that does it for us this tuesday. i'm alex witt alongside ayman l the last two days. he is highly respected by everybody in the military. >> i'd just like to say what a privilege it is to continue serving our nation. i'm grateful to you for that opportunity, and i look forward to joining the national security team and doing everything i can to advance and protect the interest of the american people. thank you very much, sir. >> you're going to do a great job. >> lieutenant general h.r. mcmaster. >> mike barnicle has something to say here. three words i tweeted out yesterday. >> thank you, jesus. >> the president introducing him in florida after -- >> literally tweeted that.

>> it's unanimous. >> thank you, jesus dot dot dot. i'm not being dramatic here. thank you, jesus. >> ability, intellect, everything you need. >> oh, my god. >> good morning, everyone. >> don't look now, willie, but with all the chaos that's been going on the past month, we actually have a good, really topnotch national security team top to bottom. if not for flynn, mattis and tillerson. >> tillerson having trouble -- >> pompeo. >> if we can find tillerson. >> he's getting the short end of the stick. we'll talk about that. >> the question, you have all these strong, respected guys. the question is, will their voices be heard above donald trump's voice. that's still the question out there. >> the answer is so yes. i've never seen -- especially since you have so many alpha

males, leaders, generals. these are people who aren't going to see, oh, okay, we'll go get the oil because you told us to. they are not doing it. >> also what we have seen as far as foreign policy goes, sometimes it takes a circuitous route. but donald trump when it comes to foreign policy, his first idea was an awful idea. we ended up with mattis. his first idea, gut in extinct for isn't of state awful. his gut instinct for department of homeland security, awful. he didn't go with that. he waited. he sifted through everything. we actually -- again, we end up -- of course, we had to get rid of flynn first, but it is pretty remarkable. >> we're also trying to figure out the president. as you look at this choice, just like the choice of mattis and kelly, these are people hillary clinton could have picked. these are people who received

wide acclaim across the spectrum. trying to figure out the president. ask the peel think the president is good for nothing, horrible, bad judgment. these picks represent extraordinarily good, consensus, bipartisan judgment. >> excuse me, just the root strength of mcmaster, in the book dereliction of duty, which begins a phd thesis, it's the difference between physical courage and moral courage field commanders to joints chief of staff. you speak to them. you speak when you think something has gone awry. >> also barnacle and mark hal pring host david ignatius. >> david ignatius, why don't you child in here, us being shocked and stunned, not deeply s lly sd but after a month have a team we wouldn't mind sending around the world. >> general mcmaster is the real

deal, a warrior, a man who made a career speaking to power. almost didn't get promoted to brigadier general, passed over twice because he was his own person. he spoke out. wouldn't play the promotion games. i first met general mcmaster in ir iraq. he was really as much as anybody a shaper of the idea, push back, contain the violence. he was in a city called te tellafor. i've got to get them out, reduce violence, the big indeed in the surge. hotline r. mcmaster was a key person with petraeus. i then saw him in afghanistan he had the insight. the problem in afghanistan, it was a corrupt, broken society. unless you fix the corruption

you couldn't fix the place. it's a terrific choice. when john mccain says you've made a good choice, that's a good sign. too little experience in national security policy but he's a smart man and he'll learn. >> the harshest critics of trump were the ones raising him the most for this selection. what's so interesting is you have a cabinet of generals who actually are acting as a moderating influence on command commander in chief, because they have been in the middle of the most hellacious battles over the last 12, 13, 14 years, and they understand there's nothing glorious about war and that the united states power has extraordinary limits.

that soft power as we found in anbar province, soft power actually does more than hard power at tiles. that's really important. when you start looking at the generals around donald trump, i love what somebody said about general mattis, he thought he was getting patton, he ended up with george marshall. >> mcmaster selection as national security adviser drew widespread praise, as we said, across washington including from many top democrats. his book, as you mentioned, mike, it's called dereliction of duty. it looked at the joint chiefs of staff, the war in vietnam, and how they fed information to politicians. that book has shot up to null one on amazon. "the new york times" reports he also criticized the way president george w. bush's administration went to war in iraq. quote, as a commander, he was credited with demonstrating how a counter-insurgency strategy could defeat militants in iraq, demonstrating the promise of an approach that general david petraeus adopted to shift momentum in a war the united

states was on the verge of losing. before that, he earned a silver star as a commander in the persian gulf when his outnumbered company destroyed iraqi formation. senator tom cotton was reportedly central to trump picking mcmaster. he once served under the general and suggested him to the white house. "politico" reports mcmaster wasn't on the radar until the senator reached out to steve bannon, jared kushner and reince priebus. >> listen to this tom cotton story. i think it's remarkable how much respect he had for general mcmaster. when mcmaster got passed over the first time, he said, to hell with this. if this is what the army does to their best, i'm getting out. that's how much respect.

it's hard to find somebody close that didn't feel the sale way. >> getting john mccain enthusiastic is great for any administration since he can raise a lot of ruckus. tom cotton has quickly become, freshman senator, one of the most influential voices in the republican party because he cares a lot about -- >> by the way, a hawk on russia. we have to underline hawks on russia. >> you now have an opportunity for national security team to assert themselves, not just president or vice president. what do they want to get done. are they going to be reactive, deal with things that come in, crisis, or do they have a vision. some manage the process. others like kissinger most prominently are strategists and tacticians and think big picture. we don't know what he'll do on that will he simply manage the office. there's an opportunity for this team of people who have respect for each other. flynn had a lot of problems,

growing unease with other members of the national security team. every indication the rest of the team now will welcome this choice and have an opportunity to really build something. >> strong pretty much across the board. weekly standards bill crystal said, i say this honestly and nonsnarkily i can't imagine anybody more prepared. former ambassador -- >> again, all harsh critics. >> a giant upgrade. i've never felt better about the trump administration regarding national security. >> he has been on tv being critical of donald trump along with bill kristol. >> the relief is palpable. huge collective sigh of relief among establishment circles. >> i'd love to ask ambassador mcfaul, what does it say to you about donald trump he did this. doesn't matter the other stuff

you don't like, what does it say that he made this judgment that's been universally praised. >> warrior intellect. the warrior part he has. served in gulf war, iraq, afghanistan. the intellect part is he's thought deeply about all the wars the united states has been in. the entire book "dereliction of duty" was about vietnam. he was critical of iraq war, thought about counter-insurgency strategy. he's welling to come out and say publicly what the military has done wrong, not just what it did. a man seen as progressive on foreign pollty issues, foreign policy analyst, said he has stellar reputation with tillerson, mattis. with potus's support he can help get back on track, strobe talbot. >> john mccain, outstanding character intellect and ability. george w. bush adviser fran

taosen, great patriot, soldier, republican trump critic elliot come heb inspiring leader solid historien a, honorable soldier and thoughtful strategist. democratic congressman jim hines sits on the intel committee, brilliant strategic mind, not afraid to speak truth coming from both sides of the aisle. >> oh, he's a member of the military, we'll put him in this box. mcmaster like several other high-ranking officers, marine corps and army, especially have quite an intellectual approach to international policy, foreign poli policy, and their own grasp of warfare, which is their business. couple years ago mcmaster gave a speech at georgetown on veterans day about the war at ethos. he's clearly thought about it.

>> speak what you sigh mattis, mcmaster, tillerson, pompeo and kelly running homeland security. >> it's a strong team, weighted towards military figures. each has strength of character to push back against this president or any person they would question. i think these are positive things. general kelly, a similar person who is not going to lie down for things he think are wrong. >> following up, david, on what mark halperin had said, what does this require us -- does this require us to take a look at trump, at least in selections in foreign policy? again, all of us, i'm not talking about you, but certainly all of us around the table have

been harshly critical over the past month. what does this say and does this require us to reassess at least foreign policy issues he selects people that have said no to their bosses. >> yo, my answer would be this is showing me again that donald trump wants to be a successful president. he has made choices that would have made steve bannon happier. he chose the person who rallies the country around the administration. we have a world out there that's so anxious about american policy. these choices are important. so i think he wants to be successful. the biggest question donald trump faces is not about anybody he chooses for his administration, it's about himself. it's about how he uses his opportunities to communicate with the country and the world to best advantage. that's really my question. i admire this choice of mcmaster and many of the others but what

has the president learned about how he uses the tools, especially twitter. i think that's something we should all continue to pay attention to. not get on his case. but if they are disruptive to his own team and we see that, the team has to go out and put out fires and reassure people, that's a waste of their good injury. >> explain europe, what has been going on in europe over the past several days where you have donald trump saying certain things causing great unease and they be you have all of our foreign policy team, including mike pence going out seeming to contradict the president while trying to calm the waters there. how is europe taking all of this. >> i was in munich at the munich security conference, davos for foreign defense policy, american officials were kind of the reassurance brigade. they were sent out to tell people nothing has changed. we still support nato, we still support european union.

the only problem is they were making those statements because they were trying to rebut statements that had been made by president trump who made people anktious. that's the core problem. to close with one thought, the russian foreign minister sergey lavrov said to this conference, ladies and gentlemen, we have entered the post west world. in other words, american institutions, american networks of alliances really are of the past. he's playing off of the statements trump had made. i don't think people in the audience didn't want to believe it, there is a sense we entered in a different era. thatt era is going to be shaped by trump. he's got a good team but he's got to lead it. >> the inner circle is going to have to act with respect to that team. mcmaster replaced general michael flynn who was fired from the job. yesterday the vice president discussed anybody's exit for the

first time. >> i'm very grateful for the close working relationship i have with the president of the united states. i was disappointed to learn the facts that had been conveyed to me by general flynn were inaccurate. we honor general flynn's long service to the united states of america and i fully support the president's decision to ask for his resignation. it was the proper decision. it was handled properly and in a timely way. >> vice president pence had to say what he said about flynn. remember, the white house counsel didn't just tell flynn about the russia connection and what was said on the wiretaps. other people. he could sooeb seek an apology not just flynn but other people in the white house who allowed him to go out and lie. >> including the president who knew for several weeks, two weeks. >> it comes at a time of unease

for national security council with many members jittery over the way it's run so far, the ouster of michael flynn. "wall street journal," anxiety stoked in recent days after nsc staffer, who was brought in by the trump administration was dismissed after he criticized mr. trump in a private discussion at a washington, d.c., think tank. white house spokeswoman sarah sanders said sunday, anyone who doesn't support mr. trump's agenda shouldn't be part of the administration. >> mark. >> based on the facts as we know them, i don't think the administration has necessarily -- a member of the national security staff who attacks the president at a meeting in washington. >> publicly. >> private meeting but people in the room. >> doesn't matter whether it's a private meeting or not. again, i go back. even as a member of congress, if one of my staff members went to a meeting and criticized me and i heard about it and came back, i'd go, why don't you go work with somebody you're more comfortable with.

