into new york. it's going to close. >> the end is near. >> that does it for us on this thursday. i'm alex witt. "morning joe" starts right now. close. that does it for us on a thursday. "morning joe" starts right now. >> i'm mary story from fayetteville and i am not a paid protester. >> i don't really care anybody here is tight or not, you all are kansans and i'm glad to hear from you. >> you want to stand there with him? expect us to be calm? cool, and collected? what kind of entrance do you have? >> some people are clearly upset but there is a bit of professional protester manufactured base in there. when you look at some of these districts and some of these things, it is -- it is -- it is not a representation of a

member's district. not necessarily because they are loud doesn't necessarily mean there are many. and i think in a lot of cases that is what you're seeing. jon meacham is here with us' white house correspondent for "the huffington post," sam stein. who let donny in? >> in his al capone collection. >> it is. jon meacham said he came to new york city yesterday. he went into a restaurant and donny was wearing one of those baby gap span x? >> waiting for attention? >> it says fueled by hgh. >> it was like a cw superman because he had stuffing where the muscles should be. he was signing autographs. no one was asking for them but he was going from

table-to-table. >> the funny thing. gossip was in the restaurant and all of a sudden, the thing about rutford v hayes and you know meacham is in the restaurant! >> since you mentioned that. >> let's get to the news. president donald trump's approval rating is down to its lowest point since taking office. 38% approve of the job the president is doing in the new quinnipiac university national poll. that is down four points from earlier this month. 55% disapprove. >> good place to stop. who believes this number? >> i believe msnbc had him at 43. hi a base around 40%, that number. i think ironically, the good news for trump, to be honest with us, one would say it could be 30, if jobs continue to grow and if he builds his

infrastructure and he doesn't screw up health care he could be surviving at this point with those numbers. >> that's what i'm asking. most of the polls have him at 42, and in at 46. 38 seems a little low and quinnipiac was very low during the campaign. we have been critical of him around the set but 38 doesn't feel right. >> even if it's 42 or 44 he is still a month into on his presidency historically when you compare it to president obama or george w. bush or anybody. he is still historically low. these are no the numbers you want to start a presidency with. >> but, but there seems to be a floor and i just think it doesn't go below. i think that if any building blocks of positivity start to kind of fall into place, i actually think, believe it or not, he's in a decent position. pains me to say that. >> mika said yesterday at 43%.

how awful this has been on so many fronts. >> the gallup daily tracking poll has him at 42%. and the quinnipiac also found that 61% disapprove of way trump talks about the media and people trust the news media to tell them about news than president trump. >> i didn't hear one complain about the media, about kellyanne conway, about ivanka trump's clothing line. they care about jobs and health care. you look at these polls and then you listen to what really matters. >> jon, that's what i've heard from trump supporters who push back at me so hard when i'm concerned about what is he

saying about the courts, what he is saying about checks and balances, what he's saying about the media. if they are business people they are worried about tax reform and what are you talking about? the good gorsuch. look what he has done in one month's time and how much he has changed. so donny is right. his supporters don't really care about all of the crazy things he says, extraneous noise. they care about what is he going do for them. >> there was met mosome of that. i think one of the signs of the structural divide in the country is he is probably not going to go a heck of a lot below his general election number. >> which i wanted to ask you historically, everybody is saying, oh, barack obama and bush and everybody started out at 105%. those were the old days. those were the good old days.

people said, let's see how the president does. i find it hard to believe that hillary clinton would be up. >> no. >> in the 50s and 60s. this is such a divided country that you're going to go between 40% and 45%. >> if you get above 50%. >> barack obama did not do until the end. he was in the low mid-40s for most of his presidency. >> imagine a world which was 19 1984 which is the year as opposed to the best seller, 49 states for ronald reagan. george h.w. bush 400 something electoral votes and in '92 the winner gets 306 and 2000 we know what happened there. '04, w gets the highest percentage as a republican since his father. '08 is pretty clean.

>> even it comes down to ohio. >> oh, yeah. southern ohio goes a different way. >> for his supporters while the media and others may throw up their hands and say this is chaos and crazy, he is doing -- i said this a week into his presidency -- he is doing exactly what he said he was going to do. he views himself right now as delivering on campaign promises with health care, with immigration, with the courts. everything he said he was going to do. >> arkansas drew more than 2,000 people. with long lines waiting to get into springdale event. what began at cordial and filled with applause with people who drove in hours away, quickly

grew raucous. >> i would like everyone who is affected by the affordable care act and affected by health care to stand up. my family has been in the ozarks since the 1800s. we are historically a republican family. we are a farming family. we are in our a-family, we are an army family. aside from inheriting their patriotism and their work ethic, i, unfortunately, inherited a incurab incurab incurab incurab incurab incurab incurable genetic condition. without the coverage for preexisting conditions, i will die. will you commit to replacements in the same way that you have committed to the repeal?

>> thank you, katie. let's it a couple of more comments or questions about health care. >> can you answer the question? >> katie, what i'm committed to is making sure that -- making sure that people -- people with conditions as serious as yours or young healthy people all have access to affordable quality personalized care. >> i'm always the slowest guy in the room but wasn't the affordable care act horrific? didn't democrats run from it? didn't republicans one against it and, all of a sudden, hey, not so bad! give us something better? it's stunning how that changed. >> it is. here is the important thing. because you're looking at that and that sounded like it was on the upper west side, right? it was in arkansas. you might say, listen.

tom cotton, i don't think anybody is going to beat tom cotton for a very long time but you go into selective districts into some of these places, it's all about turnout at the end of the day. democrats do not turn out in off-year elections. they just don't. what is the percentage of people who actually voted, you know, for donald trump as president or hillary clinton? in the 30s or something? you get all of these people out right now, sam, they are going to come out even in states and districts that lean republican 5 or 10 pranel poinercentage poinl about turnout. if they are this focused even in a state like arns, one of the reds states in the country in arkansas, in february of 2017? my gosh. what does this bode for democrats turnout machine in '18 if this continues? >> this has such familiar echoes

to 2009 although it's earlier than 2009. remember in 2009 it was july and august when the town hall protests erupted. now we are in february. arkansas is an interesting case study, right? it expand in medicaid and people, especially poor white people, proposal presumably many trump voters as well, who did feel the effects of the affordable care act in a positive way. remember, when people were going around and reporters going around in the election in 2016 talking about health care a disconnect. a lot of people felt they were benefiting from health care but wasn't sure it was bmobamacare. do you like the affordable care act? they would see say yes and do you like the obamacare act? they would see say no, not realizing they were the same. can you see it in the approval numbers of the law itself. prior to the election, approval for the affordable care act was negative. now it's starting to tick upward as people realize what it is and people think it could be taken away. and this is a hornet's net, i

feel like. it seems to similar to me. you played a clip of sean spicer up at the top. those are identical words to what robert gibbs was saying in 2009 when he dismissed the tea party protests as astroturf and it seems so similar. if i were a republican member at this point i would tread very carefully when you go to these town halls. >> senator bill cassidy met with a tough crowd at home in indiana and he was reportedly late and that fact did little to calm the hundreds that packed a library to meet him. >> do your job! do your job! do your job! do your job! do your job! do your job! do your job!

do your job! do your job! do your job! do your job! do your job! >> so meanwhile there is frustration in some communities over lawmakers who are not holding town meetings. earlier this week, demonstrators took to the streets of houston asking for an event by ted cruz. despite resistance, gohmert said unfortunately there are groups from more violent strains of leftist ideology some who are being paid who are preying on public town halls to wreak havoc and threaten public safety. we were advise after congresswoman gabby giffords was shot at congressional be public events stand the most chance of being harmed or killed just as happened there. in the same amount of time it takes to have a town hall

meeting which usually has between 30 and a hundred attendees in east texas, i can communicate with thousands of my constituent bosses through a telephone town hall meeting. in mountain hundreds of gathered on tuesday in front of the statehouse after senator steve danes held a event on wednesday he was met by constituents and some in support and some clearly frustrated. >> it's so important that we allow every montana's voice to be heard. that is why we have the first amendment. the freedom to assemble and the freedom to speech. this morning, i spent some time at some schools here in headlle and we had this press conference today. i wanted to stand with the outstanding leaders in montana because this is very important. a supreme court nominee comes up very infrequently. let's not forget the base of this last lex. hillary clinton lost by 20 points in montana. donald trump won in a landslide

in the state. >> boo! >> and while -- while every voice must be heard in montana, the reality is the people of mountain rejected hillary clinton and voted for donald trump. >> boo! >> with that, he left amid cheers of chants do your job! and in other cases, people are finding a way to confront their legislators like in nevada where senator dean heller faced tough questions. >> do your job. >> actually, i am doing my job. i'm here getting input from constituents. how do you think it's going so far? i'm here for yr input. it's tturbulent. hey, this is my turf. this is my turn. so you guys don't care about me except for this gentleman here? >> is my time up? >> yes.

this is a wonderful town hall and i think it's unfiltered. let me share with you what i have done the last ten years. i've doing town halls the last ten years. >> boo! >> jon meacham? >> pretty clear that the talking points for people going home you where all consist kansans and montanans and everybody should be heard, comma, but. people want to anger the unease and then get into the details. to me any way that is a sign that, you know, the national party, which is not the same thing as the trump white house by any means, recognizes this. one of the things i keep hearing and i'm sure you all do, too, from lawmakers is they are on

board for this as long as basically their own futures are okay. >> here is the bad news for the republicans. this is set against the backdrop of he is starting with 4 1/2% of unemployment and a lot of the promises which is a tough thing to go in a good direction for the republicans for, he is not going to be able to light up those furnaces in coal towns and not able to bring a lot of those jobs back and not do a better job than obamacare. the problems the republicans have and sam brings up an interesting point because not only was it gibbs, it was nancy pelosi, it was axelrod saying the same thing, these are just outside agitators. the problem is that trump is starting in a very difficult position to look upwards and this is happening all before any of the potential disappointments. >> we talked about unemployment. it's the same thing with crime as well. historically low rates. it's going to be really tough two to four years from now show much improvement unless you're talking about cities like

chicago which are just horrific. willie, we have been looking at crowds lined up for donald trump's events now for a year and a half and just said, wow, that's pretty remarkable. we had, i remember we had james carville on saying the same thing way back, you know, seeing it wrapped around awed tore yudn mississippi and he said those people are going to go out and vote. it's almost as remarkable because they are not lining up to see who is the next president of the united states. they are just lining up to talk to their representatives in a town hall meeting a year and a half out from an election. again, the crowds are just -- you see these lines. that's pretty remarkable. >> yeah. the white house is diluting itself if it thinks this is astroturf that these are artificial. you had mark sanford of south

carolina out there saying i standing in a town hall for three or four hours on saturday and this is not artificial. running and hiding from your constituents is not the way to do it. he stood there all day and then outside leaned against his car and answered questions of the people who couldn't get inside the hall. look, i understand your premiums have gone up. obamacare is unsustainable but i hear you, we have to find something to put in its place and have a rational conversation with your voters instead of hiding from them or screaming back at them. you know that is the way to do it. >> still ahead on "morning joe," the white house needs more time to rework its court blocked travel ban executive order, but did chief architect steven miller hand the aclu their opening line for any future court challenges? we will explain that. the governor terry mcauliffe will be a guest and representative tom cole describes the reaction he is getting from constituents back

