hi, everybody. good morning. i'm thomas roberts in new york at msnbc world headquarters. 9:00 a.m. in the east, 6:00 a.m. out west, and day 38 of the trump administration. and we start with a big break with tradition. president trump makes a decision to do something that hasn't been done in decades in washington, and it has to do with the media, but there are new poll numbers out this hour, some up, some down, and at least one that tells us whether the president is winning his battle with reporters. and then, where's the bar? what are the expectations on capitol hill as president trump prepares to speak before a joint session of congress on tuesday?

will the usual decorum hold? and then, it is sunday, and hollywood's big night. some are predicting the academy awards will make headlines for very different reasons than which film wins best picture. we have a live report from "la la land" ahead here on "nbc live." but we begin with a live picture of the white house, where the president and first lady will host the governors' ball coming up later today. and with two days before the president set to make that joint address to congress, we have this new nbc/"wall street journal" poll showing him with a negative job approval rating of 48%. that is a record low for a new president. meanwhile, americans are split on their view of the travel ban with 44% calling that policy necessary while 45% disagree. and as president trump ramps up his attacks against news outlets, 53% of americans feel the media is overstating problems within the trump administration. now, the poll comes a day after the president tweeted that he would not be attending the white house correspondents dinner, and that dinner is set for april

29th. meanwhile, a show of unity by democrats following a very contentious race for the dnc chairmanship. establishment favorite tom perez making it his first order of business upon clinching the election to appoint his chief rival, congressman keith ellison, to serve as the deputy chair. >> because we were always united in our values, and we will always continue to be united in our values! and we are united in our love for the democratic party, our love for the diversity of the democratic party. >> that if you came here supporting me, if you're wearing a keith t-shirt or any t-shirt, i am asking you to give everything you've got to support chairman perez. we don't have the luxury, folks, to walk out of this room divided. we don't have that luxury.

>> so, we have a tweet from the president about this. he tweeted twice, but this one in response this morning to this race, saying it was "for dnc chairman was, of course, totally rigged. bernie's guy, like bernie himself, never had a chance. clinton demanded perez!" i want to go to nbc's kelly o'donnell at the white house. so, kelly, the president is set to address the joint session of congress on tuesday but has a big day with the governors' ball today. what do we know about time for preparation on that joint session appearance? >> reporter: well good to see you, thomas. we do know that the president worked with top aides saturday, spending some of his time. no public events for him, but he was working inside the white house offices to prepare for that speech tuesday. it is truly high stakes. to the viewing audience, it will look like a state of the union address, but when a president is in his first term, first year of office, it is called a joint session address. and what we've been told by advisers is that he will lay out in broad terms things that he

wants to accomplish, will talk about what he has already done, and much of what we've already seen the president do in his first month-plus in office has been to use executive orders and the powers of the presidency to make some immediate changes. and some of what we'll hear tuesday night will be the partnership he wants to have with a republican-led congress, where congress is necessary to move some things forward. so, think about tax reform, changes to the health care law, obamacare, that kind of thing. he's been asked if it will have an optimistic tone, and certainly, senior officials here have said that he will speak positively. that question sort of prompted by the broad sort of assessment that his inaugural address and some of his prominent speeches, like his convention speech, were perceived by many as having a darker tone about america. so, that will be something to look for on tuesday. it really is high stakes. and one of the things that is different for president trump is that he has not spoken in a room like this that is all fellow

elected officials and democrats prominently on one side of the room, republicans, more of them based on the results of the election, on the other side. it will be interesting to watch how he feeds off of that crowd, if at all, because we've certainly seen how when he's in front of supporters, that sort of animates how he delivers an address. thomas? >> a must-see event. kelly o'donnell reporting from the white house. kelly, great to see you. thank you. joining me is francesca chambers, white house correspondent for the "daily mail," and paul singer, washington correspondent for "usa today." great to see both of you. francesca, let me begin with you on the poll numbers out, specifically pertaining to the press with 53% of the americans polled here saying that the media's overstating problems with the trump administration. so, does this mean that president trump is winning the war on the media that he has by saying that we are an enemy of the american people? >> well, the media prior to president trump taking office didn't have the highest ratings before, and that's something that he's been playing off of on the campaign trail and something that he's been playing off of

