outperform here. you have to remember though, regulation is put in place for a reason. to protect people. so is this going to be just ripping apart regulation or is it going to be tweaking? and the hope is those trump voters, those who are the forgotten workers who are not invested in the markets will this trickle down and impact them? will they get jobs? >> stephanie rule, best 42 second segment ever. that does it, mtp daily right now. if it's wednesday, two presidential tones, one message. tonight, style versus substance. the president's tone was different in last night's speech, but the message, exactly the same. >> the president in an unfiltered way was able to present his agenda to the american people. plus that emotional moment in the speech. . [ applause ] was the mission in yemen the success president trump said it was? we'll look at the evidence.

the ultimate objective was not achieved. and why i'm ok seszed with the very early arrival of d.c.'s most iconic sign of spring. this is mtp daily and it starts right now. good evening, i'm chuck todd here in washington and welcome to a hump day version of mtp daily. we begin tonight with a tale of two trumps. with one message. folks, substance of the president's address to a joint session of congress last night wasn't much different than the substance of his address at cpac last week. but last night's address is being hailed by some as a break through of presidential sobriety and grace. while the cpac speech was more or less described as a base-feeding rant. why the change? three differences, tone, tone, and tone. let's look at them both from a substantive point of view. side by side. because in some cases, the

language and agenda is virtually identical. but the president's tone is not. so for instance, here's a side by side comparison on the issue of immigration between the president's address last night and his address at cpac last week. >> we've defended the borders of other nations while leaving our own borrs wide open for anyone to cross. >> we've defended other nations borders while leaving ours wide open, anybody can come in. >> we will soon begin the construction of a great, great wall along our southern border. >> oh, we're going to build a wall. don't worry about it. we're building the wall. we're building the wall. in fact, it's going to start soon we are removing gang members, drug dealers, and criminals that threaten our communities. and prey on our very innocent citizens. >> as we speak today, immigration officers are finding the gang members, the drug dealers, and the criminal aliens

and throwing them hell out of our country. >> matters of national security, similar story. take a look. >> my administration has been working on improved vetting procedures and we will shortly take new steps to keep our nation safe and to keep those out who will do us harm. in a matter of days, we will be taking brand new action to protect our people and cheap america safe. we are also taking strong measures to protect our nation from radical islamic terrorism. we are going to keep radical islamic terrorists the hell out of our country. >> you can keep going. this subject, health care. same thing. >> remember, when you were told that keep your doctor and keep your plan. we now know that all of those

promises have been totally broken remember the lie, 28 times, you can keep your doctor, you can keep your plan over and over and over again you heard it. >> i am calling on all democrats and republicans in congress to work with us to save americans from this imploding obamacare disaster. the single best thing we can do is nothing. the democrats will come to us and beg for help. they'll beg. and it's their problem. >> and here's the side by side on the issue of trade. >> we've lost more than one-fourth of our manufacturing jobs since nafta was approved. >> look at nafta, one of the worst deals ever made by any country having to do with economic development. i believe strongly in free trade. but it also has to be fair trade. it's been a long time since we had fair trade. and if they misbehave, we

terminated deal and they'll come back and we'll make a better deal. none of these big quagmire deals that are a disaster. >> folks in the end, president trump changed his tone, but not his tune. can that make his policies less unpopular? perhaps. make no mistake, the substance of the president's message remains exactly the same. even though it was packaged slightly differently last night. and can he keep this new tone? we've seen a before during the campaign. mr. trump would often turn to these tell prompter addresses like last night as a way to reassure anxious republicans, but the calm never lasted. long before something sparked an airing of grievance or grievances from mr. trump. will this new change stick? for now the white house seems intent on making sure they don't step on what happened yesterday, at least not yet. the president didn't say much today when he met with gop leadership at the white house. there was no on-camera press briefing today either. again, not wanting to get baited