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♪ jon meacham gave us the best news of the day. why don't you share it. >> from what i understand as the father of a 14-year-old and a 12-year-old who believe if it's not a car bow hydrate it should not be ingested. there an even larger big mac. >> it's called the grand mac. >> grand mac! >> what is wrong with people? >> the grande. >> with cheese, what is that from, royal with cheese? >> "pulp fiction." >> that is yucky! >> why is the line? i don't give a damn. can't you be tougher than that. >> the white house needs more time to rework its travel ban executive order. the president said to expect the

new version this week, but now the white house says it won't come until next week. on saturday, homeland security secretary john kelly said the new order would be, quote, tighter, more streamlined version of the first, but compare that to senior white house advisers steven miller's tiny dictator description. he was in rare form once again doing what he does best being a tiny dictator. the chief architect of the original order that was stopped dead in its tracks tells us what the new one is going look like. >> nothing is wrong with the first executive but there was a flawed judicial ruling that was erroneous. fundamentally you're going to have the same basic policy outcome for the country but you're going to be responsible to a lot of attack issues that were brought up by the court and those will be addressed. >> steven miller coming out last night and saying on a news program that the new ban will be just like the old ban.

he described any differences as of a minor or technical nature. i can tell you he just served up the aclu's opening line in any argument against the new travel ban in court. they will say, well, judge, you blocked the old ban for these reasons and the government has already conceded through mr. miller who is in charge of this process the new ban is basically the same so it should be blocked too. >> willie, why do you -- forget whatever policy he is pushing, he is so bad on tv. steven miller. not ari! but seriously. he is -- he just -- it looks like he just got out of shop class in 11th grade and went down to the principal's office where they had a closed circuit tv set for -- >> how much lunch money did he give up -- >> no. he is just bad! just technical bad at it! i thought donald trump cared

about central casting. >> he likes stars! >> people who were good on tv. people that could communicate. >> also, if you want the executive order to pass a court, being pet lent about it was the to do it and molding it and shaping and finding the problems with the new way and pushing it through is to get it and not to say it's basically the same thing, take it or leave it. >> basically saying i was right the first time! i was right the first time! >> i'm a tiny dictator! >> do you think he has an audience of one? >> yes. >> it's himself! >> it's an audience of one. nobody else in the white house -- >> about you is that what the president wants hem to say on tv? >> no, no. no. that's a no! trust me. >> i think he probably likes him very much or else he wouldn't be there. >> he is screaming in my ear. >> andrew sullivan writes about

this white house mole in the "new york magazine." blank . >> so this is this is just a brilliant point and i haven't

said anything andrew sullivan has written in years since he fell deeply in love with barack obama and was fonding over obama for eight years. he completely nails this. i know this. look. i went to two southern state schools. i can't name a single center or right of center professor i had in history, political science, english, you name it. they were all democrats. they all loathed reagan. i went off to law school. the most basic things in the university of florida law, right? very conservative area. and if you even dared to go a little right of center, a lot of times you get booed in class. and so mika knew people that were ultimately dartmouth review and made a lot of waves. i can tell you, though, it gets to a point, whatever you say in

class, if you're not left of center and playing -- you get booed a lot of times or you get sneered at. so pretty soon, you just go quiet and let them run rough shot. people who aren't conservative will never understand this in a million years. so if you're ann coulter or steven miller and like andrew sullivan. i'm making no excuses for any of these people. you get the you know what kicked out of you every single day. you try to express your opinions in an environment that is supposed to be liberal and open-minded, pretty soon, you say, well, listen. if i'm going to dartmouth and i can't express what 53% of americans believe in whatever years those were, the late '80s dartmouth review. >> tafs pretty time. >> if i can't even say mainstream conservative thought in my class, i might as well go out on the quad and have an affirmative action bake sale. the hell with them, you know

what? this is what i found. the reaction is the same. >> right. >> whether you have a mainstream thought in class that gets killed or whether you go out and have an affirmative action bake sale you're going to get killed either way, so put it in their face. again, i went to two southern state schools and by the way, anybody that claims -- go to hell. you don't know what you're talking about. you live with it every second as a conservative. every second as a conservative! >> joe! >> i'm talking to him! >> i know, but -- >> it's one of the great failings and i know you'll agree with me. i'm impassioned about this for a reason. it is one of the great failings of this country. it's one of the great failings of our academic system that it is so i'liberal that in case yo don't lock step in the best college campuses in this country, you are shunned. what do you do? you get shoved to extreme

positions! just to push back at the extreme hatred that you face from the second you walk into an elite institution. and i'll be quiet now. but nothing makes me angrier as far as liberal hypocrisy than in this area alone and andrew sullivan nailed it. >> this is where the conservative movement began bus what was bill buckly's first book? it was about ill liberalism at yale you couldn't be outside of the center left of the world then. when buckley founded the national review, i think i have this right. he said the conservatives are out in the sense that "the new york times," the henry -- or embody of that are in. and you're exactly right. i mean, there is a -- there is an intolerance for dissenting

opinions that are right of center and this has been going on now for 70 years. the conservative movement began as a reaction, first to eisenhower in the fact he didn't repeal the new deal and that is where things started moving but also to this cultural reality that conservatism was not a socially respectable, that is the word, respectable. the key intellectual figures was trilon, right? the conservatism was not respectable. >> by the way, gave his quote. trilling's quote about conservatism. >> it's a good one. >> something about spasms and irrational thought. >> spasms of an irrational mind, manifestations of that. this is what the left should think about is this is what gave

the world the american enterprise institute. this is what gave the world the heritage foundation. they believe they had to create alternative institutions to the university. >> you can see that in the media too. >> first of all, don't scream at me like that. i don't deserve that, okay? >> i'm sorry. >> i'm serious. don't scream at me. i was just trying to make a point. >> i was actually trying to make a point too. i wanted to finish it. >> just say excuse me and don't lash out at me. >> are you kidding me, donny? >> no, i'm not kidding at all. >> we want to hear what donny has to stay. >> we go back and forth and we are friends. you're going to ask me on television to apologize to you when we get off the air and you go that was really good? >> no. >> come on. stop it. >> that was rude. >> stop playing tv. >> i'm not playing tv. >> all right. you don't have to come on. >> you want to disinvite me? >> say what you want to say, donny.

>> i think it's a the case of a jerky guy. we can give this whole explanation of why he is overreacting. this is a guy who said a president should not be questioned. a president has authoritative authority. i don't know why that is a result of him being in college put in a corner because there are liberal people. maybe he is just a jerk. i agree with your thesis, by the way, but not an explanation for that guy. >> what is the explanation for that guy? >> where his world view came from and talk about conservatives going quiet. he didn't go quiet. he wrote letters to his school and the school newspaper in high scho school. then went to duke university and wrote columns there and railing against the administration. this is a guy living and breeding the ideology his whole life and now given the right hand to the most powerful man in the world. >> i haven't hammered anybody more than i've hammered this guy in public life so i make no

apologies for him. andrew sullivan is just explaining. the difference between you and him, whether you come on this show or not, i said to make a point, or whether he is sitting in class in an elite institution. you have a choice. if you don't come on this show, you have a good life. you're living a good life. if you are not left of center and you want to go to one of the best colleges in america, you don't have a choice. you have to go in class, you have to sit there. >> thesis is not there. >> well, no. ann coulter so offensive in so many things that she says. again, that is the point that andrew sullivan makes in this piece, which is you push him into a corner, don't be shocked. you kick him around every day, right? like imagine you're a big tough guy and so that is why we go back and forth and you do say afterwards, boy, that was fun. we had a good time. >> now you feel better? >> no, i don't feel bad.

we go back and forth all the time and then the camera goes off. and you say, that was good, that was fun and you're smirking because it's the truth. but you can do that. steven miller, ann coulter when they were 18 years old and going on college campuses, i got views and i'm going to express them. they can't do that without getting hammered and by the way, fs in classes. >> we haven't talked about lionel trilling enough. he was a general in the seven years war. lionel trilling said with some isolated and exceptions conservative ideas do not express themselves in ideas but only in action or in mental gestures. >> -- irritable mental gestures. >> sam stein is still in college. >> dartmouth changed in 30 years. >> we had the review. >> it's still there? >> i agree with the thesis here

but putting that aside because at this point steven miller has enough power he shouldn't worry whether his politics or feelings were hurt in college. i just wore that joe and donny can survive this. i thought a classic meacham rejoinder there to take out a quote and try to diffuse the situation there. >> we are going to hug. >> donny is smirking. >> all right. >> no. you know what? i'm going to call you out now. >> oh, my god. >> i'm going to call you out! >> nobody wants to hear it! >> you all need to hear this because what happens is -- >> that was different. >> we have clashes on the air. and then we go off and you know what donny says? he goes, i am going toet such a great date in the hamptons this weekend! i swear to god he says that. i'm going to get such a great day and they come up to me and people say how do you put up with joe scarborough? that is what we were doing right here. he always does that.

>> i think we should is a irritable mental gestures. >> speaking of irritable mental gestures. >> princess leia. >> i have a gesture for you. >> diane trilling weighs? i. rex tillerson amid reports -- >> donny is checking his texts! it always works! he walks dogs in the park and borrows kids and drinking tea. >> bob woodworth will join the conversation coming up.

