good morning. i'm jacob in new york at msnbc world headquarters. 9:00 a.m. in the east. 6:00 a.m. out west. and day 31 of the trump administration. campaign flashback. president trump takes his case to the people denying a rocky start to his tenure and attacking his favorite targets. >> they have their own agenda. and their agenda is not your agenda. >> he also struck some of his

other themes. border order. a new report this morning says america's homeland security chief signed sweeping deportation memos. plus, new reaction of iran on the trump presidency. nbc's richard engel with the latest of an iranian leader. ready to launch. the space-x rocket poised to launch. a day late. a live report is coming up. but we begin with politics and the warning from one of president trump's toughest critics on the latest beef with the news media. here's what senator john mccain told chuck todd in an interview airing this morning on "meet the press." >> if you want to preserve democracy as we know it you have to have a free and many times adder is sarl press and without it i'm afraid we lose so much of the individual liberties over time. that's how dick aor thes get started.

looking at history, they shut down the press and i'm not saying that that's -- that president trump is trying to be a dictator. i'm just saying we need to learn the lessons of history. >> also new today, white house chief of staff reince priebus standing by the claim the mainstream media is the enemy of the american people. >> we spend 48 hours on bogus stories and the american people suffer so i do think it's a problem and i think that the media needs to in some cases, not every case, john, but in some cases really needs to get its act together. we have got on the a place, john, where the media is willing to run with unnamed sources, apparently false leaked documents to create stories. >> so of course, it was no surprise to hear that president lashed out at the media the moment he took the stage at his rally in florida last night. >> despite all their lives, misrepresentations and false stories, they could not defeat

us in the primaries and they could not defeat us in the general election. and we will continue to expose them for what they are and most importantly we will continue to win, win, win. >> he says win, win, win. the president holds meetings today to replace national security adviser michael flynn and new today "the new york post" got the hands on mem rows signed by dhs secretary john kelly describing sweeping new ged lines for deporting illegal immigrants. joining me now from florida is nbc's kelly o'donnell. kelly, we are the president there. what are the details we are hearing from the white house at this hour about the meetings today for the national security adviser position? >> reporter: well, the president has told reporters that he thinks the process of looking for that replacement candidate is going well. and he thinks decision will come in a couple of days. we do expect there's at least four interviews done in person

here in florida while the president is having a working weekend here and we have seen, jacob, the president is not content with the day-to-day governing only in washington. he wants to spend working weekends in florida, he wants to get outside the washington bubble. and it sure looked like he wanted to prove that even without an election, without a campaign structure, that he could get thousands of his supporters to show up to wait in line to see him. a campaign sequel. a movie soundtrack blairing on the loudspeaker. ♪ as air force one pulled up in melbourne, florida, saturday. >> the president of the united states. >> reporter: donald trump returned to a revved up rally mode. this time, as president. surprising even her husband, melania trump stepped in a group and quieting a crowd with a prayer.

>> our father who art in heaven -- >> reporter: she also revealed the role has put her in a difficult spotlight. >> i will always stay true to myself and be truthful to you, no matter what the opposition is saying about me. >> reporter: after a month in office, the president vented about his own rentlessness in washington. >> i want to be among my friends and among the people. >> reporter: clearly, not on his friends list, the media. the president railed against how he's portrayed and urged his supporters to join in his feud. >> we are not going to let the fake news tell us what to do, how to live or what to believe. we are free and independent people. >> reporter: but president trump apparently watched the coverage so closely he spotted a supporter who were interviewed. >> a star is born. a star is born. >> reporter: more seriously, the

president defended his first month's work. >> this will be change for the ages. >> reporter: and promised a new version of his immigration travel ban. acknowledgment that his first attempt had failed. >> so we'll be doing something over the next couple of days. we don't give up. we never give up. >> reporter: turning another page after firing his national security adviser michael flynn, today in florida the president will interview at least four job candidates for that critical role. and already this morning the president is on the move. he left his home and he is at one of the golf courses here in the area. we're told that meetings are happening today. conversations are happening. we don't have a specific itinerary for his day to roll out and it is a sunday in florida and they're saying that he will have these in-person meetings and top candidates of people of strong military background including the acting national security adviser former

