very good sunday to you. i'm richard lui in new york city. welcome to pulse of america. here are some of the stories today. foreign policy team defends this week's missile strikes. should president trump have sought approval from congress rex tlerson any moment will arrive in rome to meet with u.s. allies. russia suggests the spros spects of war if the g-7 countries issue moscow an ultimatum on

syria. did this strikes cause a significant blow to relations. also this, congress hit a new benchmark this week. for the first time in history, they scircumvented meant to hel them work together. but it could get worse. can lawmakers put the public's interests ahead of partisan politics. and isis claiming responsibility for this, two church bombings on this palm sunday in egypt. dozens of people were killed, the latest this hour on that. and to voice your opinions on our pulse questions today, just grab your phone or a laptop, any digital device, go to pulse.m isn't nbc.com/america and that's where you can participate. we'll be sharing the responses throughout the hour. you can vote as many times as you'd like. but first, just this afternoon, we received news on another shakeup in the national security council. an administration source confirms to nbc news that deputy

national security adviser k.t. mcfarland is getting reassigned. now, the news comes just days after steefr bve bannon also re from the principals committee. kelly o'donnell is in palm beach near the mar-a-lago estate. what is the plan, what are you hearing about mcfarland and who might replace her? >> reporter: this is a change that we expected, but certainly a sign that the new national security adviser, hr mcmaster, is assembling his own team. that was important because when michael flynn resigned,ing ousted in effect, for his failure to philly disclofill fu contacts with russia, we expected that there would be big changes at the national security council which operates inside the white house as a policy driven group that helps to advise the president. so one of the questions when the president was searching for a new national security adviser, would that person be able to

assemble their own team. and so what we find is that kt mcfarland, who was chosen by michael flynn to be his deputy is being removed from that position and offered an ambassadorship to singapore, that of course would require senate confirmation. so it's not a surprise and yet it is important because it shows that at a time when there are critical international events happening, it is possible now to see the effect of mcmaster. he's asked the top political strategist of the president to remove himself from the permanent committee, that's a decision the president had to back up, and now kt mcfarland being reassigned. this is important because the kind of information the president gets and from whom he gets it can be critical when we see the big russia trip for secretary of state tillerson, the action in syria, and it shows that the new national security adviser has a voice in the white house and the president is listening.

>> part of what you mentioned, syria. and you're hearing more from the administration on that topic. what are they saying? >> reporter: well, one of the interesting things is what are the u.s. goals in syria. we have the assad regime which has been responsible for deadly chemical attacks against its own citizens. conventional weapons attacks, as well. is regime cnge t u.s. policy. it has not been. at the same time, there is also the isis component inside syria. the u.s. definitely saysity to t both of these things are at times conflicting or consecutive issues for the administration. not an easy thing to navigate. and of course the russian influence being a big assume he were supporter of assad. so a little more clarity from nikki haley. >> no way do we see peace in that area with assad as the head of the syrian government. and we have to make sure that we're pushing that process. the political solution has to come together for the good of the people of syria.

>> reporter: and one of the questions is how can a political solution happen when you have the syrian people unable to excerpt any kind of democratic voice. so other officials in the administration say that by the u.s. and other partners trying to take action like the president did using a military strike against the airfield in syria, that that could shape the future for syria which could ultimately bring about a change. not a specific u.s.-only driven military exercise to try to remove assad, but assad battling isis and trying to build stability in that area, complicated issues that don't have an easy order. and one of the questions is the trump administration on the same page, do they have a clear vision, and how will thago into the conversations that secretary tillers will have with his counterpart i russia later this week. >> kelly, thank you so much. with the president there in florida, kelly o'donnell. appreciate it. the bipartisan glow on the trump administration syrian

missile attack, that may be fading. over the last 24 hours, russian and syrian military jets resumed missions from that bombed base. the town hit by the chemical attack was also hit again according to activists. senator lindsey graham calls it an act of defiance. >> here's what i think assad is telling trump by flying from this base. f you. >> also today, iran, russia and lebanon's hezbollah teaming up in public statements. the group now says that u.s. crossed red lines and will respond to any new u.s. aggression. also initial bipartisan support now heavily mixed with lawmakers questioning the attack's legality. did trump need congressional authority. chief legal correspondent ari melber saying legally the president does not need them to sign off. he could make the case it was limited military action to respond to illegal chemical use. or that the attack was an