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♪ speaking of the media. it's time to see how things are going to white house press secretary sean spicer with today's sean spicer press briefing moment. take a look. ♪ >> and with that, i'm glad to take some questions. steve holland? >> steve holland is not here. >> wow! "the washington post" bob woodward is here and he joins us. >> what are you doing? >> we are going to a break. >> we have a text.

>> no. >> when we get back. >> i'm trying. >> you're getting texts from your dates. >> i wish. >> you got one? >> a good friend of mine. viewer simply says tell those two idiots that was some of the best television i've seen in a long time. >> exactly! and what did donny say in we go to break. he laughs and say exactly what i said he is going to say. boy, i'm going to get some dates this weekend. >> that is a firefighter in the new york city fire department. not only a friend. respect the opinions, my friends. >> more to come. >> bob woodward is next. we will be right back.

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it is 48 past the hour. one month into the trump administration and the state department is reportedly finding that it is not the leading voice on foreign policy. with secretary of state rex tillerson being left out of the mix. "the washington post" reporting that so far, hiring policy and scheduling decisions for the

department are being dictated by the white house instead of officials at state. please tell me it's not you know who. the paper adds the most notable change so far under this administration is the lack of daily press briefings by a department spokesperson. "the post" says that secretary tillerson was notably missing from recent white house meetings with canada and japan's prime ministers. sources tell the paper most of tillerson's work has been done behind the scenes but add that a number of foreign policy initiatives have been farmed out to cabinet members instead, including chief strategist steven bannon and president trump's son-in-law jared kushner. >> with us from washington is pulitzer prize winning editorial of "the washington post" bob woodward. rex tillerson missing in action and if you talk to people in the know inside the state department and the white house, it is a ghost town right there. >> well, it's a big problem.

i think the headline here, though, is they have brought in h.r. mcmaster is the national security adviser. he is somebody who knows you have to include all of the players. i think this is a very slow start. i think it's actually h.r. mcmaster is somebody featured in one of my books on bush, the war within, is -- i figured out, i think, why trump picked him. trump, you know, in the campaign and as president, he talks about winning and h.r. mcmaster is a battlefield commander and somebody whose philosophy is kind of, if you're not winning, you're losing. and i think there has been a bonding on that and it's going to be interesting to see what they come up with in the serious policy areas that they are going to have to address.

>> but, mika, you've heard the same thing that "the post" is reporting today about tillerson being sidelined at state. >> for over a week now, i've been hearing from long time state department types that this is a mess and jobs aren't being filled. he is out of the loop. he's in the wrong place all the time. and he needs more support. especially coming in from running a business. i mean, this is not -- he needs someone with really a deep interagency experience to lift him up and i hear they are shoving potentially bolton toward him but i'm not sure that is the right fit, according to tillerson, from what i've heard. >> bob, people even supporting tillerson has are huge tillerson advocates is saying he is playing this like he is still the ceo at exxon. he is not talking to people in the state department he should be talking to. it's still hierarchical. he doesn't understand he is not

a ceo for a corporation any more. >> we will see if he fixes it. the real issue, i know lots of fits and starts here and lots of problems in the opening months of the trump administration. i'm trying to think about what is important. there are policy areas, middle east, russia, china, north korea, cybersecurity, counterterrorism, where we are going to have to do certain things and that, i think, is going to define the trump presidency. i'm convinced from looking at the new national security adviser, i think he is going to bring everyone in to the tent in some orderly way, but you're absolutely right, it's certainly not happening now. >> bob, it's willie. i'm curious to hear your opinion on this. we have heard over the last couple of weeks comparisons of donald trump to richard nixon based on comments he has made about the press, the things that the white house have said about

the media being the enemy. as someone who may be something of an authority on nixon, is that an apt comparison? >> i don't think so. you were talking about intellectual diversity universities earlier which i listened to with great interests. i teach a journalism seminar at yale now, and what we are trying to work out is, yeah, everyone has political opinions, but as reporters, you need to listen very carefully, not drive people into the bunker. joe and mika know trump better than i, but i don't think he wants to live in a bunker. i think he really doesn't believe that having used the press so artfully in the campaign, so i don't see a nixon side there.

there is a color ation about the press being the enemy of the people. i don't think trump believes that. i hope he doesn't believe it. i certainly hope he doesn't act on it. >> bob, jon meacham. you have written about national security teams at least since bush 41. if the relationship between baker and bush was kind of the apothesos of the president being close for effective action, what is the best team you've written about from 41 forward and comparing and contrasting what you think might happen here? >> well, that clearly worked. certainly the reagan team, if you look at it, worked in the end quite well in terms of the soviet union. i'm optimistic. i think that they are going to get this together and -- but we

will see. but is the big policy decision going to be made? we really -- we don't know and that is going to be a big deal. and then there always is the surprise factor. that is what tests a national security team like nothing else. >> bob woodward, thank you so much. greatly appreciate it. history books will also note that donny deutsche, joe scarborough relationship is the apothosis, is that the word he used? for relationship that leads donny to get dates in the hamptons. >> mika? a little counselinging with joe and i afterwards? >> is this pierzynski/advance? rogers and kissinger? >> the government of connecticut is telling law enforcement officers they don't have to imply with the trump's new immigration order. >> is the governor of virginia

wlg willing to go that far? we will speak with governor terry mcauliffe and tom cole we will speak to him about the angry town halls. dearthere's no other way to say this. it's over. i've found a permanent escape from monotony. together, we are perfectly balanced. our senses awake. our hearts racing as one. i know this is sudden, but they say...if you love something

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p.m., senator mitch mcconnell zips himself into a duffel bag and asks his assistant to sneak him out to the parking lot. at 2:00 p.m., house speaker paul ryan says, i have to take this call. then starts talking into a stapler! and finally at 3:00 p.m., senator rand paul shouts, "is that nick from thebatch? and then tries to run through the wall like a kool-aid man. what is the date hot line for you here? i'm getting a lot of texts from people that said -- >> 1-800-don juan. >> don juan. okay. i just checked donny arbitration twitter account. mika, it has the hgh t-shirt on it. >> i think joe is a little upset

that we have that kerfuffle. >> you do this all the time! we get off the air and you start laughing! everybody, look at him laughing. it's always a game and he always says it gets him dates. >> my feelings are hurt. >> he does that because people go -- mika, he is sensitive. >> see how hunched over him? >> he is humiliated. >> there are things in my childhood like steve miller. >> i don't want to hear it! that is unbelievable. >> it is. >> stop talking. >> all right. as willie said to him in the break, it's the winter in the hamptons. >> both of you stop, okay? it takes two to tango to shut your pie hole and you stop. don't look at each other. and we are going to start the show. >> he already has got his date. he is fine. >> you always have to have the last word. donny deutsche and sam stein and jon meacham are still bus.

former aide to george w. bush white house and state departments, elise jordan. >> thank you. >> thank you for being here on many levels. we begin the hour with the high wattage town halls across the country. wow. a whole bunch of fakers showing up and thousands of them according to the white house. tom cotton in arkansas drew more 2,000 people with long lines waiting to get into his springdale event but filled with applause for people who drove from hours away quickly grew raucous especially when the senator faced questions over illegal immigration and russia. >> of course, you and your husband and children are welcome here. my legislation wouldn't affect you at all. you say your husband first came on an h1b program? my laechings doesn't affect that. once you have a green card it

still gets preferences to spouses and to unmarried minor children. and i think that we need to reform a lot of the programs like the h1b program. sounds like your husband came here got an education and very high skilled. those are the visas we want to get out under that program. >> one of my ancestors signed the declaration of independence. and my 94-year-old father was awarded seven bronze stars. i want to know if you, like senators mccain and graham, will call for an independent bipartisan commission to investigate president trump, his campaign, and his administration. >> for many years, i've been warning about the threat russia poses and i would submit to all of you that we are doing our job

on that committee. it is bipartisan. we are committed to following the facts where thevver they mad us. i support the investigation that we already have under way. >> there is more. just what do you do with a crowd like that? tom cotton is doing his best there. he's out there, not hiding behind anything. but some of these folks are about to show we are less able to handle it. >> that is the thing. a lot of people might see cotton out there and saying he looks bad. no. tom cotton and the republicans going out there should be praised for going out there. donny you were looking at him on stage. that is exactly what you do. no nothing. you're there with the people and you let them shout it out. >> i actually think the optics whether they were contrived or not, i don't think they were. go out on there literally exposed. what did you used to do in these situations when i asked you. you just stand there. if it's six hours you let them

vent and that is the playbook. not i forgot who the guy in the earlier segment which politician said i don't go out there because they could shoot me. >> elise, you know someone who was there and as far as your hearing, there weren't too many fakers in the crowd? >> my friend who lives in arkansas, born and bred, he went out to the event and said maybe 10% of the people were lefty activist type but the rest were arkansas people coming out and were really concerned primary their questions were about the obamacare repeal and then russia and donald trump and their concerns. >> you said sanford took it to the next level? >> whistling past the graveyard. if you don't encounter it, it will swamp you. mark sanford on saturday and senator tim scott of south carolina were there and stood in there and stepped into the box and took fastballs thrown at them and sanford, because so many people were there, a bunch of people couldn't get into the room, he stepped outside and took all of the questions of the

people outside. he said i'll lean against this car as long as you want me to be here and answer the questions. that is the way to do it and let them vent and get it out and explain your position rather than hiding from it. >> respect him for trying. despite night after night of confrontational crowds, some republican congressman like tom mcclintock have not shied away from meeting with their constituents over health care a other issues. >> reporter: filling the auditorium and steps outside. top of mind where the u.s. is going and what congressman tom mcclintock plans to do about it. >> we are not paid. we are not anarchists. we are here because we have concerns and want to speak to those concerns. >> it's my hopes that he'll stand with trump and make america great again. >> ultimately, we are going to be judged on our ability to eventually improve our health care system. >> reporter: whatever hostility seen sheer a far cry from the protest in roseville february