into any sort of unexpected news. and the rollout of the new immigration order, moved off the schedule for today. i'm joined now by republican senator david perdue of georgia who is part of that leadership meeting with president trump today at the white house. senator perdue, welcome back to the show, sir. >> hi chuck. >> let me start with what was discussed today on the president's legislative priorities and i want to first start with health care. did you get more specifics today on where things are headed? >> well, what we had today was a business meeting by the president of the united states telling us what his objectives were. what the mission was, what everybody's role was, and what he expected. i'm very excited that we've got a guy who is leading right now and moving at a business pace, not a government pace. so we talked about health care primarily, and it was extremely encouraging conversation and he laid out his expectations very clearly. i am so proud of the job he did last night, chuck, in his speech. he laid out a vision for america

and today was a follow-up to that to say, okay, it's time to get down to work. >> well let's get into some of the weeds here. i want to have you help me parse some of the phrases he used on health care. he said last night, we should ensure that americans with preexisting conditions have access to coverage. now, does this mean that not all insurance companies will have to offer -- will have to offer insurance that covers all preexisting conditions. that does that mean folks with some preexisting conditions are going to be in a special risk pool? is that what that signalled? >> well, i don't think he was sending a signal about the specific about a pool or anything else. what he was saying inherently prior to obamacare, you had the insurability issue. you had people who had preexisting conditions and could not get coverage. we've got to make sure that the people that got that coverage keep that coverage. and so, that was one of the objectives that he set out weeks ago when he started talking about this. but what i hear the president

talking about is, this is not a question of coming up with utopian plan versus a pretty good plan. this is a talk about an alternative to a failed plan. right now in my home state, chuck, 99 counties out of 159 only have one insurance carrier. our costs are up dramatically, our deductibles are up dramatically, but more importantly, if this carrier pulls out of our state, people in 99 counties will not have any insurance carrier. >> let me ask you about issue of medicaid funding. is it something your state did not take the medicaid dollars so there isn't expansion there in your state. it is in other states. this is essentially it broke down on partisan lines for the most part. there are republican govern governors who did take it. are we headed to all block grant on medicaid or is this -- is there going to be more flexibility here from the federal government? >> well, what we heard from the governors just this week is that they want more flexibility, and they met with the president. the president talked about that

publicly last week, this week. so i think that's what they're asking for, and i think there's an appetite to do that. look, we've got solutions at some state levels that are working right now and we need to make sure we give those governor rs the opportunity to do that. i applaud my state governor for not stepping into this. i believe that we are in a much healthier position now to make the change that will be coming. >> what do you say to the rural hospitals though in your state that have felt as if they've been underfunded and the lack of the medicaid expansion has hurt them much more than it should? >> well, it's a very real problem. and our state government is on that right now, i believe that this is one of the things that has to be addressed in this bill and i'm confident it will be. look, we've also got the issue that not only do you have to have a provider, but you've got to have a hospital that accepts that provide and that's another complication that we're having in my home state. i is that true with my own mother over the last year. this is a complicated issue. and again, we're looking for a solution that gets us an

opportunity to avoid the disaster that is obamacare if and when it collapses. >> and i know there's a little bit of a family dispute on the idea of tax credits versus tax deductions. where do you stand on this and for those to not speak in washington speak here. essentially, with the government, for folks that don't pay new money back in for taxes, tax deduction doesn't do him any good for health care, they need basically some cash to buy the insurance. where do you stand on this? >> well, we've got to make sure if we're going to provide and help everybody have access to insurance, we have to find a way to help these people fund that. the deductibility versus a credit are two different things. one penalizes really low income people who aren't working. so we're going to make sure that that's vetted. right now i want to make sure everybody has access to coverage. today, that's not necessarily the case because of the price that has risen in the last two years or so on the price of

health care. but we got another issue here -- >> sounds like you do lean -- by the way, sounds like you lean towards the tax credit idea. >> yeah, i do. personally, but look, i'm going to support something that will never get to 100% of what i want, chuck. and this is what every senator and every house member has to come to grips with. what we have to do is to save a situation that is actually off the rails right now. i can't emphasize too importantly that we have a situation that's going to end up in a dire situation for a lot of people in this country unless we do something very, very quickly here. >> let me very quickly before i let you go, infrastructure. the president hinted, and so did speaker ryan to some of us in a meeting earlier in the day that when you hear the words trillion dollars, it's not going to be a trillion dollars in government money. that it will be a trillion dollars in impact. so some combination of public private. is that your understanding? so the infrastructure bill, the price tag is smaller than a trillion dollars? >> well, what i heard the president say last night is a public private partnership idea,