general keith kellogg and former u.n. ambassador under george w. bush john bolton. jacob? >> kelly o'donnell, thank you for that. let's bring in jenna johnson for "the washington post" and miles sinaj. jenna, how's the white house looking at the strategy behind the rallies if there are more to come? do they see it as a reset entering the sec month in office? >> yeah. as a reset and also as an opportunity for the president to get a breath of fresh air, to be reminded that outside of the washington beltway a lot of his proposals are a lot more popular. there are still a lot of american voters who believe in him, who love what he's doing. and i think the white house staff just wanted to remind the president of that. you could see him just kind of feeding off the energy of the crowd last night. >> miles, i want to play for you what he said after an extraordinary moment. a supporter up on stage. take a look.

>> i wouldn't say that secret service was thrilled with that. but we know our people. right? we know our people. so many others, i see others. being interviewed. i see them over here. they started. they came at 4:00 in the morning. the media will give them no credit. the media, as i told you, they won't show this crowd. look at that. all the way outside -- this is as big of a hangar you get. all the way outside, way back to the fences. >> for the record, we had mario out there and giving everybody credit. how much, niles, is it a blatant way of the president telling naysayers that his popularity reaches far beyond the confines of washington? it is no doubt that people want to show up there yesterday. >> oh, absolutely, jacob. i think that's completely right. you know, president trump

obviously gets criticized a lot in the media. but he goes to a rally like that. he's a political rock star and he ran through his greatest hits to extend that analogy a little bit. >> yes. >> but it does also sort of suggest that he does have this base of support among republicans, among conservatives and that people in congress to your point ignore those people or go against those people at their own peril and i think that is an important political point for the president to make. >> so, jenna, when you hear senator john mccain essentially comparing the president's attacks on the mainstream media to a dictator as he did this morning to chuck todd, do you get a sense it's reflective of how other republicans feel or saying behind closed doors? how much more are they willing to bite their tongues? >> well, senator mccain has long been one of the leading critics of donald trump and has been willing to say on the record to

cameras what a lot of his fellow republicans are saying behind closed doors and there's been a growing uneasiness -- >> let me stop you there. that wasn't always the case about senator mccain. throughout the campaign, he tried to remain sort of above the fray coming to president trump and then candidate trump, particularly when he had been called out by the candidate himself. >> yeah. that's true. perfect example of this is that trump went after him for not being a true war he are. >> that's right. >> because he was a prisoner of war and mccain didn't really lash out at him about that. kind of stayed above the fray and in the final weeks before the election, when you had this "access hollywood" tape come out and other things happening, that was really the moment where mccain and the president broke. and ever since then, and it's especially coming to matters of foreign policy, mccain has

become this very strong voice of opposition against the president. >> nile, what are you to make of the president going so far to label the mainstream media as an enemy? chief of staff this morning essentially co-signed on this. is that strictly playing to the base? what is the strategy behind that? >> i think it is partly -- >> well -- >> -- playing to his base, you know, looking at opinion polls particularly among voters and media low esteem. i think it was taking the rhetoric to a different level to use the phrase enemy of the people. i mean, that is very aggressive. it suggests an actual almost semitraitorous purpose on the part of the media and consequences to the rhetoric. i don't want to get too somber here for a sunday morning but, you know, it wouldn't surprise me if people in the media are

ultimately hurt if this rhetoric continues in the way it's going. >> certainly nobody wants to see that. i perhaps you, as well as both comment on tv regularly and it's out there by president trump's rhetoric. jean that, a colleague is reporting -- i want to get this in, on the department of homeland security memo he got his hands on outlining the sweeping, new guidelines for deporting illegal immigrants. does it give credence of the report of national guard to round up undocumented immigrants? >> well, these memos do not mention the national guard. but they do call for a lot of things that have really worried a lot of advocates for undocumented immigrants. plans to hire thousands more agents. to speed up deportation hearings. to use local authorities. to expand the types of you be

