hi, everybody, good morning. 9:00 a.m. in the east, 6:00 a.m. out west. it's day 94 of the trump administration. we have new polling, a slew in anticipation of donald trump's 100th day in office. we go behind those numbers to compare this president with

those in the recent past. american military mite fares one aspect of the policies that get high marks from the public. >> we'll be having a big announcement on wednesday having to do with tax reform. >> so new reports today on why president donald trump might have caught some of his closest advisers off guard when he made that promise this week, and a government shutdown looming. what has to happen this week by friday to avoid that for the trump administration? then we go overseas, where french voters are heading to the polls today. will that country be headed in a different direction after this election? live report coming your way from paris next. we do begin with new polling numbers showing president trump as the most unpopular president in modern times as he nears the benchmark of 100 days in office. 42% approve of the president's job performance. that's about the same in the nbc/wall street journal poll where he stands at 40%, which is down four points since february.

one bright spot in all of this, 62% support president trump's military action in syria following the chemical attack earlier this month. we showed you a live picture of capitol hill, where congress has less than a week to prevent a government shutdown. lawmakers are on their way back to d.c. after a two-week recess. meanwhile, strong words for president trump as the democratic unity tour is wrapping up. here's senator bernie sanders and dnc chair tom perez at a rally in las vegas last night. >> trump and his friends and the billionaire class, yeah, they've got a lot of money and they got a lot of power, but we have something that they don't have. we have the people. >> donald trump is the most dangerous president in american history, and we must unite these first 100 days have been an unmitigated disaster. donald trump plainly and simply is a fraud! >> so a lot to dive into this

morning. i want to head to the white house, where my colleague, kelly o'donnell, has the latest on president trump's surprise visit to wounded service members. kelly, explain the motivation behind that and also brief us on the week ahead. >> reporter: as a commander in chief, thomas, this is one of the duties that is important to a president, to be able to connect personally with service members, especially those who have been injured. and this was a first for the president and mrs. trump. they made their way to the walter reid national military hospital. it can also be viewed as something important for the president to do before his 100-day mark, although no one in the white house connected those two things. instead i can tell you there have been top level officials who have been here at work all weekend dealing with that big looming deadline of the 100-day mark and the things they are trying to get done by then and show progress about. i'm told the repeal of obamacare is no longer considered something that is a target for within that 100 days, but they do want to see progress.

at the same time, the tax rollout the president has previewed is just a starting point. not something that would be accomplished in 100 days, but they also believe there are other things about which the president can be graded for these first 100 days. donald trump had been president just eight weeks when this soldier was gravely wounded in afghanistan. >> i heard about this and i wanted to do it myself, so congratulations on behalf of melania and myself and the entire nation. >> saturday, the president presented the service member with a purple heart. back to the white house, the president's twitter feed appeared to respond to saturday's march for science, though not organized as a political demonstration, many said the policies are ignoring science in favor of jobs. the president wrote, "i am committed to keeping our air and water clean, but economic growth enhances environmental

protection." despite referring to the 100-day mark as a, quote, ridiculous standard, the president surprised his own team by launching a policy rollout for day 97. big tax reform and tax reduction, he tweeted, will be announced next wednesday. treasury secretary steven mnuchin at a conference in d.c. said the trump tax reform proposal will focus on typical families. >> we need to do more things for the middle class and we need to put more money in their pockets. >> most urgent this week, government funding runs out friday. the white house and speaker ryan are working on a budget package, mindful of the president's demand for border wall funding. by saturday, day 100, the president hits the road. he tweeted about a big rally in pennsylvania. the same night as the white house correspondents' dinner he refused to attend. and there are officials here who say the tax sort of preview the president gave was a surprise in

timing, but not to suggest they haven't been working on this. this has been one of the big campaign promises and they are working through their ideas, but they weren't quite ready to roll it out just yet, so the expectation is not a lot of specifics this week, but the broad vision for what the president would like to do, which includes tax cuts for both corporations and individuals, and when i've asked advisers for guidance on what that would look like, if you look back to what the president laid out during the campaign, which was a fairly detailed tax policy, given the less focus on detailed policy during the campaign, that he did lay out ideas like a corporate tax cap at 15%, fewer tax rates, tax groups for individuals, topped out at 25%. those could be, perhaps, guidance for what the white house would be looking to unveil, but for the president talking about a big tax cut this week is about sort of looking beyond 100 days and showing what he hopes to accomplish and there