which we already been doing. usaid attracted more than $45 billion in a public private partnership called power africa. it's going to work and it will work nap principle can work in the infrastructure. isn't it interesting wave business guy in the white house talking about real business solutions about infrastructure and he knows how important infrastructure is to growing the economy. and by the way, obamacare, taxes, regulation, job one, and let's don't forget this is growing the economy. the president reminded us of that last night. he reminded us at lunch again about this. this is his main emphasis right now. >> i've good to ask you, job one is the economy, shouldn't he be leading with the infrastructure bill? >> well, that'd be nice, except that obamacare is a situation that's about to run off the rails. this is an emergency situation in my opinion. that we've got to act and act quickly to protect the people who need the protection the most, chuck. and that's what he's also said. >> so you believe health care has got to go first? >> oh, absolutely does. absolutely. >> senator david perdue, i have to leave it there.

always a pleasure to have you on and have you share your views. >> thank you, chuck. you got it. let me bring in tonight's panel. senior advisor and josh, politics editor with the national journal. old colleague of mine. welcome all. josh, i want to start with what we saw from the president, the message was exactly the same. everything he said, which was the point i want to make. and it is sort of interesting, people were cringing at the cpac speech, worried about what's going on all he did was change words and round off the edges and now they love it. >> the point is tone matters. public relations matters. and i don't think the trump white house realizes the power of winning over the media.

maybe the poll numbers bont in the low 40s. >> what'd you make? >> i think bart is so low for this president that it's on the floor, seriously. it's just -- we can't -- he's supposed to be our president. he's supposed to behave a certain way, but yet, we're always looking for the pivot. and he maybe it lasts for a couple of hours and he goes back to twitter, goes back to watching cable news and he reacts. so, that's the way -- i think it's more of a -- i don't think that the style is great. the sbar really low. >> i'm giving up tweeting for le personally, and i suggest after watching the speech last night, other people would consider at. you know, it's -- i think that -- >> nice little movement. twitter for lent. >> maybe question start it. >> start with the president. you can tell he saw begrudging

praise for people who are not normally don't normally have any. the question next is he's going to have a big movement with the supreme court. you know, we've ended phase one of the trump presidency. next he has neil gorsuch's hearings are going to dominate the spring, good chance for him to get another win. can he use this speech and those hearings to reset things? it's possible. >> well look, and let's get to the substance here. you know, it is interesting to me that we were all wondering what is he going to do on health care? is he going to provide some guidance? i heard him lean, it felt as if tom price and the house republicans had a bit more influence on what he said on health care than the senate republicans. >> the big portfolio impact, he reassured a lot of nervous senate republicans, house republicans who are trying to promote the health care reform package that can unite the republican party. he didn't offer specifics, but by not giving the type of speech he gave at cpac, he gave a little bit of confidence. you could see that the

republicans were mitch mcconnell was more confident after that speech knowing that he isn't doing the polarizing things as in in the past. >> but i want to go on health care specifically in this sense, did he give republicans something that they can push back at these town halls on? >> i don't believe that he did, because look, we saw what happened last week. the republicans have managed to make obamacare incredibly popular. people do not want their health care taken away fromthem. and here's the thing -- >> that's a thing, i wouldn't say incredibly popular. >> more popular. >> yeah, it's -- yeah. >> hyperbole there. >> you can always trumpian up things. >> everything is bigly and great. but the point is, it is more popular than it had been, the six years of under obama. the problem is they still have to answer the question is, can they cover everyone? and i don't see how they're going to be able to do that. and let's not forget, republicans did say by january

20th, they would have a bill for the president on that. we haven't seen that. >> can they lower costs for people under employer coverage. that's the bar house republicans, senate republicans and the president have to get over. i also think that most republicans are waiting to see how the president jumps into this. which does he take sides? republicans -- >> don't forget -- right, because he has said different things. like, last night, he used a phrase, and i used it with senator perdue, if you have a preexisting condition, make sure you have access to insurance. that's a much different definition than what the preexisting condition law is when it goes to the obamacare. that's really lowering the bar. insurance companies may be happy with that. but will -- you could picture the story of that first person that suddenly says oh yeah, i can get smurns, but the doctor choices stink in this risk pool. >> absolutely. he's given conflicting signals. and trump is not a detail other yenlted person. he seems to be delegating the policy to paul ryan and if you have a void, if you don't have leadership at the top, that can create a lot of problems in the short term.