extension of the precedence set by the past two administrations. this when they invoked a post-9/11 congressional authorization for the use of military force. which brings us to our first pulse question of the day. agree or disagree. president trump should hahave sought approval from congress before using force in syria. pulse.msnbc.com/america to let us know what you think. i want to bring in heidi and also misha. does trump, donald trump, the president, need to be more clear about a syria policy? just look at secretary of state tillerson today saying, you know, the policy is as it was, but it doesn't quite appear to be that. >> i think the doctrine emerging

fromme from the trump white house, there won't be one doctrine that he follows. so it's tough to say that he should be giving more of his policy because i think the policy is continuing to evolve. i think in some ways the same way that the public was moved by images of the chemical attack and father with two twins and all these different people who were hurt, the president was also moved and that factored into making the decision that he did. >> when we look at the details that i was just mentioning here, that attacks are now continuing emnaturing from that same air base that was bombed by those tam made hawk missiles, it appears that it is business as usual, questions of efficacy of the moves then by the trump administration. >> and this is underscore, richard, the questions about exactly how the policy of this administration is frankly any different from the previous administration. other than a one off isolated strike. secretary tillerson and other officials from the trump administration are very clear

that there is no fundamentally new dock african-american. we won't do anything different such as establishing safe zones that would require more troops, that is exactly the kind of thing that senators like lindsey graham say we need to do. there is not a sense that there is a support among the public for doing that. and i think with assad kind of showing this, he's challenging trump to basically do exactly that, to ramp up and get us more enmeshed in a conflict that the american public showed in the past that there was no appetite for because that was the whole problem in the first place which was that obama understood that in order to embroil us in another middle eastern conflict like this, you need broad public support. so he went to congress. congress did not give him that support. and now that you're seeing in the aftermath of this strike the different factions rising up in congress and questioning whether this was even legal, you've got this coalition of libertarians

and some democrats frankly, it's going to get that ever harder because what we're seeing is that that one off strike tactically didn't make that much difference. tactically it didn't accomplish its goal of depend anigrating s abilto launch these strikes. >> is this a net negative for this president in congress of his base here? we have seen the criticisms that have come from the far right of his moves here, this because of his, again, nationalist drumbeat beat that's had during the election and there after? >> well, the people i've talked to especially some of the trump supporters that i've talked to, they're very worried that donald trump is going back on his word that this was someone who campaigned on this idea that he wanted to put domestic relations first, that he wanted to put the country first, that he wanted to be interested in jobs and health care and following the failure of the health care bill being passed, he's now talking about

the middle east and changing possibly even though they're saying the doctrine doesn't change, this strike it looks like to a lot of people that the united states is taking a different stance on syria. so there is definitely a worry there that people are, pushing back and i've already seen some people talking about the glad werpt ones that elected him and he told us he wasn't going to do this and now he is, so i think he runs the risk of alien naturing some of his base. >> and again, we're only 80 days or so into this administration. and certainly over the next year and a half, two years, we will see no doubt some more unpredictability and maybe that's what we're seeing. maybe we don't have the idea of a doctrine as of yet. and we can see that thursday's strikes as i was mentioning not working about th working. is this going to hurt potentially his moves going forward? because we see that there are still attacks happening at the moment and we're also seeing a solidification if you might say of those who are critical of the

united states. as i said at the top here, russia, syria, as well as hezbolh coming out together in a joint statement. >> they do seem to be if anything kind of banding together and trying to at least show publicly that they have not been cowed by this at all. and so it's kind of a public challenge to the president which if you know anything about his psyche, he if anything does not want to look weak. so it begs the question of so what is his next move. and does he have support in congress. because the first thing that happened -- i was here actually in msnbc studios the night of the strike and i watched the statements come in from congress and the first thing that all of these members said, evens ones who were supportive, was you now need to come to congress because even toes of us who think that you had the authority do what you did last night, think that before you do anything else, you've got to explain what your policy here is. and just as on domestic policy and foreign policy, he is