4th where police invoiced mcclintock with an escort out of the building. >> mika, you look at the shot of inside the building but look outside the building. it's packed. >> waiting into the night. those are voters. >> how do you think voters react is interesting. you contrast with trump with his campaign rally last week where there are 10,000 people cheering about how wonderful everything is. at some point do voters and even his base start to go, that is not what is going on out there? >> i don't think so. i think -- but members of congress, elise, do. at some point they he go, wait. great. he gets to fly up in air force one and 10,000 people there. he delivers a line. we are down here in the trenches getting the absolute you know what pounded out of us. at some point, there is the disconnect between the white house and the republicans on the hill grow unless this is handled right. >> if this intensity sustains over a period of time -- and i

think it will. i think this is pretty organic and there is a lot of anger. this is playing out because of trump's strategy to continue playing to the base. he can't broaden his appeal at all and he won by a narrow margin. if he continues to play this strategy of trying to alienate the voters who didn't support him, we are just going to see more of this up until the 2018 election. >> secretary of state rex tillerson and secretary of homeland security john kelly will meet with president enrique pena knnieto in mexico today. those who would cross the border will be sent back to mexico each if they aren't mexican. here is hallie jackson pressing administration yesterday. >> reporter: obviously, tensions between mexico and president trump. is this a cleanup job for the secretary of state? >> no. i think president nieto and president trump spoke again.

foreign ministers had several contact with our staff. i would argue we have a healthy and robust relationship with the mexican government and mexican officials and i think they would echo that same sentiment. i think the relationship with mexico is phenomenal right now. >> sam stein, paul ryan was also at the border yesterday. but the back and forth here. it is a yo-yo. it's hard to keep up with it. we have got a good relationship with mexico. then things go bad. good, bad. yesterday, phenomenal. it's hard to keep score at home exactly what our relationship with mexico is here. >> we were talking in the last hour about rex tillerson and whether he is sidelined or out of the loop or what exactly his modus operandi is at the state department and i think this is the major problem. which it is being dictated by tweets and you're picking fights with the president and calling him up to patch things over, when you craft immigration policy that could result in

nonmexino nonmexicans sent across the broad to mexico which seems like an odd policy you have to play cleanup. i think rex tillerson will find it frustrating he has spend half of his time or more trying to explain what the administration policy is when the administration policy is constantly changing and constantly vague. >> joining us now from richmond, virginia, the state's governor and former chairman of the democratic national committee, terry mcauliffe and demanding a briefing after major changes in the trump administration in immigration policy. very good to have you on the show, governor terry. >> good morning, mika and joe! >> good morning, good morning. >> i'm talking to you from the greatest state in america. the commonwealth of virginia. >> i want to ask you about that because -- >> i was going to say what was he doing? >> 1607, three ships from england 160 and didn't go to new york or maryland or pennsylvania, they came to james town, virginia. >> because they knew that

donny's descendants were in new york. >> i'm second generation of that. >> executive order. if and when it comes out, are you going to honor it, especially with steven miller saying it's basically like the first one in essence. >> what we have said here, we have three pieces of legislation coming through my legislature which i will veto. we will not turn our local law enforcement into i.c.e. officials. i deal with our sheriffs and state police on a day-to-day basis. they don't want this. they are busy doing their jobs and keeping our community safe. they are not federal i.c.e. officers nor are we going to have them become federal i.c.e. officers. my whole concern with this whole issue i went to dulles airport when i found out that a family was there detained for hours with two children, with u.s. passports. detained for hours without access to legal counsel. this is not an america we know. now with these new i.c.e. orders

they can stop whoever they want. we should be using it for law enforcement to get folks who are bad actors and get them out of the country. i agree with that but people are going to be driven underground and have disease and not go to hospitals and not work with the law enforcement. i saw a sheriff of a count yesterday and said this is horrible no one will work with law enforcement and finally this is very dangerous to our economy. yesterday, i was at an immigrant store up in northern virginia where 32% of our small businesses, our foreign-born owners, it is crippling and scaring people and a family that came from afghanistan in '05 and 60 employees and they are terrified. that is not how you build a country. working and take the walls down and let us yo groh. why in virginia our unemployment has gone down and 185,000 new jobs and lowest unemployment claim since 1971. >> terry! you won! we got 87 people on set!

we got to ask you questions! lightning round. >> come to virginia! >> i don't even remember what that question was. you got it all in there, governor. governor, it's willie geist. >> virginia is for lovers. 296 wineries and 181 craft breweries and eight varieties of oysters and low taxes and business friendly. >> governor. >> but you wouldn't see it on our show. >> this immigration order. president obama deported more people than any president in american history. now with this new order, what we know about it, it will broaden who can be deported from the country. not just someone who is committed a violent crime but anybody be who has come into the country illegally. do you stand by the obama position that people who committed crimes should be deported, illegal immigrants who have committed crimes? >> sure i do. people who have committed crimes should be deported. first of all, why are we in this situation today? i believe he neglect from congress for years and years and we don't have a nationwide immigration policy. we are not going to deport

ourselves out of this problem and not deport 11.4 million people and stop that talk! you're scaring people. in the end of the day we need a comprehensive immigration policy but the concern that i have, we had a case inirnia the otr day at a church, hypothermia center we had individuals went overnight to get out of the cold and came out, i.c.e. agents randomly confronted individuals. they are stopping people on the street with a photograph saying do you know this person and if they say no they continue to ask policies. if we have changed our policy in this great nation we can randomly stop whoever we want i think that is gravely dangerous this country. we need to be careful. >> governor, i want to shift fears for a second and take off old dnc chairman hat and take off your governor's hat. we have been watching the town halls and rage and passion. only 22 days in this president

sit and what is your kind of strategic direction to keep this -- how do you fan that flame and keep going? what is also interesting in none of though town halls nobody was bringing up immigration. >> first of all, to fan the flame, what has happened is the trump administration is going at issues that directly affect individually lives. they are scaring people and they are changing what we have done for hundreds of years in this country. so this passion isn't going away. if i were the dnc chair i would do exactly what we are doing here in virginia. we have elections this year. we now are filling every single seat. we are going to have an opponent. there were 17 districts in virginia that are held by republicans that hillary clinton carried in 2016. we have filled already every one of those seats. we need candidates to step up. what bothers me the most about the last election is 92 million people said home on election day and saying i don't know how this

happened. now they woke up and say it happened. get out on there and register to vote and actually come out and vote in leelection. the first test is virginia governorship up this december and that is the first test to show the outrage we are not going take american down a different path. we are the greatest nation on earth. i always disagreed with this make american great again. we are great. i travel the globe. i have done business all over the globe. >> sounds like -- any chance you're running in 2020? i'm feeling the passion and the burn. >> i got 11 months of make willing this the greatest state and the greatest nation on earth. the commonwealth of virginia, i'm going to finish out here strong. literally we are doing great. i have had to veto a lot of anti-women, anti-lgbt. why are we cranking on business? because we are opening and welcoming low taxes and business friendly. i got oceans. i got mountains. dolphins that come to the beach and pick up your children and give them rides. we don't have sharks. we got it all here!

>> thank you, governor mcauliffe! >> virginia is for lovers. >> and has no sharks thank you so much! what is that? >> we got to go. >> i want to say one thing to mika. think of this tonight when you go to bed, mika. our first governor patrick henry started the american revolution. our second governor thomas jefferson and now terry mcauliffe! >> i want what is he having for breakfast! join us for coffee next time! >> a bad night. we will get a preview of the cpac conference. >> you know i tweeted today at real donald trump, that tweet. you know? don't worry. i'll give it up after i'm president. we won't tweet any more. i don't think. not presidential. >> that was then candidate donald trump talking about his twitter habit on the campaign

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♪ vice president pence made an unannounced visit to the jewish cemetery in kansas. he walked the grounds of the cemetery outside of st. louis yesterday and touring the damage and helping clean up the grounds. i think the best thing coming out of the white house yesterday. his visit one day after president trump condemned the recent uptick of anti-semitic attacks across the country after facing criticism of not speaking out earlier on the matter. the vice president reiterated the president's condemnation. >> there is no place in america for hatred or acts of prejs or violence or anti-semitism.

i must tell you the people of missouri are inspiring the nation by your love and care for this place, for the jewish community in missouri and i want to thank you for that inspiration for showing the world what america is really all about. >> really good. following the vice president's stop, the frank center which thb critical of president trump's response to the vandalism praised mr. pence for his visit. >> you know what is amazing? >> that was great. >> all trump has had is such a simple playbook. be that quite. be counterintuitive and go off brand a little bit and all of a sudden be this kind of bringing the world together. like he would get such style points for what any other president would just ordinarily do just chewing gum and walking at the same time. if he did that basic one-on-one stuff and why he refuses to do

that just does it begrudgingly. >> the president has such strong support from those who are really behind him that he has so much latitude to reach out. if he just made a couple of conciliatory gesture like that the dividends would be huge. >> donald, if you're listening, now we are not buddy these days. but you cover up every sin. you give that one inclusive speech from the heart. >> you guys aren't talking any more? >> nbc news national correspondent peter alexander is at his post at the white house. seems the trump administration has taken over cpac. >> the big conference is today. what is notable what difference a year makes. one year ago during the cpac ted cruz 40% president and candidate donald trump got 15%. he didn't even attend it because, at the time, there was even a attendees threatening a walkout. he went to a campaign rally instead. this time the trump team is

going to dominant the course of the next several days. president trump will speak tomorrow morning. today a hefty lineup of his inner circle. steve bannon, reince priebus part of a panel and kellyanne conway will be there. the new education secretary betsy devos, among others participating. vice president mike pence there as well. what is notable is how different. the trump tone that we are going to be witnessing here or will see if there are any tensions relate to it. in 2013 cpac focused on proimmigration policies and reforms. they talked about outreach to minorities. this time around donald trump is going to be speaking as we note in one of the panels is going to focus on, quote, if heaven has a gate, a wall, and extremely vetting, why can't america? just one of the sort of interesting changes here. cpac in the past some of the top priorities have been abortion and focused heavily on things like lower taxes and small government and this time around that, obviously, isn't one of the immediately priorities for

this administration that's put so much emphasis on things like immigration and radical islamic terrorism. i think one of the broader questions is we know that they will be taking over cpac. the question has team trump taken over the conservative movement? >> fascinating to watch there this weekend. nbc's peter alexander at the white house, thank you. joining us from capitol hill white house correspondent for politico and contributor at cnbc, her latest piece is entitled how trump campaign staffers tried to keep him off twitter. you write how former trump's campaign staff cracked the code in keeping trurmp's twitter habt under control. what is that game plan? >> they said they thought they had his twitter habit under control. they were able get their boss to run a bit cooler than in the fast weeks. we have seen the volume high on his tweets. lashing out at the press.

