associations of chiefs of police conference. >> that does it for us. "morning joe" starts right now. good morning. it's tuesday, april 11. with us, msnbc contributor mike barnicle. >> hold on. hold on. i got one. >> say it again. >> mike barnicle is here, guys. >> everyone is kind of asleep. >> it's kind of early. senior political analyst for nbc and msnbc mark halperin. senior political effoditor mike stein is here. >> he was in charge with the pepsi ad and then got over to customer relations with united. he finally said i'm going to get back to old school. >> we'll get to secretary of state tillerson's moscow. >> let's not lead with that. >> we are leading with that.

>> let's talk first. united, willie, what in the world happened? >> that guy bought his seat. >> one of those stories that you watch and say, this can't be what i'm seeing. it turns out it actually is. what happened, sunday night there's an overbooked flight, oversold fly from chicago to louisville. they announce at the gate we need volunteers, four people to get off the plane because we have four united employees who have to get louisville. no one volunteers. they all get on the plane. somebody has to get off the plane. they said we have places to be, not getting off the plane. they have an algorithm, they run through a computer and generate four names. we'll do it at random. one couple, two people get off the plane. the second couple, that is the man right there of a husband and wife couple. he claimed he was a doctor. we haven't confirmed that yet. these chicago police officers are called. they get on the plane, physically yank him, hits his

face on the arm rest and dragged up the aisle with a bloody face. >> according to united, they are merely reaccommodating that passenger. >> that's the amazing thing by the way sam handled this. this is the statement from united ceo. the ceo apologized to customers but said the company was reaching out to the passenger to resolve it directly. several hours later in an e-mail, the united ceo claimed, quote, this situation was unfortunately compounded when one of the passengers was politely asked to deplane refused. the ceo said i deeply regret the situation and stand behind all of you and commend you for continuing to go above and beyond to make sure we fly right. he said the plane's crew, quote, followed established procedures when removing a passenger, calling him disruptive and belligerent. he said treating each other with

respect and dignity i the core of who we are. the first statement put out by united, they said we regret that we had to, quote, reaccommodated, this passenger. that's them accommodating him, reaccommodating him. >> unbelievable. >> he bought the ticket. he bought the seat and they were taking it away from him. if he has a doctor to go see patients, that makes it much worse. i don't understand why they do this. >> fly commercial. >> you fill your plane with the number of people who have bought tickets. you don't overbook it. they do it all the time. this is a person who says he is a doctor, he came back on the plane, was all disoriented. i feel bad for him. i bet you he wonders what planet he's on, what country he's on. >> you explain, you personally know how hard it was for people to get to louisville -- >> that's where my friend tia and her family is, passed away,

and they were trying to get back. >> had the memorial service on friday. >> at 12:00 their flight was canceled. -- it was delayed until 6:00, then canceled. they got put on a 7:45. then got bumped off that. >> then had to go back to the airport the next day. you can understand why people at airports for two days are not -- i'm sorry, i'm not getting up. i paid for this seat. you're not getting this seat. >> one of the untold stories -- untold because it happens so frequently, so often every day, is the status of commercial flight in america. it is horrendous, horrendous. >> unbelievable. >> about a month or so ago i interviewed the ceo of airbnb and asked him what was next. he looked at me and said commercial air travel.

we can't go on like this, it's antiquated, outdated. no more adversarial relationship between someone who pays a lot of money for the product and the company he pays. hopefully someone is looking at this more broadly, this puts it on to stark relief. >> sam wants to talk. he keeps trying to interrupt. are you dealing with your pepsi ad? >> i have no association with any of these terrible accounts. not everyone gets a luxury hand-held exit from the plan like that guy. he should thank the people. the ceo of united -- this is crazy -- won the communicator of the year award last month. that's wild. the last point is, it's like 300 miles from chicago to louisville. if united really cared about getting their people there, they could have gotten an uber. it would cost them significantly less, probably about the same amount of time considering all the delays. this was so poorly handled from start to finish.

>> luckiest person in the world is head of pr at delta. because delta has inconvenienced thousands of people. this is one guy because of that video. delta has had a big week as well. >> i will say, we fly all the ti time. it has gotten so tough. i'm sure it's tough for the flight at ten dangtendants and else, when you go one that's pret polite -- if someone is rude to you -- it's gotten to the point where somebody is really polite and bend over backwards and make you feel like -- >> it's a revelation. >> i want to write their name down and actually tell the ceo, these people were doing an incredible job. >> ot only that, when you consider what has happened to the commercial air industry in this country over the past 10, 15, 20 years since deregulation,

and the number of benefits that the employees have lost over the past decade, the flight attendants, the people behind the ticket counters. i can identify with this story -- joe, you can, too. how many times have we had to drag people off the set. >> every day. >> not one of the six of us would have gotten off that plane. >> oh, no. >> no. >> i wouldn't have gotten off that plane if i were 17, if i were a doctor, unemployed. and certainly not for one of their employees. that's the worst example. if you have somebody who is 75 or 80 and sick and say she really needs to get to louisville for treatment, i'd get up in a second. i wouldn't get up for one of their employees for a ticket i paid for. >> why haven't the airline's private police force, why have

they not been charged with assault and battery? >> they can't do that. they just can't do that. >> let me get to the headlines this morning. at ceo of exxonmobil secretary of state rex tillerson received the order of friendship from russian president vladimir putin -- >> kind of like a victory lap. >> when tillerson visits moscow later today. >> peaches and herb reunited and it feels so good. >> tillerson is going to moscow today and he's not even going to get a handshake. >> what? >> reuters reports that tillerson and putin will not meet after the kremlin was angered by the u.s. missile strikes that targeted a base also used by russian troops. >> ding, ding, ding. i have an answer. what is kabuki theater? mark halperin, this is all a setup.

first off, rex doesn't want to be seen shaking vlad's hand, vlad doesn't want to be seen shaking the american's hand. this is a pretty smart pr stunt. if you're rex tillerson, do you want a picture on the cover of "the new york times"? no. this works out well for everybody. >> an incredible moment in the history of donald trump's relationship with russia. the secretary of state is going. this visit is going to be much different than it would have been ten days ago. i don't know that it's kabuki from listening to the way the administration is talking about russia, they're going all in about we're not friends with russia and won't with friends with russia. >> which is great for the administration. a week ago you have devin nunes saying what do i say about russia and sean spicer getting killed. now the russian snub, tillerson.

if i'm donald trump, i'm thinking these are good days. >> hard to reverse. >> oh, come on. what's going to be hard to reverse? >> i don't think the u.s. is in a path to datante with russia. >> you think donald trump is going to go to the kremlin and do a big thumbs up with a big mac with vlad. >> no time soon. >> especially because of the ap report that we haven't confirmed yet is that russia knew about the chemical attacks before they were carried out and provided cover. if you're wcondemning that as te reason you went into syria, he can't be shaking his hand. >> if that's the case, we don't want to shake their hands. if russia knew about the chemical weapons, we don't want to shake their hands. now you watch. putin -- this is not worth it

for vladimir putin. now putin starts stepping away from syria because it's -- for what he wants, this is doing just the opposite for basically a glorified gas station. he doesn't need this. he went to syria because it was a cheap, easy pr win. it's not worth it anymore. >> in a warm weather port for the russian navy. clearly the syrians and as sads especially have really embarrassed russia, put putin in a tough place. russia overplayed his hand with the wikileaks stuff last year. now they can't get zblig now they can't get anything, right. >> and i agree with mark. i think this is frozen for quite while. >> and that is in everybody's best interests. >> putin wroild like sanctions relief. >> he's not going to get that.

>> even if donald trump tried to get sanctions relief, john mccain and the senate has already said they will codify those sanctions. nothing is going to move anyway. it's an embarrassment for russia and i don't see how they don't step away from syria at the end. >> let's go right to the end live from moscow, nbc news chief global correspondent bill neely. boy, this was already arrive meeting before the events, the air strikes last week in syria given all that happened during the campaign and the investigation into donald trump's campaign and russia. what does it look like today? >> good morning, guys. lots to talk about. on the possibility of the tillerson-putin meeting, the kremlin is saying that president putin has no plans, it's not on the agenda. one line to bring you up to date with the russian foreign ministry this morning saying russia-u.s. relations are the most difficult since the end of the cold war.

presumably that includes the first 2 1/2 months of donald trump's presidency. we are hoping for productive talks. so they're looking this morning at the g7 meeting, looking for any signs of a clear message from the g7 just as they've been looking for a clear message from washington over the last couple days, both in washington and italy, they've been getting mixed messages. what exactly is the u.s. strategy, under what circumstances would the u.s. take action in syria again, and the same thing from the g7 summit. one statement of note, there was a conversation on the phone between donald trump and the british prime minister, theresa may, she talked about this being a window of opportunity to put pressure on putin to get rid of assad. boris johnson, the british foreign secretary saying putin was tox phiing the reputation of russia by clinging on to assad.

i think that will be the message rex tillerson will bring, a demand to drop assad. it comes at the very moment when russia is doubling down on assad. last week they said we will strengthen your air defenses after the missile strike. it's also at the very moment when assad is winning this war. he took aleppo. he now has control of all the major cities. the question i suppose for rex tillerson, for the u.s., for the west is why would vladimir putin give up on assad right now. guys? >> nbc's bill neely, thanks so much. >> part of the answer to that, first of all, the g7 is going to come out and will united against the attack. second, david ignatius, we're starting to squeeze syria in the east. the best assad is going to have is a bite at syria at the end. also, one final thought, mika, a lot of people are saying, gee,

if russia knew ahead of time, trying to figure out exactly what was going on with this attack. as richard haass and everybody has always said, russian foreign policy since christmas day 1991 is about resentment, recentment of losing the cold war. you go into crimea, georgia, places where you're not going to have to have a slow of force. remember how humiliating it is for vladimir putin that his troops in syria have the united states we don't care if you're in syria or not, in fact, we're going to strike your client's state and you're going to do nothing about it. if you want to get your people out of the way, that's fine. if you don't, we're going to kill him. so why does he stay there when he knows he's got a guy like assad. this is not china and north korea. we can't strike north korea. we just can't. but we sure as hell have shown

putin we can strike syria even when the warplanes are there. do you know how embarrassing that is for vladimir putin when he's tryingo project streng? a big gas station and i'm in syria, too. great, you can't even protect your client in syria. embarrassing. >> things just got a lot more complicated for him. back in washington there are signs that senior counselor steve bannon is standing down in his feud with presidential advisor and son-in-law jared kushner. over the weekend "the new york times" reported that kushner allies told the president of the increasingly unflattering coverage that kushner is receiving from breitbart news. the website that bannon used to run. and now anonymous sources tell "business insider" that breitbart editors ordered staffers to stop writing stories critical of kushner. a breitbart editor responded it is an absurd suggestion that they would muzzle critical