documented immigrants that the government's going after. on the campaign trail, donald trump promised that he was going to deport millions and millions of people. and we're now seeing possible policies put into place to make that happen. >> nile, let's take a listen to what the president said about a new executive order on another immigration issue, the travel ban. >> we will do something next week i think you'll be impressed. let's see what happens. here's the bottom line. we have to keep our country safe. you look at whenat's happening. we've got to keep our country safe. >> one of the colleagues is reporting on where the travel ban stands and the president had expected to issue a new order last monday or tuesday. what actually is going on at this point? >> there's a couple of elements to this but the basic emphasis is on casting a narrower executive order that would have

the capacity to withstand legal challenge better. a couple of parts, confusion of the status of green card holders in the first instance. but the broader point here, yeah cob, is i think whatever narrower order is issued it will again face legal challenge and the possibility that it is suspended in some fashion. and how will president trump react if that indeed happens? he doesn't want it to happen but frustrated by the courts again what kind of rhetoric will we hear from him at that point? >> it will also be faced we can only speculate with protesters on the streets as we have seen every weekend since the president came in office. jenna johnson with "washington post," nile sanij at the hill, thank you very much. >> thank you. spending billions along the u.s./mexico border for that promised border wall. will it really happen? i'll ask a member of congress who sits on the appropriations

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the democrats were supposed to win the presidency. that didn't have. we have to tell the democrats because they're doing the wrong thing for the american people, to stop their tactics of delay and obstruction and destruction. they got to get on with it. >> that was president donald trump slamming democrats in the first campaign rally as president yesterday. a vanity fair article this week breaks down the challenges they face to winning back power titled the democrats 2020 nightmare. joining me now pennsylvania congressman cartwright, a democrat himself and a member of the house appropriations committee. congressman, good to see you. that article starts by saying the democrats should not expect

donald trump to flame out. are the fellow democrats in congress focusing too much on that volatility coming out of the white house? >> jacob, thanks for having me on and by the way congratulations to msnbc for not making the enemies list this week. i saw that -- >> thank you. >> -- a number of networks were on. the president slavishly watches cable news and left msnbc off the list of fake news programs. >> we're grateful for that, congressman. >> right. no. yeah. the democrats have their work cut out for us. in the congress. we're not in power. we are in a deep minority. and we have to figure out how to respond to the results of the presidential election. my own view is this. jacob, the folks that i know that voted for donald trump, they voted for him for the very

reason that elizabeth warren mentions. they are desperate for economic change. we are talking about people that live in rural areas. people that are working service jobs and you have to work two of them to make ends meet because the manufacturing jobs have gone away. we are talking about donald trump's promise to bring jobs like that back. his promise to stand up for social security and medicare and to fight for the veterans. those happen to be all my priorities, as well. let's see what he does. >> and that's the true question. sorry to interrupt you, congressman. i have been to pennsylvania and your state, where hillary clinton grew up and most of her childhood summers and understand why people there supported donald trump. does it concern you seeing president trump at the rally that democrats don't have their own person, their own front-runner out there to respond to everything that the president says? >> well, right. the president just had a big

rally and a couple of them. one south carolina, one florida. and i don't blame him for that. i think he needs a chance to regroup. he had a disastrous first month within about a week of taking an oath to support, uphold and defend the constitution he violated wit the executive order. the national security adviser had to resign. he forced him to resign because of lies. on and on. a terrible first month. who could blame him for wanting to go kind of rebuild his ego by playing to his base? >> but the question is, when's leading the democrats at this point, congressman? >> there's still this desperation for economic change. and the question is, what is donald trump going to do to achieve these things that he has promised? >> i understand that, congressman. i understand that. >> go ahead. >> who's going to stand up to donald trump as the leader of the democratic party to put forward the message that you're

saying right now? >> well, i intend to and i know all of my colleagues on the democratic side of the aisle in the house intend to. we're watching hip. we're not letting him get away with falsehoods, with attacks on the first amendment, violations of the constitution. absolutely not. but the big point is we're going to hold his feet to the fire about promising family sustaining jobs, standing up for social security and medicare, which, by the way, house republicans like speaker paul ryan want to undercut, make no mistake. paul ryan wants to voucherize medicare. he wants to raise the retirement age for social security. these are things that go against things that president trump promised during his campaign. >> in the spirit of having something to hold the president's feet to the fire on, at his rally in florida yesterday, the president

