coming up. and after the storm, ten years after katrina, president obama comes to new orleans to see the recovery firsthand. but as hud secretary julia castro tells us, the work remains unfinished. >> for as much progress as we've made there is a lot of work that still needs to be done. good day. i'm luke russert in for andrea mitchell. wrapping up week seven of donald trump's rein over the republican presidential primary field and like many left wondering what the former top tier candidates will do between now and february to push trump off what's become a lofty political person. chuck todd is political director and moderator of "meet the press" and he joins me now.

chuck, last week you were talking about, wow, trump is still in this thing. this week not only is he in this thing but also has increased his lead in several polls, in states like iowa, south carolina, new hampshire. this segment of the republican electorate seems to be set with trump and they are very vocal. >> well, certainly they have -- he's rallied this -- the antiestablishment wing of the party to a lesser extent you see ben carson, you know, he's the sort of far away, you know, farther behind but sitting in second or third in most of these same polls. you combine that together and you realize the power of the anti-establishment wing. >> trump, fiorina, carson, 45% insurgent bloc. >> there's another way to look at it. it was called the tea party forces of 2010. if you look, we've been dividing the republican party trying to understand the divide and say the republican party and there's always been a pretty simple way we've done it in the nbc/"wall street journal" poll. do you support the tea party or not and it splits the gop in

half. half don't and about half do. and trump right now feels as if he's solidifying that half of the party that had sympathy and good feelings about the tea party from back then. so -- the question is do they stay with him, can somebody peel him off and, you know, i think that it's the staying power question that still remains unanswered. >> we're seeing all different types of responses to donald trump. jeb bush has now been playing on trump's field, i would say, trying to show that he is a man of energy after being critiqued as being a low-energy guy. went to virginia today, rolled out the endorsement of eric cantor, the former house that jority leader who lost in a primary because of the immigration issue, because he wasn't conservative enough. our friends at bright bart writing a headline, kiss of death, eric cantor endorses jeb bush. can jeb bush afford to get an endorsement like that in the current makeup?

it's a great general election endorsement, but this early on does that not re-enforce a lot of stereotypes republicans have of him? >> look, this is a total debate that i've had with some folks that are close to governor bush who think that too much is being made of this eric kcantor endorsement and behind the scenes coalescing both monetarily and there was a time he was thought of in virginia as sort of the guy who understood the ground of virginia. but it does provide an easy contrast for the antiestablishment wing to say, look, what are you doing? is this just proves jeb's with him and look what happened. eric cantor was so out of touch with the grass roots of the party, look what happened to him me couldn't even win a primary. so i do think re-enforces the wrong thing jeb bush would be wanting to re-enforce this week. >> it's an odd time. scott walker, disastrous august in terms of poll numbers, we've seen a sharp decline, trying to

reset now as the month comes to a close. putting forth his foreign policy vision. he's going to do that at the citadel in south carolina. he talked about iran. he actually had this to say about iran on "morning joe." i'd like to play that. >> i would terminate the deal on day one. i think that's the me and the president and hillary clinton but me and the republicans in this case. governor bush a month ago when i first raised this said if they would wait they would wait until cabinet and secretary of state, in particular, was in. i think if you're going to be president you need to be president on day one. >> he also this week called for the president of the united states, president obama, to revoke the invitation of the chinese president coming over here for a state dinner. it seems everyone is reacting to trump. everyone is playing on his field. for scott walker who many of trump's voters are presumably early -- >> assumption walker would be able to -- >> he's trying to pivot to foreign policy. that's not the stronger ground to play on the you're the

governor of wisconsin in this case. >> no. but i think, look -- >> just trying to reset here. >> i think it's also -- no, i think they're trying to do a traditional, what do supposed top tier candidates who don't have washington experience, you check certain boxes. in a traditional sense this would make perfect sense. >> the timing seems rushed a little bit. >> well, i think, look, he has -- i think he is facing some pressure internally from donors. i think there is this pressure of, hey, there was a lot of people who bet early money on scott walker and thought he was going to fuse, bridge the gap between the establishment and this rambunctious antiestablishment wing of the party. and he hasn't done it yet. anyway, he's lost ground. trump has sort of trumped him, to use a cheap phrase there. but i think that he does still need to do these traditional things. walker is in this weird spot. he wants to be this antiestablishment guy but he's also got to prove to major