coverage of any senior white house official. >> i look forward to the negative attacks on jared kushner in breitbart. i will be looking at your website today if that's an absurd notion. they had to back down. steve bannon, the reporting over the last couple days have not been the best. steve bannon is an island unto himself in the white house. any allies he may have had have scattered and all have told the president they are with the president and with his family. i just think it's a matter of time. does he decide to be kelly aann conway to stay in the white house with no authority, or does he leave the white house. >> because of the rough start in many ways they've had, there's one standard if anyone wants to stay in the white house, if you want to help the president get his vikt is or not. whatever your feuds with other people. anyone who wants to stay will have to prove to the president that's what they're focused on,

how to get political and substantive victories. >> sam stein, what white house insiders cannot come to grips with, and i talked to three of the president's top people yesterday. they do not understand what happened to steve bannon, why he decided to start attacking the president's family, and the word i heard from all three was he just snapped, and that's causing concern from the president down, that somebody would be have unbalanced, that somebody would be this undisciplined, that they would just snap and start attacking the president's fam y family. >> this perplexes me. why you would pick a fight with the president's son-in-law, he's not going anywhere, unless ivanka wants to do something about that. jared will always be there. it's a stupid fight to have

picked. what i heard is it raised concerns about bannon's mentality, that he spends all his time picking these fights, coming up with these digs at his own colleagues when clearly the scoreboard is not that good for king trump, when you have not discovered a victory on health care, your travel ban that was the central piece of your early time in office is caught up in the courts, when your approval rating is in the dumps. it suggests his mind is not on the task at hand. now they're having a recalibration. garre the national security office, established republicans for the first time in a long time are starting to feel green chutes of optimism because kushner has been pushed to the side, michael flynn is no longer there. there is a sense that things are getting back on track towards normalcy. >> i tend to agree.

i think your relationship with trump can't be the only reason you're there, it will catch up with you. a look at other stories making news. north korea is vowing catastrophic consequences for any u.s. military action as american warships move toward the korean peninsula. the statement comes after secretary of state rex tillerson says missile strikes in syria carry a message for any nation operating outside of international norms. a prayer vigil was held last night for victims of a domestic dispute that turned deadly into side a san bernardino elementary school. 53-year-old cedric anderson walked into north park elementary school and told the front desk he was dropping something off for his wife who was a special education teacher there. when he entered the classroo officials say he began firing, killing his wife, karen smith and injuring two students standing behind her. 8-year-old jonathan martinez later died at the hospital while a 9-year-old is in stable

condition. embattled alabama governor robert bentley has resigned in the heat of a sex scandal just hours after impeachment hearings began. bentley was booked into the montgomery county jail yesterday after pleading guilty to two misdemeanor counts of violating campaign finance rules. it all comes amid allegations he attempted to cover up an affair with his former senior political adviser rebecca caldwell mason. both denied having a physical relationship although bentley did acknowledge making sexual remarks after part of a phone call was released last month. lieutenant governor kay ivey has been sworn in, the second woman to hold that office. >> mike, alabama and louisiana have a pretty rough rivalry, lsu-alabama, usually the first saturday in november. i tell you what, they are tied here. i think alabama has gone ahead

because three of alabama's last six governors have been sent to jail. i don't even think that's a streak that lsu can touch right now. you've got edwin edwards, a multipurpose, hall of fame felon. >> and proud of it. >> triple threat. >> he is a triple threat. >> i think louisiana, in perpetuity, they have the crown because of ed edwards. >> right now alabama is giving them a run. >> currently. >> illinois at one point had 3 of 6 -- >> that's just jailed. still ahead on "morning joe," could a democrat somehow win the special election for mike pompeo's congressional seat. >> anything think that's going to happen? >> republicans can win georgia and texas. >> why republicans are nervous about a deep red seat in a deep red district. also ahead, the congressional, military and diplomatic angles

of the situation in syria. we'll talk to senator chris murphy who calls the national security war a nightmare. plus retired admiral william mcraven joins us and ambassador nick burns. >> remember utah, ended up winning -- >> the first lady of the united states thought that was funny. >> arizona, too? >> she thought it was funny the notion that donald trump was going to lose to mcmullen. >> okay. you're watching "morning joe." we will be right back. ray's always been different. last year, he said he was going to dig a hole to china. at&t is working with farmers to improve irrigation techniques. remote moisture sensors use a reliable network to tell them when and where to water.

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united didn't admit they did anything wrong. if anything, they seem to be doubling down. >> we're united airlines. you do what we say when we say,

and there won't be a problem. capeesh? if we say you fly, you fly. if not, tough [ bleep ]. >> oh, my god, look what you did to him! >> give us a problem and we'll drag your ass off the plane. if you resist, you'll be bet ten so badly you'll use your own face as a floatation device. united airlines, [ bleep ] you. >> that sums it up. >> pr work, i don't think it's good. >> look, when you drag someone off who paid for a ticket who needed to see patients the next day and bloodied his face, it's kind of rude. >> alleged. >> we don't know if he's a doctor. >> we don't believe our passengers either because they suck, let's get them off the plane right now and punch them in the face. if they turn out to be doctors, ah. >> we don't know if sam has

actually quit his job as united customer -- >> i don't care if he's a doctor. >> sam, what were you thinking with that pepsi commercial with kendall jenner? >> pepsi had to apologize to kendall jenner, think about that, because she's not smart enough to think this is a bad idea herself. >> oh, come on. >> i'm sort of of the mindset, it was so bad it's good. still talking about it two weeks later. >> that's what you call real marketing. we're still talking about it. it's like the daisy ad, the ultimate gorilla, still talking about the daisy ad. >> what's with kendall jenner? >> pepsi apologized to her. her and her team couldn't figure this out themselves? >> you know her team made them apologize to her after realizing how bad it made her look.

>> i love the "snl" skit at the end where she go, isn't it cute? i gave him a pepsi. >> coming up -- we're so sorry, kendall, that we put you in that position that you couldn't figure out you were in. think about that next time you watch the kardashians. dumb. >> ten years i've been here and somebody needs to apology. >> i need an anthropology. >> 11:30 show. >> a.m. we're talking about? >> of course, yes. >> coming up, "saturday night live" seems to mock donald trump voters in their cold open on saturday. but did the sketch point to why he won in the first place? we'll dig into that with steve

kornacki ahead. as we go to break, some of sam stein's brilliant pr work. >> what? >> how is it going, mr. director? >> good, god, i'm excited. >> you should be. writing and directing a commercial for pepsi, doesn't get much bigger than this. >> this is my sister. i have to get this. homage, everybody is marching, they get to these police officers and you think it's going to be bad because there's a standoff and then kendall jenner walks in and walks up to one of the police officers and hands him a pepsi and then that pepsi brings everybody together. isn't that like the best ad ever? we're celebrating these cultures, celebrating black

culture. oh, got it. just kind of using them to sell soda? >> let's invite kendall to the set. >> i've got to go. i stop the shoot from shooting black people by handing them a pepsi. i know, it's cute, right?

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we do believe it is in the national interest because of the threat that unsecured chemical weapons pose given the chaotic conditions on the ground in syria. we have a fight going on against isis. we have an internal civil war, we have a large presence of al qaeda individuals. so it is important to us that whatever weapons are there are found, they're secured and destroyed ultimately. >> that was secretary of state rex tillerson moments ago ahead of h trip to moscow. >> joining us, david s. cohen,

national security contributor for nbc news. from boston, state department spokesman nicholas burns, profess solve of diplomacy and international relations at the harvard kennedy school of government. >> mr. ambassador, let's start with you. immediately after the attack -- yesterday you started to sense -- some concerns starting to creep in, but for the most part, do you still believe this was an important signal to -- for the most part this was an important sig that to send to assad. do you believe that today? >> i think it was. the use of sarin gas, of chemical weapons repeatedly by the syrians, it had to be met with a response the u.s. was the only country with a capacity to do that. >> mr. ambassador, can you explain first of all before we get past that, can you explain to americans who may not

understand why that was an important message to send, why was that important? why is it important to not let another attack go unanswered? >> because chemical weapons have been banned for the last 30 years, and the u.s. led the chemical weapons convention, and these are uniquely dangerous weapons to civilians. you saw the damage they've done over many years. that's the reason why the u.s. had to respond. joe, i think the problem the administration has right now is they're all over the map in what they're saying about what their objectives are and contradicting each other, nikki haley, rex tillerson, sean spicer. we haven't heard from president trump. of course this is a very difficult issue. they haven't put together a coherent strategy they can articulate. as rex tillerson goes to moscow, the russians are in a much stronger position. the russians are aligned with the syrian government, with the revolutionary guards of iran and

hezbollah on the ground. they have a position they can hold. the u.s. is really not in the game. so the secretary -- it's going to be tough for him to push the russians in the directions of international negotiations. the right thing to do, but tough to move the russians. >> we did hear yesterday our policy is unchanged on syria. >> right. >> should it be unchanged towards syria, should that be a one-off attack? should they have been, as the ambassador said, more of a statement, you're not going to be able to use chemical weapons on your people, or should we change policy? >> the policy incoherence in this administration is such that i don't think you can take to the bank that yesterday the administration said the policy is unchanged. you also had secretary tillerson saying yesterday that any time innocents are being slaughtered anywhere, we will get involved. there's this continuing lack of clarity about what the policy is. >> should our policy remain the

same? saying it is changing suggests that we're about to take the united states into a full-on war with assad. >> i think that will -- that would be a mistake. if we were to sort of pursue the maximalist approach that some have suggested which is that we will get involved any time you have anyone in syria being slaughtered, that means you've got to get assad out. that means you're going to be fighting in western syria day in and day out. >> what are we doing now? what is this? >> i think the best description of it was a response to a atrocious, heinous act and trying to re-establish the principle that chemical weapons cannot be used. >> and if it happens again? >> the real question is this policy incoherence is driven by the fact that the president acts impulsively.

he saw these images on tv and said i've got to do something about this. two days later action was taken. >> i'm skeptical of that. do you really believe that? >> absolutely. >> what? >> it makes a good story. i saw the pictures on tv, i decided to act. he was told by james mattis, told by henry mcmaster, he was told by everybody around him, you cannot let this stand. so they took the most measured approach that general mattis suggested. >> i think that's right. he went to them and said i saw this, this is heinous. they said you're absolutely right. here is what you can do in response. what there wasn't at that point was any consideration of the day after, the week after, what is our policy? does this signify a change in policy or not? the problem with that is you now have secretary tillerson going to moscow with this diversity of

statements in the administration, including from secretary tillerson himself about what our policy is. that puts us in a weak position to try to take advantage of the leverage generated by this strike to negotiate a change in syria. >> ambassador burns, we obviously were horrified by the pictures we saw of the chemical attack. for our viewers, why the distinction between chemical weapons and conventional weapons? isn't it just as horrifying to see a hospital full of newborn babies and their mothers bombed as we've seen many times over the last few years? shouldn't those pictures horify people as much as any chemical weapon? >> they certainly should. there's hundreds of people dead by russia bombing. the thing about chemical weapons, it uniquely targets civilians. president obama had an agreement with president putin and president assad in 2013 that all those chemical weapons would be removed from syria. guess what?