>> it goes back to two issues i think are pertinent -- >> i love when you -- there's so much chaos in this administration, so many horrid things in the last month, i love when there's stories like this, somebody went out and called trump the antichrist and he fired them. well, if you don't believe in the person you're working with, then you should leave. there are some things to be shocked at, this is not one of them. >> we have to differentiate between the things the administration does and are wrong and should be called out and other things any government would do. despite the ainsurance by the latest government, plenty of people in the state department, pentagon, nsc staff, who are very uncomfortable with what's gone on in the administration. that will continue and something the administration needs to get its arms around. >> we have a question, mike, will donald trump, the president of the united states, give this great selection the ability to staff up the way he needs to

staff up? will they force him to keep mcfarland as the number two there when, let's just say it, everybody in washington says she's woefully ill equipped. i don't say that. every human being who who interacted her said she's woefully ill equipped for that position. does he have the power to say i'm uncomfortable with steve bannon being here, i need to put my own team together. if you can't put your own teal together, then all the things you're saying about the guy end up being nothing. >> we have to find out. initial indications are he's going to have the ability for his own staff. general kellogg stay as chief of staff of nsc. david ignatius, you might be able to lend a little bit more to this than i can bring to the table but i have been told repeatedly over the past several years by republican

administration and george w. bush and especially under barack obama's administration, the n sflt c staff -- nsc staff is to largeu unwieldy, undemocratic. whether he can do something about that, it's a question to be resolved. do you know anything about his ability to pick his own people? >> i have heard general mcmaster is going to have as free a hand as you can. i don't know always someone frameing a staff, setting his mandate. his predecessor, general flynn, wanted to reduce the size of the staff, make it less operational. there's a phrase general mcmaster will remember from iraq and afghanistan, the 5,000 mile screwdriver which means nsa staff is trying to do tiny little management things from a

vast distance, calling up in the middle of your night to check on something or tell you what to do. i think mcmaster will not want to be that kind of very centralizing, controlling manager. the problem is he's got one of the most difficult and political jobs in washington. he's got to run this three-ring circus of all these strong personalities out in the agencies and make them run together and report up to a president that's inexperienced, volatile. so he'll have his difficulties as well equipped as he is, never faced anything quite like this. >> still ahead on "morning joe," republican senator tom cotton joins us plus former nato commander retired admiral who served in afghanistan with donald trump's new national security adviser. also ahead, president trump and his aids repeatedly insisted they had no contact with russian officials during 2017 campaign. >> yet. >> yet.

but now some russian officials are contradicting those claims. we'll look at the new reporting on that from the "new york times" ahead. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. knowing where you stand has never been easier.

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so mika, we've been asking around here just why you have a president that selects the best and the brightest for his foreign policy team and yet inside his white house coses inexperience and has a chaotic operation on the inside with people that have never been in the white house before. it's one of the great mysteries, isn't it, mark? mika? >> i like mika's answer. >> i think he's confident domestically to manipulate people in ways he can. >> doesn't need anybody. >> as it pertains to national security he's afraid and he knows at least what he doesn't

know, which is good. however we get there is fine. i'm not sure it matters. >> we have reason to be afraid whomever the president is, so that's great. at the same time you contrast -- he gets the most experienced people that, as you said, hillary clinton or barack obama or george w. bush could have selected any of these people. they are just the all-stars of all all-stars, yet inside his white house doesn't have a single person in his inner circle who has run that beaurocracy before. you have people like stephen miller running around with really shabby executive orders that create chaos and then calls, as we are saying, people in the eastern district telling them how -- what was that story? >> stephen miller, 31 years old,

one of the president's principle counselors assumes the executive order was signed and there's a big flap over how to defend it in court. stephen miller called the u.s. attorneys office in brooklyn with points on how to defend -- >> 31-year-old nonlawyer. it's unbelievable. >> that's a fireable offense. >> of course. he's done so many things that would be fireable under any other administration. it's crazy, the difference between the for policy team and the total amateurs inside. >> i mean, there's a lot of people with experience. some have experience on capitol hill. the first part of national security -- >> who has experience in the white house that's in trumps inner circle that have been there. >> no one in the inner circle. some people in the white house with experience but no one in the inner circle. i still believe this year he'll be -- assuming he handles national security dealing with

tax reform or affordable care act and he doesn't have the same kind of team to deal with those issues as he does with national security and he may pay a price with that. not only in terms of their experience but credibility on the hill. the republican party and democrats together on health care is going to require pretty high-level folks. >> we talked many times on this show over the last month how we need somebody in the white house who can walk into the office and raise his or her voice at him and say, mr. president, what you're doing is a bad idea. what person you did is wrong. that person doesn't exist in the white house. if you go outside and look at foreign policy guys, mattis, kelly, mcmaster, they are guys who push back. he needs that on the inside. >> all he has on the inside is people hotel him how great he is every day. everybody on the inside tells him how great he is.

nobody pushes back. nobody. >> in addition to that, obama care, tax reform, those are critical political issues that will be key to the success or lack of success of this particular president. no president has ever existed without realizing the single most important thing, vital thing a president of the united states does is order young men and women to war. we have three men, thoughtful men, mattis, kelly and now mcmaster in position. they know war more so than anybody else around donald tr p trump. they are actually anybody who has gone to war automatically becomes a dove. david ignatius, this has to be helpful shaping policy. >> especially, david ignatius, when you have lost your sob to war like kelly has, it changes things. he does have thoughtful generals around him. >> he has thoughtful generals,

with measured judgment. the contrast between national security and inner white house, kellyanne conway, stephen miller, bannon, those three behave as if they are revolutionari revolutionaries, overturn established order, not measured. they would probably take that as an insult if you said that to them. that clash hasn't been sorted out at all. two different strands. presidents reside over two administrations at once. i think we're seeing that. how this foreign policy team, cold, sound, experienced, measured judgment comes up against the others not so clear. i do think when steve bannon tries to tell h.r. mcmaster what he thinks about foreign policy it's going to be a little harder. i'd like to watch that. >> i would like to be a fly on the wall. that would be fantastic. we'll talk to admiral stavridis after the break. we'll be right back.

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>> let's work. >> i am. welcome back. president donald trump and his aides have repeatedly insisted they have had no contact with russian officials during 2016

campaign. according to "new york times," russian officials have at least twice acknowledged contacts with trump aides during the campaign. first a russian foreign minister that said two days after the election his government had maintained contacts with trump's, quote, immediate entourage during the campaign. second ambassador to washington told "new york post" he communicated with michael flynn who was a close trump adviser at the time. the "times" notes it's not uncommon for campaigns to speak with foreign officials but adds any contact during the campaign and russian officials would have occurred during a time american intelligence agencies believed the russians were trying to disrupt the u.s. presidential election. >> it's not unusual unless you have a president who says he and his team never had any contacts with russia and then suddenly it's unusual. which begs a question, doesn't it? david ignatius, we had heard

that the russians were growing wary of their relationship with donald trump. this is pretty strong evidence they are throwing him and his team under the bus with regularity these days. what can you tell us? >> i think the russians are disappointed. through the campaign trump repeatedly talked about how important it was for him to have better relations with his friend putin. he says nice things about me, i'll say nice things about him, et cetera, et cetera. we now know the russians were wageing a covert action to shape our election in that period. russians went into the post election period very helpful. i've been looking at russian financial markets behavior of certain russian companies, stock prices after trump's election. it's really interesting. they have shot up. great expectation that the end of sanctions was ahead.

russian banks that had terrible difficulty would now be free of these burdens. so they have been genuinely disappointed these question, scandal, if you will, reduced trump's ability to maneuver, much expectation of growing relations and growing fear about the russian economy. russia still under sanctions, still suffering. i think this is kind of a bitter awakening for russia. i must say talking about russia, the death of their ambassador yesterday apparently of heart failure, this was a diplomat that anybody following diplomacy knew and respected. he had a sense of humor, professional old school style. i'm sure that's another bitter pill for russia today. >> remember also donald trump at that press conference last week said, of course general flynn spoke to russia during the transition. but he said our campaign did not speak to russian officials during the campaign. let's go to former nato supreme

allied commander, dean of fletcher school of law, diplomacy tufts university retired four star navy admiral james stavridis, chief diplomacy analyst for msnbc news. want to get your reaction first of all to choice of general mcmaster. i know he worked under you in afghanistan. what kind of leader will he be with donald trump? >> well, i'm greek american, so let me join the greek chorus how terrific h.r. mcmaster is and he really is. here is a guy with a silver star in combat, phd, writes an absolutely brilliant book about integrity and speaking truth to power. hello. and has the kind of creativity he couples with planning ability. those are the two twin towers for any military ops, planning and creativity. he brings them together. what he did in afghanistan for us was tackle maybe the hardest problem there, which was

corruption inside the military, and he did very well at that. he's the complete package. >> now at the top anyway, admiral, appears we've got for policy team taking shape when you look at general mcmaster, general mattis, general kelly as well and rex tillerson at state. as you look at that in total, what kind of foreign policy team has president trump put around him? >> he's put the absolute a team together. to david ignatius point a moment ago on russia, i think the next shoe to drop in this russian relationship is going to be secretary tillerson who knows the country well, famously has a personal relationship with putin. i think that could be very positive in a moment when the two nations are really swimming apart. yes, it's an a team. the question is will president trump take advice from it. because so far we've seen so many contradictions in the foreign policy from one china

policy to two china policy. one state solution to two state solution to one state solution with varying mixed message on russia as we've talked all morning. will he take advice? i hope so. does he have the right team? absolutely. >> david ignatius. >> i want to ask ask admiral stavridis, you've been a nato commander, do you think in the atmosphere of great suspicion of russia it's possible to get some kind of progress, for example, on some arrangement for ukraine, some version of the minsk deal. >> you wrote about it, trust but verify. unfortunately we're in mistrust and investigate. i think we've got to get through this round of investigations that are inevitable kryptonite.