donors that he's acceptable enough to the establishment. so i think this foreign policy roll out is an acknowledgement, hey, i'm doing all the little things you're supposed to do as a candidate. >> jeb is taking a lot of hits from trump. but i fear that walker has been pushed to the side. >> overlooked. he's been overshadowed. his personality is a little more reserved. >> low energy. >> i think that came through on the debate stage when you just saw trump just -- >> he'll have a chance on "meet the press" this sunday. you will going to interview him. don't forget to watch chuck this sunday. check your local listings. the rating, big bounces last few weeks. love it. former george w. bush is back in new orleans today to mark the tenth an reanniversaryf hurricane katrina. today he returned to warren eastern charter high school, the same place he visited nine years ago on katrina's one-year anniversary. it was completely under water

following the storm and almost didn't reopen. >> the slogan that guided the school when we first visited is true today. we believe in success. and because of that success, that schools like this have achieved, you've given all americans reason to believe that new orleans is back and better than ever. >> president obama also visited the crescent city yesterday meeting with residents who are still recovering from the storm. >> we came to realize that what started out as natural disaster became a manmade disaster. a failure of government to look out for its own citizens. because of you, the people of new orleans working together, this city is moving in the right direction. and i have never been more confident that, together, we will get to where we need to go. you inspire me.

>> earlier today i spoke with the u.s. housing and urban development secretary julian castro about how often the city of new orleans has come. secretary castro joins us now. secretary, thank you so much for coming on the program. >> thanks for having me. >> now i understand the federal government has taken some real initiatives to try and get people the home and the housing they need all around the gulf, in louisiana, and mississippi over the last ten years. how has the government done so far? >> there's been a tremendous amount of progress that we've made. tens of thousands of families have been helped to get back into their homes either by having them rehabilitated or getting direct assistance, to get rental housing or sometimes when they logs their home, of course, getting compensation for that. but as the president noted, for as much progress as we've made, there is a lot of work that still needs to be done.

and the president was here yesterday to make it clear that all of us are committed to working with new orleans and the rest of the gulf coast to ensure that the recovery becomes complete. >> what can be done for the folks who were evacuated from new orleans, perhaps wanted to go back, and are priced out because the home values in new orleans have gone up, the cost of living in new orleans post-storm has gone up. what can be done for those people and what do you say to the people who are worried they might not be able to stay where they are much longer because of the rising real estate values and the property taxes? >> well, what we see here in new orleans is really the challenge that we see with affordable rental housing throughout the united states. there was a report that the national low-income housing coalition released a few weeks ago that said that in not one single community in the united states of any size could somebody working minimum wage afford a two-bedroom apartment,

the rent for that. and there are very few where they could afford a one bedroom apartment. that means we need to be investing in more affordable housing opportunities. for instance, for hud, one of our biggest initiatives if something called the home program, at the same time, this next budget year, senate republicans have proposed cutting home buy 93% when that's one of the most important tools that we have to create more affordable housing out there. so there's a disconnect. we have to keep working hard. be as efficient as possible, but also realize that we need to make those investments and communities like new orleans so that we can create more affordable housing opportunities and those folks who want to come back can come back. >> what can be done for the people who are still waiting for homes in new orleans, people whose homes were destroyed and they have not been able to return to them and have sort of gone on with their relatives?

i heard stories about that this week. ten years later there are still a lot of homes that need to be rebuilt. >> oh, no doubt. and here in louisiana, the state continues to administer funds. there are funds that are still being administered to rehabilitate homes and to allow folks to get back into their homes. so folks obviously, you know, have been waiting a long time. we want to do our part to continue to work with the state so that those families can get a place to live. they can get on with their lives and have a good quality of life. >> i want to ask you a question about the current political climate, if you will, while i have you. donald trump, someone who sigh skyrocketing to the top of the polls on the republican side, really making immigration his signature issue. you are a mayor of san antonio, a border state there in texas. you're a mexican descent.