we know the syrians and russians cheated on that agreement. i do think this was an opportunity and a challenge to president trump to show some courage, establish some u.s. credibility. two things with the administration can do, we've got to continue to fight the islamic state. that's a priority. the administration hasn't talked about refugees. they banned all refugee admittances. europe has taken in over 1. million. we've taken in thousands in the last add straks, none in this. don't we have an obligation to take in some refugees and help deal with the humanitarian aspect of this crisis? >> mr. ambassador, you also explain the balance of terror in syria right now. if we get too involved in the fight against assad, then we're -- we have to worry about what's happening in eastern syria, where we're also tightening our grip. >> i think that's right.

tillerson is right. push the russians toward international negotiations. it could take years but you have to start somewhere. >> ambassador nicholas burns. david cohen, thank you very much. still ahead, a member of the foreign relations committee, senator chris murphy joins the discussion. first, the show must go on even if president trump won't be there. the white house correspondents dinner is set for later this month. we'll reveal the headline act straight ahead on "morning joe." (vo) introducing

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who offered rips on politics, media and washington, seemed to make him a perfect pick for an event later this morning. white house correspondent for reuters jeff mason, the current president of the white house correspondents association. good morning. >> good morning. >> looks like we've got our headliner. >> we've got our headliner. real excited to be announce hasan minaj. looking forward to the dinner and everything he'll bring to it. president trump says he will not be coming, we'll be celebrating the first amendment and the importance of a free press. hasan brings all that, brings comedy chops, but also brings heart, and i think we'll see that at this dinner. he'll make no jokes about the press and probably the president, but also will bring the message we hope to get across and that is the first amendment is critical and the work of the white house press

corps. >> hasan is also a correspondent for "the daily show." you said this is obviously a different year give some members of the press thought if trump would be there, it would be inappropriate for them to be there. what are you looking for? >> i'll start by saying what i was not looking for. i was not looking for someone to roast the president in absentee yeah. i was looking for somebody who is funny and entertaining because i want the dinner to be entertaining, but who can also speak to the message that the whole dinner is going to speak to. that's what i was just saying a second ago. the importance of a free press, talking about what is news, what is fake news. he's involved in actual fake news as a senior correspondent for "the daily show," and to be able to rip on that a little bit. i'm confident he'll strike the right balance. >> real quick, jeff, do you think there's any chance the president changes his mind and shows up? >> i don't know.

i think the white house sometimes will make dramatic decisions like that. i think the fact that the white house staff has also decided not to come, is the signal that president trump will stick with his original decision. i have made clear from the get-go that president trump is welcome and we'd be happen foy have he and his staff there. >> we need to talk about the pulitzer's. peggy won. >> chris chifrs, "new york times," incredible piece on a veteran. >> david farn holt for his reporting on donald trump. >> who saw that coming? >> we were laughing about it like a year ago. >> we call that a mortal lock. >> that was a mortal lock. you could see it coming.

>> as we say in tuscaloosa, the crimson tide of international support, another pulitzer. >> they say that in the new york newsroom, too, roll tide. >> coming up, peter alexander and jeremy peters with the latest white house reporting. democratic senator chris murphy of connecticut on the president's foreign policy budget. retired navy admiral william mcraven for the secretary of state's moscow visit. "morning joe" is coming right back. it comes when your insurance company says they'll only pay three-quarters of what it takes to replace it. what are you supposed to do? drive three-quarters of a car? now if you had liberty mutual new car replacement™, you'd get your whole car back. i guess they don't want you driving around on three wheels. smart. with liberty mutual new car replacement™, we'll replace the full value of your car. liberty stands with you™.

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after this long and contentious battle, neil gorsuch was sworn in as the hottest new member of the supreme court. the only surprise today was, you know, this man is now on the supreme court, which means his name is an important part of american history. here is how everyone has been pronouncing that name. >> judge neil gorsuch. >> neil gorsuch. >> i, neil, m. gorsuch. >> everyone says gorsuch. everyone, that is, except for him. >> neil m. gorsuch. >> they ask this man 10,000 questions. no one bothered to ask him what his name was. >> what are the two choices?

>> gorsuch or gorsuch. >> how about chris matthews pronounce pronounces -- >> that matters to chris. personal relationship with family members, how you pronounce engicheney's name mat. why does it matter so much? >> traditionalist. >> that's the way it was pronounced. i love how -- >> peggy noonan margaret. by the way, congratulations, margaret. what a huge day. >> pulitzer prize. >> love that. fantastic. coming up, united airlines is doing damage control after this video goes public. but it's the response from the company's ceo that's really driving the outrage. at the behest of sam stein, he

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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. you got next? e. helping you master what's now and what's next. have you seen that video of the guy getting dragged off the flight? they never sell the same seat two times to one person but for some reason airlines cannot figure this out. when they have more passengers than they do seats they offer incentives. one passenger said he was a doctor and had to be at the hospital in the morning so he

refuse to deplane and this is how that refusal went. >> that's how my mother used to get me out of bed to go to school every morning. >> whoa! >> it would be funny except the fact that that happened. that happened. welcome back to "morning joe." it's tuesday, april 11th. on that note, with us we have nbc contributor mike barnicle. former treasury official -- >> listen, if you want to go back to bed, go back to bed. >> so tiring. >> if you want to participate in our little show, participate in our show. >> with us, we have mike barnicle. >> keep going. >> former treasury official in the morning, economic analyst steve ratner. >> you want to do the strawberry thing? >> no, senior political and

white house correspondent for the huffington post, sam stein and "new york times" reporter jeremy peters is with us as well. so, no, no, no, that's the story of the day. steve just said it. >> you're the aviation expert. >> aviation correspondent, senior aviation correspondent. >> what happened? >> explain, if you will, why, as jimmy kimmel says football stadiums don't double book seats. you hear more and more complaints about the service going down. is it really hard to run a profitable airline without basically cramming too many people on to a plane? >> the problem airlines have, it's a very unusual business. the problem they have is that it is one of the few businesses where people make their choices almost entirely on price. so you have this kind of race to the bottom where everybody wants to go to l.a. for $10 cheaper than the other guy went to l.

sbancha. and they're willing to put themselves at risk of these indignities occurring. you could say we'll never overbook, never kick you off, serve better food. >> you'll go bankrupt. >> you'll go bankrupt. >> why? >> because nobody is going to pay for it. it's just one of those commodities. think about it. there are cars that at every price point you could want. if you're a real value buyer, you could find yourself some little car. but you can go every step up the way. airlines, it's this, unless you're a business traveler and you're on some expense account. >> it is really a choice, isn't it, between survival and service in that -- i remember maybe it was ten, eight years ago. you would always see airlines losing money. every quarter they lost money. then suddenly they started flying these small, little regional jets, cramming too many people on. you would have the pilot coming on, saying we're currently number 38 at la gaaguardia.

i'm not joking. then you suddenly saw them turn a profit. >> warren buffett said the best thing that could have happened for investors is if orville had been shot down at kittyhawk. >> wow! >> little rough. it's a commodity business. people really didn't care. they just wanted price. and so it was a constant race to the bottom and bankruptcies and so on. >> the question of overbooking is a very simple one. why do airlines do it? some people don't show up and they have to have every seat filled. if you're 20, 30 minutes late to a flight, you miss it, the airline will accommodate you or, to borrow united's term, reaccommodate. in the case of yesterday when everybody shows up all of a sudden they have too many people on the plane and have to pull

people off. >> why don't you do it like a football? if i don't show up at my football seats -- >> i'll tell you exactly why. because if you buy tickets to your football seat and you don't show up, you still pay for those seats. >> right. >> right? >> so why don't we do that with airlines? >> yeah. >> that way you don't hav scenes like this. >> with some nonrefundable tickets but many travelers need refundable tickets. they need the flexibility and then they don't show up. the problem with -- >> you shouldn't refund them if they don't show up. >> if some clothing store doesn't sell that suit on a given day, they can sell it the next day. once the airplane leaves and that seat travels -- >> but that doesn't answer the question. if you buy a ticket, you don't show up, you get charged with the ticket. >> depends on the ticket. >> why are there different kind of tickets? >> because many people, including many people at this table, need the flexibility to

say if something happen. >> you can cancel two days before. that's different than -- >> but then maybe they can't find somebody to buy that. >> you don't want to get into what a mess the american airline industry is. never mind not using your ticke ticket. >> if you buy a hotel room up to 24 hours before you can't cancel it. >> airline could try that. >> it would avoid overbooking. >> is there no way to make an airline profitable for people that will pay $10 more per ticket and won't get dragged off of planes? >> airline v.i.p. >> any business model out there, or is it just too volatile? >> airlines have become more profitable because they've been allowed to merge. so you basically have four big airline companies. we have allowed them to become morerofitable in that sense.

there is not a lot of evidence that people will pay more for a different level of service. that's simply what the numbers show. when you look at -- >> what am i missing about overbooking? >> here is what you're -- if i am an insurance salesman, i have to fly over the country. >> right. >> but i'm always having to change tickets at the last moment because my boss is sending me somewhere else. if delta doesn't allow me refundable tickets, i will go to united if they allow me refundable tickets. so then all the business people will go to united because they'll give you refundable tickets. >> have you ever looked at the different price point in buying a refundable ticket? >> that's the point. that's what airlines feel they need to charge for that flexibility. then you have low discount cost carriers that don't offer refundable tickets and they make

money for a while. >> what's the best airline? >> jetblue. >> you think jetblue? >> love jetblue. >> cafe pacific. >> oh, geez. >> i don't think -- i should not even say this. >> no, don't. >> some would say you have fewer bad experience ons jetblue than other airlines. >> i have had no bad experiences. >> i fly delta a lot because of having to get around the south. >> that's a good way to put it, actually. >> when an airline makes a conscious effort and hires the right people to improve service it does happen. i remember delta. when this show first started, they were laughing at me. my bags were lost all the time. i was always late getting in. it was a nightmare for a year or two. was it richard anderson? >> yeah. >> took over dealta. i didn't think anything about it, other than, hi, i'm richard anderson.

and i started noticing, pple started coming up, thank you for flying. we really appreciate it. you need any -- and not just to me but to everybody. and there was a change in flying delta. and that was just a change in management. >> i like where you have free wireless. >> you can run airlines better. one last point. i'm not here as a spokesman for the airline association. they have one other problem that hotels and other things don't have, which is weather. weather really complicates running an airline. bad weather in one place, all the planes end up at some other place. >> we've gotten so numb to it, though, any other experience, any other customer experience where you pay $200, $300, $400, $500 and in return get such a confrontational, adversarial experience and you know it's a fight to get there.