mentioned in his own words he has ordered construction of a border wall to start very shortly. "the washington post" reports that it's going to cost more than $20 billion and most of the funds to be appropriated by you all in congress. as a member of the appropriations committee, is the wall going to happen? >> look. i join many of my colleagues in believing that strengthening the border is appropriate. but whether you put that ahead of every other priority, remember, something like 40% of the illegal immigrants in this country simply overstayed their visas. so you could build a wall to make fort knox blush and still not have any affect on those 40% of the immigrants in this country. and so you need to do things in a balanced and a sensible and grown up way. and i think that's the -- that's really the tone that the democrats in the house are

taking that somebody needs to be the grown up in washington and that's what we're going to do. now, you talk about -- >> let me quickly -- because we have to run, congressman. congressman, just a second. we have to run. as a member of the house appropriations committee, are you going to vote -- would you vote to fund the border wall? >> i have to see what the vote is. i have to see what the bill is and i would certainly agree with some improvements. but to do something nonsensical, for example, building a wall in places that doesn't need it at all, doing things that are just a plain waste of money, that doesn't benefit the taxpayers and it's not what i went to congress to do. >> all right. we'll have to leave it there. congressman cartwright, i thank you for joiningousen this sunday morning. >> my pleasure, jacob. coming up next, what does iran think of new u.s. sanctions after the latest missile test? surprising answer from the

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[car[clicking of ignition]rt] still ahead, how effective are the president's attacks against the media with voters? eeh-- woof! wuh-- [silence] [engine roars to life] [dog howls] ♪ dramatic opera music swells from radio ♪ [howling continues] c'mohappy birthday! i survived a heart attack. i'm doing all i can to keep from having another one. and i'm taking brilinta. for people who've been hospitalized for a heart attack. i take brilinta with a baby aspirin. no more than one hundred milligrams as it affects how well it works. brilinta helps keep my platelets from sticking together and forming a clot. brilinta reduced the chance

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welcome back. i'm jacob soboroff. here's what we are monitoring. happening right now, the spacex falcon 9 rocket sits on the launch pad at the kennedy space center in florida awaiting liftoff and amazing thing to see scheduled for 9:38 a.m. eastern time. this is the second launch attempt after the first one was scrapped yesterday just about ten seconds before liftoff because of technical problems. this unmanned spacecraft sends supplies to the international space station and it is the first use of the historic launch pad at kennedy since the space shuttle program's final mission in 2011. turning now overseas, iran's foreign minister is responding

to president's trump's policies of teheran and threats. nbc news chief foreign correspondent richard engel sat down with the foreign minister in munich and joins us now. good to see, richard. this is a wide ranging interview. what stood out to you? >> reporter: so, first of all, let me set the stage a little bit. i'm in munich right now and every year at this time there's an international security conference. it brings togetr senior officials from around the world, really, to talk about issues of national security, different countries see the world, the vice president was here, pence, also general mattis, the defense secretary trying to effectively reassure nato, european allies that the ship of state is sailing smoothly.

there was skepticism about that. not a terribly warm reception. during this meeting i took the opportunity to speak with the i ran yan foreign minister to try to take his temperature. as you know, over the last couple of weeks there have been very strong statements coming out of the white house, coming specifically from the president, about iran saying that the nuclear deal is the worst deal he's ever seen, how he wants to tear it up. and the iranians were saying that this is a multi-lateral deal. they have no interest in tearing it up. he said if the u.s. wanted to tear it up it would, quote, open a pandora's box. trump administration recently announced that it was putting iran on notice. what does that mean to you? >> well, iran is used to this type of language from the united states but we don't respond well to this type of language. i believe it would work much better if they decided to use the language of respect, the

language of mutual interest and that would make iranians respond positively. >> reporter: that is a tone of the i rranians others they want respect, clarity. they are concerned about midnight tweets from the president. they want to see a clear and consistent foreign policy. and with regards to iran there is a concern that some officials in the white house are hostile to iran. and the iranian foreign minister seemed concerned about this travel ban. the travel ban as you know for specifically mentioned seven countries. that wouldn't have -- that would not be allowed to send people to the united states. iran was one of them. >> to be honest with you, it doesn't serve anybody's interest because iranians have never been