showing himself to be quite different than what he saw on the campaign trail especially when it comes to these conflicts. if you think about it, his argument was this is exactly the type of mission that we shouldn't be doing which is humanitarian, from humanitarian purposes and without the consent of congress or without the sense of the rest of the global community pitching in. so the rest of the administration will be hard pressed to explain to congress what the justity if i indication is now for any additional strikes that they may want to take and what our end goal is. because let's think about it, this is now the third major conflict we may be getting ourselves into where the criticism is we don't have a plan for the aftermath. we didn't have a plan in iraq, we did it again this libya and now here we are down the road in syria. >> all right. thank you both. we've been asking agree or disagree, president trump should have sought approval from congress before using force in syria. this is what you've been saying

so far. 84% of you agree, 16% of you disagree. looking at political party, democrat, republicans and independents. looking at the gender breakdown, at the moment women more so than men agreeing here. and that ie final number. we'll bring that up. 86% agreeing that president trump should have sought approval from congress before using force in syria. we're also following breaking news out of egypt this hour. dozens of people killed and more than 100 injured in two church bombings on palm sunday. more on who is claiming responsibility and more on secretary of state rex tillerson as he heads to moscow. what is next in syria. and you can now make your voice heard on the second question. agree or disagree, the strike in

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free with xfinity on demand. were asking russia to fulfill its commitment and we're asking and calling on bashar al assad to cease the use of these weapons. other than that, there is no change to our military posture. secretary rex tillerson will head to russia to make that point in person. putin denounced the u.s. missile attack in response. he called it a sligs of entviol international law and he denied syria has chemical weapons. secretary tillerson says it has a responsibility to secure chemical weapons according to the cease fire agreement. mixing tillerson's recent criticisms with the russian

relationships he built in his former business life, that makes for difficult common ground. as exxon ceo, he forged deals with russia's government worth hundreds of billions of dollars and enjoyed a warm relationship with putin in the past. he earned a friend hship medal 2013. so do you agree are or disagree that the strike in syria will be a significant blow to u.s./russian relations? for more, i'm joined by ryan crocker, professor at texas a&m, he was also u.s. ambassador to syria, iraq and several other countries in the mideast. ambassador, thank you for being with us. we described some of the complexities here for the secretary of state as rex tillerson does head to russia. what do you think he'll be able to get out of russia in his talks? >> well, first, thanks for having me, richard. i'm very pleased to hear the secretar speak out clearly in

criticism of russia. we need to do that as they push us on alleged violations of syria's sovereignty. we need to remind them and the world that they are backing a mass murder er who used chemica weapons against his own people. iranians suffered chemical attacks during the iraq/rather thannian war and they won't like it that their regime is backing someone else using chemical weapons. but we got to get out of a defensive crouch here. and the statements i've been hearing from nikki haley, rex tillerson and mcmaster, we're framing it the right way. >> it's difficult for any young administration as they deal with world powers. as we hit day 80 for this trump administration, where do you think they stand vis-a-vis previous administrations?

>> that's an important question. one thing president trump did right from the beginning of his time in office that surprised me is that he reached out to our leaders. i've lost track of how many heads of state and heads of government he's received here in the u.s., all the phone calls he's made. so before the first crisis it, he was establishing personal relationships with key leaders. and in this pticular ea in context, that woul be saudi arabia israel, jordan, egypt, turkey. so he's got some relationships that he can call on now as he moves ahead. and i think that is terribly important. we haven't seen that actually since the presidency of george h.w. bush who did the same thing. >> you're saying he's above average? >> i'm saying that he has done something that i think is going to help him and his administration going forward

which is building personal relationships with world leaders right from the beginning. >> as you know, ambassador, but then it comes to brass tacks and the difficult issues that we're talking about right now. and this is syria, this is the evidence of a chemical attack on syria's own residents and how this administration as you were alluding to will be dealing with them and drawing that line, whatever color you want to call that line, with russia and its involvement the and inability it appears to stop syria from using such weapons. how will they deal with that? >> how will the administration deal with that? >> that's correct. >> again, through a process of consultation. i don't underestimate the challenges. ing there there is nothing easy about this. if the president is saying it was the means under which they died, that could be interpreted as basically telling assad you