act vest in culture there. what is your reaction to the rise of donald trump seemingly on this issue of immigration? >> well, it's clear that donald trump is taking a well-worn path that politicians have taken not just in the last few years but throughout the history of the country to drum up resentment against immigrants. he's doing that against the latino community and against the asian-american community. but we've seen this with jan brewer a few years ago in arizona. we saw it 20 years ago with pete wilson in california. dan patrick in kansas. steve king in iowa. the reason he's doing this is because he knows that it appeals to the base of the republican party. and it's not an accident that he's chosen immigration. but for all of us who are serious about actually solving this challenge, we know that you have to address this in a reasonable way. you're not going to summarily

wound up their homes of 11 many people, many who have children who are american citizens and send all of those families back. at this point i completely agree with jorge ramos who said there's something fundamentally wrong with that, there's something scary and actually unamerican about the proposal that trump has put on the table. and my hope is that more journalists and other folks in the public realm will take him on about it. >> and lastly, obviously you are someone who has had a historic rise through the levels of politics. young mayor of san antonio and now in the cabinet. a lot of people speculate you could be a vp pick. if hillary clinton said, look, secretary, i need a young, energetic latino guy on my ticket, would you listen? >> it's very flattering, and as you can imagine, that's not the first time i've gotten the question. but i'm going to be focused on

doing a good job at hud. i've learned in my life that the number one way you can have a great future is to pay attention to what's in front of you and do a great job right now. and so i'm working hard at hud and we'll see what happens in the future. >> fair to say you will listen though? >> i always listen. but i don't believe that's going to happen. i'm just going to focus on doing a good job now. >> all right. stek tear castro, live from new orleans, thank you so much for your time. we appreciate it. >> thanks, luke. tropical storm erica is winding down as it makes its way westward through the caribbean. still the east coast of florida is bracing for severe weather starting early monday as governor rick scott declares a state of emergency. nbc's janet is in san juan, puerto rico. janet, what are you seeing there? it doesn't look like it's raining quite yet. >> it's drizzling, luke. it's not drizzling very hard.

we've had on and off rain showers. i think it's fair to say that at least for puerto rico in the midst of a severe drought, erika has not brought the rain they needed. it also has not brought the damage they did not want. the real story from the caribbean today is the devastating 24 hours. 12 people confirmed dead but local media saying as many as 25 might be feared dead. after this storm delivered mudslides, flooding, heavy rainfall, and searchers are having a tough time getting to the hardest hit areas. so now that it's moved beyond there through here to puerto rico we see florida coming in to perspective for sunday into monday. the state has declared a state of emergency. but we still don't know if it's going to be a rain maker or be able to intensify. again, it is widely and disorganized at this point which may make it hard to become anything of significance.

here in puerto rico getting back to normal. people are vacationing, as you can see, back in water. at least for this island the worst of the storm is over. luke, back to you. >> good to hear that, janet, thanks so much for your time. enjoy your time in puerto rico. coming up, hillary clinton is about to speak in minneapolis to a crowd of democratic leaders. many of whom just can't keep joe biden off their mind. first, roanoke remembers hundreds came to the wdbj studio to honor alison parker and adam ward last night. we'll talk to adam ward's mentor next. this is "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. here is a simple math problem. two trains leave st. louis for albuquerque at the same time. same cargo, same size, same power. which one arrives first? hint: it's not the one on the left. the speedy guy on the right is part of an intelligent system that creates the optimal trip profile for all trains on the line. and the one on the left? uh, looks like it'll be counting cows for awhile. so maybe the same things aren't quite the same.

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the tv station wdbj right now. meanwhile, friends and family of alison parker and adam ward are preparing to say their final good-byes to two television journalists killed wednesday in a sudden shocking act of violence by a former co-worker. adam's family will receive friends monday at high school alma mater in roanoke where guests are encouraged to wear his high school colors. funeral service will be held the following day at nearby first baptist church. grant is the former sports director at wdbj and one of adam ward's mentors. grant, thanks so much for making the time. very tough last few days. adam ward, from everything i've seen and read, he seemed to be a loving, free-spirited guy who liked to have a good time, diehard sports fan. kind of somebody in the room you would gravitate towards. >> you see these pictures. and i don't think there's any one that he duoesn't have a smie on his face. he would come around the corner into the sports office and just