>> you don't get that with jetblue. at least i haven't gotten that with jetblue. >> my view,as a truly unfortunate frequent flyer, your experience begins on the ground with the people you're dealing with, booking or canceling a flight, changing your seat or whatever. and jetblue, to that extent, is, by far, the best. >> great people trapped in a horrific indust. >> there are pbably other options rather than dragging people off a plane. get him a limo, tickets for -- or tons of miles for a year. at some point, when things get that bad, you guys have to step up, airlines. come up with a better idea. >> they could have just said -- >> dragging somebody off plane. >> moved it from $800 to $1,000 or $1500. sam, i think, said they're going to pay so --

>> so much more. >> it's cost them a lot more. justly remember we have a great ability to get a lot of people to a lot of places. here is the quiz, when was the last airplane crash in america when is someone died? >> quite a while ago. >> don't jinx us. >> hold on. >> wait. are you talking regular size? >> there was one that -- >> steve brought quizes today. lovely quizes. >> do we go all the way back to the dominican republic flight? >> in 2009. >> what was that? >> i don't remember which one it was, but that was the last one. >> do you remember what the fare -- >> by the way, 19 -- >> we need to get to the new. >> in the 1970s, that would happen like every couple of days. >> that's the point. the nightmare at o'hare, the nightmare over san diego. it happened all the time. people today don't understand that reading stories about commercial airline crashes was a

monthly occurrence. >> that's the -- >> it's incredibly safe. >> it is. >> what was your last point? >> the fare that the old u.s. air charged? did they charge people a specific fare for that flight? >> that's terrible. >> let's get to the news, mika. barnicle had to bring us down. steve bannon, there are reports, is standing down. there's also word behind the scenes that the end is nye. according to the weekend, to "the new york times," kushner allies told the president the increasingly unflattering coverage that kushner is receiving from breitbart news and now anonymous sources tell business insider that breitbart editors told staffers to stop

write i writing stories critical of kushner. >> jeremy peters is with us. >> from my reporting the last 12 hours, the situation has thawed somewh somewhat. i need to pick my battles more careful. there's obviously a recognition he got on the wrong side of jared and ivanka, which is a huge mistake. i mean it's --

>> so, jeremy, have you heard from insider -- what i heard from three people. >> i don't understand. >> high up in the administration yesterday was they think bannon just -- i'll use their word that they're using inside the white house, quote, snapped. everybody is very concerned t t that. >> and i think that's why you're going to see him lay low. i think that's why you're hearing people behind the scenes i need to pick my battles. >> but did he not know that you don't pick battles with the president's daughter and son-in-law? >> that should be pretty obvious to anybody. >> it should. >> that works inside the trump white house. >> but it wasn't, right? >> here is what i -- i think that from my understanding of

the situation, this didn't really rise to the president's attention until he started reading all of the press clips about it. and once trump saw that his internal disarray was becoming the story that was knocking all of the other achievements of last week -- for example, the gorsuch confirmation, strike in syria, that that had many ways overwhelmed the narrative they wanted to tell. trump said work it out. i don't have time to deal with this. fix it. it looks likehey're trying to fix it. >> no. >> and the bannon agenda has not fared well in the first three months. the travel ban. the executive order was stopped in the court. >> yeah. >> obamacare was not repealed as a nationalist, as he calls himself, he was not for the strike in syria. all of these achievements or lack of achievements that donald trump has had have fallen against steve bannon. it's not like he has the weight to go to the president and say get behind me.

>> no. >> one is that bannon is attacking the trump family through breitbart, roger stone and other sources. and they find that to be extraordinarily reckless. that's number one. number two, donald trump is hearing steve bannon running around, talking about his agenda, his agenda. >> president bannon. >> his nationalist agenda. you hear it. i've never seen anything like it before in washington in my life, mike. he's actually worked reporters so much that they are asking the question, well, what will trump do if bannon leaves? he won't have his nationalist agenda. we showed the clips. get the clips again from 1987. we have the clips of donald trump being donald trump in 1987 when steve bannon was like -- i don't know what steve bannon was doing in 1987. >> did he not make the classic mistake, though, of thinking that he knew trump better than anyo?

>> yes. >> and better than trump knows himself? he has spent an inordinate amount of time indicating to outsiders that he made trump president. >> right. >> yep. >> that he molded his presidency and now he can manipulate him. >> he said it at c-pac, that he and kellyanne got trump elected. and he's telling everybody, if i leave, there won't be the nationalist agenda, new york democrats will take over. here is donald trump. let's see. >> circa -- >> for 29 years? i'm not good with math. about 29 years before he met steve bannon. donald trump. take a look. >> i see what's happening in this country, where our so-called allies are just ripping us off left and right with japan, saudi arabia, kuwait. they're ripping this country off. if i ever was in office, which is unlikely, because i don't think i want to be.

but if i ever was, that would not happen. we wouldn't be taken advantage of the way we are. this country is a great country. but we're a debtor nation. we borrow money from japan in order to defend japan and we pay interest on that money and i think it's just ridiculous. the country, the united states, is being ripped off, and it shouldn't happen. >> really, it would be the equivalent of me taking credit for your writing at the -- i'm not joking. for your writing at "the new york times" in 1981, the rattner style. donald trump has been saying this for 30 years and steve bannon is trying to sell it -- and reporters have bought it. >> one of the first lessons you learn when you work in the white house, which i learned, i don't think anything. i don't do anything. the president thinks everything. the prefz dosident does everyth. and to undercut the president or suggest somehow you are his

brain or ideal factor is crazy. certainly something that never happened in the obama administrator, whatever you may have thought about valerie jarrett, nobody took her on or tried to elbow her out of the way. that wou be a failing strategy. >> so glad you brought this up. this would be the equivalent of attacking valerie jarrett and michelle obama. now, what aide would survive attacking valerie jarrett and michelle obama? >> none. >> let me -- i'll ask the table. i'll ask whoever is in washington, jeremy, sam. karl rove had a lot written about him. you know, bush's brain and all of that stuff. i never heard karl rove going around bragging. >> never. >> that he was the guy behind bush, that he was the guy who did this and bush really didn't do it. he was responsible. never heard that. >> i will say this, too. sam, the bushes -- and i don't

mean this to be in a demeaning way to karl rove. it's just a matter of history. the bushes kept karl rove in his place. >> yep. >> he never mistook himself for being president of the united states. he knew he was a staffer. a great michael dever quote. i loved ronald reagan. i never once forgot i was a staffer for ronald reagan. steve bannon has never seen himself as a staffer. >> or kellyanne. >> or kellyanne. >> this is totally true. it's not just reporters who are spun. you showed a tweet from congressman steve king where he basically called steve bann. n a linchpin for donald trump's support structure among conservatives, which is absurd. trump made it through the primary just fine without steve bannon running the campaign. somebody who would push back against this narrative or at least clamp it down.

if trump had hired more people acustomed to washington, how washington worked, you wouldn't have an outside personality taking all the credit for an agenda that rightfully hasn't gone anywhere anyway. steve bannon has filled a vacuum here. it's very abnormal for a staffer to publicly claim credit, like he's doing, for a vision. you're usually diminutive, you're serve the president. he has assumed the leadership mantle, at least from a philosophical standpoint and now we're seeing the backlash to it. trump saying i don't want this. trump's son-in-law saying this is bad for the president. >> i don't see a -- >> if bannon stay there is, he will stay there as a shadow of his former self. >> some of the blame, as sam was saying -- there's a lot to

spread around here for the cast and dysfunction inside this administration. but the tone is set at the top. this is what we've seen from time and time again from trump throughout the course of his campaign and now it's if he can'ting h-- infecting his whit house. absolutely. the reagan parallels. this sounds like ed meese to them. you have the person in the republican white house who is always the carrier of the flame, the voice to -- the conduit to the grassroots and that person's job is always to say okay, grassroots, let's cool it. we need to know when to fight these battles and need to know when to stand down and bannon needs to learn that role if he's to survive. >> the problem with bannon versus ed meese is meese had a background in the business before he got to washington. >> that's right. >> and ed meese would never in a million years suggest he was the brains behind ronald reagan. not in a billion years would he do that.

steve bannon was running a website in july. >> yeah. >> has been running around, promoting himself, suggesting that he is donald trump's -- the genius that put nationalism in donald trump's brain. we can show the clip all day. it's just nonsense. >> think again, we talked about it at the time, that 10, 11, 12 days after president trump was sworn into office, steve bannon was on the cover of "time" magazine. >> closest people to donald trump are going to end up outside. think about it. flynn, kellyanne, steve bannon. they're great for a dirty, sloppy, base driven slog to the finish to get this presidency. they are not good for well-run, elegant white house and that will be the end of the story. >> but donald trump elected donald trump. >> yeah. >> cory didn't elect him. mannefort didn't elect him. >> total tools. >> i've got to get the third.

bannon didn't elect him. stop insulting everybody. >> i'm saying they were tools that they could use. >> oh, tools to be used. that kind of tool. >> like a hammer. >> but at the end of the day, like you said, steve bannon didn't cause the 6,000 or 5,000 people to fight through a foot or two of snow. >> no. >> to get to new hampshire in early february to see donald trump. whether you're in new hampshire or whether you're at the mississippi gulf coast coliseum that james carville talked about, it's all about trump. he doesn't need steve bannon. you never needed steve bannon. >> didn't need kellyanne. didn't need flynn. between rex tillerson, nikki haley and sean spicer, it's difficult to figure out the administration's stance on syria. four words, badda book. badda boom...

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29 past the hour. rex tillerson visits moscow today and there are no plans to meet with putin. the kremlin was angered with the u.s. missile strikes that targeted a syrian air base also used by russian troops. spokesman for putin suggested tillerson will only be speaking with his counterpart, russian foreign minister sergey lavrov. he had meetings with the russian head of state when he was ceo of exxonmobil. today he called russians complicit or simply incompetent for allowing syria to hold on to chemical weapons.

g7 meeting was held in italy. what can we expect from the visit, given there's no putin meeting? >> reporter: as for those comments that secretary tillerson made to reporters at mar-a-lago, he said what was unclear is whether russia was complicit or incompetent. he doubled down saying it doesn't matter much to the dead right now. speaking after that visit to american allies in italy -- now en route, of course, to moscow -- he was delivering a message to the russians saying they have a choice to make right now, if they're going to pick sides with the americans and like-minded country ors or with the assad regime and militant groups like hezbollah. as for that the recent chemical attack he said we have to make sure that this doesn't happen again. he also addressed specifically the future for assad, suggesting there is no future for the syrian leader in that country. take a listen.