>> and i think, you know, preexisting condition also under obamacare included someone who had to deal with domestic violence. so what does that mean when he says that? there's a lot here that is really not clear. >> the reason obamacare became unpolar, it didn't lower costs and it didn't empower consumers with the ability to keep the doors they liked. that's the bar republicans have to clear. does it lower costs for people on employer coverage? >> how do they deal with people that will suddenly not have access to insurance anymore? or financially they don't. and that to me, that's the trouble, potential trouble, is it not? >> that's insurance reform. we have to undo the problems of obamacare first. that's the first thing you have to do, solve what made it unpopular, then you deal with the next set of problems. >> welcome to health care. >> good luck. >> all right. thanks very much. you'll be back. up nik, dick durbin joins me with his reaction to the joint address. and what it all means for the strategy on the left. stay with us.

sfwlmpblts welcome back. we have a new interior secretary today. and that also means we have a new special election coming up. 2017 calendar, folks. senate voted 68-31 to confirm now former montana congressman ryan zinke as president trump's interior secretary. montana governor steve bullock declared the special election to fill the seat will be held on may 25th. already seven republicans and eight democrats who want the job. the final candidates will be selected when the parties hold nominating conventions. no primaries. it said parties will pick nominees. and yes, it is just one house seat, but it could tell us a lot. this will be a statewide election in montana. this election in addition to that special election in georgia to fill the congressional seat formerly held by new health and humans secretary tom price first big test what have democrats can accomplish in the age of trump. republicans are already reportedly spending over a million dollars and georgia right now since the likely

democratic candidate whose hoping to make the race a referendum on president trump. if democrats win either of these seats if they can make them extraordinarily competitive, we will have a much clearer idea of which direction the waves might be, turning or rushing to the coastline of the 2018 midterms. we'll be right back. my business was built with passion... but i keep it growing by making every dollar count. that's why i have the spark cash card from capital one. with it, i earn unlimited 2% cash back on all of my purchasing.

and that unlimited 2% cash back from spark means thousands of dollars each year going back into my business... which adds fuel to my bottom line. what's in your wallet? senator marco rubio treated last night said last night was the best speech donald trump has ever given. it was presidential, exactly what he needed to do and the country needed to hear. senate democrats are deciding on their best course to oppose president trump and are weighing their options to counter his agenda. joining me now, not only senator and number two in the senate, dick durbin. welcome back to the show, sir. >> thanks, chk. >> let me start, what did you

hear that he said that you could support? >> understand first, and you've eluded to this, the style and tone were important. it was even money on the floor of the house last night that 30 minutes into that speech, president trump was going to abandon the tell prompter, switch into tweet speak and swing for the fences against enemies of the people and so-called judges and a long litany of targets he's had in the past. he stayed on script, basically stayed on the tell prompter, and i think that's why he's getting higher marks for what is considered a pretty normal presidential presentation. when it comes to substance though, you have to ask fundamental questions, when, when are we ever going to see the replacement plan for the affordable care act? they've had six years and now weeks and months to give us an alternative and yet, we still get prince. s without specifics. when you first entered congress, you know, it was in the days where the party out of power

even if they were going to vote against legislation they didn't like, they participated in the legislative writing process, at least in committee and now in the writing the obamacare. doesn't look like democrats to want participate in the rewriting or am i mistaken. do you want to participate? >> first of all, let's do it. let's find a way to reduce the -- >> senator lamar alexander almost exclusively uses the word repair, not replace. could you work with him if he said, i want to repair this thing, let's do it >> of course. if the word repeal is off the table, there are a lot of us who will sit down with lamar alexander and others and talk about reducing the cost of