once we get through that, there's tons, counter-terrorism, counter-piracy, arms control, movement on ukraine is possible. but i think first we're going to have to get through the mistrust and investigate phase of this relationship. >> we also are looking at the tragic news from the libyan coast this morning where it's being reported that 74 bodies of migrants have washed ashore. libya's red crescent said the bodies washed ashore located on the mediterranean sea. the circumstances surrounding the drownings are not yet officially clear. the international organization for migration reports the migrants vessel sank after leaving libya on saturday with 110 people on board. migrant deaths have risen to record levels along the libya, italy smuggling route across the

mediterranean. this is one of many problems, admiral with migrants that are piling up literally. >> as a mariner, it just hurts your heart. i've been in those scenarios at sea and seen incredibly hard things to watch with migrants at sea. this is a particularly bad one. i'll tell you three things we ought to think about doing. one is get nato more involved across those routes. nato has been fairly effective in the aegean sea, let's get them between italy and libya and see what we can do. 800 ships in the nato alliance of the we have a lot of capacity. secondly, we have to address the challenges in libya itself. it's become primary conduit, organizations need to step up on the italian side of this thing. >> mika, you're a board member of u.n. hcr. it's crazy that when you became

a member a couple years ago, this wasn't a front page story quite as much as it is right now. there is such an extraordinary need for people to help, reach out and help, especially with so many countries, including the united states, shutting down access for a lot of refugees. >> i think this president has really sort of mangled the vision of what refugees are and what they go through to get here, which is nearly -- it's almost impossible. it takes two years. canada takes in many. you can adopt families in canada. it's very difficult here to help. i also think it's our human responsibility to help. >> but let's be fair. barack obama's refugee policy was nonexistent for places like syria for the better part of five years. >> helped create the largest

refugee cities in the world in jordan. >> i know. again, with our inaction. then we were talking about sweden over the weekend because of the president's faux pas but there was a year sweden took in 40, 50,000 refugees and barack obama only took in 3,000. again, i'm not saying donald trump is not being harsh on refugees, but it's not like we have been a country with arms open for the past five, six, seven years. >> the last administration extremely difficult for refugees and families to come here and get placed and the process of vetting was tough. but i think this president has added another layer to this already very difficult problem, and that is discrimination and a sense that all refugees are bad. he's skewed the thinking on this, admiral in a way that is not reflective of reality. would you agree?

>> i would agree completely. obviously we want to be safe. we want to vet. i think we've been doing that fairly well. can i add another reason why we ought to think about taking more refugees in? it's a pragmatic one. over time they will contribute to our society in very meaningful ways. think about how much determination and creativity and true grit it takes to put your 2-year-old daughter on your back, grab your 4-year-old son's hands and walk across turkey. i want that person on my team. we have an opportunity cost not taking many of these people. >> great point. admiral james stavridis. thank you so much. always great to have you on the show. >> thanks, everybody. coming up, intensifying on the president to do more about the recent uptick in anti-semitic attacks and threats across the u.s. we're back in just a moment.

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. yesterday i was on the twitter machine. >> like this.

>> yeah, i was. i have a huge one. >> do you have a desktop? >> yeah. just -- yeah. i saw mika was tweeting, as she always does. she lives on her twitter. >> i've been tweeting a lot lately i feel like. >> mika serious tweet, here is what you tweeted, anti-semitism must be crushed whether it's pushed by alt-right or professors on the far left. we saw a tweet later in the day ivanka trump, one of the first times she's gone out there and taken a more active role actually speaking out in response saying, america is a nation built on the principle of religious tolerance. we must protect our houses of worship and religious centers. #jcc. >> i'm glad she did that. it's always been a problem with trump himself, though, on these issues. he can't seem to actually do the

right thing. there's new pressure on the president to do more to address fears of rising anti-semitism across the united states. it follows this attack on a jewish cemetery in missouri over the weekend and another wave of bomb threats made against almost a dozen jewish community centers yesterday. >> the thing is, he condemns the violence, but i will say there has been a lack -- i don't know if this is steve bannon. i don't know exactly who it is. >> i don't get it. >> on the holocaust remembrance day he doesn't talk about the jews specifically who were attack attacked. last week he would not go through when brought up anti-semitism. he talks about it generally, but he needs to utter the word jews being attacked. anti-semitism is real. this is not a generality. anti-semitism has been on the rise not only across europe but

liberal college campuses across america and a lot of elite institutions and think attentta. now alt-right has taken it to its base form. he needs to speak out against anti-semitism and attacks jews and their culture specifically are enduring and the threats they are having to endure every day. >> especially with what's happened recently. nbc news correspondent peter alexander reports. >> at the jewish community center, a phoned in bomb threat and evacuation. the second scare in a month. police and fire crews responding. last month staff and parents hurried children to safety. some babies wheeled away in cribs. eleven separate jewish community centers receiving threatening calls. since early january, 54 centers targeted across 27 states. so far no injuries, threats all appear to have been hoaxes. >> it's absolutely outrageous

this is occurring. it's unprecedented in terps of the scale of that. >> jewish groups say these threats meant to terrify children and their families have failed. president trump questioned about rising anti-semitism has repeatedly trying to deflect criticism by emphasizing his beliefs. >> i am the least anti-semitic person you've ever seen in your life. >> as a president he's yet to announce anti-semitism. >> jewish, so many friends. a daughter who happens to be here now. >> reporter: press secretary telling nbc news made it clear these actions are unacceptable. >> we need the president onto show moral leadership, denounce the issue and steps to address this problem before communities go from anxiety to real trauma. >> reporter: so far no arrests with fbi now investigating what they call possible several right violations. peter alexander, nbc news, washington. >> so here is a parallel, right?

>> yeah. >> you remember when barack obama, according to donald trump, would not call islamic radicalism by its true name, went all around it, just wouldn't utter those words in a way that pleased donald trump? we've got actually in the first month the same thing with anti-semitism. he'll speak generally about racism. he says you won't find anybody less anti-semitic but he needs to just specifically say when there are acts against jews and the jewish culture, he has to strike out specifically against. >> a moral compass. >> against attacks on jews. >> mika raised a legitimate question. anti-semitism and racism are a constant virus in the american bloodstream, unfortunately, sadly, realistically. but is his inability or thus far to speak directly to that, is it a result of the alt-right

influence on him. >> this is real for those families. walk by a jewish school, new york city police officers out front. why out front? just another day at school. go by jcc upper west side where i was a member for a long time, although i'm not jewish, barriers up front every day. it's only gotten worse. >> just like it's important for americans, it was important for americans to think that barack obama got it and say this is islamic radicalism that is driving these attacks, it is important for jewish people, jewish family, jewish children across america to hear president trump utter those words as well. this is anti-semitism. this specifically -- not just discrimination, this is anti-semitism and i am against it and we will fight to track these people down. >> it's not hard. >> not hard. >> coming up, there's major drama coming out of cpac and the conference hasn't even started

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happen, folks, doesn't mean we don't stand in solidarity with all the people who did not suffer. and we pay tribute to all of them now. >> that's just terrible. why did he do that? my god, that was crazy. it was not right. welcome back to "morning joe." by wait, you're going to be on the colbert report. >> joe is performing. sorry, the late show. you know what i mean. >> i'm going to the wall -- >> late show.

they sell you a pile of lumber and say go home and make a book shelf. i don't know how to make a book shelf. >> we're americans. >> it's very, very difficult. that's exciting. that's a long day for you. >> putting together an ikea. >> being on the late show or colbert report. we have veteran columnist and msnbc contributor mike barnicle. columnist associated editor of "washington post" david ignatius joining conversation former communications director for ted cruz's presidential campaign now msnbc political contributor rick tyler. also with us pulitzer prize winning columnist and associate editor of "washington post" and msnbc political analyst eugene robinson. >> what are we talking about today, mika? >> we're talking about the new national security adviser, lieutenant general h.r. mcmaster taking over as national security adviser. mcmaster's selection drew widespread praise across

washington including from many top democrats. his book, "dereliction of duty" looks at joint chiefs of taaffe during war in vietnam and how they fed information to politicians. that book has shot up to number one on amazon. new york city reports he also criticized the way george w. bush's administration went to war in iraq. quote, as a commander, he was credited with demonstrating how consider can insurgency can defeat militants promising approach david petraeus adopted to shift momentum in a war, the united states was on the verge of losing. >> stop right there. david ignatius, i had no idea that actually this was part of his strategy. iraq is looked back as such a disaster on so many front. it's hard to remember just how radically things shift freddie 2006 to 2009. 2006 when war reporters would go

over to iraq and talk about it being a black hole and three years later saying -- i remember dexter coming on our show saying i do not recognize this place. it is a completely different country. that counter-insurgency started with mcmaster through petraeus. >> joe, the changes in iraq, which were startling really did begin with h.r. mcmaster in a little town racked by violence, terrible sectarian killing. he understood he had to do something different. he put his people out in the town to separate these violent factions killing each other and things began to calm down. when petraeus came in to lead the surge in 2006, the next year after he tried these things, he brought h.r. into his inner circle, group of intimate

advisers to figure out what to do differently. over those next two years, iraq did change. in mcmaster, yes, he's a brilliant intellectual, wrote a great book, but if the ballotsfieballot battlefield, horrible killing space, he found a way to reduce violence. that gives people a level of self-confidence very unusual in american life, one reason we should have confidence he'll ab good person in the white house. >> also, david, i think you'll agree with me there's a story about the army culture in both men, petraeus and mcmaster. petraeus putting together counter-insurgency plan, new counter-insurgency plan for the military. mcmaster fighting in iraq in the early stages of the war. 2011 them long distance put together the new counter-insurgency plan that

literally transformed iraq. but they did it against the culture of the army, do your job, don't talk back. they thankfully -- >> how fascinating david petraeus has long been loathed in the pentagon. he certainly was even before his most recent controversies. they hated the fact he worked around the system, he bucked the system that george w. bush ally loud him to work around the system to do this, same with general mcmaster who was passed over several times because he was not a yes man. i think that was one of the biggest surprises going to washington seeing how many generals -- always said about judges, never been a county judge that didn't want to be a circuit judge, never a circuit judge that didn't want to be -- so many generals and admirals, if they have one star they want

two. if they have two, they want three. most of them get that by great service to their country but saying yes. mcmaster, notable exception. >> not a yes man, speaks truth to power. this is really admirable this team is strong. it's very helpful. before that mcmaster earned silver star as tank commander in persian gulf when outnumbered destroyed a formation. senator tom cotton was central to trump picking mcmaster. the senator once served under the general and suggested him to the white house. "politico" reports that mcmaster wasn't on the radar until the senator reached out to steve bannon, jared kushner and reince priebus. will join us ahead in 8:00 hour. mcmaster tends to stay on active duty which scowcroft and colin powell did when they served as nsa. keith kellogg, who was acting national security adviser in the wake of flynn's departure will stay on as national security