>> it is our policy for a unified syria that is governed by the people of syria. i think it is clear to all of us that the reign of the assad family is coming to an end. but the question of how that ends and the transition itself could be very important in our view to the durability and stability inside syria and going forward. we are not presupposing how that occurs. but i think it is clear we see no further role for the assad regime longer term given that they have effectively given up their legitimacy with these types of attacks. >> reporter: over the past 72 hours there's been lack of clarity, mixed messages, we've skrooeb described it, from this administration after the u.s.

strike in syria late last week. we heard yesterday from sean spicer basically saying the potential existed for the u.s. to strike again, that they would respond if there was another chemical weapons attack or perhaps the use of barrel bombs, which would be a significant shift in policy. those barrel bombs are crudely constructed. they kill indiscriminately. frankly, they've been the preferred method of destruction of killing by the syrian regime for the course of years. sean spicer later clarified and said there is no change in the policy. what remains unclear right now is whether or not the administration, mika, is reluctant to telegraph what its strategy is right now or, in the eyes of their critics, if they're just winging it. >> peter alexander, thank you very much. coming up, looking for c canaries in coal mines. we're back after this.

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mid term elections are still

far off but a couple of special elections are looking at bellwethers. to replace congressman mike pompeo, promoted to cia director and who won last time by 31 points. democratic party, after sitting on the sidelines for most of the race, has entered at the 11th hour to try to push james thompson across the finish line in the traditionally conservative district. meanwhile, the head of the state republican party believes the race could be down to a margin of single digits. the campaign of ron estes, state treasurer, is taking heat for their performance and this campaign ad. >> the liberal activists are trying to steal this election by supporting the bernie sanders' backed lawyer because they know he will vote the way pelosi tells him to. well, i'm ron estes. i will never compromise our conservative values. in this special election, your vote counts. i'm ron estes.

i approve this message and i need your help to drain this swamp on april 11th. >> swamp. i get it. >> willie, can you explain this to me? hold on. is this guy really about to lose to an alligator? like he's within single -- an alligator is running against him. >> or sweet old turtle, too. the imagery there is that he is going to drain the swamp and will no longer need the waders. >> estes is getting a lot of assists. ted cruz campaigned with him, saying the eye of the whole country is on kansas. >> i saw that on my twitter feed. i'm like, what happened in kansas? >> 11th hour robo call happeni now from the president himsf. >> we're going to do things really great for our country. our country needs help. ron is going to be helping us big league. but i need republicans like ron

estes to help me get the job done. this is an important election. there is really few very much more important and i need your vote for ron estes on tuesday. >> it's important to note one of the factors in this race is frustration with governor sam brownback. >> okay. we'll go to georgia real quick. i want to sam stein about this. republican tom price up to health and human service secretary. he won his district in 24%. donald trump won by 1.5%. giant field of 18 candidates to replace price, most of them republican but rookie democrat john ossoff has pulled away from the pack, $8 million war chest, 90% of it from out of district by one count. enjoying a wide lead over the cluster of republican field in recent polling. can ossoff hit 50% in this primary? if not, a runoff would be difficult to win in the

traditionally deep red district. worth noting that was also once newt gingrich's district. sam stein, let's go back to kansas. mike pompeo won by 30 points. that district has gone comfortably for donald trump, mitt romney before that. it's a deeply red district. is there really a chance a reblan loses there? >> probably t. trump won by 27 in that district. it is widely republican. special elections are kind of crazy. you don't know where turnout is going to come from. motivation is very important. in this climate democrats are more motivated than republicans and joe hinted at sort of the x factor here. this isn't really about necessarily donald trump and what he has done. this is about sam brownback, who is incredibly unpopular in kansas.

reforms he made on the tax spending side. this guy is calling estes the brownback republican. that's that. in georgia, that is much more of a nationalized race. ossoff's money is disproportionately from out of state. ridiculous amount of funds, $8.3 million. he is in the mid to high 40s but is only 1% of the second choice for these candidates which means he likely has a ceiling and it's unclear if that ceiling will get up to 40%. admiral bill mccraven, who went viral after his 2014 commencement speech, joins us with his thoughts on seyria, russia, and what he calls the greatest threat to democracy in his lifetime. "morning joe" is back in a moment. think again.

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start each day with the task completed. find someone to help you through life. respect everyone. know that life is not fair and that you will fail often. but if you take some risks, step up when the times are the toughest, face up to the bullies, lift up the downtrodden, never, ever give up. if you do these things, the next generation and the generations that follow will live in a world far better than the one we have today. and what started here will, indeed, have change d the world for the better. >> exactly. that 2014 commencement speech was the inspiration for our next guest's new book. joining us now, retired navy admiral and current chancellor of the university of texas system, william mcraven. his new book "make your bed: little things that can change your life and maybe the world." what a great concept all based on that speech. welcome to the show, sir. >> thanks. it's great to be here. >> how deep does the book go on

the message and why did you write it? >> every day since the commencement speech back in 2014 i have somebody who comes up to me and says hey i make my bed or i didn't ring the bell or i don't back down from the sharks. part two of that is always what inspired you? so frankly after a couple of years, i decided to go back and tell people the story of the individuals that inspired me or the events that inspired me. so this little book "make your bed" really reflects the ten lessons and goes into a little deeper detail on each of the lessons and the things that inspired me. >> admiral, one of the elements of your speech, your commencement speech, which i would encourage everyone to go on youtube and watch. it was more than impressive. but one of the lechlt elements have speech -- we just showed a couple of fragments of it. respect everyone. >> right. >> what about the degree of difficulty today in getting people to respect everyone when so many of us spend so much of our time, our days staring at

our cell phones? >> well, that's a great question. the point about respect -- it goes back t a lesson we learned going through s.e.a.l. training i talk about the munchkin crew we had, the little guys. and how the little guys in our boat crew, if you will, were only about 5'5", and you have the 6'2" guys going through s.e.a.l. training with the broad shoulders. at the end of the day, a lot of those guys weren't there, but the little guys who were tough inside were still there. you learn to respect somebody not for their outward appearance, their race or ethnicity or their gender. you learn to respect them for what was in their heart. and i think if you go through each day and give somebody an opportunity to show that they deserve that respect, then you're going to find yourself a lot better off. and the people around you a lot better off. >> admiral mcraven, it's willie geist. i'm going to have you come over,

if you don't mind, every morning speaking to my 7-year-old about making his bed. can you explain that? such a simple thing but why is that the linchpin you're making in this book? >> a lot of us grew up, in particular, my father was an air force officer, my mother a school teacher. before you came to breakfast you had to make your bed. i'm not sure i understood why that was important. we got to s.e.a.l. training every morning we would have an inspection. uniform inspection and a bed inspection. i couldn't quite understand. look, i came to s.e.a.l. training to learn to be a s.e.a.l. warrior. here they are, having me make my bed. not just make my bed but make it correctly to exact standards. and you learn that, one, it was the first task of the day. and if you did that and did it well you had a little pride in that first task of the day and it really put you in a position to do the next task and the next task. the other thing it was for the s.e.a.l. instructors, hey, you

had to do it right. if you can't do the little things right, how are you ever going to do the big things right? how are you going to run a s.e.a.l. mission if you can't even make your bed right? it was this understanding that, one, an easy task to complete. you can complete it, have some pride in it. that will encourage to you do the next task and dot next things right. do the little things right and the big things will come after that. >> admiral, steve rattner, i too, thought that speech was amazing. i made my kids watch it. didn't help them make their bed but i hope they got something else out of the speech. can we turn to current events? you said you thought what the president did in syria was exactly the right thing to do. i think there's a lot of agreement about that. where there's less agreement or less clarity is what do they do now? you've had different members of the administration articating different visions of how this proceeds and what our role would be and what the sir yanz' role would be and if assad is going

or not going. how do you see that movie ending? >> i know as part of the planning process, jim mattis, and joe dunford, when they made the presentation to the president, they said, mr. president, here's the action we think you need to take. oh, by the way, here is how we think the russians or syrians will react. here are our next steps. as part of the process, there should have been an understanding of the second and third order of effects of this particular strike. one strike alone does not certainly make a strategy. so, they want to continue, i think, to maintain the operational tempo, to maintain, if you will, the high ground so that they can begin these discussions with the russians as secretary tillerson goes over to mosc moscow. we want to make sure they understand we're serious about this. if there's an understanding. assad has to go. i think the russians understand that. i don't think the russians want

this sifl war any more than we do. you have to remove assad but to remove him, russians and syrians have to understand we're serious and prepared to take the next strikes if necessary. >> i want to get back to your book. i love the genius of getting the small things right. 10, 11, 12 years ago i couldn't walk. i had had a back surgery. i was back down on my back. i was at the cleveland clinic. i talked to spine surgeon there who was supposed to be the best. they just happened to be there when i stopped being able to put one foot in front of the other because of back problems. they said, he's the great surgeon in the world. he had two bits of advice for me. he said, go into the corner like a dog and stay there until you feel better, then get up. i'm not going to operate on you. two, he said, it starts with your shoes. now, here i am wondering about spine fusions and everything. and he -- his great -- and it is

the greatest advice i've ever had on my back. get your shoes right. it starts with your shoes. that's like make your bed right. i'm walking today because the small things that this guy who is supposed to be the best spine surgeon in america told me. it's the same thing here, isn't it? make your bed. >> that's exactly the same thing, joe. it doesn't take a lot to get up in the morning and make your bed but i guarantee you, if you do that, it will change your whole outlook on the rest of the day. >> mike? >> general, i'm going to leave hospital corners and the bed aside right now and go back to syria and then extension of steve rattner's question. we are fortunate, you thii thin have general dunford, general mattis and general mcmaster in the white house. do you have a new concern about the president of the united states for those who don't focus enough on those three gentlemen

and you focus on the day after an attack, step two, step three? >> i have great confidence in secretary mattis and i know h.r. mcmaster well, and i know secretary tillerson a little bit from our time here in texas. and i can tell you from jim mattis' perspective and h.r. mcmaster's perspective, they will get in there and lay out the options to the and the they will be firm in how they articulate those options and what next steps are required. don't think jim mattis is going to back down from folks inside the white house that may have a different opinion. he's going to, you know, stand firm. now, he's going to give the president options and they will talk through those options but jim mattis is certainly not, you know, a wilty flower. so, he'll stand his ground, as will h.r. i think they'll be able to make thr point to the president irrespective of it who surrounds the president at this point in

time. >> amir dmiral, great honor to you with us. i'm going to do with steve rattner did, my kids will be watching your commencement speech and all reading your book. "make your bed" is the name of the book. little things that can change your life and maybe the world. thank you so much, sir, for being with us. >> thanks for having me. well, when he was chief of exxonmobil, rex tillerson met vladimir putin several times over the years. now that he's secretary of state, and pressing the russian regime over syria, putin has a problem. we'll go live to moscow. shares of united take a hit in premarket trading. never saw that coming. as the company scrambles to deal with the fallout from this video of a passenger being dragged from an overbooked flight. as most of us said around the table, what probably is causing the markets the biggest concern has been the ceo's response justifying this behavior. "morning joe" back in a moment. my business was built with passion...