since he's been in office, going to cpac, the conservative political action conference on friday, and again doubling down on some of the outlets as fake news and calling them an enemy of the press, not all of them, but some of them that he's been fighting with. you saw him this morning tweeting about another one of those outlets again, "the new york times." he's repeatedly hit them. and so, the president has made a strategy of trying to undermine their reporting and undercut it, particularly when they're writing things that the administration doesn't like and getting americans to say, oh, okay, well, it's not true. the president says it's not true and we shouldn't believe any of it. >> the president mocking "the new york times" for the fact that they are buying some ad space tonight for the oscars with "the truth is" ad that they've put together. it's a 30-second spot. it's going to cost a lot of money. they haven't advertised like this in about seven years. but paul, what do you think, especially when it comes to the president tweeting yesterday regrets for not going to nerve prop? two months in advance saying he won't show up for what is typically a night to celebrate the first amendment, but also to

not be cozy, but to show how cordial folks can be when they're in those close quarters, that we're doing our jobs, the president, the media? >> well, look, as far as i'm concerned, this is the opportunity to return that event to what it was supposed to be, which is basically me and a bunch of reporter friends giving ourselves awards and getting drunk together. that's -- >> well, and also giving students scholarships. don't forget that, paul. >> that's right. there's actually a charitable purpose to this thing. the fact of the matter is presidents for the past 30 years have gone to this thing and gave a funny speech and they get roasted a little bit as well. then at the end, there's this moment where they say, you do your jobs, we admire you for doing your jobs. we had this conflict from time to time, but it's all cool. we respect you and we appreciate you, and everybody cheers. frankly, if mr. trump had been there this year, it was going to be a little bit contentious anyway, a little odd question how he can stand there and say i appreciate you doing your jobs, if in fact, what he's going to do is get up there and stand there and say you guys all stink

and i hate you. it would have been a difficult kind of dinner to have anyways. so i'm not really worried about it. i'd rather talk about the stuff going on in the the astriation that is a bigger concern rather than this. >> it does seem it could be a contrast, a bit hypocritical for everybody to get together and do that. bruised feelings have been put aside for decades, as you point out. the last sitting president over 30 years ago not to attend was reagan, and that's because he was shot, but he did call in to the actual event. >> right. >> and as we talk about the issue with the trump administration and the press, the other story that got a lot of headlines was news outlets, francesca, that were excluded from the press briefing, the gaggle that included "politico" that were held out. tara palmeri talked about the alarming encounter she had leading up to that specific event. listen to this. >> the thing that was kind of most jarring to me is when we were trying to make our way into sean spicer's office that the person who was sort of shepherding us in said to some outlets, absolutely, absolutely!

and just was very cold and blocked others. and when i asked, you know, can i have a statement about why this is happening, because i thought it was really unusual, the word that came out of this aide's mouth was "you're threatening me." >> what? >> that's not what i was -- exactly. that's not what we were doing. i was just trying to figure out why politico wasn't let in, cnn, buzzfeed, because that's a story at the end of the day. >> so we hear tara listing off the other folks that were not allowed in, some other more conservative outlets were chosen to join the pool folks that were invited in. the "daily mail" was also barred, fran chestie ya. so, what was your experience? >> well, i was more to the middle or back of the pack of reporters that was trying to get in, so i didn't witness that and i didn't have the same experience. the way that i would describe it is they said it would be an expanded pool. we weren't exactly sure what that meant, so i showed up. when i arrived, i was told that there was a list of reporters and you could get on the list to get in.