and a lot of that has to do about controlling his media diet and making sure that you're not just playing with the mainstream press. but also engaging with more conservative outlets like breitbart, daily caller, washington examiner and making sure that is procedure praise worthy stories are also in his media diet and not just "the new york times" and the "the wall street journal." the thing with trump he only reads what is on his desk. he is not someone who is scouring through the blogs. he reside "the new york times," "the washington post," "the wall street journal," but he is not always aware of some of the more favorable press that he is getting and his campaign team was able to cool him down a bit by showing him what else was out there. the interesting thing is that one of my sources actually said to me he was very hesitant about telling me this formula because he knew it would make spicer's job yaers and that he would be able to control the message more easily if the president wasn't tweeting out his own rogue messages that were strain the actual, you know, story of the day that they were trying to get

out. >> the strategy is look at this pretty fluffy bear and that is okay? look at the happy bear and we will be okay? >> well, he does. he is the type of person that gets really fired up. he holds on to grudges. he feels like the media is very unfair to him. the only reason he tweets is when he thinks that the message isn't going his way. when he thinks that his team isn't fighting back enough to put his story forward. so when you see more tweets from him that is really a sign he thinks the press shop isn't doing enough. his old press shop would actually print out two pages of tweets and be like this is what we are tweeting, this is what conservative amplifiers on twitter are tweeting and a message you want out there so you don't have to tweet it. >> tara, it's willie. you know, he loves to put it mildly, twitter. he used it throughout the campaign and they talk about the white house tag the message directly to the people and going around the media filter and what he does. for someone who loves twitter how do you stop him from tweeting? i'm thinking about the sweden three-day story. because he was watching a tv

show. he heard something and tweeted about it. >> it's embarrassing. >> a minor diplomatic incident where sweden had to respond to it and he talked about at his rally as well. how do you stop that? the impulsive tweet? >> my sources mentioned he does not do well with time alone watching television. we know he apologize watching your show. he watches fox news at night as well. and if he is watching critical news, he gets fired up and he holds on to these grudges. if there isn't someone there, his wife lives in new york. he talks to his friends on the phone at night and sometimes has aides around him but he has a lot of time to stew and think about things and his fingers get fired up and he tweet away. this is about managing up. this is about how to manage your boss and show him that, you know, you don't have to fight all of the fires. we are doing it for you. and i guess his, you know, a lot of people say if i were here this is how i would have managed

it. this is a whole new team. a lot of people that were on the campaign trail with him aren't there any more. they were there with him longer so they feel like they know how to keep him cool. >> tara, this is sam stein. >> yes. >> i'm wondering in the course of your reporting, did the aides concede that this is totally crazy? that managing -- that they are managing the president of the united states as if he was an m impet bus child? do they ever acknowledge step out of their zone and say we realize this is bizarre behavior or no? do they not realize that it's objectively bizarre? >> they know that but they know that -- all of us manage or bosses in some way. this is extreme management but, yes. if your job is to keep the story focused, if your job is to get out your story you do whatever it takes and if you know that him tweeting is just going to continue the news cycle for more

days you do whatever it takes to cool him down. he doesn't understand the press strategy that they have in their heads. and let's be honest. they weren't always successful at this but all they could do is show, listen, boss, you don't need to fire away. we planted this story. this is the same message that you want. we have hundreds of thousands of people repeating it. you don't need to get your hands dirty. so -- >> wow. >> we all are laughing. >> look at the happy bear! >> oh, my gosh. oh, my god. >> it's amazing. >> thank you. >> i think sam really hit it. >> wow. >> okay. coming up, we will talk with congressman tom cole of oklahoma about mad cap town halls popping up across the country with a bunch of fakers showing up just paid for it. we will ask about the best way his colleagues can approach angry real constituents who vote in voting booths. we are back in a moment. >> do your job! >> actually, i am doing my job.

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some ideas that were awfully important to them. this wasn't an artificial crowd. it wasn't manufactured. it was real people with real concerns in terms of what came next on health care. it's baked into the american political system. a good thing. we want to have that. >> they are welcome to come yell and scream. i thought tafs bit was a bit ov top and i thought it was a bit over the digits. the continuous yelling and screaming and not allowing the dialogue. i went there so i could hear discontent and have a discussion about the issues but that is not what they were independence in. >> a bit of a split opinion there on how to interpret those town halls across the country. >> so continuing, willie, on donny gate. what did he say during the break? >> you conceded the point about colleges being leftist. >> no. his point was valid. i just felt a little -- >> your feelings were hurt?

>> oh, my god. >> and i lash out. when my feelings are hurt i lash out. >> i would love modern colleges because you could go to a safe space. coloring books. >> i'm just a sensitive guy. you yelled at me. i was never yelled at as a child. >> oh, my god! you play it up on tv! you do it very well. >> we have had these things. seriously. we are going full speed back and forth, yelling. and then the second goes to commercial, he is like, oh, i am so going to get dates this weekend from liberal women in the hamptons. >> for those of you at home, joe and i actually do like each other but sometimes when guys, alpha males! >> oh, god! >> so there is a new poll out this morning from cbs. quinnipiac poll i thought was kind of although. >> i want to throw an egg at donny. >> okay. >> again? >> no.

a real one. cbs news poll. mika, i was saying before i thought the quinnipiac poll was low and we thought it was 45%. here is cbs at 39%. i think it's safe to say. >> it is low. >> is jon meacham still here? >> there he. >> jon meacham, regardless, whether it's 38, 39, 42, 43%, it's historically low. i will say if he starts getting into the 30s on most of the polls. >> right. >> that was very dangerous territory for george bush because when you get, especially to the mid-30s. >> yep. >> whether you're bush or truman, you don't usually go back up. it just hasn't happened. >> no. one theory here since the president likes numbers. he likes ratings and he likes twitter followers. the question is will an improap

number with 3 in it lead to actions to try to get a 4 in front of. now here is the question. by doing things that might be contrary to what the base wants and what the base expects and what told the base he was going to do, will he begin to lose some of those folks? and is there actually in this climate, are there persuadable people in the middle who are going to approve of his job performance? what is the actual persuadable number of people in the country about donald trump? i think it's a real question. >> but the thing is as alex points out, mika, some will always have paris. trump will always have rasmussen. >> yes. >> donald trump's approval rating, 74%. >> here is the thing -- >> the other 26% just say they love him slightly less than jesus. >> what he will probably do say this is fake news and i think he is going to find that that is not going to help him. so keep trying to do that. >> it helps him lock in that 38.

>> joining from us oklahoma republican congressman tom cole. good to have you on board this morning. >> tom. >> great to be with you. >> you are one of the smartest most gifted people on the planet. we love you. so you'll be able to answer this question. is donny deutsche irritate to go people in oklahoma? >> i want donny to come to one of my town halls! you yelling at him to stop. >> i will bring some armor but i will be there, sir. i will be there. >> under armour. >> people are quite nice and clearly occasions when they are not and that is the exception. i had three -- they weren't town halls actually. i had three chamber round tables that were open to the public. we had people of all opinions. i have to tell you most of the people that came they were alarmed and passionate but they weren't rude.

and they had good -- >> republicans to get out there and not convince -- the republicans shouldn't convince themselves what democrats tried to convince themselves of in 2009. >> i think that is very important. i think governor sanford had it exactly right in his earlier comments on your show. listen. this is part of legitimate dissent and people are allowed to come do it. frankly the town hall meetings i had during obamacare town hall eruptions were probably, in some ways, more difficult. the crowds were bigger but they weren't happy with you no matter where you were. and on the issue. so i think we will probably see something like this going forward for a while and again, that is okay. it's actually much more healthy for people to be engaged in civic activity and legitimate diskept th d dissent than not participating at all or resorting to some sort of violence and we don't have that going on at all. >> representative cole, i'm just

curious what your schedule is coming up regarding town halls. are you going to add more to your schedule or are you planning on waiting until the august recess? >> we normally do them in april and august, particularly august, because we have three, four weeks where you can really schedule them out. and so that is what we do. but we have, you know, lots of public events. again, three chamber meetings that were all open to the public yesterday. but we kept a very vigorous schedule and that is okay. you know? we meet with people in smaller groups if they want to come into the office, we can work that in. so, again, we try to be out there and be as visible as we possibly can. >> most of the pete hooet we are seeing at these town halls the last few days is over obamacare whether or not to repeal it and if you do, what you'll replace it with. in plain english so americans out there who are concerned about this can get it, what is your plan? what is the republican plan to replace it? what does the new health care look like for the people who are

afraid they are going to lose theirs? >> first thing i tell people you have to remember the repeal and replacement of obamacare is not an event and it's a process. not a bill that will do anything like obamacare was created and it took 14 months to write and literally years to unfold and different parts of it to be implemented. in this case we will work through reconciliation. we don't have 60 votes in the senate. frankly you'll put in a lot of things like associated health care plans, the ability to buy insurance across state lines, medical malpractice insurance in separate bills that move across. you know? nobody that is on obamacare now needs to worry. you're safe through the end of the year. my guess is probably next year as well because the plan for next year is being written now and have to be approve by april and there won't be a legislative alternative until then. we are working with the

insurance. i'm actually involved in discussions with that because where i sit on the appropriations committee now to make sure that they have the subsidies they need to continue to provide plans. but the problem we have in my state is, look. this thing isn't working. we are one of five states and down to a single insurer for the entire state if you're on obamacare and your rates are going up 69%. it's not like standing around doing nothing is an alternative or there is a functioning system. >> congressman tom cole, thank you very much for being on the show this morning. >> thank you. >> wait. thank you very much. sam? >> sorry. go ahead. >> i was just going to ask you, sam. i saw, yesterday, i think you either -- you retweeted something and maybe you wrote the story that for members of congress in 2009 has showed up at town hall meetings, their success rate in 2010 you said was about the same as those who didn't have town hall meetings? >> yeah. i talked to two democrats about

what they were doing with town halls in 2009. one of whom did the tried and true i'm not going to talk in person, i'll do a teley town hall which is really a way to avoid the heat. and another who knew off the bat within two seconds exactly how many town halls he attended in the summer. he said 16. so he really leaned into it. and they both had different reasons for doing it. the person who showed up said i didn't want to come off like i was scared to defend the policies in my party and it looked unauthentic if any do the town hall. the catch both of them lost. not a tried and true way to get through this. when it's a wave election it's a wave election and takes the people who lean in and those who duck. i don't know that fthat is happening now. can you clearly see that people are angry, passion, scared. what i would have asked the congressman, i think this is the question. is this. will you move away from repeal and replace to a position in which you say we will not repeal the law until we have a

replacement first? that is what has people scared. they think they will repeal the law without a full replacement ready to go. if the republican party is unwilling to make that commitment, i think those passions, those fears will mark the town hall protests through the summer. >> i think three answers, mika. i think the house is going to say yes, we are going to repeal. i think the senate is going to do what the senate usually does and take a more moderate position. trump has already said don't repeal unless you have a replacement ready. i think this is going to be sort of an intramural battle between the republicans. >> he said that pretty much in the mirs first days of his presidency. up next, jacob reports from the u.s./mexico border where drug smuggers are keeping custom agents very busy but is it something that can be fixed with a border wall? that story when "morning joe" comes back.