can kill your people anyway you want, just don't use chemical weapons. so the next major conventional attack, and there will be one, what does the administration say then? that's one of the problems. >> it's the first time we've heard from rex tillerson on sunday tv shows and interview, potentially on national network tv. quickly, is he the right person? i already gave some of the facts about his baground. is he the right person do this with russia? >> i think he is. and i think the fact that he was there in another capacity beforehand actually is a benefit for him. he knows those folks. and he'll be able to say that was then, this is now. and it's a very different now. >> former u.s. ambassador to syria and iraq, ryan croc, that can crocker, thank you. second question, agree or disagree, the strike in syria will be a significant blow to u.s./russian relations? if you look at the number, 67% disagreeing with thoo statement.

33% agreeing. breaking it down by education, pretty much all consistent here in the disagree category. about 7 out of 10 that the strike will be a significant blow to u.s. russia relations. and then we take a look at by political party and it seems pretty much even across all political parties. overall this is what we're seeing. 39% agree with the statement, 4 out of 10, 6 out of 10 saying i disagree, that the strike will syria will be a significant blow to u.s./russian relations. thank you all for part pay tici. next, dozens killinged in two church bombings as worshippers gathered for palm sunday. isis claims responsibility and the north korea nuclear threat, the u.s. moves warships toward the korean peninsula after weeks of rising tensions.

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twin bombing in egypt on palm sunday. a total of 38 people are dead. more than 100 others wounded. ♪ [ bomb ] >> from the very moment there, that first explosion at a packed st. george church north of cairo. the moment of the blast captured on the televised service there. 27 killed, 78 wounded. the second blast, that then came hours later in front of saint mark's cathedral in alexandria. 11 more casualties, 35 injured there. an isis affiliate is taking credit for both attacks. we'll stay on top of that right here on msnbc. turning now to another military move for the united states. the u.s. navy strike group is repositioning the "uss carl vinson" aircraft carrier closer to the korean peninsula as a show of force in that area.

the action is a direct response to north korea's recent ballistic miss ile tests. donald trump called on china to try to do more to help stop the nuclear program, but last week trump told the financial times, quote, if china is not going to solve north korea, we will. janice mackey freyr is in seoul with the latest. >> reporter: the carl vinson carrier strike group left singapore heading for ports in australia, but was redeployed to the western pacific because of tension on the korean peninsula. now, this is likely to push anxiety even higher, particularly in pyongyang after president trump ordered that strike on syria that was widely interpreted as a message to north korea that the u.s. is willing to use force. north korea has reacted sharply to the syria strike calling it an unforgivable act offing a agrees saying it justifies their need for nuclear weapons and the

foreign ministry added that it will bolster its own defenses. the overwhelming concern of course with any strike on north korea is its ability to counter strike, strategically that is how it differs from syria. north korea has missiles pointed here at seoul, this is a city of 10 million people and there are also tens of thousand of u.s. troops based in the region. it's not clear how long the carrier group will remain in the region. it was just here a month ago for joint military drills with south korea. but a u.s. navy spokesman saying the presence right now is necessary. also key will be chai china's president xi jinping who president expects to put pressure on the north korean regime to rein in its ambitions. the problem of course is that the leadership has always been fearful of putting too much pressure on pyongyang thinking that the country will eventually collapse, that will mean refugees across its borders ands reunification of the two koreas

with the u.s. troops on korean soil. so there is caution on all sides here as well as speculation that kim jong-un is getting ready for another nuclear test. richard. >> janice mackey freyr, thank you. congress making history this week and not in a good way many say. got some new data that says it's not going to get any better soon. and you can now make your voice heard on the next pulse question. agree or disagree about that congress is unable to put the public's interests ahead of partisan politics. tell us what you think about that one today. pulse.msnbc.com/america. you're going to be hanging out in here. so if you need anything, text me. do you play? ♪ ♪ use the chase mobile app to send money in just a tap, to friends at more banks then ever before.