i put myself on the list that i did not have any prior knowledge to, and we were told that we would receive an e-mail if we had been accepted into this. i did not receive that e-mail, but like a lot of other reporters decided to try to make my way in. as we started to make our way up the ramp, because there's a ramp that separates what they call lower press from upper press. upper press is where the briefing was. they were telling us to turn around if you did not receive the e-mail, you would not be allowed in. and so, i hadn't received it. i also inquired, who made this decision? who determined who got in? couldn't get any answers about that, was just told if you didn't get the e-mail, you need to go back. and at that point, reporters who had made their way up and were trying to shove in were being turned around. so, the momentum was really forcing against you to go back the other way that you came. and so, that's what we did, and then continued to press for answers about why this has happened. and i know that myself, like a lot of other reporters, and everyone else, will be curious to see what sean spicer's

on-the-record response is at tomorrow's white house press briefing for what had happened here. >> right. and obviously, this is a lot of media naval gazing. we are not supposed to be the story. so, paul, i want to switch gears and get on the record about what's taking place with russia, the interesting words of outgoing chair of the oversight committee, republican darrell issa, one of the president's bigger supporters in congress, is now joining the congress of republicans that want an investigation into alleged ties between donald trump and any of his campaign officials to russia. here's what he had to say on "realtime with bill maher." >> you're right that you cannot have somebody, a friend of mine, jeff sessions, who was on the campaign and who is an appointee. you're going to need to use the special prosecutor's statute and office. now, we have to work with them. we don't have to trust them. and we need to investigate their activities, and we need to do it because they are bad people. >> so, that is really attention-grabbing from darrell issa. paul, do you see a scenario

where this could really play out and sessions is put aside as the attorney general, a special prosecutor is put in charge of an independent investigation? >> it's plausible. i don't expect it to happen. but i think the really disconcerting thing about friday is that the story of the morning that i thought was striking was that the chairman of the senate intelligence committee, senator burr of north carolina, and the chairman of the house intelligence committee, congressman nunez from california, both had contacted reporters at the behest of the white house to say these stories about the russian trump connection are overblown. those two chairmen are the ones who are supposed to be running the investigation. so, why are they talking to the white house about knocking down stories from the press? and instead of getting into more of that discussion, we ended up in this conversation about whether or not we were being allowed into a briefing. i mean, the question here really is, if we have concerns, and i think there is pretty broad concerns about whether russia was trying meddle in the u.s.

election, where is the reliable, independent investigation that can be done, if the senate committee chairman, the house committee chairman, and the justice department are all already coordinating with the white house what their response is? it raises a real question for me, who is the independent voice that can look at this? >> we know from the nbc news/"wall street journal" poll that found 53% of americans believe congress should investigate whether trump's presidential team had contact with the russian government. also 54% believe congress should look into russian interference into the election. paul, great to see you. francesca, great to see you as well. thanks for joining me. >> thanks. want to turn our attention to louisiana and a horrific story there. the scene last night in new orleans after a car plowed into a crowd at a mardi gras parade, injuring more than a dozen people. nbc's sar yafdaah dallof is on scene. do we know the conditions of the multiple injured? >> reporter: well, amazingly, thomas, there were no deaths, and we're told there were no

life-threatening injuries. a man believed to be intoxicated is in custody this morning as police try to piece together just how this happened. >> five alarm be advised a multiple casualty incident. >> reporter: a party atmosphere quickly turned to a scene of destruction and despair. >> i saw a dark truck run down a white car off the road, swerved, lose control and just run into the people. >> reporter: at least 21 people were hospitalized after the crash, including young children as well as a new orleans police officer. a reporter for fox station wvue recorded this video and identified the man in custody as the driver of the pickup. >> put him in the car! this is the driver! >> reporter: the same man seen in this photo from "the new orleans advocate." >> we believe the suspect was highly intoxicated. he is in custody. he is being investigated right now. >> reporter: thousands of people were attending and participating

in the crew of indimman parade in the new orleans center last night. it's a popular event and one of many parades leading up to tuesday's famous mardi gras celebration. city officials say they planned for crowd safety and even took into account recent acts of terrorism in cities around the world, but there was just no preventing something like this. >> innocent people were hurt here today, families watching the parade. we had somebody that was intoxicated that ran and hurt. and hard to protect against stuff like that. >> reporter: the city's mayor and the state's governor praising first responders and the public this morning for jumping in amid all that chaos and confusion. thomas? >> sarah dallof reporting in new orleans. sarah, thank you. we know the twitter war already breaking out. we've seen it between president trump and the new head of the dnc. so, we're going to take you to the very beginning of this not-so-beautiful relationship, after this.