beaming. and he interned for us and he made you realize why you're doing what you're doing because he loved every minute of it. it didn't matter where you were. a summer camp to fill time in the summer and he's out there with a smile on his face running around, asking, what he should do, how he can get better and being, like, man, this is the coolest thing in the world to do this because he had such a passion and wanting to do it and he was able to live out that dream. one of the best things to see him doing what he wanted to do from the beginning of his college years. >> i think passion is the perfect word for it. his high school football coach said this, i want to play it. >> he just had that personality, that positive energy that he brought wherever he was. you know, on the football field, in the halls at salem high school, ever since i pretty much known him his whole life and, you know, he's just a top notch. people from the top notch family. we had some good players at the time he was here, but he made a good team a great team because of his work ethic, energy,

brought everyday in practice. i think sometimes sports and for fatally in salem football is what means a lot to our community. and then for somebody like adam that understood that, he understood the importance of it well beyond the macho stuff, it's just sort of what brings people together. he knew that. >> so adam had an idea of what mattered. from also listening to you and this is something i picked up on the first day we heard about all of this listening to the remembrances, he enjoyed the process of the work. and that's so very important because if you enjoy the process of the work, you're going to be successful. that was really him. >> yeah. i mean, i know you've dealt with interns in some of them come in and think they know everything from the get-go. adam, the complete opposite. he wanted to learn, he wanted to know how to put together a story, how to shoot good video. he asked you. he was just like a sponge. and when you have someone like that you want to help them, you want to. i remember when he got hired at wdbj, right before i left. me went to the production

people, hire this kid. you will not regret it. he messaged me last year asking maybe what his future would be getting out of the business, clearly he was getting ready to move to charlotte with his fiance and i would have gone out of my way, i would have said hire this kid, he's a great person. he will work hard for you. he will do a great job for you. it's just sad that, you know, he's not here anymore and these memories are great and i want people to talk about him because he was such a great kid and you want to hear more about him and i hear there are more stories and i'll tell anybody that wants to listen about adam ward because he was a great, great person. >> alison parker, 24, adam ward, 27. so young. i think that's what pulls on the heart strings of so many people. just mentioned adam ward as this eager kid wanting to learn, wanting to soak everything up. what do you think would be the lesson of adam ward for kids coming up in the tv business or high school football players out there? >> i think it's, if you work hard and you enjoy what you're doing, it's not going to be a job. you're going to love what you do and you're going the get so much

out of life. and you look at what he's been remembered for, for what he did at dbj and what he's been able to do with his family and his friends, i think that he just lived it to the fullest. and we should all take a page out of his book by doing that. >> grant, thanks so much for making the time on what's been a tough few days. take care. a clear picture of the man who killed adam ward and alison parker is emerging. this video provided to nbc news, getting a look inside the vester lee flanagan apartment. it shows a near empty interior aside from the refrigerator which flanagan covered in photos of himself. inside the car which flanagan shot himself officers found six magazines of ammunition, to do list and 17 stamped letters along with three license plates, a wig, sunglasses, and a shawl. all right, coming up next. ten years after the diss a center, update on the hard charging general who commanded the katrina recovery mission. >> this is public information that people are depending on the government to put out.

this is the way we got to do it.

welcome back. virginia governor terry mcauliffe has just wrapped up a visit at roanoke's news station wdbj. they're still in mourning after two journalists were shot and killed wednesday morning. let's take a wln to the governor of virginia. >> i've been in touch with the ward family. i spoke to tim gardner yesterday, after vicki has come out of her surgery. they're optimistic about the progress for vicki. but this is a very, very sad day

for the common wealth of virginia, our nation, and the whole globe when you think about this senseless tragedy. dorothy and i have five children. we have a daughter the same age as alison. it just -- ths so senseless and i just want to remind everybody that we are going to do everything that we possibly can to keep our community safe and i do want to thank jeff and all the folks here at wdbj the courage and determination that they showed is truly, truly extraordinary. you know, it's hard. i mean, a lot of the staff crying, rightfully so. it's a very, very, very sad time. they also two colleagues. more importantly, they lost two friends. we had a conversation with chris who is here with us today, and words just can't describe him. i just want everybody here to