premiums, improving the quality of care, and making sure even more people have protection from health insurance. with health insurance. that to me is a goal we should share. first as they say, do no harm. what i hear from the republicans, the tax credit ideas, the old beat up health savings account ideas, that isn't going to cut it. >> earlier on the show, david perdue, the president used this language, paul ryan has used this language saying, they've got to hurry up and deal with obamacare now because it's on the verge of collapse in some states. do you accept that description? >> no. i don't. it's clear in some states that the insurance exchanges have very few choices, and there are things we can do to change that. but, despite all the negative rhetoric about the affordable care act, we still have million was americans signing unfor it and as you've said, at least in the course of your panel, the approval rating, though it still is growing. approval rating for the affordable care act. so to say that it's in a death spiral, listen, when you keep

feeding the patient poison, don't be sprietzed if they look a little sicker each day. we need to do a positive thing to turn the affordable care act into a more positive force and ensuring more people across america. >> where are you on this issue of -- and i'm working with president trump -- let me ask this way. everybody usually says, you know, if there's an area i agree, yes, i want to try to work with him, but is that politically realistic? does the democratic base, are they so angry at president trump that it gives probably you less room to maneuver in the senate conference? and when i say you, i'm talking about in leadership as you decide on the 48 democrats. does that mean it's harder to allow democrats to work with republicans. >> let's fac it, chuck, our base, many of them who have taken a complete resistance persistence approach to this, but i think the overwhelming majority of americans, including many democrats, would like to find some constructive avenues

here. infrastructure. over and over again we've heard this. chuck schumer had a press conference a couple weeks ago and spelled out where we'd like to go on a trillion dollar plan. the president brought it up again last night. would we sit together at a table and work that out? of course we would. those are things where we can work together. now when it gets into the heart and so you feel issues like immigration, and what the president has done, there are going to be some clear differences. i still haven't given hope were for example, on the daca dreamers. we had a comprehensive immigration bill that passed the senate. there may be room there. >> it's interesting, i was in that meeting with reporters when he brought up this idea of that maybe now's the time to do it, so let me ask you this, if he basically said okay, i'll support gang of eight, if you throw the wall in. would you take it? >> well, i can tell you, i voted for obscene amounts of money for border security to satisfy the republicans that passed the gang of eight comprehensive

immigration reform. i think the wall is a very expensive joke. if you want to have a border that is more secure, it isn't with a wall. it's with technology. which most of the people at boarder will say. can i support more of that? i will in return for some sensible immigration policy. >> i hear you on the wall and your description, but if he said that was his demand, could you live with it? >> i'm not going to bargain on television with you, chuck, but i want to tell you, i swallowed hard on a lot of provisions in that bill to make sure it was bipartisan. >> all right. senator dick durbin, democrat from illinois, always in the thick of it when it comes to big legislative grand bargains. thank you, sir. up xt, what the u.s. did and did notchve from the deadly raid in men. and coming up next hour, vice president mike pence goes one on one with greta. you don't to want miss that either. so stay tuned.

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coming up wt the president didn say in last night's spch couple of big gaping holes. we'll tellou about. plus is the pentagon going to start green lighting submissions without the president's approval? that's ahead. but first, here's the big cnbc market wrap. >> big is the right word for it, thanks so much, chuck. record breaking day with a dow topping 21,000 for the first time. that's a 300 point increase for the dow. the s&p up by 32 and the nasdaq rose 78 points. snap, the maker of the snapchat app has priced it's public offering at $17 a share

according to spourss who spoke to cnbc. the company will start trading tomorrow. and consumer spending slowed last month according to to the commerce department, but inflation had it's biggest increase in four years. raising the likelihood of the fed raising short term interest rates. and that's it from cnbc, first in business worldwide. fe . you could start your search at the all-new carfax.com that might help. show me the carfax? now the car you want and the history you need are easy to find. show me used minivans with no reported accidents. boom. love it. [struggles] show me the carfax. start your used car search and get free carfax reports at the all-new carfax.com. customer service!d. ma'am. this isn't a computer... wait. you're real? with discover card, you can talk to a real person in the u.s., like me, anytime. wow. this is a recording. really? no, i'm kidding. 100% u.s.-based customer service. here to help, not to sell.