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investigationi'm sure it was a t decision for him, but i think it is in the best interests of the investigationthe man decided do. i'm sure it was a very difficult decision for him, but i think it is in the best interests of the investigationi'm sure it was a t decision for him, but i think it is in the best interests of the investigationman decided do. i'm sure it was a very difficult decision for him, but i think it is in the best interests of the investigationi'm sure it was a t decision for him, but i think it is in the best interests of the investigation it will allow us to have a fresh start. >> many democrats got what they wanted there, devin nunes stepping aside the house investigation into russian entities involvement in the u.s. election and the trump campaign. the house ethics committee is now investigating nunes' actions represented to the russian investigation. nunes claims the request came from democratic interest groups. so an issue as crucial as russia meddling with u.s. government is now about political in-fighting. historic will i this was not the case. congress has been able to work together on seminal crises of the times. one example, watergate. >> what did the president know and when did he know it. >> the trend of bipartisan investigations may not change anytime soon though because the house's makeup may not change anytime soon either.

new data shows republicans need win only 23 of the 72 swing seats next year so that they can keep their majority in the house. democrats need to almost double. they would need to win 50 to take control. each side is also becoming more entrenched. look at this, lasyear 78% of democrat democratic-leaning seats got even more democratic. 65% of republican-leaning seats got even more republican. let's take you to the third question. agree or disagree. congress is unable to put the public's interests ahead of partisan politics. go to pulse.msnbc.com/america. let's bring in now chris metzler and taryn o'dell. dana milbank not holding back, he says in part, quote, by rights mcconnell's tombstone should say that he presided over the end of the senate. and i'd like to add a second line, he broke america.

no man has done more in recent years to undermine the functioning of u.s. government. what do you think about that, chris? >> i think that is simply ridiculous. so first of all, let's look at the filibuster issue. the filibuster issue was something that was put in place by harry reid. it is the xwoghost of harry rei returning. so to somehow suggest that mitch mcconnell is single handedly responsible for getting rid of the filibuster is not in keeping with the facts. >> but chris, i want to talk about the facts quickly because when you look at the number of filibusters in this republican-led senate, 79. up to this senate, we had some 60 odd filibusters in the history of is country. so some might say,el yes, harry reid may have pulled the switch, but look at the number of filibusters that have been

employed by this republican senate. >> well, i mean, the numbers speak as they speak. bull relative specifically to the question of supreme court nomination, democrats wanted to filibuster an imminently qualified nominee. they knew they didn't have the votes to win outright, so they wanted to use the filibuster. and i don't think there is absolutely anything wrong with what mitch mcconnell did in this case. >> tara, would you agree with what is being said by chris when you look at that? as he indicated, harry reid started this. >> weshlgs let's look at the facts. for one thing, when you look at the facts on their face, and they speak very clearly, you have the fact that the nuclear option which was used by the senate republicans just now, they used it on the first go. when you look at the democrats,

it took 78 judges being blocked by the senate republicans before they exercised that option. that is a huge disparity and i think it speaks volumes. also let's use mitch mcconnell's own words. he said his number one glas to make president obama a one term president. mitch mcconnell, we don't have to go any further than to look at his own words and his own actions. so i think the notion that the republicans had been bipartisan or not been obstructionists, that is a false notion. they have been obstructionists in their own words and their actions and record. and as he said, the numbers speak for themselves. >> and so i think what you both agree on, things could be better and when we look at the grum nu numbers though, we're not seeing that. i just gave you the data when we look at democratic districts, when we look at republican-leaning districts, it will only lean more both ways.