understand that we are there for them today, tomorrow, and any time in the future. i say if there's anything, the resources, the common wealth of virginia, we will be there for them. >> alison's father said he didn't want her life to be lost in vain and he wanted to impose gun laws, and people mentally unstable from getting guns. he said he talked to you about that. what are your plans? >> well, he did. and we just had another long conversation. he's going to do, as he told me, what alison would have wanted him to do, to fight to make our community safer. he wants to be very vocal advocate for universe is background checks. and this is something i've advocated and talked about every single day. i'll talked about it. i introduced legislation. and he really wants to be involved in those efforts. because he said that's what alison would want. something came out of this horrible tragedy, some good to

come out of it, and if we can work together and do the best we can to keep our community safer, if we can save one live, then we need to do that. and that is now going to be his passion, as barbara also ment n mentioned it. you know, my job as governor is to keep our community safe. when you dropped off a loved one at school or work, you want to know that you have done everything that you possibly can to keep those communities skaf. we lose on average 89 individuals a day to gun violence. there are too many guns in america. and there's clearly too many guns in the wrong hands. so we're going to continue to do what we can. i'll introduce legislation as i did this session. i'll introduce legislation again. on background checks, as i say, i'm a gun owner. i own three guns. i hunt. i like to take my boys hunting. i've gone through the process of background checks. you hand your license over.

it takes maybe two or three minutes. two or three minutes to find out if there's an issue of mental illness, issue of violence, domestic abuse, stalking. some basic issues of individuals who should not own a firearm. and i just think that's a common sense, vast majority of americans support. >> talking about gun control with gardner, whose wife vicki, survived the attack. he said if this murderer didn't have a gun he would have had a machete or knife. what do you say to gardner? >> even if we do move forward and can get some safe common sense gun restrictions, you're still not going to stop all the violence. this individual had gone through a back grund cheground check. the point is you're not going to stop all violence. you're not. the point is, are we doing everything that we possibly can to keep our communities as safe

as possible? if we could have background checks and one individual next week, next month, or next year, is prohibited from buying a firearm, and we save a life, then it's worth doing it. i'm trying to look at this in the broader perspective of what we should be doing. and, as i say, this is common sense. it's right thing for virginia. it's the right thing for our nation. we have, as you know, if you go to a gun show, there are big signs in certain booths that say, come buy your gun here. we don't do background checks. why would you need a sign like that? to me common sense, spend two or three minutes, two or three minutes for any individual. you walk into a bar, you have to hand over your license to be checked, are you old enough to buy a beer. and yet we don't require that for an individual who could go out and purchase a firearm. so -- but, you know, my message

today and why i'm here today with dorothy is really one of sympathy to the staff here at wdbj, their courage, but also to the community here at large. and i would also like to say, finally, i want to thank all the law enforcement personnel who were involved. the franklin county sheriffs, the virginia state police. obviously we've now learned today this individual had a lot more ammunition and a lot more intent to hurt a lot more people, we believe. and i just want to thank the law enforcement team who were able to stop this individual before one other individual, before one other virginia an was hurt. i want to thank them and i do want to reach out to the roanoke community, the folks at smith mountain lake. dorothy and i had just come back from smith mountain lake. we had just spent a week there with our five children. we had rented our boats from roy and mary at the bridgewater marina. so we just wanted to come here today and say the common wealth of virginia, we're grieving but

i want you to know that we will be there for you in the future. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> does it appear that flanagan -- not to commit suicide, it was to -- >> as we heard today, there was more ammunition in the car. he had more self-addressed envelopes. so, you know, clearly can't get into his mind. and we can't find out exactly what he was planning to do. but obviously there was some bad intentions. i just thankful our law enforcement did it in a manner that no more individual wshs hurt. thank you. >> that was virginia governor terry mcauliffe speaking at wdbj studios in roanoke. that's the tv station who employed the two young journalists shot and killed earlier this week by a former co-worker. mcauliffe talking about his support for universal background checks and more must be done to combat gun violence in the common wealth of virginia and around the country. we'll keep you updated on that

story throughout the day if there are any further developments. let's go dow towards remembrance though of hurricane katrina. it's tenth anniversary. want to take a closer look at the heroes who stepped in to help the thousands of helpless residents who were left crippled on the gulf coast. joining me is msnbc trymaine lee. he won a pulitzer prize as part of a team covering katrina at the new orleans ties. thanks so much for making the time. i understand you did a story for us here about a certain general who stepped up in a time of crisis. >> that's right, luke. thanks for having me. of the many figures who i s whs in the wake of katrina, russell honore. i had a moment to speak with lieutenant general honore and he spoke about his recollections ten years later. >> you are stuck on stupid. i'm not going to answer that