are many experts who say the 100-day mark is something that is always noted but isn't predictive about whether a presidency will be successful or not successful. although many others have had more of a honeymoon to get things done early. >> since you know congress so well, explain for everybody the big difference between the semantics of tax reform and tax cuts, because there is a big difference, big break there. >> there is a big difference. typically tax cuts would be short term with a expiration point. tax reform would go as a whole structure of the tax code. it's bigger, complicated, much more difficult, and that would be something that would become a permanent part of law. certainly house speaker paul ryan has been wanting to do that for years, try to address the tax code, which many people believe is complicated. democrats have a different view about how the tax code should be used, but tax cuts could happen more quickly. tax reform is a long-term project. >> kelly o'donnell live at the

white house for us, kelly, thank you very much. happening right now, voters in france casting ballots. this is a live look where it is 3:00 p.m., just after 3:00 p.m. in the afternoon there. the top four candidates in this hotly contested race range from extreme left to extreme right and the top two in today's vote will compete in a runoff may 7th. that's if somebody doesn't clear the way. polls show front-runners at emanuel macron and marine le pen. nbc's matt bradley joins us from paris where the city remains on alert after the attack on police officers. what can you tell us about voter turnout today and how the attack is playing out in the minds of the voters? >> reporter: good morning, thomas. the voter turnout so far today seems to be consistent with about the numbers they saw around this time in the last election, in 2012. it doesn't hurt that it's a very beautiful sunday morning here in

paris, but remember that the millions of people going out to vote today, they are going to be accompanied by some 50,000 police officers and some 7,000 soldiers protecting this vote. today, a high stakes vote for a france on high alert. amid tight security, the closest presidential election in a generation. just three days after a terrorist shooting left a policeman dead on paris' iconic. voters hope the last-minute terror will swing votes to far right candidate marine le pen. >> i wouldn't mind giving up freedom to have more security. and in my opinion, the one who is able and capable of giving me this is marine le pen. >> reporter: president trump seems to agree, telling the a.p. friday le pen is france's strongest candidate. if le pen wins, it could lead to a breakup of the european union. even a partial pullout from

nato. one part of a right wing wave washing across the continent, but the front-runner is emanuel macron, a pro europe centrist who enjoyed last minute support from former president barack obama. >> message i have is to wish you all the best in the coming days. >> thank you very much. i do appreciate you took the time. >> today's two top winners will face a runoff in two weeks. that's when polls indicate le pen will fall, but as le pen has said, populists have been known to surprise before, and this vote isn't just for france, the future of europe hangs in the balance. as you mentioned, thomas, macron and le pen are the two front-runners, but they are among four top candidates. all of those candidates are polling almost within the margin of error, so this race is anybody's to win. now, the polls close in about five hours and we're hoping to bring you the final result

shortly after that. thomas? >> okay, matt, we'll keep a close eye on that. thank you. more now on that new polling we told you about at the top of the hour concerning president trump, and joining me, reporter for mother jones and paul singer, washington correspondent for usa today. good morning to you both. let's start with the new polling numbers out. the nbc news/wall street journal poll, one of several that shape out the country is feeling about trump's approval. it demonstrates it's the lowest of any president at this point in the first term, lowest by a wide margin, 12%. why do you think people are -- because the base is kind of unmoved by this, but folks are giving historically low approval ratings. >> yeah. i think that the base numbers there are really important, actually. i mean, people always wondered when he was running if he would do the things that he campaigned on, and he hasn't necessarily accomplished all of them for sure, but he has pushed for them. he's pushed to repeal obamacare, he's pushed to build that wall.