and the motion i would like to make to the body is a motion suspending the rules, if i may, to appoint keith ellison deputy chair of the democratic national committee. >> all right, so, there was no objection there. that was newly elected dnc chair tom perez after clinching a majority vote during the second round of yesterday's election. the chairmanship vote taking place in atlanta. joining me now is governor jay inslee of washington. he supported the former labor secretary in his bid for dnc chair. sir, it's good to have you with me. and as we looked at that video yesterday -- i was watching live -- it looked like the bitter defeat was a bitter pill for ellison to swallow. do you think this is going to create continuity or potential

tension behind the scenes for the dnc? >> i think we've got a great team helping the dnc. i actually think what i heard there was some music, and the music is a united team moving forward. i really love keith ellison. i actually gave him a bottle of monticello when he was the first muslim elected to the u.s. congress, and he has a tremendous organizational talent. and the fact that the very first thing he did was pitch in to unify this party. we've had so many new people coming into the party, many of whom supported keith. and the fact that keith now is willing to use his leadership skills both in congress and as vice chair, is a great thing for our leadership team. and i have supported tom. he's a turnaround artist. he turned around the department of labor to be much more progressive, much more oriented to help workers, and now he's going to help turn around this party so that it's more a locally functioning party so we can help county organizations, legislative races, and really important, governors' races, because we've got 38 governors, and we know winning these

governors races is pivotal to stop the gerrymandering that has allowed the republicans to take over the u.s. house of representativ representatives. >> there's definitely a lot of local work to do, but looking at the top here and the president coming out against tom perez saying bernie's guy was, you know, typical that this was a rigged type of election, this is, you know, someone that hillary demanded in terms of perez. what's your reaction to president trump and his response to how it all went down yesterday? >> my reaction is tom perez's approval rating of the democratic party probably went up 35 points if donald trump tweeted against him. that is an impromader of greatness in our view, so it was a great thing. it helped unite this effort. and i do believe we're united. the first evidence of that was yesterday in the tenth district in delaware in the senate race, where we had an absolute titanic victory. we won by 16 points. the guy who lost, the republican

just a few years ago only lost by two. he lost by 16. we almost doubled, i think, the turnout. there is a tidal wave headed towards the republicans. donald trump has ignited that. we understand that his chaos he has unleashed, his violation of the constitution, his effort to deprive thousands of americans of health care. yesterday, we had a national governors' association meeting and we had a nonpartisan evaluation come in of these health care economists. they did an evaluation of kind of trumpcare, what donald trump and the republicans have in mind. they found that in my state, a state like mine that it might be 60,000 people would lose their insurance. uncompensated care would go up dramatically. we would have job losses. these were assessments by non-partisan economists. so, i think that, frankly, the democratic party is in a very

sound position right now. these are great days. we've got democrats who are going to crawl on their knees over broken glass to come vote every chance they get. we've got a special election which will control my legislative control of the state legislature this fall. i predict great things for democrats this year. >> two things, sir -- >> to push for the u.s. constitution. >> two things, sir, i want to get to. one you point out is what took place in delaware, the special election. >> yep. >> where stephanie hanson won. also, you talk about what took place with the leaked report saying that millions could lose health care coverage. the analysis includes these graphs on what the republicans plan to do in overhauling obamacare. the tax credits, making them less generous. they're based on a recent 19-page proposal that you point out republican leadership released about their plan in repealing obamacare. also, we do expect donald trump to release an updated executive order, maybe after tuesday. your state being one of the two that was in the lawsuit in a

nationwide effort to reverse the travel ban. what are you anticipating on offense of what could come this week? >> well, you cannot anticipate this president, the chaos and the unhinged nature of his actions so far are just totally unpredictable, so there's not a lot of sense doing that. i can tell you that i'm glad that washington has led the effort. we jumped into court immediately. our great attorney general, bob ferguson, won in front of four judges in two separate courts, half of whom had been appointed by republican governors, i may add. the president said see you in court. we already saw him in court. he was thumped. he was found that we were likely to prevail. so we don't know what they're going to come out with. we hope that they, whatever they do, will actually follow the u.s. constitution. but i've got to tell you, even if they did, the basic policy here is so flawed, and i think the best evidence of this is this leaked report from his own