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major developments in the fight to retake mosul from isis. this morning, iraqi forces

stormed the city's airport on the outskirts of the western border. the airport is fully under the control of the iraqi military. the runway has been destroyed by isis, but represents a key strategic location and cuts off important routes to the city. they recaptured routes in the eastern half of the city last month. we are learning of a visit senator john mccain made to syria to meet with u.s. troops and kurdish fighters trying to retake the islamic states of raqqah. the committee chairman made stops in turkey and saudi arabia and the uae. president trump says it proposed border wall will help stop the skyrocketing of drugs. as jacob found out along the section of the border that already has high security,

smugglers are putting u.s. authorities to the test every day. >> reporter: this is the port of entry, the busiest land border crossing in the entire world. every day, 50,000 vehicles, around 20,000 pedestrians and untold loads of narcotics make their way to the other side. president trump wants to build a border wall where there isn't one to keep drugs out, this is the front line. that's an agent that stands out there to look for suspicious activity? >> right. once you see something, you initiate contact with the driver. >> reporter: most are driven in through vehicles. metropolitan areas with legal crossings and this one. in between san diego and tianna. they all have a border wall. >> this vehicle was pull sbood secondary screening at the port

of entry. it got a positive hit from the canine, from the dog. in the dash is some sort of narcotics. they pulled out bags of, i guess we don't know what they are yet, one, two, three, four, five of them so far, six, seven, eight. keeps coming. do you know what you have there? >> yes. >> reporter: what do you have? >> methamphetamine. >> reporter: methamphetamine. is that a normal load? >> we could get five or six more. >> reporter: why, if you are a cartel, do you want to send drugs through a legal port of entree? >> opportune toy mix in with the general population. >> reporter: they think they can sneak it by you? >> right. >> reporter: a reality check for the president on a signature proposal. >> wow. >> good piece. still ahead, the white house decision to reverse course on the bathroom policy for

transgender students sparks tension within the administration. >> surprising. betsy devos was fighting -- >> yeah. >> sessions. she reportedly was the one who wanted to leave the obama policy in place, federal guidelines, title 9. >> she cease supported some gay rights initiatives over the years. i think this was her way of coming public with how she believes. >> hallie jackson is going to join us with reaction from the white house. we thought it was coming this week, but seems the white house needs more time to work on the revised travel ban that steven miller says is going to be like the first one. that and much more coming up next on "morning joe." and paycheck... you've earned your medicare. it was a deal that was made long ago, and aarp believes it should be honored. thankfully, president trump does too. "i am going to protect and save your social security

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i'm mary story from fayetteville and i'm not a paid protester. [ applause ] >> i don't care if anybody here is paid or not, you are all from kansas and i want to hear from you. >> you want to stand with him and expect us to be calm, cool and collective. well, what kind of insurance do you have? >> some people are clearly upset. there is a bit of professional protester manufacture base in there. when you look at some of these districts and these things, it is not a representation of a

member's district. that necessarily, just because they are loud doesn't mean there are many. in a lot of cases, that's what you are seeing. >> another day of angry town halls across the country and another dismissal from the white house. good morning. it's thursday, february 23rd, welcome to "morning joe." with us, we have john mn meacha. donnie is here. >> it is the al capone collection. jon meacham came to new york city yesterday and went into a restaurant. donnie was wearing a baby gap spanx. >> oh, god. was he looking for attention? >> it said fueled by -- >> it was the cw superman because he had stuffing where

the muscles should be. he was signing autographs. nobody was asking for them. >> funny thing, all of a sudden, they say the thing about rutherford, then meacham is there. >> since you mentioned it. >> let's get to the news. president donald trump's approval rating is down to the lowest point since taking office. 38% approve of the job the president is doing in the poll. 55% disapprove. >> who believes this number? >> i do. >> donnie, do you believe 38%? >> i think there is a base, we are going to see the bottom is around 40%, that number. i think, ironically, the good news for trump, to be honest for you because one could say it

could be 30 is if jobs continue to grow and he builds his infrastructure and doesn't screw up health care, he will be okay. to be surviving at this point with those numbers. >> most polls have him 42, 43, some 45, 46. 38 seems low. that poll was always low during the campaign. 38 doesn't feel right. >> even if it's 42 or 44, he's still a month into his presidency, historically, compared to president obama or george w. bush, he's still historically low. >> but, but, there seems to be a floor. i just think it doesn't go below. i think, if any building blocks of positivity start to fall into place, i actually think, believe it or not, he's in a decent position. it pains me to say that. >> mika wanted to say yesterday,

43% or whatever nbc had him at is pretty good considering how sloppy this month has been, how awful this month has been on so many fronts. yeah. >> the gallup tracking poll has him at 42% and yesterday, he was at 43. the quinnipiac poll shows 61% disapprove of how he talks to the media. voters trust the media more than president trump. >> in the town hall meetings, i didn't hear one person complaining about the media, about kellyanne conway, ivanka trump's nordstrom. they care about two things, jobs and health care. >> yeah. >> you look at the polls, then listen to what matters. >> john thar, that is what i ha

heard from trump supporters who push back at me so hard. what are you saying about the courts. what he's saying about checks and balances. what he's saying about the media. if they are business people, they are worried about tax reform, regular la tear reform. >> social conservatives, look at gorsuch, what he's done in one month's time. his supporters don't really care about all the crazy things he says, extraneous noise. they care about what he's going to do for them. >> well, there wasn't a metamorphosis going in. i think 38 is low. i think one of the signs of the structural divide in the country is he's probably not going to go a heck of a lot below the general election number. >> which i wanted to ask you, historically, oh, barack obama and bush and everybody started

out at 105%. well, those were the old days. those were the good old days. let's see how the president does. i find it hard to believe hillary clinton would be up in the 50s and 60s. this is such a divided country. you are going to go between 40 and 45%. >> yeah. if you get above 50, it's serious. >> which barack obama did not do until the end. he was in the low, mid-40s for most of his presidency. >> imagine a world which was 1984, the actual year, as opposed to the surprise best seller, 49 states. george h.w. bush, 400-something electoral votes. '92, the winner gets 43%. '96, clinton doesn't break 50. 2000, we know what happened there. '04, w. gets the highest

percentage as a republican since his father. '08 is pretty clean. >> even '04 comes down to ohio. >> yeah. oh, yeah. southern ohio goes a different way. >> for his supporters, the media and others throw up their hand, this is chaos, he is doing, i said this a week into his presidency. he's doing exactly what he said he was going to do. he views himself right now as delivering on campaign promises with health care, immigration, the courts. everything he said he was going to do, he is doing. you can't be surprised. >> the health care message. >> the protests, that should concern members of congress but trump supporters are turning it off. >> let's look at those. we had high wattage town halls across the country, again. last night, senator tom cotton of arkansas drew more than 2,000 people with long lines waiting

to get into the event. what began as kcordial. >> if you are affected by health care, stand-up. my family has been in the ozarks since the 1800s. we are historically a republican family, we are a farming family, we are an nra family, an army family. aside from inheriting their patriotism and work ethic, i, unfortunately inherited a connective tissue disorder. i qualify for medicare but it's useless for me. two of my doctors who are the only ones familiar with my condition accept medicare. without the coverage for pre-existing conditions, i will die. will you commit to replacements

in the same way you committed to the repeal? [ applause ] >> thank you. let's take a couple more questions or comments about health care. what i'm committed to is making sure that people with conditions as serious as yours or young, healthy people, all have access to affordable, quality, personalized care. >> i'm always the slowest guy in the room. >> wasn't the affordable care act horrific? didn't democrats run from it and republicans against it? all of a sudden, not so bad. it's stunning how they change. >> it is. here is the important thing. you are looking at that and that

sounded like it was on the upper west side, right? it was in arkansas. you might say, tom cotton, i'm sorry, i don't think anybody is going to beat tom cotton for a very long time. go into selective districts, it's all about turnout. temperatures don't turn out, they just don't. what is the percentage of people who actually voted for donald trump as president or hillary clinton? 30s or something? you get all of these people out right now. sam, they are going to come out, even in states and districts that lean republican 5% or 10% points, it's all about turnout. if they are this focused, even in a state like arkansas, one of the reddest states in the country, in february of 2017, my gosh, what is this bode for

democrats turnout machine in '18 if this continues? >> this has such familiar echoes to 2009, although it's earlier than 2009. it was july and august when the town halls erupted. now, we are in february. arkansas is an interesting case study. they expanded medicaid, there are people, poor, white people, probably, presumably many trump voters who felt the affects of the affordable care act in a positive way. when reporters were going around during the election talking about health care, there was a disconnect. a lot of people felt they were benefiting. they weren't sure if it was obamacare. do you like affordable care act, yes. do you like obamacare? no. they didn't know it was the same thing. they are impassioned by what is happening here. you can see it in the numbers of the law. prior to the election, approval for the affordable care act was

negative. it's ticking upwards and people realize what it is and think it could be taken away. this is a hornets nest. it seems similar to me. you played a clip of sean spicer. they are almost identical words to what robert gibbs was saying in 2009, dismissing the tea party protests, reminiscent to the brooks brothers of 2000. it seemed so similar. if i were a republican member, at this point, i would tread carefully when you go to the town halls. >> look at this. bill kassidy met at a town hall. he was late. he did little to calm the hundreds that packed the library to meet him. >> do your job! do your job!