he's pushing for that this week. he's been following up on all of these promises and i think that keeps the base believing that he's going to accomplish them. he hasn't given them very much reason to abandon them yet, and i think that base carried him through the election and that's something they are going to look to sustain. >> and, paul, do you agree with that? we have the abc news/washington post poll, 56% of people saying that president trump has accomplished not much or nothing so far, so with that perception, is it really -- saying there they've witnessed a push by the president trying to stand and deliver on those promises, but based in a washington where the republicans control the house and the senate, they haven't gotten a lot legislatively done. >> i think for those who spend a lot of time watching washington, we think that is a sign of some trouble, but remember it's only been a couple of months, people are still experiencing this sort of new presidential era, as it were, and, again, mr. trump is

still using the language and speaking to the people he was speaking to during the campaign and still to the most part giving the same image of projecting strength overseas. i think it's pretty clear that the attack that he launched in syria has been good for his reputation the way people view him in america. so let's see, i think over time what we're going to see is his base will, i think, respond based on economic progress. if there is growth, if there are jobs, if they see factories reopening in their neighborhoods, i think there will be a lot of credit for him. if they don't see that, patience is going to run out. >> when we think about economically, this administration inheriting a robust economy as opposed to obama in '08 and the type of favorability numbers that he had back then. do you think the assessment is fair or do you think the russian investigation, reports of the staff infighting, kind of overshadows any of the real

policy or oval office accomplishments? >> you know, i think that there's been more controversy and questions surrounding this president early on than any other, and certainly that is going to have an affect. and the longer they stay in the spotlight, the more an effect they will have. and, you know, paired with a lack of gains in terms of legislation, in terms of, you know, his priorities moving through congress and getting to his desk to be signed, the less there is of that, the worst it ultimately is for him, certainly. there are always going to be things he can point to and people he can blame for the things that don't make it through. that's harder, because republicans have congress right now. >> right. >> but they can always point to the agencies. they can point to what jeff sessions is doing at the justice department in terms of ramping up deportations. they can point to what's going on at the epa and say we're rolling back these job killing regulations on coal-fired power plants, for example, or fuel emission standards, so there are things that they actually are

doing. this is, you know, when it comes to the broader administration, you can make an argument that this is not a do nothing presidency, so there are things that they can point to if they want to, and certainly, i think, the appointment of neil gorsuch to the supreme court is a big one and i think it's a reason why a lot of the people in these polls who voted for donald trump say they don't regret that decision, because i think a lot of republicans decide at the end of the day the supreme court was a reason to vote for donald trump, even if they didn't like him as much as they would like to like the candidate, so getting him on the supreme court and seeing him there now, i think, reaffirms that decision for a lot of people. >> legacy of the trump administration. i said this yesterday when people said this was really mish mcconnell's doing. trump will get the credit about neil gorsuch being on there. but the other interesting nugget that will be in the history books on this, paul, is the fact the president will not attend the white house correspondents' dinner coming up next weekend. he's going to be holding a saturday night rally in

pennsylvania. programming basically there. kind of like samantha bee is doing with her own event. he's not the first to decide a counter program, but is this basically the president trying to demonstrate his outsider status to what is going to be this cushy elite looking journalism charity event to his message, to his narrative? >> sure. ultimately, he likes to poke us in the eye. there is a certain element of donald trump that just enjoys the kind of, you know, schoolyard elbowing. and this is one of those moments where pretty much just for fun they are going to schedule events to counterprogram against the white house correspondents' dinner. they are going to cover trump holding a rally in pennsylvania that is not a substantiative event at all. i go to the white house correspondents' dinner to see old friends in the journalism business, to celebrate good

journalism, and raise money for scholarships. we can all sit around and drink a beer and say yeah to the first amendment. i think nobody, except us, will have any memory of this in about three weeks. >> over 30 years' time, you know, all presidents have attended this as kind of a real, as you say, poke in the eye, because it is to support charity and it is to support journalists and the next wave of journalists coming up and the first amendment. yeah, everybody is going to power through and viewers at home will have a lot to watch that night. thank you very much. great to have you both on, i appreciate it. just returning from north and south korea, one elected official tells me what she observed and how troops are reacting from the latest tensions in that region. after this. come with me. you're not taking that. you're not taking that. you're not taking that. mom, i'm taking the subaru. don't be late. even when we're not there to keep them safe,