homeland security department did an assessment of whether it makes sense to have a nationwide ban for the seven states, and his own homeland security department concluded there's really not a national security justification for that. so we think this actually damages our national security by interrupting our alliance with the muslim nations against terrorism. it hurts our economy. this thing has kept out some of our researchers who were going to come to work with the university of washington. it's hurt our businesses who want to sell their products -- >> but president trump seems to be delivering on a campaign promise, despite the consequences. and once again, the see you in court phrase, quickly because i need to wrap up. i know you said you'll see him in court, but how about the polls? the "seattle times" says you have your sights set on 2020. is that true? >> i have my sights on being governor of the state of washington, the best job in the world. the only one i'd trade it for is being an nfl quarterback, i

think. so no, i'm focused on this. and these are great days to be a governor because governors are the first lines of defense, both for the u.s. constitution, for our health care, for our climate change policies. we're going to fight climate change, no matter what donald trump does in my state, and we're going to move forward on this. >> we have to leave it there, but i want you to keep me posted on if the seahawks reach out to you today or whether we keep our eyes on politics. governor inslee of washington. growing pains or trouble? how most americans see the first 30 days of the trump administration. the results of a new nbc poll. runs on intel?

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hi, everybody. welcome back. i'm thomas roberts here at msnbc world headquarters in new york. and at the half hour, here's what we're watching for you. new reaction from the newly elected dnc chair, tom perez,

responding to a tweet from president trump calling yesterday's election rigged. here's what chairman perez said just moments ago. >> congressman ellison and i got a good kick out of that. donald trump up again in the morning tweeting about us. you know, our unit y as a party is our greatest strength, and it's his worst nightmare. and frankly, what we need to be looking at is whether this election was rigged by donald trump and his buddy, vladimir putin. and i'll tell you, having jeff sessions oversee such an investigation, it's really unfair to any foxes across america to say that that would be the fox guarding the hen house. we need an independent investigation, because that is a serious, serious issue, and the american people need to understand whether the russians in cahoots with the trump folks and others rigged the election. >> all right, so, meanwhile on that point, republican senator tom cotton is pushing back on congressman darrell issa's call for a special prosecutor to

investigate trump associates and alleged russian ties. here's what senator cotton told my colleague, chuck todd, moments ago on "meet the press." >> i think that's far down the road from what our inquiry might reveal in the intelligence committee or what the fbi's inquiries might reveal. that's something to be decided down the road, but right now there's no credible evidence of these contacts beyond anonymous sources in the media. and i've got to tell you, anonymous sources can't always be trusted. >> anonymous sources are how we found out about a lot of scandal in this country. >> i want to bring in marguerite clifton, ceo of clifton, and robert trainman, former bush/cheney senior adviser. good to have you both on. let me get your reaction to what we just heard from senator cotton. >> i think that the fundamental debate that you're seeing about how we go about investigating. what we saw this week was a lot of prominent republicans coming forward saying we do need an investigation. and frankly, there's two sides of this. one, they don't want to see us

pushing back. they want to be complicit with any kind of investigation, allow it to go forth. but what they don't want is it to balloon into the next benghazi. what you have is the next question, the senate intelligence committee leading with this. you also see the armed service and judiciary committees calling for an investigation. but a lot of democrats are really pushing for an independent investigation, one that goes more in depth and that isn't potentially, you know, managed by republicans in a way that they don't feel like is as vetted as they want it to be. so, that's sort of what's breaking down right now. >> robert, what do you say about how significant it is that darrell issa would say a special request for an independent prosecutor going outside the box of ag sessions needs to be considered? >> i think issa is on to something. look, an investigation is an investigation is an investigation. you have senator mitch mcconnell, republican leader, also saying perhaps we should look into it.

