worst scenarios we see. if we don't use that power we'll be confronted with crises we'll have to be involved in and that will strain our economy. >> you write the reason why america is in such a unique position and still very much a global super power because it has an unparalleled ability to pull together broad and disparate coalitions for action. what is the biggest threat internally within the united states that could take us down from that peg of power of being able to do what you wrote? >> i do think it is this question of our gun shyness when

it comes to response. if you look at syria, virtually every ally was telling us they faced serious security risks if we didn't take a leading roll in responding to the syrian crisis. we were cautious about that, concerned about getting involved in a new conflict. reality is syria is spilling out of control impacting our our allies. when all your allies are saying they face a security threat, that should be influential in our polymaking. >> bruce jones, thank you. up next, all politics is local. which rewards her for responsibly managing her card balance. before receiving $25 toward her balance each quarter for making more than her minimum payment on time each month. tracey got the bankamericard better balance rewards credit card, which fits nicely with everything else in life she has to balance. that's the benefit of responsibility. apply online or visit a bank of america near you.

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one around here who knows what ordinary people want. so tell me, what makes you laugh? >> the usual, i suppose. two hobos sharing a bean. lady airline pilots. >> "30 rock," how we miss you. what you just saw is a classic example of the big city versus the small town. we talk a lot on the show about the great divide in our politics. there are the usual culprits, special interest groups, gobs of money and of course the media. these are all contributing factors. but one thing we don't talk much about is location, location, location. from "the wall street journal," people living in cities are bound to their smartphones, foreign-made cars and fashion magazines while people in small towns are more likely to go to church, own a gun, and support the military. the article looks at a tale of two places, one eldorado springs, a small town in missouri, where people tend to be older and nearly 100% of the population is white and overwhelming republican. the owner of the nicest

restaurant in the town doesn't serve any alcohol worried that his pastor would be disappointed if he did. schools try to avoid scheduling events on wednesday evenings because that might conflict with bible study. but two hours north in kansas city, democrats are not a rare and lonely breed. in fact, they are the dominant par party. and wednesday is like any other night of the week. we know there is a big difference between rural and urban america, but what strikes me about this particular article is that this divide is only widening. just look at the house of representatives. over the past 15 year, the percentage of rural america represented by republicans has jumped. while the percentage of urban americans represented by dems has grown a bit. how can this divide be deepening when we are all more connected by technology than we've ever been? shouldn't increasing our ability make our views more varied rather than consistent? an analysis from david wasserman said in 1992 bill clinton won

60% of the counties that had a whole foods and only 40% of those that had a cracker barrel. in twel, that difference only widened. president obama won 77% of the whole foods counties and only 29% of the cracker barrel counties. more than ever we are living in our own little cul-de-sacs surrounded by people who think and live just like us. and at the end of the day we can come home and turn on whatever cable news outlet that we most agree with. these differences are part of what makes this country great. we are a melting pot of cultures, life experiences but the if this divide only continues to deepen so will our lack of respect for one another. do we really want to get to the point where we stop appreciating the context of everyone's reality? do we want to live in absolutes? i say no. there is a common good no matter where you live. we need give-and-take. we need compromise. ideological purity is a negative on the far right and on the far left. call me crazy, but if we want our politicianings to solve

problems we have to do the same ourself. that does it for the cycle. "now" with alex wagner stars right now. >> we have an active shooter. >> tragedy at ft. hood. again. >> we have multiple gunshots. >> the same military post where a gunman killed 13 people back in 2009. >> it's heartbreaking that something like this has happened again. >> u.s. military officials identify the gunman as 34-year-old ivan lopez, an iraq war veteran. >> he's married, has a daughter who's about 3 years old. >> he had a clean record. there were no bad misconduct marks. >> he was undergoing a variety of treatment and diagnoses for mental health conditions. >> we have a major mental health problem in this country. >> put on the uniform and they're taking care of us. we have to make sure when they come home we take care of them.

>> i understand the resilience of that community, the resilience of the people there. >> this is an issue of the veterans, the military, an issue of the united states of america. >> we'll do everything we can to ensure they continue to move forward. >> a live look at ft. hood, texas, where we are awaiting a press conference due to begin in a matter of minutes. after last night's deadly shooting, today the country learned more about army specialist ivan lopez, the man who apparently killed three service members and wounded 16 at the army base yesterday before taking his own life. >> this was an experienced soldier. he spent actually nine years in the puerto rico national guard. >> the alleged shooter involved joined the united states army in june of 2008. >> had a one-year deployment to the sinai with the national guard and then had a four-month deployment in iraq. >> his records show no wounds, no involvement,