involved in any act of violence against american people. in fact, iranians in the united states are the most educated, the most successful community of immigrants in the united states. and they have always been law abiding citizens of the countries they chose as their place of residence. >> reporter: the iranian foreign minister was very mild mannered, very diplomatic in his tone. he did not attack president trump directly. if anything, he seemed to be looking for ways that we can get -- that iran can get back on a track of dialogue of diplomacy and suggested that in an international context with u.n. sproip there might be room for cooperation in the fight against isis so at least in the conversation that we just had in the interview and will be more

airing tonight on "nbc nightly news" iran seemed to be reaching out an trying to not have as hostile relationship with the united states as seems to be coming from the trump administration. >> and, richard, that is despite so interesting to hear him talk about the travel ban. i was at los angeles international airport the night that many iranians were detained including a 79-year-old grandmother i met with a green card since the early 1990s. fascinating conversation. looking forward to hearing more of that tonight. nbc's richard engel, thank you very much. back to politics now. new reaction on the president labeling the mainstream media an enemy of the american people. here's what reince priebus told chuck todd moments ago on "meet the press." >> with the president of the united states trying to delegitimatize the american press, does that not sort of undercut his ability to spread freedom and advocate for press freedoms around the world? >> first of all, it is nothing

new. jefferson, lincoln, adams had the issues with the press. i can assure you this, chuck, and everyone in your business. the president believes in the first amendment, the free press. we don't believe everyone is lousy in the media. we don't believe everything is bad. but there are some things that are really bad and we have tried to -- he categorizes that as fake news. >> do you not have a problem in the west wing with leaks yourself? >> look. if there is a problem there, those people will have big issues but the truth is that we don't have problems in the west wing. you read about all the stories i don't get along with bannon and this one -- actually, we have really gelled as a team. more on politics in just a moment but happening right now, space-x with another shot at launching a rocket from nasa's moon pad after yesterday ice attempt was stopped by last-minute rocket concerns. nbc's kerry sanders is at kennedy space center in florida. kerry, good morning.

>> reporter: well, good morning. a lot of excitement here. as you know, 13 seconds before ignition yesterday, there was a problem on the falcon 9 rocket and even though the computer system said that everything could be a go, elon musk hit the button and decided to stop everything to make sure that this act waiter that steers the rocket that showed a problem could be fixed because they knew they had a window today and we are in the countdown mode. space-x believes everything is on track for the launch here and this falcon 9x is departing from pad 39d-a, historically there's pressure here. this is where the apollo missions launched to the moon and where the space shuttle launched from so many of those shuttle missions and now back active. private contractor. spacex. getting ready to do something that they hope is going to be a step towards ultimately going to mars. this is going to be taking a payload up to the international space plags but the lower

portion of the rocket, the first stage will be -- we are in the countdown here. let's go down to ten and i'm going to pause and let's just listen. >> t-minus ten. >> nine, >> nine, four. three. two. one. ignition. and liftoff of the falcon 9 to the space station. on the first commercial launch from kennedy space center's historic pad 39-a. >> pad operation on pad. >> copy. >> stage one propulsion normal.

>> reporter: so we're listening to the deafening roar of the rocket. the falcon 9 that's now lifting off, heading up to space. again, this is what they call an instantaneous takeoff. they had but one moment to do the ignition and hit the departure time aiming towards the orbiting space station with a payload of about 5,000 items, much of those things on board include experiments, among them, growing food. now, the reason it's interesting about growing food in space is because as we circle back to elon musk's dream, getting to mars. so, if we ever get to mars and he believes it could happen in 16 years from now, going to have to be grow food. that's a 500-day round trip to mars and can't pack enough lunch in the bag to get there, jacob. >> it is chill inducing, frankly. i have the chills watching it here and the faces of the people watch that falcon 9 roblgt take