we have obviously darrell issa. what i heard from tom cotton is let's not get ahead of our skis. it appears we need an investigation, but let's be thoughtful and methodical about this. i guess the question really is not about an investigation. i think everyone agrees we should look into this. the real question is, what does it look like and what is the scope of this? and i think we need to be very thoughtful about this to make sure that we cross all of our ts and dot out of our is. >> so, marjorie when it comes to discerning a distinction between trump associates and business connections with trying to advance trump organization financial interests around the world to actually the campaign issues, how can they dissect the two? we know that donald trump did business in 2013 in russia. we hat miadmitted to me on camet he did know vladimir putin personally, only to retract that and take all of that back. so, how do they separate business from campaign business? >> well, so, there's the two pieces. there's the business dealings and then there was the michael

flynn and the sanctions, which are frankly two very different things, because one is was trump somehow working with russia? did russia somehow influence the elections? that's one bucket. the other is, was he cutting deals based on those relationships around our trade and how we do our international policies? so i think both are interconnected, both are equally important, and you know, some of these investigations already had begun before even the michael flynn issues came up. >> right. >> and i think russia has been consistently a problematic theme, and you have top, you know, republicans like john mccain and others who have been voicing this. and you know, even a lot of his national security advisers and others. i think that's a good thing. but how you differentiate will, again, they're interconnected, but they both are separate concerns and issues. >> but when we look back in contrast over history, robert, the open mike moment of president obama and vladimir putin, and president obama saying i'm going to have more flexibility after i'm elected. how's that different?

>> well, that's the thing. two things. one, what president obama said is just give me a little space here until i win re-election. but to your original question, thomas, to my knowledge, donald trump did not break any laws when he was a private businessperson. so what he did prior up to 2016 i'm not sure is really relevant. donald trump is on record, is on record as saying, yes, michael flynn did speak to the russian ambassador back in december and he did that in the context of the transition. now, the question becomes is whether or not he broke the law or not. as i understand the law, it looks like he bent the law, because it looks like any private citizen cannot negotiate on behalf of the united states of america. however, michael flynn was the incoming national security adviser, so that's open for -- >> what about one president at a time and the administration of one president at a time, robert? >> absolutely! look, we have one president at a time, and up to then, obviously, barack obama was the president -- occupied the presidency up until noon of

january 20th, however, there's a transition. and however, these people need to get up to speed and clearly need to know what they're doing. so, the question becomes what did michael flynn say to the russian ambassador? and i guarantee you that michael flynn's phone was probably tapped, and so they knew exactly what he was talking about. so, these are two separate issues. donald trump as a private citizen, donald trump then as a transition person, and then donald trump as president. the question becomes is how much do you want to dig into the transition and then when donald trump became president? that's the real question. >> marjorie, you wanted to say? >> well, you also have to keep in mind that what obama was talking about was more diplomatic relations. you know, give me a chance to see if there's some mendable solution here. and what the investigation here is, was there a fundamental and -- >> do we know that? were you in the meeting? how do you know that? >> well, i wasn't in the meeting. that's what obama was saying. and there wasn't any concern about previous relationships and, you know, involvement prior to the campaign, whereas donald trump acknowledged himself that

there were relationships prior to his campaign and during his campaign and has been very open about that. and i think consistency of his message around russia is one of the primary concerns. and frankly, what raises a lot of these red flags. and like you pointed out, bending the law, but you know, somewhere in that bending, was there breaking? so, i think that's what we're trying to figure out. >> well, i think that's a valid point. really quickly, i do think that's a valid point. there are a lot of red flags here and there is a lot of smoke. the question is, is there a fire? but i do agree with that last point. >> all right, so, let me hov on to this. with the new nbc polling out this morning saying 43% of americans say the challenges of the president's first month in office are just routine growing pains. so, robert, let me give you the first word on that. do you agree, just natural growing pains? >> well, i am not sure i agree with that. i took a look at ronald reagan's first 100 days, bill clinton's first 100 days and barack obama's first 100 days, took a look at all the headlines. yes, there is turbulence, no doubt about it.