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can make any occasion feel more special.ie so she makes her pie crust from scratch. and sprinkles on brown sugar streusel. so that you can spend more time making special moments with your family. marie callender's it's time to savor welcome back to "morning joe." with us we have msnbc contributor mike barnicle. legendary. senior political analyst on nbc news for msnbc, the great

halperin and sam stein. what in the world happened? >> that is horrible. that guy bought his seat. >> that's one of those stories you watch and say, i can't believe what i'm seeing. sunday night that's an overbooked site, oversold flight from chicago to louisville. plane is crowd. they announce at the gate, we need volunteers. four people have to get off the plane. nobody volunteers. they say, somebody has to get off the plane. they have an algorithm em they run through the computer that generates four names. one couple, two people, get off the plane. the second couple, that is the man right there. >> apparently he's a doctor. >> a husband and wife couple. he claimed he was a doctor. we haven't confirmed that yet. and the chicago police officers are called. they get on the plane, physically yank him.

he hits his face on the armrest and then he's dragged up the aisle with a bloodied face and removed from the plane. >> according to united they are merely reaccommodating that passenger. >> that's the amazing thing about the way sam handled this. the statement from united ceo oscar munoz. the ceo apologized to customers but he said the cpany he wa reaching out to the passenger talk directly with him to resolve the situation but several hours later in an e-mail to employees that included a timeline of the incident, the united ceo claimed, quote, this situation was unfortunately compounded when one of the passengers was politely asked to deplane refused. ceo went on to say, i deeply regret the situation arose, i also emphatically stand behind all of you and commend you for continuing to go above and beyond to ensure we fly right. he concluded the letter saying the plane's crew, quote, followed established procedures when removing the passenger, calling him disruptive and bee ledge rent adding, treating our customers and each other with respect and dignity is the core

of who we are. we must always remember this no matter how challenging the situation. the first statement by united said, quote, we had to reaccommodate the passenger. >> he bought ticket, and they were taking it away from him. if he is a doctor who had to go see patients, that makes it much worse. but i -- i don't understand why they do this in this day and age. >> fly commercial, you'll understand. >> the point s you fill your plane with the number of people who gout tickets. you don't overbook it. they do it all the time. in person came back on the plane. he was all disoriented. i feel bad for him right now. i bet you he wonders what planet he's on or what country he's in. >> by the way, explain -- you personally know highway hard it was for people to get to louisville -- >> yes. that's where my friend and her family are om, she passed

away, her family was trying to get back. >> had the memorial service on friday. >> delta. >> stuck on the friday all -- >> their flight was canceled until 6:00. it was canceled and then canceled. it was delayed until 6:00, then canceled at 6:00 so they waited all six hours can then put on a 7:45, then bumped off that. >> and then they had to go back to the airport the next day. you can understand why people in airports for two days are not -- i mean, i'm sorry, i'm not getting up. if a united -- >> it will drive you crazy. >> i paid for this seat. you're not getting this seat. >> one of the untold stories in this country, and it's untold because it happens so frequently so often every day is the status of commercial flight in america. it is horrendous. horrendous. >> it's unbelievable. >> about a month or so ago i interviewed the cia of airbnb who we've had on "morning joe." i asked him, what's next? he looked at me and he said,

commercial air travel, we can't go on like this. it's antiquated. it's outdated. hopefully someone is looking at this more broadly. this puts it in stark relief but something has to give. >> let's get to the headlines. as ceo of exxonmobil rex tillerson, secretary of state, received the order of friendship from russian president vladimir putin -- >> this reunion will be really great. order of friendship. it's kind of like a victory lap. hey, buddy, what's up? give him a hug. >> when tillerson visits moscow -- >> they're reunited and it feels so good. >> tillerson is going to moscow today and he won't even get a handshake. reuters reports they will not meet after the kremlin was angered by the u.s. missile strikes tar getting a base also

used by russian troops. >> ding, ding, i have the answer. >> what is that? >> what is kabuki theater. first of all, rex doesn't want to be seen shaking vlad's hand. vlad doesn't want to be shown shaking the american's hand. this is all -- it's a pretty smart pr stunt for both sides. if you're rex tillerson, do you want a picture of you on "the new york times" shaking your order of friendship buddy's hand? no. this works out well for everyone. >> this is an incredible moment in the history of donald trump's relationship with russia. he couldn't have scripted it this way. the secretary of state is going. this is going to be much different than it would have been ten days ago. i don't know it's pure kabuki. the administration is going all in on a 180 of we're not friends with russia. >> which is great for the administration. a week ago you have little devin nunes going back and forth

going, hey, what do i say? what do i say about russia? sean spicer getting killed. now the russian snub. tillerson, i mean, if i'm donald trump, i'm thinking, these are good days. >> i think it will be hard to reverse. >> oh, come on. >> what's going to be hard to reverse? i don't think the u.s. is on a path to detaunt. >> they can't right now because of investigations about russia all over capitol hill. do you think donald trump is going to go to the kremlin and do a big thumbs up with a big mac with vlad? >> especially right now with the ap report which we haven't confirmed and the white house says isn't true that russia knew about the chemical attacks before they were carried out and provided some cover for them up. can't be on the front page of the paper if you're condemning that as the reason you went into syria as the united states government. >> not shaking hands. >> if that's the case, we don't want to shake their hands.

if russia knew about the chemical weapons, we don't want to shake their hands. now you watch, putin -- this is just not worth it for vladimir putin. now putin starts stepping away from syria because it's -- i mean, for what he wants, this is sort of just the opposite. for basically a glorified gas station? he doesn't -- he doesn't need this. he went into syria because it was a cheap, easy pr win. it's not worth it anymore. >> and a warm weather report for the russian navy, which is critical to them. but clearly, the syrians and assad especially have really embarrassed russia, put putin in a tough place. russia overplayed his hand unwittingly with the wikileaks stuff last year. now they can't get anything from -- >> now they can't get anything, right. >> and i agree with mark. i think this is frozen for quite a while. >> and that is in everybody's

best interest. essential in this administration's best interest. >> but putin would like sanctions relief. >> he's not going to get that. he's going to get more sanctions. >> yeah, let's go to moscow. >> even if donald trump tried to get sanctions relief, john mccain and the senate has already said they will codify those sanctions so nothing will move anyway. it's an embarrassment for russia. again, i don't see how they don't step away from syria at the end. >> joining us from moscow, nbc's bill neely. a big day ahead for rex tillerson in russia. >> reporter: good morning. a statement from the rushg shan foreign ministry saying they are hoping for productive talks between secretary of state rex tillerson and sergey lavrov, foreign minister. noting russia/u.s. relations are now the most difficult since the cold war. the kremlin has been watching those g-7 talks in italy. remember, it was the g-8 before russia was kicked out after

anean exing crimea. for signs of what the u.s. strategy going forward will be. it'srett clear n what rex llerson will come with. he will come with a message to russia, drop president assad. as rex tillerson said this morning, the reign of the assad family is coming to an end. let's listen to more of what rex tillerson had to say. >> it is our policy for unified syria that is governed by the people of syria. i think it is -- it's clear to all of us that the reign of the assad family is coming to an end. but the question of how that ends and the transition itself could be very important in our view to the durability, the stability inside of a unified syria and its stability and durability of the outcome forward forward, so that's why

we're not presupposing how that occurs but i think it is clear that we see no further role for the assad regime longer term given they have effectively given up their legitimacy with these types of attacks. >> reporter: that demand by rex tillerson may fall on deaf ears here in moscow because russia has just doubled down on its support for president assad after the cruise missile strikes saying it would help improve syria's air defense system. also president assad is winning the war in syria with russia's help. this may not be the moment that putin wants to drop assad. whatever happens, this was not the meeting that the two sides had planned a couple weeks ago. on the table then was meant to be improved relations with russia, was meant to be ukraine, iran, nato and many other subjects. instead, on the table will be sarin gas, dead children,ruise

missiles, syria absolutely dominating these talks. as for the possibility that rex tillerson might meet russia's president, vladimir putin, the kremlin saying this morning simply that is still not on the official agenda. >> bill neely, thank you. still ahead on "morning joe," it appears someone blinked in the standoff between steve bannon and jared kushner. we'll tell you who and what may have been driving the problems in the first place. you're watching "morning joe." managing blood sugar is not a marathon it's a series of smart choices. like using glucerna to replace one meal or snack a day. glucerna products have up to 15 grams of protein to help manage hunger and carbsteady, unique blends of slow release carbs to help minimize blood sugar spikes. every meal every craving. it's the choices you make when managing blood sugar that are the real victories. glucerna. everyday progress.