so how do we bridge this gap? >> well, i think we bridge the gap first of all, i think the american public is in part responsible for the behavior of people in congress. every time what the american public keeps saying is throw the bums out, just not my bum. look, congress was never intended to be a lifetime employment. but it has become that. so i think the american public needs to be much more involved in the idea of running the government. i think that's numb one. number two, i think across the aisle we have to look at what is good for america and not what is good for our own partisan politics. that is the way that i'm looking at this. >> redistricting, is that what you want to talk about here? >> yes. here is a big problem. politics is all about

incentives. and the biggest incentiveor any politician is to get reelected. that's the number one. and so what is the biggest check on that? the vote. so what the republicans have done is they have gone about reducing that check can. how did they do that? through gerrymandering. when they took control of the state legislatures across this country, they made these districts that leaned republican very safe. they made swing districts lean republican. and so there is no incentive if you are in congress in particular in the house, there is no incentive for you to actually xlo compromise because you know you're going to get reelected. >> the last bastion might be here using the nuclear option for every day bills if you will, the quote/unquote every day bills. mitch mccon on and he will sakco that. >> i think he probably will. >> no, he will not. >> really great to see this does not fall on partisan lines at all. chris, tara, thank you both.

our third pulse question, we've been asking you, agree or disagree, congress is unable to put the public's interests ahead of partisan politics. this is what you're been saying. not looking so good. 97% of you agree. 3% of you, small bits, are disagreeing here. breaking it down by political party, really not much change. republicans 17% of them saying in this they disagree that congress is unable to put the public's interests ahead of partisanpolitics. and then gender pretty of the samen both sides. final scoreboard for you on the numbers, we finish with 97% agreeing. congress can't do it. they can't put aside partisan politics. thank you all. another question coming up. next, this week's big talker, ken dedall jenner pepsi. what people are saying about that. agree or disagree, corporate america is tone deaf on issues facing our country.

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energy lives here. we're shooting a pepsi commercial and i want to get your opinion on it. okay, great. so the whole thing is an homage to bla"black lives matter" -- dt even touch it. insa to touch it. don't even show police? yeah. >> "saturday night live" on a very controversial pepsi ad trying to make a little light of it. the ad was quickly pulled after social media backlash. the ad featuring reality tv star kendall jenner, it shows her joining what looks like a standoff between black lives matters froes toprotesters and

officers. she diffuses the situation by giving the police officer a pepsi. agree or disagree, is corporate america tone deaf on issues facing our country? savannah sellers has more on this story for us. >> so pepsi just rolled this ad out what they hoped to be a successful new campaign starring kendall jenner, but less than 24 hours later, the ad was pulled. and there is a new investigation by the san francisco police department due to the use of their logo with many people note tha that the ad appeared ed ted to triviaize the "black lives matter" movement. mo movie writer said i could spend the rest of my life trying and not incoming close making something as funny as this pepsi

ad. and madonna joined in the conversation posting about the irony of the decision to pull the ad, comparing to her pepsi commercial back in 1989 that was also pulled for controversy. in addition to her music video like a prayer. then she posted this picture of herself walking with this coca-cola of course sort of a dig at pepsi, their competition. now pepsi themselves ultimately did tweet saying that they tried to proceed jektdject a message peace and understanding but they feel that they have missed the mark. overall people did really seem to agree with that online. people calling the add tone deaf, we see ignorance, disaster, people not liking the ad online at all. and so i wanted to actually go out there and see what real americans thought not just on social media. so we headed down to the shop and out on to the streets of new york. i played the ad for everyone that i spoke with right then. some was their first time sieeig it, others had already seen it. >> at the end where she hands

the pepsi to the police officer and that solves the problems, it's like really? >> people put too much stock into little things. it was just a commercial. >> i myself wasn't offended by it, but it was just stupid, just a dumb ad. >> company trying to capitalize on what what they believe was most current. >> the people that make commercials and people that make all this marketing right now, they don't go on the street. >> you have people with different backgrounds and different per essentials, different experiences and that is how they form their opinions. >> so a few placed an emphasis on how the ad could have gone to the he had without any concerns being raised. the ad was produced by an in-house content creation arm sparking conversation about who was in the room and how the advertising industry needs to diversify. in fact sort of in that same vein, according to the 3% conference, 11% of creative