there is a bit of friction between the bureaucracy and the presidency. i think donald trump is in a catego category in itself. just look at his first press conference, look at sean spicer's reactions to certain things. all you have to do is take a look at the president tweeting and saying some of the things that he says. so, these are not growing pains. this is a natural rubbing, if you will, of traditional institutions that i don't think any president has done, at least not in our lifetime. >> and marjorie, let me get you on the reaction based on that point as well. yeah, the paradigm has completely shifted. the president last night tweeted that he won't be attending the white house correspondents' dinner, breaking with tradition for some 30 years. should we really be shocked by that? >> well, i mean, i think it's a missed opportunity. because frankly, showing up and talking directly to the press, making fun of the press. i mean, that potentially could give him the leg up that he wants. and you know -- >> but why does he need that? he does that daily. >> this is true. >> he does that daily. do we all need to be under one

tent and within eye contact of each other to get that type of fire? >> i guess not necessarily, but at the same time, he needs the press, because you know -- and the fact that he's even allowing certain media outlets and not others in says that. i think, you know, he always sort of enjoyed that spotlight. and frankly, it is sort of a hollywoodesque type event, and you would think that would be right up his alley, but it would also in some ways allow him to control some of the pushback. but to your point, does it really bother him? i think what's interesting on just his general public opinion polling, he was at 56% disapproval at the outset, which was the historic low in terms of how people perceive the president. but i think we need to be very careful in not making assumptions about how people feel about his policies and who he is, and it goes back to what happened in the general election. a lot of people were surprised by trump's win. and you know, are we looking at the same things, being surprised by the same things when he's polling still in positive ways with the audience that voted him in? >> exactly.

>> and i think that says a lot about, you know, how americans think, and we need to be smart about that. >> well, just updating our coverage to modern standards. nothing wrong with that. >> yep. >> robert, great to see you, marjorie, thanks for your time. appreciate it. >> thank you. >> thank you. anticipation building in hollywood. today is oscar day, so probably not yet stars are getting their hair and makeup on? i don't think so. it's only like 6:43 out there, although it takes me like all morning to get my false eyelashes on. still ahead, how politics is playing nearly as big a role, and who might be walking home with a golden statue tonight. and next hour on "am joy," new leaders in the democratic party must shape a plan to come back at the trump administration. who's winning the political narrative? that's next. from the first moment you met

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know how lyrica affects you. those who have had a drug or alcohol problem may be more likely to misuse lyrica. with less pain, i can be more active. ask your doctor about lyrica. 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 set it free. see you around, giulia , so, this year it looks like we will not be able to escape politics at the oscars. nbc's steve patterson live in hollywood for us. steve, can we expect the fireworks we've seen at other awards shows this season?

>> reporter: thomas, the fireworks are already under way. you look at the build-up to this awards show, look at the s.a.g. awards, the golden globes, and even some which would be normal hollywood parties that have turned into rallies, all of this, the big build-up towards what is expected to be a very political show tonight. >> and how would you like him remembered? >> reporter: the oscars celebrate the best movies and performances of the past year, but tonight, politics may play a leading role. the awards season so far has been more political than ever. at the golden globes, meryl streep took on president trump. >> when the powerful use their position to bully others, we all lose. >> reporter: at the screen actors guild awards, ma miersch la ali, a muslim, spoke about inclusion. >> there is an opportunity to see the texture of that person, the characteristics that make them unique. and then there is an opportunity to go to war about it. >> reporter: iranian director oscar frahadi's "the salesman"

is nominated for best foreign film but is boycotting the ceremony over trump's travel ban. >> every day there is news that pushes the buttons of liberal hollywood and i don't see a world where people are quiet about that. >> reporter: the oscars have seen political protests in the past and they haven't go over well. >> he regretfully cannot accept. >> marlon brando turned down the award and senate a native american woman in his place. and michael moore accepted the award for best documentary. >> we have a man sending us to war for fictitious reasons. ♪ city of stars >> reporter: the year's front-runner is decidedly apolitical. 14 nominations, "la la land" is expected to make hollywood musicals great again. >> the academy awards are still the biggest show. and so, therefore, it will be

all the more irresistible for a star with political opinions or a filmmaker who feels strongly to speak out. >> reporter: so, count on activism on stage after a political year even hollywood couldn't script. and this weekend we've also been watching a 21-year-old syrian cinema fog for responsible for an oscar-nominated documentary about the civil war in his own country. he says he's been denied entry to the united states after being flagged by security officials. that's just more fuel to this political fire that has all been building up to hollywood's big night tonight. thomas? >> we'll see best picture being given out by warren beatty and fay dunaway, a reunion to celebrate bonnie and clyde of 50 years. it will be an amazing night for film buffs who love it. thank you. there is a new team in charge of the dnc. coming up, the big change one congresswoman wants to put in place immediately. rough your al. introducing flonase sensimist. more complete allergy relief in a gentle mist