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so you'rhow nice.a party?uture i'll be right there. and the butchery begins. what am i gonna wear? this party is super fancy. let's go. i'm ready. are you my uber? [ horn honks ] hold on. don't wait for watchathon week to return. [ doorbell rings ] who's that? show me netflix. sign up for netflix on x1 today and keep watching all year long. there are signs steef bannon is standing down in his feud with presidential adviser and son-in-law jared kushner. over the weekend "the new york times" reported kushner allies told the president of the increasingly unflattering coverage that kushner is receiving from breitbart news. the website that bannon used to

run and now anonymous sources tell "business insider" that breitbart editors ordered staffers to stop writing stories critical of kushner. >> isn't that interesting? >> a breitbart editor responded that it is an absurd suggestion that they would muzzle critical coverage of any senior white house official. >> i look forward to the negative attacks on jared kushner in breitbart. i will be looking at your website today if that's an absurd notion. listen, they had to back down. the reporting over the past couple of days has not been the best. steve bannon is an island unto himself and the white house. any allies he may have had have scattered. and told the president they are with the and the they are with his family. i just think it's a matter of time. does he decide to be kellyanne conway and stay in the white house with no authority to hang on or does he leave the white house? >> because of the rough start in many ways they've had, there's

basically one standard if anyone wants to stay in the white house and have influence. do you to want help the president get victories or not? whatever ideology or feuds with other people. whoever wants to stay has to prove to the president that's what they're focused on. how do you get political substantive victories. >> sam stein, what white house insiders cannot come to grips with, and i talked to three of the president's top people yesterday, they do not understand what happened to steve bannon, why he decided to start attacking the president's family. and the word i heard from all three is, heust snapped. and that's causing concern from the president down that somebody would be this unbalanced, that somebody would be this undisciplined that they would just stap and start attacking the president's family. >> this always perplexed me why

you would pick a fight with the president's son-in-law is bewildering. it's not like trump can fire jared kushner and be on with it. he's part of the family. jared will always be there. it's a stupid fight to have picked. what i've heard is that it sort of raised concerns about bannon's mentality -- >> exactly. >> that he spends all his time picking these fights, coming up with these digs at his own colleagues when, clearly, the scoreboard is not that great for team trump right now. when you have not scored a victory on health care, when your travel plan that was the centerpiece of your early terms in office is caught up in the courts, when your approval rating is in the dumps. it shows his mind is not on the task at hand. now they're having a recalibration. we have a piece up this morning, gary cohen being elevated. the other stuff is in the national security apparatus where establishment republicans for the first time in a long time are starting to feel, you

know, shoots of optimism because ban has been pushed to the side, because macfarlane has been pushed to the side, because mike flynn is no longer there. there's a sense things are getting back on track towards normalcy. coming up on "morning joe," countering russia. face-to-face and under the radar. we'll talk to long-time ambassador nick burns and cia official did cohen about america's capacity to push back at president putin. hey allergy muddlers

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if we do believe it's in the national interest because of the threat that unsecured chemical weapons pose, given the chaotic conditions on the ground in syria, we have a fight going on against sis. we have an internal sicivil wara large presence of al qaeda individuals. so, it is important to us that whatever weapons are there, are found, they're secured, and destroyed ultimately. >> that was secretary of state rex tillerson moments ago ahead of his trip to moscow. joining us, david s. cohen, a national security contributor for msnbc and nbc news. from boston, former u.s.

ambassador and state department spokesman nicholas burns, professor of diplomacy and international relations at the harvard kennedy school of government. thanks to have you both this morning. >> mr. ambassador, let's start with you. immediately after the attack friday morning, foreign policy community showed support for the attack. yesterday you started to sense some concern starting to creep in, but for the most part, do you still believe this was was an important -- for the most part, people believe this was an important signal to send to assad. do you believe that today? >> i think it was. the use of sarin gas, of chemical weapons repeatedly by the syrians, had it to be met by response. the u.s. was the only country with the capacity to do that. >> can you explain, first of all, before we get past that, can you explain to americans who may not understand why that was an important message to send, why was that important?

they'll say, they just pave over the runways and take up the next day. why is it important to not let another attack go unanswered? >> because chemical weapons have been banned for 30 years. and the u.s. led the chemical weapons convention. these are uniquely dangerous to civilians. that's the reason why the u.s. had to respond. joe, i think the problem the administration has right now is they're all over the map in what they're significant about what their objectives are and their contradicting each other. nikki haley, rex tillerson and sean spicer. we haven't heard from president trump. this is a difficult issue but they haven't put together a coherent strategy they can articulate. as rex tillerson goes to moscow, the russians are in a much stronger position. they're aligned with the syrian government, with the revolutionary guards of iran and hezbollah on the ground. they have a position they can hold. the u.s. is really not in the game, so the secretary is going

to -- it's going to be tough for him to push the russians in the direction of international negotiation. right thing to do but tough to move the russians. >> we heard yesterday our policy is unchanged on syria. should it be unchanged toward syria? should that be a one-off attack? should it have been, as the ambassador said, more of a statement, you're t going to be able to use chemil weapons on your people or should we change our policy? >>well, the policy inco-harns in this administration is such that i don't think you can take to the bank that yesterday the administration says the policy is unchanged because you also had secretary tillerson yesterday saying that any time innocents are being slaughtered anywhere, we will get involved. there's this continuing lack of clarity about what the policy is. >> should our policy remain the same? because saying that it is changing suggests that we're

about to take the united states into a full-on war with assad. >> i think that would be a mistake. if we were to sort of pursue the maximalist approach some have suggested, which is that we will get involved any time that you have anyone in syria being slauderred, that means you have to get assad out. that means you'll be fighting in western syria day in and day out. >> how would you describe this? >> i think the best description of it was a response to an atrocious, heinous act and trying to re-establish the principle that chemical weapons cannot be used. >> and if it happens again? >> that's the question. so, the real question is, this policy incoherence is driven by the fact that the president acts impulsively. he saw these images on tv and said, i've got to do something

about this, and two days later actions was taken. >> i'm skeptical of that. do you really believe that? >> absolutely. >> what? >> i'm very skeptical -- it makes a good story. i saw the pictures on tv. i decided to act. he was told by james mattis, he was told by henry mcmaster, he was told by everybody around him, you cannot let this stand. and so they took the most measured approach that general mattis suggested. >> so, i think -- that's right. he went to them and said, i saw this. this is heinous. they said, you're absolutely right. this is what you can do in response. but what there wn't at that point was any considerati of the day after or the week after. what is our policy? does this signify a change in policy or not? the problem is you now have secretary tillerson now going to moscow with this diversity of statements in administration, including secretary tillerson

himself, about what our policy is. that puts us in a weak position to try to take advantage of the leverage generated by the strike to negotiate a change in syria. >> ambassador nick burns and david cohen, thank you both. coming, republicans are eyeing a spot in deep red. we break down the race next on "morning joe." what powers the digital world. communication.

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the liberal activists are trying to steal this election by using a bernie sanders-backed lawyer. i'm ron estes, i will never compromise our conservative values. in this special election, your vote counts. i'm ron estes, a prove this message and i need your help to drain this swamp on april 11th. >> we're going to do things

really great for our country. our country needs help. ron is going to be helping us big league. but i need republicans like ron estes help me get the job done. this is an important election. i need your vote for ron estes on tuesday. >> last minute robo call from the president on behalf of republican candidate ron estes, whose campaign ad you just saw is trying to win an unexpectedly close race in kansas to replace congressman mike pompeo who was mr promoted to cia director. ted cruz also campaigned with estes yesterday saying the eyes of the whole country are on kansas. the special election is today. joining us now, msnbc anchor and political correspondent steve kornacki. >> strange things can obviously happen in these special elections. >> is a strange thing happening? >> scott brown got elected in 2009 after the obamacare battle.

kansas, though, is there any way this guy's going to lose? >> it's really hard to see because when you look at the presidential vote in this district, this is a district donald trump actually did a little better than mitt romney did four years ago and romney won it big. 27 points. it was 60-33. i think to the extent have you some republicans who are was in here is you have to look a little deeper. it's the state issues and it's sam brownback, the governor. a funny thing happened on election day last november. it was a trump state almost two to win over hillary clinton. it was a massacre at the presidential level. democrats gained seats in the state legislature in kansas on that same election day. that included a district, a state senate district in this congressional district. there's a big -- there's effectively three parties kansas right now. there's a brownback republican party, an anti-brownback republican party and a democratic party. the fear of republicans is that two of those may be in a race like this, in a low interest race, maybe they unite to bring

brownback a message. the chances of this being close is not that good. >> what about george? >> it's more interesting. if you look although republicans, the trigtal republican voters who trump struggled with in november and who democrats are counting on in ' '18, white college educated, white-collar suburbanite. that's this district in georgia next week. this is a district mitt romney carried by more than 20 points -- >> did trump win this by -- >> by one. >> went from 23 for romney to 1 point for trump. it's because of the big swing among college educated whites. they say we need two dozen seats, democrats say, to flip the house. there are two dozen seats like this one in georgia. if they can win this one in georgia, they say, that's a signal they could have the numbers in 2018. >> fair to say georgia on a national level is really the one to look at opposed to kansas, which is probably more about the governor there? >> i think -- if we got funny

results out of kansas it's a huge national story. i think moere than likely the traditional partisan form will reassert itself. democrats -- think of the last week or two in the november, in the fall campaign. democrats were seeing numbers in states they never thought they'd see, saying hillary clinton could win a georgia and then a big reality check onlection day. that could happen in george, too. >> in kansas, a statewide issue and also a national issue, did medicare, the governor's, you know, refusing to take it have an impact? >> yeah. look, there's the medicaid issue in kansas and also the big story has been school funding and tax cuts. brownback has been absolutely adamant sticking to this tax cut package that has decimated school funding across the state. have you republicans from parts of that state saying we need to be a little less rigid on the tax side for the sake of school

funding. that's been a big opening, anti-brownback. estes is associated with sam brownback, the governor, state treasurer, face of the republican party. that's sort of the fear there. >> "saturday night live" opening sketch was about donald trump and his supporters in union, kentucky. people think maybe they were being made fun of, maybe it's actually the liberals showing just how clueless they are. take a look. >> i work in union but my wife won't move because she's in a federally sponsored drug rehab program that's an hour a way. >> terrible. my wife doesn't want to move either. >> but like i was saying, my wife stays because of the federal rehab program. >> well, don't worry about that, okay, because we're going to get rid of it. >> you're -- you're getting rid of it? >> yes, junking it. junked. now she can live wherever she wants to. did i make you feel better now? >> i'm not sure. but i voted for you and you're my president. >> i work two jobs for minimum wage. >> minimum wage gone, gone.