council chief of staff. >> we know these are the kind of people that donald trump respects. has he no time for career politicians, government bureaucrats, in fact, that's why he ran because he wasn't one. he respects and listens to these people. if you listen to general mattis over the last couple of days traveling abroad, no, we're not going to take iraq's oil. i respect the press. the press is important despite what the president said. these are people who are their own men and willing to say things that may not be popular with the president. >> yeah. so the question is, will the president actually listen to mcmaster and act on his advice. for mcmaster, one question, must be something he considered, is will this job involve kind of doing what mattis is doing, cleaning up after trump. saying, no, we're not in the business of taking oil. mike pence was over in europe

also cleaning up the other mess about nato. is this a president who will listen to his national security adviser and the vice coming from various other parts of the government and giving him options, or will he continue to wing it and just kind of say these things that upset our allies and sometimes give comfort to our adversaries. annual cpac gathering of political activist difficulties invited milo after video clips resurfaced of him appearing to defend sexual relationships between adults and 13 years old boys. milo yiannopoulos. recording offi iafian -- writer described coming of age

relationships between younger boys and older men, spoke about young teen predators seducing their adult teachers and talked favorably about his own sexual experiences with ab older man. lovely. in statements on facebook, he dismissed the videos as selectively edited and wrote, in part, i'm a gay man and child abuse victim and i would like to restate my utter disgust of adults who sexually abuse minors adding i'm partly to blame. my experiences as a victim led me to believe i could say anything only subject no matter how outrageous. earlier this month his speech at uc berkeley was canceled after a protest against his appearance turned violent. let's bring in the chairman of the american conservative union. matt, seems like this decision was a bit of a no-brainer. >> we are okay with having controversy on the stage at cpac. we don't endorse everything

every speaker says at cpac. as a matter of fact, since i've been chairman, we've tried to take the controversies, especially those amongst conservatives and put them on our stage but there are boundaries. over the weekend i was made aware of these comments and it just broke through very important boundaries and we felt like cpac stage was not an appropriate place for this any longer. >> hey, matt, rick tyler. good morning. >> good morning, rick. >> milo, how do you -- he doesn't seem like a conservative to me. the conservative movement seems to me in its place, he seems like an opportunist. how did he gets invited in the first place. >> i made the decision. he came to see me. he wanted to give remarks about his experience on campus where he is often shut down. there was so much press around his attempt to speak at berkeley. we think what happens with these speech codes and chilling of free speech on campus is un-american. it's wrong. he's brave to stand up in those

situations. we don't endorse everything -- >> rick and i agree with that, the pc codes on college campuses are terrible. they chill free speech. there's a way for conservatives to push back on that hard. but he's also made some extraordinarily offensive anti-semitic remarks. so can't you find somebody else? like get ted cruz to fire off a speech against pc codes on college campuses. get anybody at cpac that's not an anti-semite. >> joe, it's a fair point. the other point is whether we like it or not, he is a big voice in this movement. we believe our attendees can handle it and make their own judgments whether or not they think a speaker is saying what is accurate or inaccurate or

being hateful. i don't want to shield that kind of conversation from our attendees. as a matter of fact, a lot of attendees want to have the conversation before them and make their own choices. >> i've known you for a long time. i know you're the type of conservative rick and i are. you certainly condemn his anti-semitic remarks, right? you're certainly deeply offended by those remarks, right? >> of course. i think in this case, i think it's very important we call balls and strikes when people are outside the zone. i think there have been plenty of times he's been outside the zone. the question is this. is it okay for people who are offensive to speak on campus. that is the point of why he was invited. >> hey, matt, willie geist. obviously cpac has been a showcase for conservative thought, where the movement is headed. do you believe milo is conservative? >> he doesn't call himself conservative, he calls himself more of a libertarian. libertarians have a very

important role at cpac. some libertarians would denise a libertarian. i do think we're throwing around, willie, a lot of lingo and trying to categorize people. the fact is he's got a voice a lot of young people listen to. i would rather have our attendees here make their own judgments than me censor them. >> before the tape came out with the pedophilia discussion, there were comments about race, comments about anti-semitism, things he said many, maybe people in that room would already find offensive had that tape not come out. >> also this charge he's associated with the alt-right, which we find repugnant. but we talked to him about that and said, look, we don't want to put you on stage if those are views you have. he said he did not have those views. he said he simply was going to talk about the fight to be heard on campus, which i think is important. >> hey, matt. >> yes, sir. >> six months ago, have you ever

heard of this guy? you ever here of him. >> i heard -- >> you're in the minority. >> throughout presidential campaign. people in my family and friends of mine send me things he said. so yeah, i was aware of him. >> do you want to sort of -- we like you here. you're a nice guy. we're going to give you a chance. you described a few minutes ago milo yiannopoulos as being brave. do you want to take that back? >> no. i think when it comes to what he does on campus -- you know, mike, you and i have different politics. you have a right to be heard in america and on campus. it's not fair that just voices on the left seem to be cherished and not voices on the right. >> that's not true. >> decided as chairman of the american conservative union, i've had people say to me we can't have speakers for gay marriage. a couple of years ago we broke through that and put that on the stage and actually debated these issues that conservatives disagree on. i think there are disagreements

about milo and about what he says. i'm comfortable with putting it on the stage and having that conversation, having that debate. he was going to have to answer all the tough questions by a moderator who had thought through these controversial statements and was going to challenge him on it. that being said, when the videos arose on his comments on sexual abuse, we could not have it any longer. >> i saw this from tim stanley yesterday, a tweet. i understand anti-pc anger as a lot of us do. in the desire to vent conservatism -- the desire to vent, conservatism is becoming decoupled from it's ethical foundations and its pursuit of virtue. we're long, lock way in 2017 from ronald reagan and kirk.

do you agree with that statement that the rage, raenlging against the pc crowd has created a hostile environment in conservatism and the movement that actually hurts conservatism? >> i definitely agree with you when you say we're a long way from ronald reagan and william f. buckley. our culture is in a completely different place. i think there's a lot of older traditional conservatives who are looking at younger voters, younger people in the country. they despair for the fact they think they have lost them. they are trying to get them back. we have to deal with the reality in which we live. i think it is unfortunate. i think there are many things ronald reagan would never have contemplated that are real and alive in our society. it's important for folks to understand that the conservatives who assemble at cpac expect to talk about the things they see on their television sets and they read about. it's not all pleasant. it's not an endorsement just

because you get an invitation. as a matter of fact, an invitation sometimes is an opening to a debate and conversation. conservatives can have that even if some folks on campuses can't. >> does cpac have an official position on the alt-right? >> yeah, we do. we don't have an official position but we've been very clear we think racism has no voice in the conservative movement. we don't think the alt-right has anything to do with the conservative movement. we know there are those who flirt with it, don't fully understand it. it's something nothing to do with. we won't endorse it and won't rationalize it. >> matt, thank you for coming on. >> thank you. >> it's a tough day to come on. i appreciate -- >> see you at cpac, matt. >> appreciate you coming on. let us hope this i a positive cpac conference and one that embraces all of america. because if conservatives are going to win the battles in the

future, we're going to have to reach out to a lot of different parts. thank you, matt. >> thank you, guys, i appreciate the opportunity. >> a lot of different parts of americans. >> i've been going to cpac for a long, long time. there's a lot of young people at cpac. i have no doubt a lot of them will be very supportive of donald trump. but donald trump needs unmy prove to prove his conservatism. he's never been can have all his life. >> he's not a conservative. >> he's not. >> he's a democrat. >> he's a trump. >> but the question will be does he subsume the conservative movement. he's the first sitting president since reagan to attend cpac. reagan defined the movement at cpac. >> it's going to be hard, rick, for that to happen. >> i think you're thinking about this more than he is. >> i think these right. >> you certainly are. but rick, there's such a libertarian bent to cpac.

how does any organization embrace not only donald trump but donald trump's republican party right now when they are going to take a $20 trillion national debt and turn it into a $30 trillion national debt. when they are going to cause an explosion not only domestic but defense, entitlement. >> trade policies. >> trade policies. >> free trade. he doesn't seem to be. >> right. so i find it hard to believe -- there are going to be a lot of people cheering for him. unless cpac, the nature of cpac completely changes, he is a big, big government republican. >> yeah. >> still ahead on "morning joe," president trump is set to announce major changes impacting the southern border today. plus new information on the plan to revise and replace the so-called travel ban. live to the white house. plus eugene robinson says president obama has already won the war over obama care. we'll read from gene's new piece ahead. you're watching morganza.

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difficult to understand that the american people voted for donald trump, get over it, because he's president of the united states. >> at the very least it would have been prudent to wait before rolling out the royal red carpet, the queen for donald trump. >> a bit of a debate in parliament over donald trump's upcoming state visit. british lawmakers arguing whether or not to withdraw the president's invitation, after a petition calling for it to be canceled was signed by 1.8 million people. coast-to-coast thousands marked holiday weekend by participating in not my president's day rally. events in new york, chicago, los angeles and two dozen other cities across the country. the rally not as big as those staged after president trump's inauguration but the message was similar. in d.c. hundreds held signs and

chanted dump trump. police blocked off streets as marched toward white house. events peaceful but in oregon some stood with police. four arrested and six juveniles cited as well. ana marie, good to see you. >> good to see you. >> we've seen the women's march, a lot of activity in the street over the last six months. what is the practical impact of that on the trump presidency? >> this is where we get into the problem about not agreeing on reality, right? if you have a group of people that really believe these are paid protesters out there. i wonder, haven't gotten my check yet, i don't know if he sent it for benefits or what, the meetings are a mess. let me tell you that. if you believe there's genuinely -- this is paid protest outside agitation,

another phrase reminiscent of the nixon era, how far from reality trump white house is. i don't look at the street protest so much as an indicator of where the pressure point is as these town halls that are going to be happening this week and are becoming a real focus. much in the same way it is a little equal and opposite reaction to tea party. these are people who read tea party playbook and want to use those tools in the same way the tea party did. >> is it interesting that republicans looked at democrats, these are crazy people in 2009. that's all democrats and obama administration, oh, this is this. they kept saying koch brothers behind these protests. >> they did fund americans for prosperity. there was a koch brother aspect. >> so the protests in 2009 --

>> i'm just saying there is a parallel. you're totally right there's a parallel. >> my point is, democrats kept telling themselves, oh, this isn't real. this is funded by koch brothers, not a grassroots type of organizations and, boom, blind-sided. seals like prps doing this. i get texts from family members, oh, they are paying protesters. no they are not. no, they are not. >> it doesn't matter who gives money to the organization that helps organize this much as koch brothers gave it to americans for prosperity, doesn't mean the protests aren't real. if people show up on their own time to one of these things, that is a real protest. it doesn't matter. >> also, mika, you look at the people at the town hall meetings. you can't pay anybody enough to go there and sit for four hours. >> it's just not happening. >> this is grassroots.