off from kennedy space center as we heard from mission control, the first commercial space flight to be launched from the kennedy space center. i know we expect a portion of this falcon 9 rocket to touch back down on that touch pad in a matter of minutes. talk to us about that. >> reporter: it's really interesting. okay? of course, we know that the reason the shuttle was so successful to use it over and over. but when the system retired, what spacex and musk's team decided is rocket itself, the lower portion that takes the falcon 9 and the dragon, the capsule to the top, out there, bringing it back they could reuse it over and over and a short dais tans of 39-an is a landing zone and the lower portion redirected from outer space redirected from space back through the atmosphere and they will fire rockets and they will hand it upright almost as if it's a pencil on an eraser mean and land it and they have done

it before and been able to do it on a floating barge. first time here at the kennedy space center and they believe that they will be able to land it within inches of where they hope it to land. meaning it will be dead on on the target and that's the most curious engineering feat here is not only the launch but the return of the lower stage of the rocket. >> extraordinary, extraordinary thing to see. kerry sanders at kennedy space center, appreciate it. coming up next, we're going to have more on donald trump's fight with the media. people just can't get enough of me and my discounts.

so this year, they're getting a whole lot more. box 365, the calendar. everyone knows my paperless, safe driver, and multi-car discounts, but they're about to see a whole new side of me. heck, i can get you over $600 in savings. chop, chop. do i look like i've been hurt before? because i've been hurt before. um, actually your session is up. hang on. i call this next one "junior year abroad." donald trump rallying the base and again in campaign mode yesterday. when's behind the strategy? bring in jess mcintosh, strategist and former campaign adviser to hillary clinton and robert train umm adviser and a msnbc analyst. robert, the president has been in office for only about a month. why is he still out there

campaigning or already campaigning we should ask? >> well, good morning, jacob. i think the reason why is because this is what the president knows. i think this is what's been successful for him over 18 months. this is his comfort zone. he loves getting the energy from the audience. it's very clear. he speaks very succinctly and animated. he feeds off the crowd, in other words. in the oval office or roosevelt room or east room with a press conference, somber, subdued. in the really grasping the policy details there. the point simply is i think he enjoys running for office but being in office is a different story. >> jess, president trump seems to have what some are calling a nixsonian list and how do democrats and should democrats respond? >> i mean, it is really incredibly frightening. the president likes to campaign because he doesn't know what

he's doing and has no interest of learning governing. fact to stand in front of supporters and say that the press is the enemy of the people, talking about the president lying, it's usually it's about -- inflating crowd sizes or crime statistics in chicago or the number of illegal votes in, you know, being bussed in from massachusetts to new hampshire. now he's actively engaging in making sure that some 40% of the country bloef things that are not true. now he's turning to say that there are people who are working against them. when you're trying to make 40% of the country believe that there are people out to get them, and that the media is included in that, there is about as dark of a strategy as we could see coming out of a white house. what possible good does that bring to convince your supporters that there are people who don't like them? who are their enemies and that those are the people, the only people who are presenting fact that is disagree with the lies that you're telling.

i don't think we can be too alarmed about the fact it's happening one month in to his presidency. >> i frankly don't understand the strategy. you look at my twitter mention. it is vitriolic out there. the emotions that the president is envengering. robert, when's the point? will it pay off in a legislative payoff? in 2020? is that how far ahead he is looking and wants to surround himself with at the rallies, friends and people to show up and not criticize him? where does this come from? >> good question, jacob. i don't work for the white house so i don't know. i can only surmise and two things. one, look. and this is a fact i think and that is that the american press of which i'm a member of, so i'm very sensitive to this is lower approval ratings than a used cars salesman and the president is right in that context meaning that the american people are

distrustful of the american media. however, i'm a firm, firm believer of the first amendment and true facts and the truth and the american press is a trusted institute or should be a trusted institution so you would think that the president would want the american press on his side to augment his message as relates to infrastructure, immigration, as relates to repeal and replace. so the strategy to me is a little mind boggling, quite frankly. to the second part of the question, jacob, look, look. the strategy should be unifying republicans and democrats about the issues i just talked about. and so, you would think that the president would try to rally people and bring people together to be able to achieve those legislative victories he needs over two years or so. >> i don't think he has a message coming to legislative victim ris and why he doesn't need the press to amplify it. what the press is playing is one of the only institutions to keep him in check to tell falsehoods