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welcome back to mtp daily. one of the most moves moments came when the president acknowledged the wife of fallen u.s. navy seal ryan owens who died in a raid in yemen. in the aftermath of the death, questions have been raised about the success of the mission, whether or not it was hastily planned or kind of intelligence was gathered. a point the president directly rebutted in his address. >> i just spoke to our great general mattis, just now, who reconfirmed that, and i quote, ryan was apart of a highly successful raid that generated

large amounts of vital intelligence that will lead to many more victories in the future against our emy. and much, much -- >> officials across the government have told nbc news the raid has not yet yielded significant intelligence. folks, the president often invokes generals as he calls them been my generals sometimes he says, when discussing his foreign policy plans. and in the aftermath of his first use of force as president, it also appears he plans to elevate them even more. nbc news has confirmed that president trump will now have to personally sign off for similar raids in the future. he's handing over that control to jim mattis. a move the pentagon says is meant to speed up operations. critics might argue, it's meant as a way to protect the president from criticism if future raids go poorly. joining me now are two of my nbc news colleagues who have been reporting on both stories which

are connected. ken, let me start with you and do the ticktock on the yemen raid. couple of phrases, highly successful the president used, significant amount of intelligence, it seems that no one is willing to use that kind of adjective to us when we've asked about this. >> absolutely. i've been talking to people all day about this, chuck, as if colleagues in the nbc news investigative unit. we're hearing there has not been significant intelligence gleaned as of yet from the take of this raid. >> back up. the raid was designed to do what? there's been confusion on there. is it there a target a specific aqap person or what? >> there's confusion. and we've heard different stories. as best question gather and john mccain said this publicly, the chairman of the armed services committee, that this was a raid designed to capture or kill a particular target. it doesn't seem to have been a big fish. it was sort of a tier three

target, drink ball leader and designedo gather intelligence by aqap, computers, cell phones, things o the site, chuck. >> hans, it was -- i thought it was an unusual moment to have the president say he specifically called up defense secretary and quoted him on this. considering everything that you've been told on background that all of our other sources have been telling you and ken that he went out there so boldly there, what is the reaction from the pentagon? >> you know, chuck, i asked around on that at the pentagon today. and that is that, you know, why did mattis give his permission to have this used and what was mattis's role in this and did he want to kind of counter this idea that it this wasn't a successful operation? and the first response i got, chuck, was what makes you think that mattis, the president asked mattis' permission? the pentagon serves the president. they're serving at the pleasure of the president. they've been asking for material about the raid with a very clear

idea of putting it in the speech the pentagon knew that was coming. at the same time, there is some convergence here, officially, of what the pentagon is saying. and that is, according to senior defense officials here, they do stick by and insist that this raid produced actionable and in the words of the president, vital intelligence. so, there's a lot going on here, but i think fundamentally, this is a president -- this is a pentagon that wants to serve this president and wants to in some ways please him in any way that they can. >> ken, the intelligence was gathered, was that designed to go after al qaeda? is that who this is trying to break up? dealing with the hewties? what was this specifically targeting? >> al qaeda -- >> definitely aqap. >> that is a dangerous terrorist group and they're in the middle of a civil war. we haven't heard much about them lately. and my reporting suggests, not necessarily any greer threat prilfrom the group, this was the target that w quote on the shelf. somebody they had been after for

a while. and this mission had been briefed to the obama administration. which declined to approve it. so i said it's a significant escalation of our activity in yemen, we're going to push it to the next administration. president trump did approve it. now in terms of what intelligence was gathered, we may be getting caught up in terminology here. we're not saying they got nothing. and we're certainly not denigrating the sacrificings made by the navy seal who lost his life, but our information is that there is nothing really significant here. >> marco rubio today seemed to almost confirm that it's his understanding that there wasn't -- that -- you can't necessarily they mission was a full success, obviously, number one, we lost a navy seal, but that the mission itself wasn't a full success and there needs to be some investigation. is there momentum for that on the hill? >> absolutely. and the father of the fallen seal obviously is calling for that. and we lost a $70 million aircraft, children were killed, civilians were killed, the element of surprise was lost. it's hard to describe this as a military success. >> and under almost any circumstance, something like