>> that actually brings us to gene's piece, obama care, a lot of voters who might have supported trump don't want to lose their health care. you write about obama care's enduring victory. republicans see they have two choices. they can snatch health insurance away from millions of people or they can replace obama care with something that looks suspiciously like obama care with a different name. house republicans have been hearing from constituents who would be bereft without the insurance they obtained under aca. a couple of gop senators have even begun talking about repairing the law rather than replacing it. whatever congress eventually comes up will have to pass muster with trump who promised to expand health coverage not reduce it. republicans will win the battle over obama care label but barack obama already won the war. you remember he really doesn't care what you call it as long as people have it. it doesn't seem like trump is going to take it away, gene, from people.

>> trump gets crowds, gene. he gets crowds. he sees those crowds at those town hall meetings. >> no. he absolutely sees it. and guess what, paul ryan and house republican leadership sees those crowds, too. and that's why the framework they came out with last week, look what's in it. no denial for pre-existing conditions. keep your kids on the policies until they are 26. some sort of assistance for those covered by medicaid expansion, all things republicans fought against tooth and nail last time and now are including in the plan just sort of as a matter of course. what president obama did with obama care was, i think, completely change the terms of the debate over health care in a way that they are not going to be changed back, because stuff just isn't going to be taken away. and so that -- they are going to call it something else. maybe trump care, i don't know.

but whatever they call it, it's going to look in terms of who it covers and how it covers they will, it's going to look a lot like obama care. it's going to look a lot like we've established that access to affordable health care is a right in this country not a privilege. >> obama gets the legacy on this. this is something no president has been able to do. it wasn't easy and it's not perfect. >> no i am concerned that what house and senate republicans put out so far it does look a lot like obama care except it benefits wealthy and not middle class and poor. the idea they are going to give blank age related subsidies rather than income related subsidies. they are definitely changing obama care in a big way if they do that. i'm concerned we're going to do exactly the opposite of what obama would want, keep the

more -- >> the neediest people kegt the care they desperately need. >> it would be fitting if you switched to rich people. >> to be fair to republicans, it's always harder, right, to take things away. it's relatively easy pr to say we're going to give you this, cover this in the government program, it is astronomically harder to take away. the debate about replacement plan, another government solution because free market solutions are so out of favor, profit is so out of favor. letting the market work is so out of favor. it's a very difficult thing. >> it rubs against assurances of obama care, a guarantee. you are going to get this guarantee. >> no matter how bad your coverage is. >> it's going to push up against free market principles at some point because that's what a guarantee is. i think republicans are in a mess right now.

whatever paul ryan and mitch mcconnell and the smartest men and women in the room come up with, if they put it out this and the town hall meetings explode, donald trump is going to see that. >> why are they doing this first? because they can? >> it doesn't get any easier. >> it's going to be disastrous, though. trump is setting them up perfectly. >> they have been telling their people forever, elect us in '10, we'll get rid of obama care, elect us in '14 we'll get rid of obama care. the problem is, whatever they come up with, donald trump can change his mind at the last minute. he's not bought into anything. >> he can put it on them. look, i asked you to come up with a plan and you didn't. so blame them. >> does not guarantee a better health care system. >> right. >> that's cheaper and reverses male pattern baldness and makes every 5'4" person 5'10".

that's whey promised the people they would do. >> this was a core campaign promise domestically for donald trump, repeal and replace obama care. there are a lot of people who voted for donald trump whose premiums went up for whom they voted. >> didn't realize they were on obama care. >> build a wall, now a fence. >> republicans want to get rid of obama care because it does great violence to their ideological belief, right? donald trump's promise had nothing to do with ideological beliefs, it's you're going to get better service and it's going to be cheaper. you're going to get better service and it's going to be cheaper. as we all said in the campaign, that will cost billions and billions of dollars. >> people always forget the socialism part of national socialism. they forget trumps ideology,

populism is -- it's socialisty. >> it is. >> populist. >> nationalism and socialism go together historically. there's a socialism component of it. donald trump has no problem with government spending clearly. >> none. >> up to him. >> replace and replace obama care. >> gene, what he's going to find in the trump revolution is what margaret thatcher -- margaret thatcher raised hell in an extraordinary way, better than any conservative. she turned britain around. she took on the unions, the male centric structure, she set london fire. you know what she didn't touch? national health care. you were there. you get to keep your health care. you were over there with the post at that time. >> she wouldn't touch it with a barge pole as they say over there, and with good reason.

one of the fascinating things, in the plan that paul ryan put out last week, there are no cost estimates. they don't even -- they don't go anywhere near the cost, because they are scared to. it's going to cost a lot of money. donald trump said it's going to be cheaper and better and everybody is going to have it. so there you have it. >> eugene robinson, thank you very much. >> you're right, ana, he's got them right where he wants them. you guys do all the work, you guys toil on the other side of pennsylvania avenue. then when i get it, i reserve the right to say yea or nay. gladiator. >> he has built promises so high. >> stay with us if you can. >> better, cheaper. >> ana marie. still ahead on "morning joe." >> he's a war hero because he was captured. i like people who weren't captured, okay? >> i think he may owe an apology to the families of those who

have sacrificed. >> john mccain, he criticized your event in phoenix saying you brought out the extremists, crazies. >> called them crazies. that was a very insulting thing. they were all very insulted. >> no love lost between those two i'm thinking. >> no. >> none at all. ahead we're going to speak with new york magazine's gabe sherman for his much discussed profile of senator john mccain and his views of president trump. "morning joe" is back in a moment. every tv doctor knows that

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so i have an important question for you. we're going through all of these newspapers and i don't see anything in here about what americans want to know, mika. >> what do they want to know? they are so good. i love them. >> what's going on. >> blue eggs every day. why are you asking? donna, gina, nugget. >> why is there no omelet bar? >> they just moved in. it takes a while to get comfortable to lay eggs. >> blue eggs. >> do blue eggs taste like a blueberry. >> they are beautiful, so fresh. i'll bring some in.

>> i don't think we should breeze past one of your chick bs is names nugget. it's like naming a piggybackon. >> she's shy, very shy. >> is she the first to go. >> gina and madonna are very outgoing. are you trying to help normalize me with people. they live on my porch. >> three chickens, two dogs, cats does not normalize you. >> two rabbits. >> here is the deal. >> i rescue animals. >> three dogs, three chickens. >> all rescues. >> two rabbits, two cats. >> they are so cute. >> do they speak to you? >> yes, they do. i do that, they come back. >> you know what else, you're red america. >> this is not going to help. any day now, i see what you're trying to do. >> what am i trying to do? what am i trying to do? >> president trump signing executive order, expected to

stay the same. "politico" reports that the administration is mulling whether to drop the indefinite ban on syrian refugees as well as a possible exemption for people holding dual citizenship. joining us now from the white house nbc news national correspondent peter alexander. peter, what are you hearing? >> mika, i have to idea what you guys were just talking about there, but i'll tell you what i know -- >> peter, do you have any chickens? >> we don't. we don't presently. >> there's my blue egg. my first one. thank you, nugget. >> a key to the garden. if wants to get into the carrot patch. >> peter, sorry. wait. let's talk about "morning joe" memories. one of my favorite "morning joe" memories, great standup, very professional and then we asked you to sprint across a football field. he did and pulled a hamstring. >> good memories. fond memories, joe, thanks. >> for us. >> go ahead. i'm sorry, peter.

>> please. continue. >> so the bottom line, at the risk of getting ahead of the president who until he signs anything is a little bit dangerous, the senior administration officials here are telling me likely toward the end of this week he's going to sign revised executive order on immigration. what will likely stay is it will temporarily halt travel from seven predominantly muslim countries, iraq, iran, libya, syria and others. there will be some exemptions for green card holders and dual citizens. but what appears to be changing is there will not be an indefinite blanket ban on syrian refugees coming to this country. president trump during that news conference last week said basically this revised order was intended to be tailored to deal with what he called a bad idea from the courts. the bottom line is obviously this white house and this administration wants this to have a better chance of survival so they sort of tried to address the things more objectionable

politically and also objectionable legally here. crafting department of justice, homeland security, also state department this time playing a role. remember rec tillerson wasn't secretary of state when the first order came out. behind it from the white house once again is the senior policy director stephen miller. joe and mika. >> thank you. >> we'll see about little stephen. they are actually letting lawyers handle it this time. i think it's cute they are letting him keep his name on this. >> does he have a little schoolboy desk. >> they are passing this around. they are using inner agency, radical concept. david ignatius, obviously homeland security had problems with this before, tried to save miller and bannon from embarrassment and were pushed off in the middle of the night. i take it they are far more

involved this go-round. >> they are. i was able to talk to secretary of homeland security on stage in munich on saturday and asked him specifically what's this new executive order going to look like in an attempt to pass muster with the federal courts in washington. he said it's going to be narrower. it's going to be tighter. it's going to be less confusing to people, as peter alexander said it won't -- it will recognize green card holders and visa holders as legitimate. the details of how syrian refugees were treated, he didn't talk. i should note he also said to this audience that the administration is worried about what's going to happen when the isis capital in iraq of mosul is finally taken. there's going to be, he fears, a breakout of people who have been there towards the west. there will be a real terrorism

issue and they are worried about that. yes, they are trying to get this closer to being right, but they still see the underlying terrorism concern. i'm sure that's going to be part of how they put this together. >> joining us now democratic senator from rhode island, out with a new book "captured, corporate infiltration of american democracy." it's great to have you on the show. >> thank you, mika, honored to be with you. >> the book is about the fight against money and politics? where are we beginning here? >> well, you start with corporations outlobbying the world by 30-1. you add one corporate fund alone spend $700 million in the last election, promising $400 million in the next. you go to administrative agencies where regulatory capture is a phenomenon, renowned. you go to the courts that are increasingly packed with business friendly judges and juries that are virtually extinct. you have things like climate denial operation, which is the

first alternative facts operation. you put all that together and what you end up with is a government that's not very responsive to the american people. >> does this explain bernie's rise. >> i think it explains bernie's rise and trump's rise. people are ticked off people aren't listening to them. >> both sides. isn't that crazy, on both sides you actually had the two candidates that were the least reliant on wall street money during the campaign. >> i was going to say -- >> of course during the campaign, now that's all changed. goldman sachs and all the tentacles moved back in around trump. >> why does that happen whether you have a republican in the white house, democrat in the white house, outsider or insider, goldman sachs always ends up running treasury. >> this book tries to explain that there's a network of corporate influence they can play their hands through, and they are also very clever about not trying to take credit.