direct directors are female. that's it. this coca-cola ad from 1971 invoked on the position to the vietnam war. and just this year, budweiser's super bowl commercial got at the hot button issue of immigration. but pepsi's ad seemed to lack the authenticity that an ad like budweiser's have. and now we have image as of kendall jenner giving the police officer the pepsi and comparing to "black lives matteryesha evans point oug stark difference between the ad and what some say is reality. >> all right. thank you so much. msnbc's savannah sellers on the story. let's bring in mike jackson, a marketing and branding expert. thanks for joining us. i guess the question that is being asked here is what does it say about what business understands about with some of the most difficult pop and race

cultural issues that we have been debating over the last three years alone? >> you know, it's very interesting because i think you just said it earlier, there are some brands that really understand relevancy and authenticity, the budweiser spot that you referenced, 84 lumber dealing with immigration, procter & gamble and their dove brand dealing with women's issues. but again, pepsi's biggest mistake was creating this one off add not very authentic, and it really shows you how irrelevant they are as it relates to pop culture which is a place that they owned over the years. >> you talk about authenticity, being jen with wengin genuine, sits around the issue of race. it's not easy. certainly difficult. and for some, it is a challenge that they try to overcome and they are able to do this in such

mar connect messages as you brought up. what could they have done different in this case to do better? >> well, again, i think the reason why there was so much outrage against the ad is that it was just very, very poorly executed. besides the fact that the uniform issue with the san francisco police, i believe the ad was shot in thailand with a lot of actors. obviously pepsi's culture internally is one that i can't imagine they have a lot of diversity. i don't know that to be a fact, but just as the "saturday night live" skit showed, so many different people had to sign off on that. you just you wonder how many people of color or women were in the room because clearly when i saw it, the first time i saw it, that's what i recognized. >> interesting thing about that very point you make there, you look at the ceo of pepsi, a woman of color. and so one has to wonder how much more carefully she will be

looking at what these sorts of marketing messages that they will be putting together. potential solution here. multicultural marketing agencies, been around for many decades. you know of many there in the south you land in california. we see them brought up even in pop culture like in about "black-ish," the characterization there of bringing together a multicultural group to understand marketing messages. is that the solution here that they needed to go outside? pepsi is one of the masters of marketing. so what if it's internal, right? >> you know, obviously diversity in advertising is something that has been well chronicled, meaning the lack thereof when it comes down senior leadership ranks both at internal agencies like pepsi as well as a lot of the big conglomerates. i think two things are absent. and if i was a pepsi

executive,ing i would realexecu i i would really focus on diverse tying my creative team so i have people of color in decision making positions, and i'd also look internally. i worked at gener motors in the 2000s. and when i got there, it was a culture that empoo uspeople usee reference to the gm nod, meaning that people see something but they are afraid to speak up because of potential repercussions within a very, very political environment. so one of the challenges i think pepsi needs to look at is internally what is the decision making process and how empowered do employees feel especially 00 the creative teams that are generating these mass communications to really spot something like that and really call it out. i mean, i'm just shocked that that ad appeared and pepsi defended it. so i'd like at real diversity in leadership positions and then

secondly i'd like internally at my decision making culture to ensure that people of color and women feel empowered. >> mike, thank you so much. mike jackson, appreciate your time today. you still have time to weigh in on this very topic, agree or disagree, corporate america is tone deaf on issues facing our country. pulse.msnbc.com/america. results are next. what powers the digital world. communication. that's why a cutting edge university counts on centurylink to keep their global campus connected. and why a pro football team chose us to deliver fiber-enabled broadband to more than 65,000 fans. and why a leading car brand counts on us to keep their dealer network streamlined and nimble. businesses count on communication, and communication counts on centurylink. actually making your body feel better. i'm heather thomson, and that's exactly what tommie copper does

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here we go. final pulse question. we have been asking you this. agree or disgagredisagree, corp america is tone deaf. 90% agree. thanks for participating on our pulse of america today. next we're live in palm beach where president obama is wrapping up a busy weekend. that's next.

well this here's a load-bearing wall. we'll go ahead and rip that out. (husband)yeah? it's going to cause a lot of problems. totally unnecessary and it triples the budget. (husband)mmmm. wouldn't it be great if everyone said what they meant?