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we have got to rethink the model of the democratic party. we need a party which is functioning not just on the east coast and the west coast, but in every state in this country. >> as the new chair of the party, i wanted to learn the energy he has captured across america. i want to make sure that we channel that energy, that we learn from that energy. >> so we have the dnc chair tom perez with bernie sanders during the rally they have been hosting around the country and praising senator sanders because of the momentum and inspiration he built for democratic in 2016, their future of the democratic party coming at the tail end of the unity tour and at a time when democrats are calling on party leaders for upcoming special elections. joining me now, a member of the foreign affairs committee, as well as the transportation and

infrastructure committee. good morning, it's good to have you here. as you listen to those sound bites, you get the impression tom perez is looking at policies coming up. >> good morning, thomas, very good to be with you. let me tell you sort of an anecdotal story. i've been in politics a long time, and i would say if you were to have me have a town hall two or three years ago before this election, literally maybe i'd have eight people show up, two of them would be friends, and two of them would probably fall asleep while i was giving my remarks. i now really what's happening town hall after town hall, there's not -- standing room only. people are agitated, and really the best anecdote that we have right now is the president of the united states donald trump, because i just see all over, not just all over i live and

everywhere i go, people are so agitated and so afraid. they see him trying to defund planned parenthood, slash environmental regulations, build ridiculous walls. i could go on and on. so i think right now you see democrats and progressives and even moderates are unified all over this country, because they are really terrified about this president. >> what do you think, as you say, a great anecdotal story about what you witnessed firsthand, because, yeah, probably there have been democrats that have taken their votes for granted as opposed to republicans who were able to send their leaders to control the house and the senate and to control the white house with the election of donald trump. in your opinion, should senator sanders be a leading voice for your party if he refuses to identify clearly as a democrat? >> well, i think we should have a very big tent, and what i say about politics, everything is

relative. i happen to like bernie sanders' politics. i am a progressive, but we need to have a big tent and we have to remember election by election, you have to evaluate the candidates who are running, and for me, what's so important right now is that we get back a democratic majority, so that we can at least for the next four years stop some of these terrible things that donald trump is trying to do. >> in your opinion, who do you consider the leader of the democratic party right now? >> well, for me, of course, in the house it is nancy pelosi. nationally, tom perez, but, of course, we have great leaders and i do consider bernie sanders a leader. listen, i don't think it's -- the labeling isn't what is important. what's important are the values and what we're fighting for. >> and the lightning rod of a president obama or former president obama, he's going to be coming out publicly in

chicago, giving a speech at the university of chicago. we saw in the earlier part of the show a phone call he had with the french candidate, macron, for the french elections. do you think president obama could come out jumping back into politics instead of being a goodwill ambassador, be more of the type of leader you need to take a trump head on? >> well, i think what the president obama's going to do and hopefully he'll be doing as he travels around the country is helping us win back state legislature and governorships and getting the redistricting situation, one where democrats can start winning seats. >> and so the one thing i want to ask you about specifically, you just returned to the u.s. after a trip to the naval base in japan, as well as the dnc, that separates north and south korea. right now the tensions are extremely high. are you satisfied with what you saw there, and can you explain the feeling you got, the mood

that you got, about our allies in that region as opposed to north korea's threats? >> well, thomas, one of the reasons i ran for congress is my son ben is a retired u.s. marine war veteran, and i promised myself that if i got to congress, when i got to congress, i'd learn about the world so i'd never send someone else's child to war unless i had a good understanding. this trip, which was a bipartisan trip really opened my eyes, and i think here's what i have to say. it's very important that we work closely with our allies, japan and south korea, that we cool down the rhetoric. this is time for trying to get cooperation from china, to use economic sanctions, diplomacy. there is absolutely military action, a preemptive strike

would be devastating. not only would it be counterproductive to our own national security, it would probably lead to the harm of millions of south koreans and many, many japanese citizens, so i would say, you know, my experience was that the military on the ground were calm, collected, and understood the situation. >> we appreciate your insight. good to have you on this morning. thank you. >> good to be with you. >> compromising from capitol hill. how likely will democrats fight on a deal that would fund obamacare but give republicans a border wall at the same time. yeah, interesting caveat there. more on that in a moment.