nobody puts the press release out when they have gotten a senator to say, okay, i'm not going to mess around with climate change anymore. nobody puts a flag over regulatory agency they have just captured. they do it quietly. the danger now is with this sort of orange meteor of trump coming across the political firmament tweeting and getting everybody's attention, quiet s, they are ok. >> they don't care about trump bashing them. they don't care what he says, they care what he does. what he does is clear -- >> hand treasury over to goldman sachs. >> got rid of the law that would have made financial advisers -- >> actually the first interest of their clients first. >> what scares you the most,

with them -- >> what scares me the most is that people will lose their faith in american democracy and get angry at our system of government when it is actually the victim in the piece is actu the victim in the piece, not the villain and we won't step up with the problem that pervades so much of our frustration. >> people are angry with the government, that's why he got elected. >> i think it's a mistarget to blame the government for this. the government has been occupied by corporate office. if you can withdrawal them, grow back to a world where we were more comfortable with our government and people thought they had a chance. >> that's a big task. how do you do it? >> disclosure. getting corporations out of politics and people being more active. this set of forces would love to have everybody sit on the couch

and treat citizenship as consumership. that's not the way the founder fathers had this in mind. it's an active role. we need to get back to that. you can't sit on your couch and see whose ad ticks you off the most and whose manipulation of your facebook gets your receptors the most. >> protests we are seeing stand in what you are saying in terms of, you have to be active. >> well, they are a sign of activity. i don't know they have come into focus on this particular problem. >> i see it up close and personal every day. >> you had a couple weeks ago, protests at a town hall meeting. people are ticked. what are they protesting? >> they are protesting the fact that trump was president and the fact that the world appeared to have come unhinged and they wanted really strong statements from progressive democrats like myself that i was going to resist and fight and push back.

because i supported the members of the national security team that i felt created grown ups around the white house, it was a safeguard for everybody. they didn't see it that way. that was part of it. pompeo was the greatest irritant to those folks. >> again, another independent minded guy that spent his time at the house of representatives pushing back. >> appears to have on several occasions. >> pushing back against trump and allies with the wall street journal. what about hearing nothing but praise. >> every time they add a grown up into that equation, we should all be happy. he's a certified card carrying grown up and very, very respected military officer of his peers. >> that's good news. >> is that what gives you hope the fact that seemingly picked one more grown up? >> that protects against what

one republican witness in the armed services called the wildly stupid, dangerous and illegal decisions the white house could be expected to make. that's the republican witness talking. so, that's one small piece. but that doesn't really affect the larger problem of a government that is nonresponsive to human beings because they are dependent on corporate support and infiltrated by corporate power. >> how does the democratic party push back? you look at the candidate who ran in 2016. there was no other candidate ever more connected to wall street or big money, massive money than hillary clinton and bill clinton. where does the democratic party go from here? >> i think we missed having this message. i think it's one -- >> didn't miss it, there was someone with this message -- >> it would be fair of this

message. i mean, we have been here before. it was, you know, teddy roosevelt who led the progressives against the last time corporations took over. we won that fight and then they crept back in again. we have to have that fight all over again. i think democrats ought to make this a priority and ought to have confidence that if teddy roosevelt, by the way, fdr was a strong fighter on this as well. if they can do it, we can do it. with modern media and the ways people get to folks through social media, it's more dangerous now than it was with the first progressives. >> "the corporate infiltration of american democracy." looks like a great read. >> thank you for coming on. >> mika has chickens. >> i'm from rhode island, we have the rhode island red. >> yes. i have one, gina. >> a great bird. >> senator, thank you so much

for being on. coming up, we need to talk about the void at the state department. rex tillerson not being backed up. it's great to have all these adults in the room, but they need staff and people giving them actual power. also ahead, much more on the national security adviser, h.r. mcmaster. he warned of mistaken tactics in iraq and vietnam saying this, targeting enemies is not a strategy. merely a militarized version of george castanza in seinfeld. you are watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. >> they love me. >> and then? >> i lost them. i can usually come up with one good comment during a meeting. by the end, it's buried under a pile of gaffes. >> when you hit that high note, say good-bye and walk off. >> no small diseases, only small

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a man of tremendous talent and tremendous experience. i watched and read a lot over the last two days. he is highly respected by everybody in the military. >> i would like to say what a privilege it is to continue serving our nation. i'm grateful to you for that opportunity. i look forward to joining the national security team and doing everything i can to advance and protect the american people. thank you very much, sir. >> you are going to do a great job. >> lieutenant general h.r. mcmaster is taking over as national security adviser in the wake of the scandal that caused michael flynn the top job. >> mike barnicle has something to say here. >> yeah. >> thank you, jesus. >> the president introducing him yesterday in florida after

interviewing four top candidates. >> i literally tweeted that. >> it's unanimous. >> thank you, jesus, dot, dot, dot. >> ability, intellect, everything you need. >> good morning, everyone. >> don't look now, willie, with all the chaos that's been going on the past month, we have a good top-notch national security team, top to bottom. mattis and tillerson and now mcmaster, kelly, pompeo. >> if we can find tillerson. >> he's getting the short end of the stick. we'll talk about that. >> the question that you have all these strong, respected guys, the question is, will their voices be heard above donald trump's voice? >> the answer is so yes.

i have never seen, i mean, especially since you have so many alpha males, leaders, generals, these are people who don't, they are not going to say, oh, okay, we'll get the oil because you told us to. they are not doing it. >> also, what we have seen as far as foreign policy goes, sometimes it takes us through this route. donald trump, when it comes to foreign policy, his first idea is an awful idea. we ended up with mattis. the first idea, his gut instinct for secretary of state, awful. his gut instinct for department of homeland security, awful. but he didn't go with that. he waited. he sifted through everything. and we actually, again, we end up, of course, we had to get rid of flynn, first, but it is pretty remarkable. >> we are trying to figure out the president. if you look at this choice, like mattis and kelly, they are

people hillary clinton could have picked. they received wide acclaim across the spectrum. trying to figure out the president. people who think the president is good for nothing, horrible, bad judgment, these picks represent extraordinarily good consensus bipartisan judgment. >> excuse me. >> yeah. >> the root strength of mcxha mcmaster, the book, it's a difference between physical and moral courage among field commanders up to the joint chief of staff. you speak back when you think it's gone awry. >> along with us is david ignatius. >> david ignatius why don't you chime in here of us being shocked and stunned and we turn around after a month of chaos and have a national security team we wouldn't mind sending across the world. >> that's a general statement.

>> general mcmaster is the real deal. he is a warrior, intellectual. he is someone who made his name through his career speaking truth to power. this is a man who almost didn't get promoted to general, he's passed over twice because he was his own person. he spoke out. he wouldn't play the promotion games. i first met general mcmaster in iraq when he was as much as anybody the shaper of the idea that we could push back, contain the violence. he was up in a place, a city suffering under the burden of -- he figured, i have to get my soldiers out of the center, out of the basis they were in and into the community, reduce the level of violence. that became dave petraeus' way. he was key to helping him think through. i saw him in afghanistan. he had the insight.

the problem in afghanistan is it wauz corrupt, broken society. unless you fix the corruption, you can't fix the place. it's a terrific choice. when john mccain, your biggest critic says you made an outstanding choice, president trump, that's a good sign. too little experience in national security policy. he's a smart man and he'll learn. >> the harshest critics of trump were some of those praising him the most yesterday for this selection. what's so interesting is, you have a cabinet with generals that actually are acting as a moderating influence on a commander in chief because they have been in the middle of the most ha lashs battles. there's nothing glorious about

power. it has limits that soft power, as we found out, it does more than hard power a lot of times. that's really important. when you start looking around the general, around donald trump, i love what somebody said about general mattis. he thought he was getting pat ton, he ended up with george marshall. >> mcmaster selection, as national security adviser widespread praise across washington including from top democrats. his book, as you mentioned, mike, "dereliction of duty" that looked at joint chief of staffs during vietnam. that book shot up to number one on amazon. "the new york times" says he criticized the way president george w. bush's went to war in iraq. how a counter insurgency strategy could defeat in iraq demonstrating the promise of an

approach that general david petraeus adopted to shift momentum and warn the united states was on the verge of losing. before that, he earned the silver star as a tank commander in the persian gulf when his armored company destroyed an iraqi formation. tom cotton was central to trump picking mcmaster. the senator served under the general and suggested him to the white house. politico report that is mcmaster wasn't on the dharun till the senator reached out to kushner and reince priebus. >> this cotton story, it's remarkable how much respect he had for general mcmaster. when mcmaster got passed over the first time, he said the hell with this. if this is what the army does to their best, i'm getting out. it's how much respect tom cotton had. it's hard, mark, to find somebody that worked closely with general mcmaster that

didn't feel the same way. >> widespread support. getting john mccain enthusiastic is great for any administration since he can raise a lot of ruckus. >> by the way, a hawk on russia. we have to underline those hawks on russia. he is a huge hawk on russia. >> you have the opportunity for this team to assert themselves in terms of how they deal with the president and the vice president. what are they going to get done? are they going to be reactive and deal with thing that is come in as a crises or a vision? some manage it. others are actually strategists and tacticians and think big picture. we don't know. is he going to manage the office? there's an opportunity for this team of people with respect for each other. flynn had a lot of problems.

one wauz growing unease against the national security team. every indication is the rest of the team will welcome the choice and have the opportunity to build something. >> we have much more ahead about h.r. mcmaster as reports come with unease. can he bring a culture change? s plus, senator tom cotton will inform top advisers to put the general on the administrations radar. he joins us just ahead. you are watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. ♪ why do so many businesses rely on the u.s. postal service? because when they ship with us, their business becomes our business. ♪ that's why we make more e-commerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country. ♪ here, there, everywhere. united states postal service