question. >> reporter: he was a tough talking no nonsense three-star general who became a hero of katrina. lieutenant general russell honore went to new orleans. his mission at the time seemed impossible, end the kay organization restore order, and get thousands of stranded residents out of the crippled gulf coast. a decade later he's retired but still active writing essays on gun control in the black lives matter movement. he's helping educate black men at southern university, a historically black university in his hometown, baton rouge. and heading up the green army. i met him at the superdome where ten years earlier he led the evacuation of the city. what do you remember seeing when you came into the city? >> storm came through and ripped the roof off this place sunday night/monday. and by the time i got here on wednesday morning people were standing outside because the inside of that place had turned into like a sweat box. >> reporter: 20,000 people were crowded inside of the superdome.

>> i could see people standing out here and i could see the look in their eyes of desperation, ready to get the heck out of here. >> reporter: today the superdome is one gleaming example of new orleans recovery but general honore says there's much more work to be done. >> when you take you something as large as katrina that disrupted the lives of almost a million people, when you count mississippi and louisiana, and homes and destruction and the displacement of half million people just out of the surrounding parishes, i think we probably finished the first half of the recovery. >> reporter: he says the city's poor are still trying to catch up. >> if you lived uptown or near the zoo, and you had a 2,000 square foot house, the prestorm value was $250,000. if you were in the ninth ward and had a 2,000 square foot house, $80,000. how do people replace their home, it costs the same to replace the home. >> this is my house.

oh, man. >> that was got us off to an uneven start. >> reporter: socially have we been able to make progress? they were so fearful. >> we still have a long way to go when it comes to dealing with poor people. we have a long way to go. we built a perception in this country, if you think about it, go back to where you live, if you see a four or five poor kids walking down the street, what goes through your mind? some people cross the street. imagine coming here and seeing 15,000 poor people or the perception in america, we've got to get a cultural shift in america. if we don't like dealing with the poor, then we need to make sure poor people get paid a descent wage. katrina was a game changer. we game into katrina with the laws we had and practices we had. now if we have another katrina, you would see federal assets surrounding this area before the storm. that's a lesson learned.

>> reporter: honore is unapologetic to the government's response to katrina but says officials are better prepared today than they were ten years ago. >> i just want to set the record straight. you're never going to be on time. for the people standing there waiting, in a disaster, you will never be on time. >> reporter: sad tales of those days but so many stories of resilience and people like general russell honore who came to right the ship. you think about 30,000 people rescued from their homes during katrina, and in large part due to the efforts of general honore and volunteers and local and city officials. a lot of sad tales but also tales of hope and resilience and strength that come out of those days. >> i want to ask you, obviously some people have tried to sort of spin this idea, there's a silver lining of katrina, new orleans was able to rebuild. i don't necessarily buy into that too much. one thing that i do think came out of katrina, if nothing else,

was that the fault lines of american society were exposed. they were put in the living rooms of every single american. you could not avoid it. you saw poverty, specifically african-american poverty forefro forefront, that we were not a nation of ekaul quaul at that time. do you think that america has learned from that lesson ten years later? >> quite frankly and sad, luke, i don't think we have. people come to the city and party in the french quarter, drunch and naked on the streets. you go to the ninth ward, seventh ward, fifth ward, you go to parts of this community struggling well before hurricane katrina, and for a moment, for days, you know, america saw in their living room, they had to confront it. let's not forget there were evacuees trying to crossover to the west bank and police officers firing guns over their heads to send them back to this flood-ravaged city. i'm not sure if we learned anything. now that we talk about the silver lining, restaurant, people are free to move about and feel good about themselves, but again, 30,000 people were rescued here. each one of them have a story. and today so many are still

suffering with the burdens on their shoulders. so the silver lining is muted for many people. >> financial and psychological bur dens. trymaine lee, thank you for your time and for that report. great stuff. take care. >> thank you. much more ahead on "andrea mitchell reports." we'll be right back. american express for travel and entertainment worldwide. just show them this - the american express card. don't leave home without it! and someday, i may even use it on the moon. it's a marvelous thing! oh! haha! so you can replace plane tickets, traveler's cheques, a lost card.