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oscar mayer deli fresh. so good! good morning, everybody, i'm thomas roberts in new york. we have breaking news from north korea that new reports this morning an american aid worker and former professor has been detained within the last 48 hours. kelly cobiella joins us with

more. what more have we been able to confirm? >> well, thomas, most of this information is coming from south korea's news agency, and this is what they are reporting. this man is being identified by his last name, kim, he's in his 50s, an aid worker in north korea for about a month working on some sort of relief program. he was apparently at the airport in pyongyang on friday preparing to leave the country when he was arrested without any kind of warning. now, we're trying to confirm all the details of this. so far we've been able to speak to the director of a small think tank here in seoul who told us that he did receive a text from a colleague of mr. kim's saying that he had, in fact, been detained. this colleague says that he saw him being arrested at the airport. we still haven't heard officially from the state department. no official confirmation from the south koreans either.

although the associated press is reporting that the swedish embassy in pyongyang has, in fact, confirmed an american has been detained. >> we know from reuters today, a new threat from north korea, that of which the u.s. aircraft carrier with a single strike as the vinson is heading in the region. what more do we know about that? >> well, this is actually from a commentary that appeared in today's edition of the newspaper for the ruling workers party. it was on page 3, it was after a two-page spread on the north korean leader kim jong-un visiting a pig farm. again, in commentary form, yet another threat geared towards the united states saying the north is combat ready to sink a u.s. aircraft carrier with a single strike and then going on to say it's a show of north korea's military mite. thomas, as you know, north korea has been issuing these kind of

threats almost on a constant basis over the last several days, if not weeks. today another threat towards australia threatening a nuclear strike on australia. yet again another threat from the north. thomas? >> this after mike pence meeting with the prime minister. rhetoric continuing to heat up. kelly, thanks. joining me on set, senior adviser at the albright stone bridge group and expert on north korea. great to have you with me. your reaction to this reporting coming out of north korea that an aide worker was arrested, detained in pyongyang after trying to leave the country there on a relief mission. >> literally just as i was being seated here i looked at my e-mail and got an update on the story for you, so i'll share it for you. the gentleman is a korean-american professor, professor at the university of science and technology. he was teaching in pyongyang, a

university just outside pyongyang, and as you noted, was arrested on the way out. this is not the first time, by the way, that someone affiliated with the pyongyang university of science and technology has been arrested. the founder of that university was arrested when i was the director of korean affairs at the state department back in 1998, and it took me about a month to get him out. heaven knows what's going on with this situation, but i wanted to share that with you and your viewers. >> we appreciate that. nbc news is working to independently confirm that information, but when it comes to the other reporting of kelly talking about what appeared in commentary, you know, north korean missile taking out an aircraft carrier with a single strike, also threats towards australia. how can the types of demands and threats be lessened at a time where they could demonstrate that capability or we have to preemptively respond to that type of language? >> well, it's highly questionable north korea has an ability to do either thing it's said. nonetheless, when you have threats like this, when you have a north korea that's nuclear

armed and is making these sorts of threats, you have to keep them in mind as potential things that they might be able to do. i think what the administration is doing right now in terms of working with allies and partners in the region, sending some fairly clear messages to the north koreans about what they ought not be doing, but also balancing those messages in an interesting way by reminding the north koreans as apparently vice president pence did in australia, that the door remains open to negotiations and a resolution of this. i think that is the proper balance to follow at this point, but with a particular emphasis on american strength, american capabilities, and our ability to work with all of our allies and partners, including the chinese, to prevent north korea from doing what it intends to do. >> obviously, you've spent countless hours across the table from north korea in diplomatic situations. now being drawn in by a korean-american being arrested and taken into custody, how does