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mcmaster replaced general michael flynn, who was fireed from the job. yesterday, the vice president discussed flynn's exit for the first time. >> i'm very grateful for the close working relationship i have with the president of the united states. i was disappointed to learn that

the facts that had been conveyed to me by general flynn were inaccurate. we honor general flynn's long service to the united states of america and i fully support the president's decision to ask for his resignation. it was the proper decision. it was handled properly and in a timely way. >> vice president pence had to say what he was going to say about general flynn. don't forget the white house council didn't just tell general flynn about the russia connection, what was said on the wiretaps. other people in the white house knew. he should seek apologies for other people in the white house who allowed him to go on tv and lie. >> including the president who knew for two weeks. >> it comes at a time of unease where members were jittery over the way it's been run so far and theout of michael flynn. the anxiety was spoked in recent

days after an nsc staffer brought in by the trump administration was dismissed after he criticized mr. trump in a private discussion at a washington, d.c. think tank. white house spokeswomen said anyone who doesn't support his agenda shouldn't be part of the administration. >> mark? >> based on the facts as we know them, i don't think the administration necessarily had an unacceptable view. staff who attacks the president at a meeting in washington -- >> publicly. >> a private meeting, but plenty of people in the room. >> doesn't matter if it's a private meeting or not. as a member of congress, if one of my staff members went to a meeting and criticized me and i heard about it, i would go, why not work with somebody you are more comfortable with. >> it goes back to two issues -- >> by the way, i do love when there's so much chaos in this administration, so many horrid

things over the past month. i love when stories like this say somebody went out and called trump the anti-christ and he fired them. well, if you don't believe in the person you are working with, then you should leave. there are some things to be shocked at. this is not one of them. >> differentiate between things the administration does and something like this. the other thing is, despite the reassurance sent by the latest appointment, there are plenty of people in the intelligence community, the state department, pentagon, nsc staff that are uncomfortable with things that have gone on. >> yes. >> and something they need to get their arms around. >> donald trump, will the president of the united states give this great selection the ability to staff up the way he needs to staff up? will they force him to keep mcfarland as the number two

when, let's say it, everybody in washington says she's woefully ill equipped for the position. i don't say that. every human being who interacted with her in that capacity says she is woefully ill equipped for that position. does mcmaster have the power to say i don't want her there. i'm uncomfortable with steve bannon in here. if you can't put your own team together, then all the things we are saying that are great about this guy end up being worth nothing. >> we are going to find that out. the initial indications are he will bring in his own staff. general kellogg is going to stay at chief of staff in the nsc. david ignatius, you might be able to lend more to this than i can bring to the table, but i have been told repeatedly over the past five, several years by the republican administration, george w. bush and especially barack obama's administration, the nsc staff is too large, too

bureaucratic. whether general mcmaster can thin that down is a question that will be resolved. do you know or have you heard about his inability to pick his own people? >> i have heard that general mcmaster is going to have as free a hand as you can. i don't know -- framing his staff and setting his mandate. his predecessor, general flynn, wanted to reduce the size of the staff, make it less operational. there's a phrase that general mcmaster will remember from the time he was in iraq and afghanistan, the 5,000 mile screwdriver which means the nsc staff is trying to do tiny management things from a vast distance, calling up in the middle of your night to check on something or tell you what to do. i think mcmaster will not want

to be that kind of very centralizing, controlling manager. the problem is, he's got one of the most difficult and political jobs in washington. he's got to run this three-ring circus of all these strong personalities in the agencies, make them work together and report up to a president who is inexperienced. so, he'll have his difficulties as well equipped as he is and never face anything like this. >> coming up on "morning joe," president trump and his aides insisted they had no contact with russian officials during the 2016 campaign. some russian officials claim it's not the case. we'll get into the reporting from "the new york times," ahead.

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welcome back. president donald trump and his aides insisted they have had no contact with russian officials during the 2016 presidential campaign. according to "the new york times" russian officials have at least twice acknowledged contact with trump aides during the campaign. first, a russian foreign

minister said his government maintained contacts with trump's immediate entourage during the campaign. second, ambassador to washington staid he frequently communicated with michael flynn, a close trump adviser at the time. the times notes it is not uncommon for campaigns to speak with foreign officials, but adds any contact between the trump campaign and trump officials would have occurred during the time american intelligence agencies believe the russians were trying to disrupt the u.s. presidential election. >> it's not unusual unless you have a president who says he and his team never had any contacts with russia. then suddenly it's unusual. it begs a question, doesn't it? david ignatius, we heard the russians were growing wary of their relationship with donald trump. this is strong evidence they are throwing him and his team under

the bus with regularity these days. what can you tell us? >> i think the russians are disappointed. through the campaign, trump repeatedly talked about how important it was for him to have better relations with his friend putin. he says nice things about me, i'll say nice things about him, et cetera, et cetera. we know the russians were trying to shape our election during that period. they went into the post election -- i have looked at the markets, the behavior of certain russian stock prices. it's interesting. it shot up. great expectation, end of sanctions was ahead. russian banks had terrible difficulty would be free of these burdens. they have been genuinely disappointed that this scandal, if you will, these questions have really reduced trump's room

to maneuver. the expectation of warming of relations. there's growing fear about the effects of the russian economy. russia is still under sanctions and suffering. this is a bitter awakening for russia. i must say we are talking about the death of a u.n. ambassador today, apparently of heart failure thchlt is a diplomat that anybody following diplomacy knew and respected, he had a sense of humor, professional old school style. i'm sure that's another bitter pill for russia today. coming up on "morning joe," return of the maverick. a new profile of the senator has him relishing a role, standing up to the president. gabe sherman joins us with his brand-new piece on that. first, senator tom cotton is standing by. you are watching "morning joe." we'll be right back.

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mika, can i ask you something? >> yeah. >> how many times a day, because we all saw this around the table, how many times a day do you facetime your chicken? it's disturbing. just checking in with the chickens. >> i do love them. about as many times as mark halperin takes a picture of his baby. >> it's a baby. it's a human baby. are you comparing mr. halperin's human being to your chick snn. >> i love my chickens. i don't think you want to hear about them anymore. >> joining us from little rock republican senator tom cotton of arkansas. >> tom cotton, new dad.

>> that's nice. >> also a man they are credited with mr. mcmasters. tell us about general mcmaster. you go back a long way with him. i was just telling the story about when he got passed over for a promotion, you took it quite personally. >> yeah, joe. i want to commend the president for picking general mcmaster. it reflects great credit on him as does the entire national security cabinet. he's been a legendary officer in the army for years. he fought in the gulf wor. he was commander in the war. he's an unorthodox thinker. he's never marched to the beat of the army drum, so to speak. in 2006 and 2007, he was passed over for a promotion from colonel to one star.

i and others at the time were discouraged by that. i submitted resignation papers in part because of how they treated him. i withdrew those but bob gates recognize what had a leader he was and recalled general petraeus and gave him his first star. >> are you at all concerned about what's happening at state or what's not happening there with jobs being filled and rex tillerson seeming to be a little out of the loop? >> we are still very early in the process. we have a lot of positions left to fill in the senate. the pace has been very slow. whether it's state or defense or homeland security, we do need to move on to filling in the subcabinet. the president created one of the best national security cabinets in modern times. i look forward to seeing the sub

cabinet nominations and moving more quickly than we have been able to. >> it's willie geist. we saw pictures of the cabinet you are talking about. mattis, kelly, now mcmaster and rex tillerson. many people think, i would say most people think donald trump respects generals and respects ceos and will defer to these men on foreign policy. as you look at the team, are you able to identify a trump doctrine on foreign policy? what do the picks mean? >> i think the president respects generals, as do i and most americans. the generals he's put in his cabinet, men like jim mattis and john kelly, now h.r. mcmaster, they were colonels when the war started. the lives we lost on the war were not just names, they were the young soldiers with whom they trained in the same gym and ate in the same dining hall.

they knew these men. they know the highest priority is the preservation of piece and the avoidance of war. i think donald trump appreciates that and wants to make america tough and strong and respected in the world again, not so we can win wars, but to avoid them. >> this makes us less likely to commit troops to places like syria, for example? >> well, any military officer who has seen the face of war is going to be reluctant to commit troops cavalierly and without national security interest at stake. at the same time, they recognize we have to recognize the country and the core interests. what i think general mcmaster's appointment will ensure is every cabinet necessary and the expertise of the public servants they represent will be fully aired and the president will have all the information he needs to make to get to the right decision for our country. >> senator, last week we failed to take enough note of the fact

that general hall moore died. general moore led the airborne into the valley in october, november of 1965, the first battle in the war in vietnam that spelled out what the war was going to be all about. general mcmaster, with his ph.d. thesis that became a best selling book spoke truth to power about what went wrong in that war. general moore was one of his principal objectives in terms of moore speaking out against the body count. mcmasters role in speaking truth to power has continued throughout his career. do you think there is any potential point of conflict between general mcmaster at the national security council because of who he is and what he stands for coming up against people like steve bannon and perhaps the president of the united states? >> well, i have no doubt there will be disagreements within the

national security cabinet, mike. that's always the case. what general mcmaster's role is in keeping with the best people that served in that role, an honest worker like brent or stephen hadley, to resolve the disagreements when they can at a level below the president. if they cannot be, frame the disagreements and make the president well informed with the expertise the national security experts bring so the president can make the right decision. you are right to site h.r. mcmaster's book "dereliction duty." it was required reading when i was in the army, i suspect it still is. it make as point the generals in the policymaking process failed in the vietnam war because they didn't give advice and push back strongly enough from white house micromanagement. it's a coordinating body, not policymaking. when they get into details, it's incompetent as we saw in the

last administration in afghanistan or illegal. i think general mcmaster appreciates that and president trump chose him for that insight and the experiences he had. >> if i could ask you about health care, you and other republicans are asking about the transition away from the affordable care act. can you talk about ways they have benefited from the affordable care act and why you are concerned about the transition? >> obviously, we don't want the same abrupt problems as when obamacare was implemented. whatever the timing is, repealing obamacare and replacing it with a new health care reform approach. we need a gradual transition into that next phase. there will be a phasing of one to two years, at least. i want to make sure everyone has access to affordable and quality personalized health care. that was the promise of

obamacare but it made a lot of problems in the health care system worse. it didn't deliver. >> how do you rate the president's first month in the white house? we have been sort of knocking around here, obviously been very, very critical of him over the past month on several counts for being disorganized, being undisciplined with his communication especially on twitter and yet we look at his foreign policy team. it's almost like a tale of two administrations. i'm wondering how you sort through all that to try to get an overview of how this administration has done over the first month. >> the thing that is matter and the things that are going to last, president trump is off to a good start. gor gorsuch has taken the action to fully the campaign promises