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what would you like, apple or cherry? you're giving away pie? cherry. oil or cream? definitely cream. [reddi wip spray sound] never made with hydrogenated oil, oh, yeah... always made with real cream. the sound of reddi wip is the sound of joy. the spotlight is on hillary clinton this hour. the democratic national committee's summer meeting in minnesota, an event where we expect the clinton campaign to flex their political muscles in a show of strength 20 push vice president joe biden one step closer towards passing on a third run for the white house. joining me now is our friend chris cillizza, msnbc contributor and co-founder of the "washington post's" fix blog, and "wall street journal" white house correspondent carol lee. welcome both of you. chris, i want to start out with you. before we came on the air today the clinton people sending out

these messages that we have one fifth of the delegates wrapped up, counting superdelegates. i had flashbacks of 2008, remember reading those stories. this is the clinton inevitable machine you will not stop us, we're so far ahead, don't even bother trying. >> that's right. look, in some ways it's a reverse of the last time around which clinton got beat on the delegate count and the race was effectively over grains barack obama in february of 2008 because he won all of these caucuses, 70/30. basically secured enough delegates to win. i don't know how well a show of force basically saying we've got a lot of it in the bag is going to go down because i think the concern around the clinton campaign, toward the clinton campaign, sense of entitlement, the sense that they don't grasp how big an issue the e-mail service was. the ed rendell quote saying they handled it poorly, they didn't grasp it was a big issue. i don't know how well that will go down. that said, they are right. structurally she remains in a very good place. from a money, organizational,

and polling perspective. democrats still like her. yes, there are 30% who are not going to vote for her, probably in both states. that's 70% she's going to get, 60% she's going to get. i don't know if the tone of this is perfect. >> and hillary clinton is just taking the stage here at the dnc meeting in minnesota, exchanging pleasant pleasantries. carol, you're traveling with joe biden next week to florida. strange coincidence he ends up in a swing staut trying to sell the iran deal, fund-raiser for the democratic party. very important state. he does face limitations though. aside from the financial ones because he's behind in fund-raising, no i fra structure in place there. not a natural constituency within the democratic coalition that would automatically go to him so quickly. how long do you think he has? october 1st, sort of unofficial deadline. but if he's going to go he's got to go quickly. >> yeah, if you talk to folks they say that if he let's it drag on past september then he really -- first of all, he can't

really play in iowa. there's a question whether or not he could now but if he let's this go beyond september it's going to be really tough for him there. then you look at new hampshire and south carolina and nevada and it just gets tougher and tougher the longer that he waits on this. but what is interestingly happening is that his vice presidential duties are conveniently overlapping with a lot of what he would want to be doing if he was going to run for president. his meetings happen to include a lot of democratic donors. he's the fund-raiser, long been on his schedule but certainly people there that he wants to talk to. he's do a meeting with jewish-american leaders in florida on the iran deal. provide him an opportunity to get face time with folks that he wants to talk to if he's going to mount a presidential campaign. >> how much do you buy the idea that if he were to get in hillary clinton would be a stronger candidate because now he's going toward the nomination. no real opposition. bernie sanders maybe on the debate stage will make her sweat

a little bit. but if biden got in she's much better when she's combative? >> i think there's an element of truth and also convenient argument for her supporters who want to find a silver lining in the idea of her being really significantly challenged by the vice president. and that is that if he were to have a big challenge in the primary then that would sort of toughen her up for the general election. >> indeed. carol lee, thank you so much for your time. chris cillizza as well. appreciate it. coming up next, historian doug brinkley's account in the aftermath of hurricane katrina and why ten years later city residents still call it simply the storm. >> i always see people on tv after a disaster. you feel stoorry for them but y have no idea what it feels like until it's you.