this really escalate and issue of trying to talk about that type of diplomacy? >> it makes a complicated situation even more complicated. we now have three americans in custody. i've been actually working on the case of one of them, young fellow from ohio, working with him since he was taken into custody last year. this is a difficult, complicated situation. it puts a further strain, obviously, on relations, relations that are already strained to almost a breaking point at this point. it actually creates a pretty bad international image for north korea to see once again they are taking a foreign national into custody. it doesn't make things any easier, and for an american president, the american leadership, it adds an extra element of complication to an already complicated situation. >> we have photos right there, the images of the man you were just talking about. when it comes to knowing that the vinson and the aircraft carrier group is headed that

way, is that a smart move concerning the support we need to demonstrate for our allies in that region? >> it's a very prudent move. obviously, one aircraft carrier does not a military confrontation make, but it provides a certain level of reassurance to allies and partners in the region. it gives us a capability that we can deploy in the event of a contingency in case something unpredictable happens in the area around the korean peninsula, but mostly it's a message of reassurance to partners and allies, but also a message of north koreans of warning because there's not only that carrier battle group, there's a ronald reagan carrier group which is currently in japan. >> thank you, sir, very much. appreciate your time. former deputy assistant adviser, we appreciate your information about what you learned and again, nbc news will independently confirm that, but thank you. also new word from the trump

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returning to the public eye tomorrow, so what is next for president obama? next hour on "am joy," the link between president trump's proposed border wall and health care for the poor.

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republicans. here's what she told my colleague chuck todd just a few minutes ago. >> the republicans have the votes in the house and the senate and the white house to keep government open. the burden to keep it open is on the republicans. >> all right, so just shy of that 100-day mark into his term, president trump has made history with lowest approval rating with just over 40% satisfied with his work so far versus 69% for barack obama in 2009. i want to bring in crystal ball, senior fellow at the new leaders council, author of "reversing the apocalypse." and msnbc analyst, former bush/cheney senior adviser. let me just dive into these numbers with you. are they as bad for the president as they seem or is the base still locked and loaded with support for him? >> good morning. as you mentioned, the base is still locked and loaded and the good thing about this is, the president has three and a half years left on his term. look, if these numbers were like

this come, you know, a year out, if he was running for re-election, in other words, if this was 2019, yes, there's a lot to be concerned about, but the reality is the base is still with the president and the reality is the base really seems to be really comfortable with how he is governing, and if, in fact, the democrats cannot nominate someone that can go up against him from a substantiative standpoint, the president probably will win re-election, so the numbers probably look really bad in the grand scheme of things, but when you take a look at where he is right now in relation to his base, it's actually pretty good. >> all right, so as we look at this u krystal, from the perspective of the republicans, on the floor, nowhere to go but up, same with democrats. two-thirds of voters saying the democratic party is out of touch with concerns of regular americans. you just wrote a book about this. do you agree with that assessment? and if so, how can they turn it around? >> i think robert traynham is absolutely positively correct here. what's astonishing, the numbers

for trump aren't far from where we were on election day. there was a lot of fear of what it would look like if he was president, but his people are sticking with him. yes, if democrats don't, number one, nominate someone with a vision of the country and capture the imagination of the american people, and number two, have something to say on the economic future of this country, a big vision, a big picture for where we are going, then they will lose to donald trump again in 2020. what we're seeing right now is a massive economic transformation, the likes of which we haven't seen since the industrial revolution. not only is our economy creating low paying jobs, but even those low paying jobs like retail sales person and fast food worker are in danger of being automated out of existence, so what are we going to do to provide people with a middle class livelihood again, that's the question democrats have to answer if they have to win the white house, house, or state

legislatures across the country. >> we know president obama is going to be appearing tomorrow at the university of chicago. his former deputy chief of staff, said earlier this week she considers him to be the leader of the democratic party. do you think it's going to be an easy opportunity for the former president to take shots at president trump or he's going to be the goodwill ambassador taking the high road. krystal? >> i suspect this president, president obama, who has always been incredibly classy and thoughtful is not going to be taking pot shots at anybody. it's not his style, but i think he will probably lay out a very different view for the country, so, you know, he has made some comments about president trump, but he's really tried to give him space and take the higher road and i think we'll continue to see him do that. >> just looking at that video there. it's so fascinating to think of how the kind of rope-a-dope switch was pulled on the democrats and the republicans