>> okay. perfect. we can't afford a new house because my mortgage is under water. >> we're getting rid of it. >> my mortgage? >> no, your house, junked. >> okay. and we can't even drink our own water because there's lead in that. >> no, we're going to keep that, though. you still love trump. we still love trump? >> you're my president. >> guys, you're blowing my mind. keep eating that finger chili. i hear my helicopter. remember, i'm one of you. >> i don't know. >> there's a lot of criticism online about that sketch. tweeted snl cold open is what the democratic party thinks of red america, which is why it went red. >> i think there's something to that. there's a narrative you almost see sort of in the sort of cultural programming that comes

out of blue america that has been waiting for the idea that these trump voters are going to realize they were duped. yosee that sort of -- that theme is heavy in a lot of coverage i've seen -- >> that sketch is making it look like they're too dumb to be duped. >> that seems to be the message. they're slowly going to find out they didn't know what was best for them. >> but it goes back to the arrogance of a book, what's the matter with kansas? >> well, can is just fine without you, manhattan. kansas can make its decisions without you. look -- i mean, there are enough people that live in cities in elite centers that have enough of their own problems. this arrogance -- again, it is why -- >> part of it is arrogance. >> there is some truth to -- >> they have a terrific batting

average, more hits than misses. but a sketch like that really shows how some people, especially in manhattan, look at some parts of the world, including places like staten island, the people who live there -- >> it's like the pepsi ad. >> let's go visit staten island. let's drop in on paducah, kentucky, and see how natives feel about america. >> and take some samples while we're there. >> yeah. >> the big is problem is this elitism doesn't end up hurting the conservatives. it ends up hurting the very people that they -- that are mocking them and i'm not talking about just this one "snl" sketch, i'm talking about whether it's academia or popular culture because they're the ones that wake up the day after george w. bush is re-elected in 2004 walking around like zom business shocked or shocked donald trump can win.

i don't mean to keep repeating this, but there were certain people that got absolutely secured for even suggesting donald trump could win. they were so close-minded about everything, eyould n even consider the alternative that donald trump could win. >> i think that one of the themes of the campaign was a culture condescension. i'm not talking about policy, i'm talking about the way they live their lives, religion or guns or movies they watch. i think that's continued and probably only gotten worse since his election as many people in comedy see themselves as part of the resistance in some way. and there's probably a re-election of that in that sketch. later in the show they did a taped piece with louis c.k. where they mocked the couch-sitting social justice warriors. i actually do think in many ways "saturday night live" has tried to make fun of the things that need to be made fun of.

do you believe they're part of black lives matter because they like the facebook story? >> i was about to say, and we were saying at the same time, after the election the brooklyn bubble script. of course, there won't be any police officers or firefighters there because they don't live inside the bubble. >> you touched on, i think, an important issue in terms of communication. what we say, how we say it, when we say it. it and revolves around the reaction of the past three, four days, the media reaction toward people who senate one way or another that the missile shots, the 59 cruise missiles, was a good thing. finally a president of the united states stood up. if you say anything at all that is defined by some elements of the media as sort of normalizing donald trump as president, you get crushed. >> that's the stupidity of -- that's one of the dumbest things

that has happened since the election. people are saying, well, you know, you're normalizing donald trump by saying his generals put together a pretty good plan, which, by the way -- >> those generals are -- >> tom friedman, david ignatius, john kerry, justin trudeau -- >> hillary clinton. >> hillary clinton, most of the free world, i've got really bad news for part-time that use this normalization test. steve, donald trump is normalized when he got 306 electoral votes. he didn't become president of the united states thursday night. he became president of the united states january 20, 2017, whether we like it or not. and we sound stupid, more dumb than usual when we're on tv going, tonight donald trump became president. no, no, he became president when he held his hand up on january 20th. we look clueless. it is not up to us decide when he became president.

that decision was made on november 8th. >> i have to say -- i think on november 8th, day after the election, there was so much talk, i think, in the media, people who were surprised by the outcome. and i was certainly surprised by the outcome, i think, like most people were, but that this would change the way the media thought about the country a little bit. might broaden the lens of the media. i felt in my case, it has. one of the things i have been thinking about a lot since the election, this word bubble, the idea of bubbles. i think there's almost like cha caricature, cliche notion. there's a lot of different bubbles in the country. social media in some way is living in some kind of bubble. what's missing is an appreciation that, you know, it may not make any sense in youngstown, ohio, in the culture, values, priority, the conversation of life that takes place on the upper west side of manhattan, it works there. but it may not make any sense on the upper west side of manhattan, the culture, the conversation, the values of

youngstown, but it works there. an appreciation it can -- different things can work in different places. >> there are blind spots. "the new york times" editor has talked about how they have a blind spot about religious faith. then on palm sunday weekend, they run an op-ed of someone basically comparing evangelical christians in the south to judas. i sat there and thought, you're running this op-ed palm sunday weekend because you don't understand why southern evangelicals may not have wanted to vote for hillary clinton? it's staggering. >> great conversation. let' go to business now bringing in cnbc dominic chu. the video of the passenger being dragged off that united airlines flight faeblaffecting the stock >> it is, although it didn't yesterday. interestingly enough, the stock managed up a percent in trading but this morning shares are down

by 2 to 2.5% of the company after the ceo of the company, oscar munoz doubled down on his position. he basically told employees the passenger was removed because he was being disruptive and bell ij rent. also they were following established protocols when they did remove that passenger from the flight. those shares taking a bit of a p ppr hit. we'll see how it plays out today. a hot-button topic, one business travelers are watching closely. another topic is the wells fargo banking pay situation because right now the board has finished its review of what happened in that fake account scandal. they'll claw back. that is recover about $75 million worth of pay from their ceo, former ceo john stump in one of their top lieutenants who ran the community banking division. this is in addition to $60 million they took back last year. that's a big deal to watch as well. also what's happening with tesla because it's now the most valuable american auto company

out there. it's worth over $51 billion. $50 billion is what gm is worth and ford is worth about $44.5 billion. of course, tesla doesn't make nearlyhe amount of cars that those guys do. of cose, one other one to pay attention to, guys, this idea of gender pay and equal pay in silicon valley. google says after pressure from one of the federal regulators it's saying it does pay its female and male employees the same amount. it's fairly certain of it. we'll see whether or not it kind of dodges some controversy there. of course, silicon valley pay and, of course, pay in general has been a huge hot-button topic. >> love it. dominic chu, thank you very much. still ahead, we've been talking this morning about how the airlines have a lock over the industry leaving customers with little recourse to push back against unfair prices or policies. there's another industry where that's also true and the consequences can be life and death. that story is next. i realize that ah, that $100k is not exactly a fortune.

well, a 103 yeah, 103. well, let me ask you guys. how long did it take you two to save that? a long time. then it's a fortune. well, i'm sure you talk to people all the time who think $100k is just pocket change. right now we're just talking to you. i told you we had a fortune. yes, you did. getting closer to your investment goals starts with a conversation. schedule a complimentary goal planning session today. ♪ to err is human. to anticipate is lexus. experience the lexus rx with advanced safety standard. experience amazing. are you one sneeze away from being voted out of the carpool? try zyrtec® it's starts working hard at hour one and works twice as hard when you take it again the next day. stick with zyrtec® and muddle no more®.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ sfx: engine revving ♪ (silence) for patients like lynn, j

joo. here's a quick look at some of the ground we've covered so far this morning. >> oh my god. >> this can't be what i think i'm seeing right now, is it? it turns out it is. >> raccording to united they ar relocating that passenger. >> he bought that ticket and they take it away from them. >> i'm not get off the plane for

one of their employees for a ticket i paid for. >> why have they not been charged with assault and battery. >> you could say we will never overbook or quick you off. >> you'll go bankrupt. >> there are signs that steve bannon is standing down in his feud with jared kushner. >> steve bannon is an island unto himself and the white house. >> bannon has assumed the leadership mantle and now we're seeing the backlash. >> the word i heard from all top three officials is he just napd. >> you can't think your relationship with trump is the only reason you're there. >> russian/u.s. relations are the most difficult since the end of the cold war. >> tillerson and putin will not meet. >> if russia knew about the chemical weapons, we don't want to shake their hand. >> this is going to be different

than it would have been ten days ago. >> we sure as hell have shown putin we can strike syria. do you now how embarrassing that is for putin. >> you're going to have to remove assad and we're ready to take the next strikes. united says too bad to passengers who don't want to give up their seats, but it's not just airlines that have the power over the consumer. health care has that power. the new book "american sickness, how health care became big business and how you can taket back" is out today. congratulations. in ithe writes everyone knows the health care system is in disarray. we've grown number to huge bills. we regard high prices as the american burden and we accept the argument they have to charge twice as much for prescriptions

because any other country don't pay them enough to recoup their research costs, but would anybody accept that argument if we replaced the word prescription with cars or films. good question. >> doctor, you say imagine if you paid for an airline ticket and you got a separate bill from an airline, the pilot, the co-pilot, the flight attendants. that's how the health care market works. >> i think people from other countries look at the u.s. health care system and say why do you put up with this? we are suckers in this system and somewhat -- we feel somewhat helpless. part of the reason i wanted to write about this is we aren't totally helpless. it's time for patients, consu r consumconsume consumers, to say enough. we want to know prices. we want to know if we go to a provider directory that it's accurate. >> if you ask, what are the answers you get right now because there are some people

that want to know. i just bought this. it was a $150 prescription, why? >> why does it cost that much? >> yes in that. >> that's going to be a hard answer to get that. that $150 prescription in canada or france might cost $30 or $10. we don't have to be pang this much. in our country the path from the pharmaceutical manufacturer to your medicine chest involves many middlemen. we can't bargain individually and no one bargains on our behalf. >> the doctors don't even know some of the bills. >> of course not. the someone from the drug company comes in and says we've got this great new pill. it takes care of acid inde

indeguesten and your headache two. the doctor, when he's writing the script, thinks he's helping you. that's why i tell patients call your doctor. say i went to the pharmacy and they told me that is going to be $1,000. the doctors don't know. they need to educate themselves. >> i got a prescription and went to the pharmacy and it was literally $1,000. i said i don't want that. he said hold on. i signed up for a card and got it for $40. what is that guff between prices. >> the pharmaceutical manufacturers have developed these things called co-pay coupons. that's what you go the. they're a weird form of charity because the idea is they're going to pay it for you. they're going to pay that co-payment or offer you a discount, but it's like those starter mortgages. it's to get you hooked on a drug and when you go back in six

months and need the prescription again they say you're only eligible for those coupons for the first six months. >> it's like hospital bills. they will charge you an amount they know you will never pay because when somebody can't pay it they can write that off. >> they can do whatever they want. the prescription companies, hospitals, surgeons, they can do whatever they want because we are part of a culture where we want to feel good, we don't want to be sick or die. we're going to go for anything they tell us regardless of the cost. >> first of all, we don't see the cost so no one says in advance if this prescription costs $1,000 is it worth it to you. that has to change. we need transparency. the other thing is we've gotten into this idea of quick fix medicine. we want a solution and we want it now. >> do we just refuse to pay a bill? is that our only form of protest left to us. >> it's to do what do you with every other bill is to say what

am i paying for. my first piece of advice is don't write the check. a lot of medical bills say prompt pay discount 20%. the idea is to get you to pay before you say what am i paying for. ask for itemization in language you understand. 50% to 90% of hospital bills have mistakes in them. there's one person in the book whose son had a bill for a circumcision and his didn't have that procedure. if you're not paying it at that point, your insurer may be paying it and that's why your premiums are going up. >> doctor, thank you very much. the book is "eran sickness".

that does it for us this morning. good morning. live in washington, d.c. overlooking the white house on this beautiful morning. and there's breaking news. secretary of state rex tillerson arriving in moscow in the next hour as vladimir putin blasts the u.s. saying the syrian strike reminds him of falls claims made about iraq as the u.s. ramps up the pressure for russian support for bashar al assad. republicans pouring resources into a kansas election today fearing a democratic surge for a seat in that deep red state. another round of town halls. >> ma'am, are you okay? >> you're killing women. >> what is abortion