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they're going to ask the question of all of us -- where

were you in 2017 when we had the worst president in the history of the united states? we will all be able to say the united democratic party led the resistance, ensured that this president was a one-term president and elected democrats across this country. >> so there is the new democratic party chairman tom perez looking to the future and trying to make sure his job is secure in terms of reed bying the democratic party from the top down. president trump tweeted a fwlagss to perez saying he couldn't be happier for the republican party. perez responded on twitter, call me tom and don't get too happy. we're united across the country will be your worst nightmare. joining me is representative debbie dingle, democrat from michigan. great to have you with me. let's start with something that you said, quoted about the dnc that they do nothing with congress so anything would be an

improvement. we know we saw yesterday the democrats turned out in delaware in droves for this special election. the delaware state news is saying that the big money involved, the potential for a major shift in the state's political landscape and the fact many democrats saw saturday as a referendum on president trump led to a spotlight being shined on the race. should perez's focus be organizing strictly for 2018 midterms? >> that's one of the most important things that we can do and we need to do it at the federal, state, and local level. one of the things republicans have been successful at is identify young people and getting them into local and state seats then moving into the federal. we also need to make sure that we are holding republicans accountable for if they're voting and saying that they're replace l affordable care act that people really understand how they're hurting people or what are they doing so that every american does have access to affordable quality health care. i see it as sort of a dual strategy, coordinating and

integaiting with all of us. >> one thing is fresh out of our nbc news/"wall street journal" poll, congresswoman, is the fact that there is a sentiment uniting a fractured nation about the establishment in washington, d.c., fully 86% of those surveyed say they believe a small group in d.c. has reamed the rewards of government while the people have born the cost. 88% of republicans, 85% for democrats. for those democrats, what's your missage to those who feel left behind? >> i'm somebody that for two years said that i thought donald trump could win. and i said it because i was listening to people back here in my district, working men and women, who worked a lifetime, scared are death about their pensions, want to be able to make enough money just to live in a safe neighborhood and put food on the table. we have to make sure that everybody knows we're a voice for those who haven't had a

voice in the past but my uaw worker, steam ters yesterday, my meeting with them yesterday, they're scared to death about their pensions. we have to make sure they know we're fighting for them, and we have to fight for them. >> i know that obamacare is certainly a huge topic for people around the country. republican elected leaders have been facing some angry town hall feedback, but there have also been i.c.e. raids going on. i want your opinion because last week at least seven people were arrested in raids in the metro detroit area, within your district. we're hearing people are afraid to send their kids to school there. have you spoiken with i.c.e. officials about your district and that what's been happening there? >> this is a big issue, and we need to remember that national security is our number-one issue. we have to make it a priority. yes, one of those -- it was targeted enforcement, not a raid, according to i.c.e. we have to be smart about doing this. i'm sending a letter to the new head of i.c.e. tomorrow coming out of meetings they've had all

week. we started a group called bridges. we had a meeting on wednesday. it got started off 9/11. it's the head of all the arab-american organizations, the muslims with the u.s. attorney, with i.c.e., the fbi, cust cust tom and border inspection, to improve communication. and quite frankly, it's contributed to our national security. we have to be smart about how we're going to work this through. they need to be transparent with their local communities. are they going after those that have serious and violent criminal records, which we all know they need to do? >> we expect after that joint session and appearance by president trump, maybe a new executive order to come out to deal with the travel bans. that will be another topic to discus. representative dingle, thanks for your time. thanks for watching. that wraps up this hour-hour of "msnbc live." ahead on "a.m. joy," jonathan

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