this almost always ends up as a hearing on capitol hill. it would be shocking if there wasn't at least some congressional investigation. >> sure, and there've been private briefings to committees, and that's one way that we can get information. >> hans, i want to go to this other piece of news today that's related. and that is this idea that the white house no longer wants to have final sign-off authority on the special forces raids. okay. what is -- what is the line? when do they want authority? >> well, it depends on the region, and regions where you don't have active conflicts, syria, iraq, and afghanistan, it's that area where it's really sencom and the pentagon wanted to do what they said under the obama administration less mother may i. and a lot of ways this is pentagon-driven. they didn't want to always go up the chain of command, always ask for it. so i would look at this as less the white house trying to wash it's hands of potentially politically complicated operations that go badly, and more of the pentagon trying to assert a little bit more control

and not always having to ask maybe beg is too strong, but always ask for permission things that they think slow them down. >> given the -- okay. then let's look at this raid. right now, this is a raid that ken just reported that many in the pentagon wanted to do during the obama administration, the obama white house wouldn't give him sign-off. the trump white house did. we see what we got. is the pentagon prepared for that kind of accountability? >> you know, my understanding is that this raid because of where it was, just what we know about what happened to the obama administration at the principles level at the national security council, then it was going to go up and filter up even higher. my understanding again, we don't have a final look at what these rules are. we just kind of reporting around them. my understanding is this kind of raid which was in escalation. as ken was saying earlier would not be something that they wouldn't -- they'd still need authority from the white house for something of this magnitude. >> so this type of raid would still have to have white house sign-off? >> look what we have out of this

raid. it's in yemen. you're doing it with united arab of emirates. different component there. you're going after site intelligence, but also kill and capture. so there's a lot in there, and it's a pretty aggressive raid in a country that's that has a lot of competing and conflicting loyalties. >> ken, last question to you on what the president said last night. behind the scenes, is there concern that the president oversold it by some intelligence officials. >> widespread concern. i've heard that today. i wanted to say on the other matter, i talked to an obama administration counterterrorism official today who said this is a good development. the trump administration is willing to take more risk and that can be a good thing in terms of the counterterrorism raids. one did not go as planned. ken, hans on the national curity beat for us. thanks very much. still ahea why early signs of spring in d.c. could actually mean it will look like winter for a lot longer. we'll explain, stay with us. so how old do you want to be when you retire? uhh, i was thinking around 70. alright, and before that? you mean after that? no, i'm talking before that.

do you have things you want to do before you retire? oh yeah sure... ok, like what? but i thought we were supposed to be talking about investing for retirement? we're absolutely doing that. but there's no law you can't make the most of today. what do you want to do? i'd really like to run with the bulls. wow. yea. hope you're fast. i am. get a portfolio that works for you now and as your needs change. investment management services from td ameritrade. [he has a new business teaching lessons. rodney wanted to know how his business was doing... ...so he got quickbooks.

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forecast for ready for this, march 14th to the 17th. that's like a month earlier than usual. could be the earliest date on record. they're even going to start the national cherry blossom festival five days earlier than originally scheduled, hoping there's one left. so now like republicans hoping that president trump can sustain his change in tone everyone in d.c. is crossing their fingers and hoping that it doesn't get too cold or too wind oi or too rainy or snowy because once those cherry blossoms have bloomed, they are notoriously fragile and that would mean a barren flowerless spring for all of us. we don't want winter with 75 degrees, do we? we'll be right back.

♪ ♪ ♪ everyone deserves attention, whether you've saved a lot or just a little. at pnc investments, we believe you're more than just a number. so we provide personal financial advice for every retirement investor. time now for the lid. panel is back. brad, karine and josh. all right. i want to talk about what wasn't said last night. and brad, i'm going to start with you because it was something that was making the rounds with a lot of conservatives, nothing on major social conservative issues,

abortion, things like that other than gorsuch. a lot of conservatives noticed that last night on social media. problem? >> for rank and pile conservatives, gorsuch, the bases are loaded, no outs so there's a real chance for a grand slam. i think if there was dissatisfaction with gorsuch, then we'd have a problem. >> he papers over all of it. >> i think he solves that problem for the president right now. >> karine, let me ask the social issue question the other way, since he didn't talk about a lot of social issues, is that a few less issues for the left to be able to beat him up on since he didn't make it a central part -- >> there's so many issues and policies already we're trying to deal with that's pretty exhaustive and just the chaos, alone, so i don't think it -- i don't think it matters much. going back to the speech, we knew what we were going to get from this speech, right? i mean, donald trump has pretty much showed us for the last -- >> i thought there would be some social conservatism, a little