do your job! do your job! do your job! do your job! do your job! >> there is frustration in some xhunlts over lawmakers who are not holding town meetings. earlier this week, demonstrators took to the streets of houston asking for an event from ted cruz. despite pressure, congressman louie gomer resisted calls for a town hall as well, saying this, unfortunately, there are groups from more violent strains of leftist ideology, some being paid who are praying on public town halls to wreak havoc and threaten public safety. we were informed after gabby f giffords was shot that they

stand the most chance being harmed or killed as happened there. in the same amount of time it takes to have a town hall meeting with 30-100 attendees in east texas, i can communicate with thousands of my constituent bosses through a telephone town hall meeting. >> i haven't seen reporting on this, but the talking pounlts for people going home was to say, you are all from kansas or montana, everyone should be heard, comma, but. >> right. >> there's some recognition they want to acknowledge the anger and unease, then get into the details. to me, anyway, that's a sign that, you know, the national party, which is not the same thing at the trump white house by any means recognize this. one thing i keep hearing and i'm sure you do, too, from lawmakers, they are on board for this as long as basically their

own futures are okay. >> still ahead on "morning joe," back to the drawing board on the president's travel ban after it was stopped in its tracks by a federal court. later, we'll hear from steve mnuchin on his vision for the trump administration as the markets continue their winning streak. you are watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. this is the story of green mountain coffee and fair trade, told in the time it takes to brew your cup. let's take a trip to la plata, colombia. this is boris calvo. that's pepe. boris doesn't just grow good coffee, boris grows mind-blowing coffee. and because we pay him a fair price, he improves his farm to grow even better coffee and invest in his community, which makes his neighbor, gustavo, happy. that's blanca. yup, pepe and blanca got together. things happen. all this for a smoother tasting cup of coffee. green mountain coffee. packed with goodness. only tylenol® rapid release gels

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jon meacham gave us the best news of the day. why don't you share it with, americans. >> from what i understand, as the father of a 14-year-old and 12-year-old who believe it's not a carbohydrate issue, there is now a larger big mac. >> oh! >> mika -- >> that's disgusting. >> confirm that. >> it's the grand mac. >> the grand. >> what is wrong with people.

>> the grande. >> okay. the white house -- >> come on. where is the line? i don't give a damn. can you be tougher than that? >> the white house needs more time to rework its travel ban executive order. the president said to expect the new version this week but now the white house says it won't come until next week. on saturday, homeland security secretary john kelly said the new order would be, quote, tighter, more streamlined version of the first. but, compare it to senior white house adviser steven miller's tiny dictator description. he was in rare form, once again, doing what he does best, being a tiny dictator. the chief architect tells us what the new one is going to look like. >> nothing was wrong with the first executive order.

there was a flaw in judicial. you are going to have the same policy outcome for the country, but responsible to tech nicknic issues brought up by the court. >> stephen miller saying the new ban will be just like the old ban. he described any differences as of a minor or technical nature. i can tell you, he just served up the aclu's opening line in an argument against the travel ban in court. well, judge, you blocked the old ban for these reasons. the government already conceded through mr. miller, the new ban is basically the same, so it should be blocked, too. >> why do they put him on tv? forget whatever policy he is pushing, he is so bad on tv. stephen miller. >> not ari. >> ari is great.

seriously, it looks like he just got out of shop class in 11th grade and went down to the principal's office where they have a closed circuit tv set. >> how much lunch money did he give up? >> he's just bad. technically bad. i thought donald trump had central casting and people who were good on tv, people that communicate. this guy is just, everything is wrong. >> also, if you really want the executive order to pass a court, being petulant is not the way. finding a new way to push it through is the way to get it, not to say it's basically the same thing, take it or leave it. >> i was right the first time. i was right the first time. >> i'm a tiny dictator. >> do you think he has an audience of one? >> yes. >> it's himself. >> yeah. >> okay, so --

>> it's an audience of one. nobody else in the white house thinks that. coming up on "morning joe," the president reverses an obama order. protests break out at the white house. we'll get a live report just ahead.

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this morning, after a six month stand off, authorities are closing in on the remaining protesters at the standing rock sioux reservation. yesterday was the deadline for protesters to get off the federal land. some of the tents and makeshift structures were set on fire as demonstrators left. according to the governor of north dakota, officials believe 25 to 50 people are still in the evacuation zone. for more, let's turn to msnbc's cal perry. >> reporter: the deadline came and went and only a small number of protesters were arrested. certainly not what we expected. authorities said they were going to clear the camp yesterday, just after the deadline. that did not happen. one thing that may have slowed it down, there was a negotiation between authorities and protesters who wanted to be arrested. the protesters, according to authorities did not show up at the appointed tim place.

that delayed the entire day. today, certaino be another long day at that camp, unclear what the hundreds of law enforcement will do. again, they say they want to clear the camp. they are coming up against hardened protesters despite the threat of being arrested. those who choose to leave on their own, many will come here to the capitol in bismarck, the processing center. some of them don't have the money to get home, so they are offering free bus tickets. if you are trying to get back to anywhere in the lower 48 states and you left the camp yesterday, you are likely to be processed out and put on a bus home. we'll see how things shape up. everybody expected it to be resolved. >> thank you for that report. just ahead, casey hunt and hallie jackson join us live. you are watching "morning joe." we'll be right back.

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so donald trump is skipping c-pap. i think somebody told him megan kelly was going to be here or worse, he was told there were conservatives that were going to be here. >> that was ted cruz at c-pac last year. times have certainly changed. joining us on capitol hill, robert costa, who writes trump's america will be on vivid display at annual conservative gathering. also with us from the c-pac conference is nbc news capitol hill krnt correspondent, casey hunt. this is going to be a different c-pac. tell us about it. some of the panel names i was looking ul here, free stuff versus freedom.

millennials love aware with bernie sanders, armed and fabulous, the new normal and, if heaven has a gate, wall and extreme vetting, why can't america? help me out, robert costa. >> we have seen at cpac since george w. bush's presidency, a move to the libertarian side. senator rand paul and his father have done very well in the presidential straw poll and senator cruz. this year is different. it's been an embrace behind the scenes ahead of the event of president trump and his nationalism, populism, confrontational style when it comes to political correctness and rallying against the establishment. what's on the side, not the center is the conservative movement that came after barry goldwater. the old school movement right. it's not as powerful or influential this year. >> go ahead.

>> i think it was your piece, our friend mike murphy talking about this saying the populous revolt style was sort of a wing to the party, give it a couple slots, beat it back and the establishment prevails. now it's the center of the republican party. >> that's a great point. when i was talking to mike murphy, he said the dynamic in the republican party was the establishment, country clubbers and then you have the bill buckley's and ronald reagans. they were the main camps in the gop. as he put it, the pat buchanan wing. 1992, he comes out with a revolt campaign. they were on the side, on the fringes. so was steve bannon and donald trump. what we are seeing is the vacuum of power in the republican party, a weaker establishment and weaker conservative movement. into the vacuum are populous revolters.

>> speaking of, casy hunt, there's a new show at cpack, bannon and priebus. it's electrifying the chemistry. tell us about it. >> it's like moonlighting. >> we are all on the edge of our seats. we are. we don't hear often from steve bannon out in public. it's him in conversation with reince priebus. to reflect on what bob was talking about, these two people are really the em bodiment of what he said, the establishment on one hand in reince priebus, somebody who did everything right, he was rebuilding the republican party, the conservative intellectuals, welcoming them in. he was close with governor scott walker, who, again, comes out of traditional ideas. steve bannon, completely the opposite there. they are attempting to show they are forging a successful relationship. they sat down for print interviews to talk about how

they are on the same page. we are going to get to see them on stage next to each other. that's a headliner act coming out of cpac today. we are watching the crowd fill in. kellyanne conway is the first speaker. so far, the seats are not full. it will be interesting to see who the crowd is at cpac. >> john rean meacham. >> one thing to bob's point, conservative is sifting, there's not a lot of conservatism to what he was describing. to what extent is this a republican gathering and to what extent and ideological one and they are finding the vessels where they have to. >> reporter: there's a ton of overlap. if you flip through the program here, the sponsors are all kind of the list of people you would expect, the american petroleum institute. every outfit on the conservative side trying to influence policy

is involved here. the acu, american conservative unit has been the traditional force. there is still some of that. there's a panel, for example, that says the all right ain't right from the acu. on the other hand, you have breitbart listed prominently as a main sponsor here. i think those are the people who really have the focus this year. i think ones you expect to hear. mitch mcconnell said winners get to make policy, losers go home that's the vibe from the trump people here. they are still as much as they relish having beaten hillary clinton, they are relishing taking out all these people. some will be on stage today, scott walker and ted cruz, but the people here with the power is the wing of the party nobody expected. >> look at this interesting poll from pugh research that shows republicans who they would trust

in a disagreement between their party leaders in the white house and capitol hill. 52% of republicans say they would side with president trump. 34% say gop leaders in congress. the poll found republican approval of gop congressional leadership more than doubled since 2015 when they hit a low of 26%. now, at an eight-year high, 68%. on the democratic side, the poll shows a democratic party hungry for opposition with 72% believe democrats will not do enough to oppose president trump and 20% believing they will go too far. what do you make of those numbers? >> it shows the republican congress is doing a little bit better with voters. i think that's something that should be encouraging that congress isn't completely at the lowest rung of society these days. they are gradually gaining voter

trust again. bob, specifically, i have another question about cpac. i'm curious what the activists are saying. there was so much controversy over a certain activist, who i don't want to name because i don't want to dignify his racist and recently he also the comments aired about his approving comments about pedestrian fe pedophile ya. is there a decision to invite that speaker and the decision to drop him or is that a controversy everyone moved beyond? >> reporter: it's consumed conversations in c-pac. they like, in this speaker, the idea that he is taking on the left. they like the unrest he creates on college campuses. they also acknowledge that he's not a conservative. he has not defined himself as a conservative and has comments