with donald trump winning, you know, paul ryan in the mix, mitch mcconnells of the world not thinking this could happen. barack obama, nancy pelosi thinking hillary clinton was going to be the savior of the party and they have the bench to move forward. with the president now saying he wants to see tax reform or tax cuts this week and up against the precipice of a government shutdown, is he really laying down a mandate to make some moves before this ridiculous standard, as he calls it, of his 100-day benchmark? >> yeah, but you said two things there that are contradictions, tax reform and tax cuts are two very different things. >> both things that he has said. >> those things are really, really hard to do. it's unclear to me how the president and house republicans and republicans in the senate can do this. here's why. the last time tax reform was done was back in 1986. it's incredibly, incredibly difficult to do because it's so nuanced and looks at the whole entire tax code, and, of course,

the last tax cuts were during the bush years in 2001 and those sunset, obviously, in 2012, i believe. so i don't understand how the president can make a declarative statement like that, because as i understand it, the could be something that goes to the big dogs, the corporate folks to lower their tax cut and that gets us back to trickle down economics. would the base recoil at that thinking here is the outsider billionaire that promised to do everything for the little guy but it is only the big guy, the corporate dogs, that will get the break. >> the people out there living paycheck to paycheck, that are learning english for the first time, that are struggling in west virginia, pennsylvania, michigan and other parts of the country. when they look at tax reform, they're probably saying, okay, that speaks to me with respect to how do i go to community college and such. when they hear tax cuts for

washington, they hear this isn't about me. this is about the fat cats. i do think the president has some explaining to do whether it his rally. >> you sound like ricky ricardo, got some explaining to do lucy. >> i'm hopefully going to be at the white house correspondent's dinner? >> crystal? >> i'll be home in kentucky with the people. >> you're going to have a lot of different options, to watch samantha b or the white house correspondents dinner. >> i will have to get multiple tvs for that. >> great to see you both. thank you. >> down time down under, the vice president encountering a koe wall la. back in a moment. no added nitrates, nitrites or artificial preservatives. now it's good for us all. like those who like. sweet

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we'll take you overseas for

a day of sightseeing with vice president mike pence. at the same time we've got a threat from north korea against australia. so really a dichotomy here of j images and then the strong rhetoric from north korea. >> that's exactly right. in fact, even as the vice president was getting a tour, getting an opportunity to see the zoo, having a cruise around the harbor and seeing the beautiful opera house, in the background was north korea. a real war of words. and the reason is because north korea fired off the first shots yesterday, really their first time they have taken aim specifically at australia, accusing this country of towing the line with the united states and threatening a potential

nuclear strike. now firing right back today was the australian foreign minister, julie bishop, who said north korea should meet the needs of their long suffering citizens and not investing in weapons of mass destruction. but for the vice president and the australian prime minister here, the belief is that he is only going to really respond to more than simply words. they are going to need to be actions as well. what sort of actions those are, what it looks like, wheredy lomasy begins or ends need to be discussed. but one of the most important things for the vice president was reaching out to a strong regional ally and strengthening the alliance between the united states and australia, an alliance that goes back nearly 100 years and very much both pubically and privately we saw from everyone here they believe that's happening. now the vice president and his family in just a few hours will

be getting on a plane and heading back to the united states. >> as it is almost tomorrow there in australia. great to see you. thank you so much. that's going to wrap up this hour. ahead on a.m. joy, how health care for the poor figures over bargaining on trump's wall. i'll seal you at 3:00 p.m. for "the pulse." flonase allergy relief delivers more complete relief. flonase helps block 6 key inflammatory substances that cause all your symptoms, including nasal congestion and itchy, watery eyes. flonase is an allergy nasal spray that works even beyond the nose. so you can enjoy every beautiful moment to the fullest. flonase. 6>1 changes everything.

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good morning and well come to the los angeles edition of a.m. joy. today the world is watching and holding its collective breath as voters in france head to the polls for the first round of