bit in there, at least, at least something other than, you know, gorsuch. >> yeah, i -- >> school choice and a lot of social conservatives, that's -- >> that is an important -- >> that's true. that's true. especially now with the education secretary in place. and what's been happening the last couple days. >> the other thing that surprised me, some of this had to do because of the coersation a bunch of us had with the president before the speech was not a lot of national security, josh. >> yeah. >> i mean, there was some, but for instance, nothing on north korea. north korea feels that the president, himself, talked about if when he was with president obama about the concern of north korea, nothing. >> for a guy, a president who talks so tough, you don't have a lot of foreign policy emphasis. frankly, that's the one wing of the republican party that isn't with trump, the hawks, folks who served in bush's administration, have basically resisted or had serious qualms about donald trump from the beginning. so i think trump's very transactional president. he doesn't see a lot of buy-in

from the national security folks and not giving much for them to cheer about. >> the only thing that he mentioned, right, is it's smarter -- let's do this, is it smarter if you're doing a populist speech, trying to make the case, america first, with your economic agenda? would talking about north korea, s syria, in more detail actually had been a detriment? >> if conservatives ever tear pants with president obama, it would be over that. obamacare, there's widespread agreement, economy, widespread agreement. i think it was wise to talk about where he and the republican party with in complete agreement. >> he didn't talk about russia, either, with all the scandals swirling around. something he did say last night to this point, he said he was a president for america, right? >> and even emphasized, look, we're not going to essentially tell others what to do. >> yeah. which i naught was interesting. >> that's a change. >> it's a change because -- >> it is -- >> the leader of the free world. >> i did think, though, the

bigger point, the fact when he says i'm here to represent america, not the world, and the democrats didn't stand up and applaud. that's an applause line in most democratic districts. that's an applause line for people across both sides. and i thought that was a moment, you didn't see a lot of commentators talk about it after, but i thought it was a big moment. >> what did you make of this? >> this is rand paul's foreign policy, funny how a president can change the party and evolve it around his own world views. this is tough at home but let's not get involved -- >> i don't think that's fully rand paul but closer to paul than marco rubio. >> that's true. >> but the question is where is the bulk of the republican party and the conservative movement? i still think it's a very hawkish, strong america policy. more so than a less give a fortress. in the end, if there's a problem -- >> i don't know if rand paul would want the defense spending spike. >> no. >> that this president does. all right, guys, i'm going to leave it there. nicely done. up next, we're having a little fun thinking about what a president oprah cabinet would look like especially if you had

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in case you missed it, government experience is not a requirement to be president. or to be a member of the president's cabinet. and today, after oprah left the door open to a presidential run, oh, we started thinking, president trump stocked his cabinet with people who were a lot like him. right? billionaires, business guys. so what would a cabinet made in

oprah's own image look like? a huge media presence would be a plus and have to be known by only one name. unfortunately, sting, rihanna, bono, york, aren't u.s. citizens so they can't be in the cabinet. we decided to limit the list down to eligible folks who don't go on by stage names. here it goes. could certainly envision cher to head up the treasury perhaps. after fabio became a citizen just last year, he could become a model secretary of state. material girl madonna would be a natural. as commerce secretary. beyonce can get the military in formation. as secretary of defense. and bam, you could get emiril as your agriculture secretary. who knows how to handle food better? why not attorney general rroux paul? you never know. this could be a list of oprah's things. we had a little extra time on our hands.

we'll be back tomorrow with more "mtp daily." f "for the record" with greta starts right now. ♪ tonight, veep. my special interview with vice president mike pence right here in our studio. talking about the big speech and making news on budget cuts, terrorism and the road ahead and obamacare. can president trump bridge that deep divide with democrats and republicans? and what about the divide within his own party? can he unite republicans? last night he laid out a bold agenda offering much to many, but where is he going to get the money for his pricey agenda? zblmp also lots of