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not the other way around. you're the mayor of this city. did you call the federal government for help? did you ask the state for help? when did you make those calls? don't you bear some of the responsibility for what's happened here? >> look, there's going to be plenty of blame to go around. i made calls to everybody, the president, all of his cabinet members that were associated with providing resources. fema officials, the governor. you name it, we made the calls. the bottom line is, the help did not come. and we had 1500 police officers that held this city together for at least three days. that is a tragedy. >> almost immediately following hurricane katrina new orleans mayor ray nagin was criticized for his city's inept response,

leaving people crying for help outside the crumbling superdome. in all more than 100 people died from hurricane katrina. so just what have we learned since then? joining me now is presidential historian at rice university and author of the book "the great deluge," detailed look at the first days after katrina. professor, thank you for coming on the show. appreciate it. >> thanks for having me on, luke. >> do you think that the american psyche fully comprehended what happened at katrina in new orleans, in new orleans during katrina? i remember as a college sophomore watching those images and just total horror. and for me it was a political awakening, realize that, you know what, it does matter who is in charge, it does matter how authorities carry out their plans. do you think that has been imprinted on our psyche? >> i think so. i think new orleans is a safer place than it was. i mean, the real villain of katrina was the army corps of engineers. they built a terribly faulty levee system.

50 different breaches, over 50 in the system. three of the famous breaches that saw the whole city of new orleans, 80%, flood. but you just played a clip. there's an improvement. corruption has always been a problem in new orleans. mayor nagin is now in jail. william jefferson was the congressman back then, was in jail. many of the -- but new orleans struggles now with school system, with the amount of poverty here. 50% of the african-american men are unemployed in new orleans. so it's still a microcosm of urban problems. but certainly katrina opened our eyes to american dysfunctionalism and the malice that sometimes takes place when politicians are very corrupt. >> we also saw bodies floating in the streets, suffering on the scale that no one ever expected to see within the borders of this country. michael brown was a political appointee head of fema.

do you think in the historical sense it showed the limitations of government when government is run by people who do not like government? >> absolutely. you know, homeland security was created. fema was dumped like an orphan agency into homeland security under president george w. bush. it was seen as jimmy carter feel good agency. and so fema was a zero. they failed terribly here. michael brown was in baton rouge eating a steak when katrina hit and was totally clueless. fema today is much better. we've learned about that. i mean, the coast guard did a marvelous job. talking about government functioning well, the u.s. coast guard were the heroes of katrina because they moved their assets to above sea level into alexandria, louisiana, able to come back with the helicopters and pick people up off of rooftops. fema gets an "f" for katrina and the coast guard an "a."

>> looking back on your research and quickly, what was the single biggest mistake the government made ahead of katrina? >> mayor nagin not getting those school buses moved out of the ball below sea level to high ground so after the storm hit, you could evacuate people and not having water, food supplies, at a superdome and later the convention center. just not at all prepared. and something like a hurricane you have about 48 hours to save lives with rescue and response. we failed and many people died that didn't need to due to dysfunction at the federal, state, and local levels here. >> yeah. them who got got out of town. them who ain't got, left to drowned. thank you so much for your time. appreciate it. >> thank you, luke. that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." andrea is back monday. thanks for letting me keep the seat warm these last two weeks. follow the show online and on facebook and on twitter @mitchellreports. follow me @lukerussert.

thomas, happy friday. >> luke, happy friday. thank you, sir. coming up next, we are tracking new details about the man who killed two journalist on live tv as we get this new information on how alison parker and adam ward officially died. plus, at least 25 dead from tropical korm erika in the caribbean as florida declares a state of emergency. democrats running for president descend on minneapolis but the big elephant in the room is vice president joe biden. ion with this whole situation. oh please. do what i'm doing. use crest whitestrips! crest 3d white whitestrips... remove 14 years of stains. i knew i recognized that smile. crest 3d white whitestrips the way to whiten.

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merely empty except for photos of flanagan covering the refrigerator and dirty dishes. clearer picture of her is starting to take shape. police report reveals several items found inside his rental car, six magazines of ammunition, to do list and 17 stamped letters. moments ago thorry mcauliffe visited the employees of wdbj and offered his condolences. after that visit he pushed his message on pursuing gun control legislation. >> we lose on average 89 individuals a day to gun violence. there are too many guns in america and there's clearly too many guns in the wrong hands. >> on a more personal note the funeral plans made for photographer adam ward. 27-year-old will be laid to rest on tuesday. msnbc's adam riess is live outside in roanoke there of the station wdbj. the governor push for gun control legislation. he talked about having just been