that are so horrendous about pedophiles, it's a great tension in the republican party. they want this trump confrontational style when it comes to the press and college professors and college students. they love that kind of fight. they haven't really started to fully grapple with the consequences of bringing in these new elements to a wing of the party, a party itself who has held to conservative principles. >> it can be very complicated at times. >> yes, it can. >> sit tight for a second. hundreds demonstrated outside the white house after president trump's decision to cancel a federal rule to let transgender students use the bathroom of their choice. hallie jackson joins us now with details. good morning. >> good morning to you. this morning, i asked an administration official for a response to the protests. the response from this source was, essentially, the president

long made clear he believes this is a decision that is best left up to the states. this is a line that you have heard from the white house ever since it became clear this reversal would happen. the fallout from this decision has come fast and fierce. >> shame on trump! >> reporter: overnight, backlash building. outside the white house protests against the new administrations latest move, reversing an obama era order that let public school students use bathrooms that match their gender identities. transgender rights advocates furious, calling it cruel and heart breaking. about 150,000 teenagers in the u.s. identify as transgender, according to a ucla law school study. she worried about her young son. >> as a vulnerable child, he

deserves to be safe. >> reporter: in letters, the trump administration now arguing president obama's interpretation of a federal law called tight ix did you want hold water and involve decisions better left up to the states. >> the president made it clear, he's a firm believer of states rights. >> reporter: more than a dozen protect them and 13 others sued to block the order. >> you don't want to intermingle sexes, young boys and girls. it's clearly a violation of privacy. this singer, who performed at last month's inauguration and sister is transgender asking the president to meet with them to talk about transgender rights. >> what we hope to accomplish is really enlightening president

trump and the administration on what it's like for a transgender to live in a world that may not be as comfortable and safe -- >> or accepting. >> or accepting as we would hope and need. >> despite in u-turn, department of justice and education say they are committed to protecting lgbq students from discrimination, bullying and harassment. it is possible the decision could undercut the case of a virginia transgenter student whose case heads to the supreme court. i asked press secretary sean spicer if betsy devos was 100% on board with this or fully backed the decision. yes, she is 100%. despite reports, though, that she wasn't originally fully on board. >> fascinating. interworkings of the white house. hallie, jackson. thank you. >> casey, you got an early look

at a trump supporter vounlging for obamacare. tell us about it. >> reporter: that's right. itis part of an overall campaign. some of them say for the first time, they are actually standing up for the health care law. a lot of them spent a lot of time running away, making excuses for why it may not be working. this is when obama was in the white house. they are making a full-on push. they are seeing changes in the polling, americans are feeling as though they like the law more than they used to. this ad is airing on cable. all the shows president trump watches. it's airing on broadcast stations in tennessee. it has an audience of one, lamar alexander. they are the central place where the repeal and replace is written. take a look. >> i'm a republican. i voted for trump. >> from here to knoxville. see a doctor. >> i was diagnosed with

esophagus cancer. a lot of people think people on affordable care act, it's people like me, it saved my life. >> everybody should get the care they need. >> i'm still here. i'm still fighting. tell congress -- >> save his care. >> so, of course, the question now, how much of the protests we are seeing over the health care law is real and will actually show up at the ballot box and how much is an organized protest. mika? >> casey hunt, thank you very much. "the washington post" writes, the next dnc chair will have a huge opportunity and a huge burden. the most striking aspect of the vast and swiftly organized movement againls president trump is how little it had to do with the democratic party. whoever is elected to chair the democratic national committee

this weekend should draw two conclusions from this and they are intention. first, the anti-trump effort mote vaded by a world view diverse in philosophy and experience. trump insights antagonism from the center and the left, second democratic leaders need to organize this into a force at a time when the words party and partisanship are in disrepute. democrats will not be up to an historic responsibility if they indulge their tendencies on the factions they pose. it's hillary's fault or bernie's fault or relishing the narcissism of differences. we need jon meacham to explain that to us. it makes great sense. it's extremely convoluted. >> it's true. i love e.j., but i wonder if that's a column that or argument

that emphasizes an older model. that is, our culture, economy, everything. donald trump is president not because of an institution, but a media movement. cult of personality. bob, what do you think? to what extent? you have these protests. the argument is the dnc has to gather up the forces. it may be the dnc has to take advantage of the results of the protest. that would be the lesson of the past couple years. >> i think that's an important point. trump moves beyond republican party. it wasn't a republican campaign. that's why he took everyone by surprise. when you look at ellison, they had their support, ellison with senator sanders and perez with clinton. the judge of south bend is a compromise candidate, draws from both camps. they are all about the party factions. who is going to animate the broader left? all the people coming out who

are moderate republican sen trysts, disengaged voters at town halls who don't think of themselves as democrats. that was trump's real genius, if there was any, getting the right broader, beyond the gop for him. >> for example, the people who are at protests today or town halls who don't want to lose their health care. i mean they are getting very, very angry. are they up for grabs? >> i think so. especially if these voters see more chaos coming out of the white house. if they see more of the same with executive orders on the travel ban for instance and then sloppily handled and not well thought out. that's going to drive a lot of fear when it comes to the obamacare repeal. this is what they are going to get when it comes to policy options. they cannot play that risk with health care. >> yeah. no, they can't. all right, robert, thank you very much. >> thank you. up next, the treasury

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i don't know if we just share it. in a moment, we are going to hear from treasury secretary steve mnuchin saying tax reform will come by the august recess. first, a look at ground we have covered this morning. another day of angry town halls across the country. >> they are this focused. what does this bode for democrats in '18? >> what do you do with a crowd like that? >> if i were a republican member, i would tread very carefully. >> people want to acknowledge the anger and unease. that's a sign the national party recognized this. >> the republicans are going out. there should be praise for going out there. >> astro turf whistling past the graveyard. >> playing a strategy of trying to alienate. we are going to see it to the 2018 election. >> more healthy to be engaged than not participating at all. >> president trump's approval rating down to the lowest point since taking office. >> ironically, the good news for

trump, if jobs continue to grow and he doesn't screw up health care. >> supporters don't care about the noise. >> you can be upset and fight against it, but you can't be surprised. >> not the leading voice on foreign policy. rex tillerson missing in action. it is a ghost town. >> jobs aren't being filled, he's out of the loob. in the wrong place at tll the t. >> i'm optimistic. i think they are going to get it together. rex tillerson is going to find it frustrating. he's going to explain what an administration policy is when it is constantly changing and vague. >> a big announcement today. >> a lot of wisdom. a big announcement from nasa yesterday. the discovery of a solar system with seven earth sized planets featuring conditions that could potentially support life. this is the story you have been

waiting for all morning. >> it's 8:32 and you just did this. >> there were things happening. nbc news correspondent miguel almaguer is at the griffith observatory in los angeles with more on this breakthrough. miguel, good morning. >> reporter: mika, good morning. this is big news for astronomers and anyone who wondered, are we alone? with the discovery of these planets, we will learn that answer in a matter of time. the seven newly discovered planets may be 235 trillion miles away from us. but, we already know they are roughly the size of our own planet. like earth, could all hold water and will now help to soon answer the question so many ponder as we peer into the heavens. anytime we find evidence of a

habitable world leads to this question. >> reporter: nose on the ground around the world, scientists found the star system they call trapis 1. their star, less than a tenth of the size of our sun could have the perfect temperature of warm and cold. >> one planet. >> reporter: astronomers say in this decade or in the next, students like these will grow up knowing if life exists beyond earth. >> it might not be the only people in our gal laxy or the universe. >> the discovery gives us a hint that finding a second earth is not just a matter of if, but when. >> reporter: 40 light years away from earth in today's space travel, we wouldn't reach the star system for hundreds of thousands of years. we are getting closer to learning more about this new

find that is at least half a billion years old. >> my opinion, this is the most exciting discovery we have had, yet. >> for some, this is the discovery of a lifetime as we search for new life, trillions of miles away from our own planet earth. with the discovery of those seven new planets, researchers say they are interested in three because of their close relationship to trapis 1. it may be warm enough to sustain life and wouldn't it be cool if we found out we are not alone. back to you. >> thank you. >> how cool is that? >> do you think they will be trump supporters? let's get back to where we need to be. >> ask pugh about that. >> stephen miller knows about planet earth and holds it in his hands, his tiny hands. >> that star is 235 trillion miles away. it's close cosmically, but not a road trip.

>> a lot of beer. >> the president is set to meet with more ceos today at the white house. treasury secretary has plans for tax cuts, which is president previewed earlier this year. >> we are going to be cutting taxes massively for both the middle class and for companies. that's massively. >> lowering the overall tax burden of businesses bigly, that's coming along well. we are way ahead of schedule, i believe. we are going to announce something over the next two or three weeks that will be phenomenal in terms of tax. >> for more on this alleged plan, bring in dominic chu. the president and treasury secretary, are they on the same page on this? >> they are going to try to get on the same page. this is steven mnuchin's first

press conference. it controls our nation's pursestrings. taxes, front and center. listen to what he says about taxes, individual and corporate. >> we are committed to pass tax reform. it will be very significant. it will be focused on middle income tax cuts and making the tax competitive with the rest of the world. it's a lot of reason why companies are leaving and cash is sitting offshore. that's the focus. we want to get it done by the august recess. regardless of when they go in place, this won't really impact the economy until next year when you see changes in behavior. it will take a couple years to get growth. we are committed in this administration. you can see it in the markets. the stock market is up. the dollar is up. there's a lot of confidence in the trump administration and in

the desire to invest in the u.s. this is a very competitive place to do business. we have great companies. you can see that reflected in the markets. >> so, guys, you get the feeling like treasury secretary steven mnuchin is playing a pace and he's got time to put policies in place. >> he says that plan is coming by august, the recess. we'll see if that holds up. thanks so much. john mreach um for a final thought. >> bwhat a set up. >> we talked about the critic that described conservatism and the irritable gestures. joe sees that as the beginning of a culture that marginalized conservatives, which led to a meltdown by donnie. i refer people to the website. >> there you go. >> elise jordan. >> thanks for having me today. >> i thank you for being here. believe me.

that does it for us this morning. ali velshi picks up for us. >> i'm in for stephanie ruhle. protests at the white house after the trump administration rescinds transjend students. >> shame on trump! shame on trump! >> sound and fury. the biggest night yet for ruckus town halls. >> do your job! do your job! >> thousands packing in to take on this arkansas senator. >> while you are supporting the policies of a man who wanlts to grab women by the [ bleep ]. >> the big question this morning, who brought the la mas? plus, feeding the base? the