like starting a wall on the southern border. ultimately, presidencies are largely defined by legislative action the way roosevelt was defined by the social security act, ronald reagan by tax legislation. so, we are going to have to deliver over the next year, over the next four years with major legislation to reform the health care system, to reform the tax code, to build up our military for president trump to deliver on all the promises that he made during the campaign. >> all right. senator tom cotton, thank you so much. >> we greatly appreciate it. thank you for strongly encouraging the white house to make the selection they did. it makes a difference. a lot of people breathing a sigh of relief this morning. >> thank you all. good to be on with you. >> take care. this morning, continued reaction to president trump's claim that sweden is suffering because of mass immigration from the middle east. yesterday, trump tweeted, give

the public a break. the fake news media is trying to say that large scale immigration in sweden is working out beautifully. not. hours later, swedish prime minister, reacted saying we have challenges, no doubt about that, but added we must all take responsibility for using facts correctly and for verifying anything that we spread. pointed obviously directly at donald trump who has spread lies as he accused the media of being fake. swedens prime prevention council found no significant increase in crimes from 2015-2016. the council did note an increase in assaults and rapes last year, but recorded a drop in thefts and drug offenses. former swedish prime minister tweeted yesterday, last year, there were approximately 50% more murders only in orlando,

orange in florida where trump spoke the other day than in all of sweden. bad. the president acknowledged that his comments at saturday's rally were inspired by a fox news segment that said refugees are creating problems for sweden. two swedish police officers in a clip of a documentary used in that fox segment say their answers were edited out of context and called the film, quote, made by a madman. however, half the swedish public are inclined to see things the way trump does. a poll found 46% of swedes believe refugees are more to blame than others and 57% believe the increase the chance of terrorism. >> there obviously is concern whether it's sweden, who took an extraordinary number of refugees given the size of their population. also, germany and, by the way,

these concerns can be well founded. >> the president will tweet that, that's my guess. >> the president what? >> will tweet that poll. >> i'm saying, you can have legitimate concerns. >> it's fair to have concerns. >> when germany was accepting all the immigrants they were accepting, i was concerned for them. when i heard sweden was accepting 40,000 in one year, i was worried for sweden. mark brzezinski is over there. and, generally worried that the eu has had such a lax immigration policy and such a lax policy regarding movements across the boarder. it's an invitation for terror attacks. that said, donald trump, if he just used a little subtlety and stuck to the facts, he would

make a very strong point and a lot of americans and europeans would respond to positively. >> it's the latest example of he goes too far and critics do. under lying it all, there's a serious policy issue about how to address what is for a lot of europeans and americans a problem that needs nuance and not the block and white trump accusation. >> trump always overreach, his criti critics over reach, then you have the fake facts on both sides. the fact is, if i'm a frenchman voting in 2017, i'm not going to vote for that. i'm very concerned about immigration to my country. the same thing, germany. germany is having elections in the fall in 2017. that's going to be a top issue. this is really, again, one of the things that's been a bit

offensive to me. the suggestion that any german concerned about the influx of refugees is sooen phobic and you can draw a line from that to adolf hitler in 1933. that is an overstatement. the media painted it. just because somebody in germany or france is concerned, that doesn't mean the rise of white nationalism in europe. >> i mean, it's awfully easy for us to sit here in the united states and say things like that or write things like that, but whether you are in europe or germany or france or wherever, you are in a continent where there are open borders. they have been victimized by open borders much more so than any other part of the world. there's no denying that. >> and economies not doing great. >> not doing great. people in paris died, this sounds harsh, but people in paris died in the fall of '15

because there were open borers across europe and belgian authorities did not do their job. >> there's a point, but he blew up his own point. time for business. uber enlisted the services of former u.s. attorney eric holder, the attorney general. dominic chu joins us now. good morning. >> good morning, willie. the law firm he works for is part of the case. eric holder has been retained by uber. he's going to lead an independent review to see if sexual harassment has merit there. he is going to look at diversity in the work flas. arianna huffington will be part of the probe as well. any type of sexual harassment or workplace discrimination would not be tolerated. a few pieces of deal related news. a $2 trillion ipo. saudi arabias oil company wants

to sell stock to the public. according to the wall street journal, it's leaning toward listing in new york. those sources say a number of other locations like london and toronto have been considered as well. verizon is in the process of buying yahoo!'s internet business. the price got smaller. they agreed to cut the merger by $350 million. guys, i just want to point this out, in the last few minutes here, we have a food service merger to talk about. burger king's parent company, the parent company of tim horton will buy popeyes for $1.8 billion. just the last couple minutes. breaking news for you. >> will they be available at one location? i have a whopper and popeyes. >> thank you so much, dominic. the thing is, yahoo! they better close that deal fast.

pretty soon, all they are going to get is three pokemon cards and some kelloggs proof of purchase. close that deal. >> move fast. still ahead on "morning joe," maverick rides again. we'll talk about how john mccain is relishing his new role standing up to president trump. keep it on "morning joe." ♪ heigh ho heigh ho ♪ ♪ heigh ho heigh ho it's off to work we go here's to all of you early risers, what's up man? go-getters, and should-be sleepers. from all of us at delta, because the ones who truly change the world, are the ones who can't wait to get out in it.

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it's your attitude. >> he's a wild card. flieby the seat ofis pants. unpredictable. >> maverick. >> okay. you just can't play enough "top gun." >> you can't. now to the real maverick, senator john mccain and his complicated relationship with donald trump. >> it's not complicated. >> he's a war hero because he was captured. i like people that weren't captured. >> i think he mayo an apology to the families of those who have sacrificed -- >> john mccain, he criticized your event in phoenix saying you brought out the extremists and crazies. >> called them crazy. they were all very insulting. she was standing there with nothing to say. maybe she wasn't allowed to have anything to say. you tell me. >> senator mccain is out with a statement. it's time for donald trump to

set an example for our country. president trump responded on twitters they should focus on isis, illegal immigration and border security instead of looking to start world war iii. >> when you lose an airplane and a life is lost, i don't think you can call it a success. >> president trump is tweeting about john mccain. he's been losing so long, he doesn't know how to win anymore. >> the false reporting by the media, by you people, the false, horrible, fake reporting. >> we need a free press. we must have it. it's vital. by the unwillingness to separate truth from lies. when mr. trump attacks women, i have to part company. in many respects, this administration is in disarray. the whole environment is one of dysfunction in the trump administration. as far as national security is concerned.

joining us now, national affairs editor and msnbc contributor, gabriel sherman. good to have you on board. he looks at mccain's role now that trump is president with a cover story entitled, how many chances do you get to be an american hero. it was not two weeks into donald trump's presidency and john mccain was the fiercest critic of the new administration. mccain is not a republican in name only, he is a true believer, an elder of the tribe. he does not exactly relish being deemed the loyal opposition. some are saying you are trump's number one nemesis. is that the role you are trying to stake out? mccain shook his head. it's convenient for the media to say that if interpreter who is worked in iraq are not allowed in the united states, i'm going to speak up. if that makes me a nemesis of the president of the united states, you can label me as such. he's his own man, for sure. you don't think he's staking out

the opposition for any other reason except that he's john mccain, the maverick? >> yeah, i think this piece was an effort to get inside the mind of republicans in washington. mccain is saying publicly what you all know he is saying privately. this white house don't know what direction they are going. mccain is, like tom cotton a fan of the national security team. but then he sees what trump tweets and says and is like this guy is out of control. it's trying to understand. john mccain is trying to hold trump accountable for the nature. >> does john mccain see this as one of the most important missions of his life? >> you know, he's -- >> checking trump's power? >> he does. he won't articulate that. his friends and advisers do. this is the faze of mccain's career that he can take out the

statesman like principle. this is what the country stands for. that speech is where he says these are the western values. these are big ideas. >> how many of you heard, it was remarkable, mccain giving a speech in europe and my phone is blowing up. several people saying this is the highlight of john mccain's career. >> this was the best of mccain. this is the mccain a lot of people in 2000 got behind. we should point out, mccain is an imperfect vehicle for this. remember, he chose sarah palin as his running mate. that ushered in the age of trump. >> yeah. >> he's an imperfect messenger. he's trying to do the right thing. >> this is not a new thing for him. he was critical of president obama and george w. bush. even reagan in beirut as well. has he always looked at himself as the guy to poke the chief

executive? >> i think so. they were policy debates. i think this is deeper. this is about values and america's role in the world. he sees trump and steve bannon, he thinks, you know, basically has a fundamentally dangerous world view about this america first isolationism. the mccain/trump fight is bigger than a policy fight about the direction in the war in iraq. >> beneath the policy, there's the personal. trump likes big personalities, so does mccain. do they have personal repore at all? >> he said he only met trump once or twice in his life at a frund raiser. trump called and asked for suggestions for defense and mccain recommended petraeus, mattis and ayotte. ayotte, she didn't support me. they don't have much of a personal relationship. i think that's a problem. it goes into this public -- >> that's confirmed.

sth >> that is confirmed. does mccain have -- does he believe republicans -- lindsay is always going to be by his side. you have a couple others that seem to have shown courage. but, is he confident that fellow republicans will have the guts to stand-up to him when trump does thing that is are chilling, like questioning the legitimacy of the federal judge or calling the press the enemies of the people? >> the short answer is no. i think mccain's strategy is playing the long game. he thinks public pressure on trump, especially around russia is such that republicans will move in his direction. he thinks in the short run, he told an adviser, i look around and there's no one behind me. he's out there alone. >> did you talk to other republicans? >> yeah. >> ben sass is a guy that is willing to speak out.

>> i talked to jeff flake and others. they say we like a lot of things trump is going. the problem is, they like the cabinet picks. so, mccain is really out there. >> mika? >> yeah. i think he is. sometimes i feel like he's saying what we are thinking and other republicans aren't. >> yeah. he is. i think mccain gets a lot of flak from the left for voting for trump's cabinet picks. he's not going to vote down a cabinet pick because he likes them on policy just to make a stance against trump. he wants to pick the big fights. >> mark? >> what is john mccain's greatest fear about trump? >> i think that we, you know, fundamentally order america's role in the world. he does follow through and makes an alliance with putin, breaks up the european union and see a fundamental new order. the bannon order is mccain's biggest fear. >> gabe's piece is the cover

story for the issue of new york magazine. thank you very much. >> by the way, sign sum this up, our biggest fear is that. he will take hold of the white house in a more significant way. >> a real fear. that does it for us. stephanie ruhle picks up the coverage now. >> thank you so much, mika. thank you, joe. good morning. i'm stephanie ruhle. we have breaking news for you. president trump touring the national museum of african-american history at this moment. this, of course, after the puzzling comments to the black community. >> frederick douglas is an example of somebody whose done an amazing job. are they friends of yours? >> we might need to play that one again. cracking down. the white house set to release a new executive order calling for a surge in immigration and border control agents and speedier deportation for undocumented immigra