about the popularity or demonization of americans he seems to need to do and why he undermines them. >> we have to leave it there. thanks so much. i know that you guys -- the rocket lifting off as cool as r cool as i did, unfortunately it cut our time short. coming up, donald trump calls the media the enemy of the american people. we keep talking about it, he keeps talking about it. is it something he believes? is it just strategy? that's coming up next. it's over. i've found a permanent escape from monotony. together, we are perfectly balanced, our senses awake, our hearts racing as one. i know this is sudden, but they say: if you love something... set it free. see you around, giulia ♪

are they fighting here? whatever it is... it's hunting. the great wall. rated pg-13. now more on president trump's anti-media message that he took to a rally in florida yesterday. let's bring in steven brill, msnbc analyst and the author of "america's bitter pill, money, politics, back room deals and the fight to fix our broken health care system." good to see you, sir. i want to read you president trump's tweet from yesterday that has everybody talking. he said the enemy of the american people is the media. the enemy is the language that

he used. why does he keep building up his rivalry. what does it do for him? >> well, he needs opponents. i think the major news organizations have to ignore rhetoric like that and probably have to lose rhetoric by calling his misstatements lies because i don't think it adds to their credibility, but i assume and i hope that the major news organizations are going after the russia blackmail story, which is what i think everybody believes. they ought to have reporters all over the ritz carlton hotel in moscow and everywhere else in moscow where they can try to figure that out. they ought to be going after the mental health issues that are pretty clear. they ought to be looking at the 25th amendment. they ought to have people, i hope, leaking to them information about what he's saying in closed door meetings that illustrates his obvious mental instability. >> why not call something a lie if it is a lie? if mike flynn said something demonstrably false about

discussing sanctions with the russian ambassador or if president trump is giving the wrong numbers about his electoral college victory or the significance of it, what do you call that? >> it's a misstatement. we shouldn't get lost in that debate. there are so many more important issues about trump. his mental health, the fact that he seems to be being blackmailed by the russians, that if you get lost in that debate, a lot of people think that saying that someone is lying is that they're deliberately misleading people and that means that you're presuming to get into his head. now, if you think he's mentally unstable, as i do, then maybe he's not lying. he's certainly misstating facts. but that's a debate we shouldn't have. what we should be doing is doing real hard-nosed reporting. i hope and i assume that there are news organizations doing everything they can to try to get his tax returns or to go through every deposition he's ever given, every legal document

he's ever filed and every lawsuit looking for traces of what would be in those tax returns. that's the stuff we ought to be doing. >> and we should say that we very much are, our investigative team has worked on all of those issues. >> oh, i know. don't get defensive. >> no. >> more needs to be done. >> is it not interconnected? when you hear john mccain -- >> of course they are. >> this morning on "meet the press" talk about this, what did you think when you heard senator mccain say that? >> he is exactly right, that is what dictators do, they take the messenger, in this case the free press, and they tell their followers those people are the enemy. now, the press has a role here and i assume, for example, the press is going to be all over kentucky before the 2018 elections and finding out if those coal miners are back in those coal mines working. one thing trump really can't say is they got their jobs back because they won't get their

jobs back. that's the kind of thing the press should be doing. >> i appreciate you being here, steven brill. that's going to do it for me here in new york. i'm jacob soboroff. i'll be back at 3:00 p.m. find me on social media and in the next hour on "a.m. joy," joy reid will have reaction from music mogul russell simmons on the ongoing demonstrations against president trump's immigration policies. stay tuned. starting your search for the right used car? i am! you got it. just say show me millions of used cars for sale at the all new carfax.com. but, i don' want one that's had a bunch of owners just say, show me cars with only one owner pretty cool it's perfect. that's the power of carfax® find the cars you want, avoid the ones you don't plus you get a free carfax® report with every listing start your used car search at carfax.com i've got a nice long life ahead. big plans. so when i found out medicare doesn't pay all my medical expenses,

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lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for thine is the king dom and the power and the glory forever and ever, amen. good morning and welcome to "a.m. joy." first lady melania trump opened her husband's rally in florida with the lord's prayer and the