it was delayed yesterday because of a sensor. >> we'll watch for that. a lot more but that does it for us. "morning joe" starts right now. i see everything as an opportunity, and i never see so much willingness to help within. if winning means winning for the american people, that either we win or whoever wins understands the priorities of the american people and they are not what president bush -- excuse me -- i'm so sorry -- president bush. i never thought i would pray the day you are president again. >> praying for the day he's president again. >> asked the question how would i work with a republican president, the way we worked with president bush. [ cheers and applause ] [ cheers and applause ]

>> how do you like me now? the prodigal son has returned. yeah. i don't know what that means but i know it's positive. it's very prodigal. >> good morning. it is monday may 1st. i'm willie geist. joe and meekds have the morning off. they will be back with us tomorrow. that, of course, is will ferrell as george w. bush at not the white house dinner hosted by sam bee. with us on set msnbc contributor mike barnicle with us. >> what was that? come host of showtime mark halperin, analyst for msnbc news and nbc. contributor to "time" magazine,

analyst and former aide to george w. bush and state department elise jordan. >> might be a deal to at least keep the government open. that's a start. >> the first 100 days ended in a miasma. now theyace the budget deal health care, tax reform, north korea, trade, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. >> only those things. let's start with the news late last night. word of a budget deal to keep the budget open through september, this according to aides of senior member of congress. the $1 trillion deal includes $12 billion for defense spending, $18 billion less than the president asked for. it also includes permanent fix for coal miners health. it does not include border wall funding, money for deportation or cuts in funding to sanctuary

cities. instead the $3 billion for border security gets about $1.5 billion. it also reportedly increases funding to national institutes of health by $2 billion. the ap reports the plan does not defund planned parenthood but does partially fund puerto rico's medicaid gap. congress will need to pass by friday when the continuing resolution congress passed last week expires. house minority leader nancy pelosi said in a statement, omnibus does not fund immoral and unwise border wall or create a cruel new deportation force. added omnibus is in charlotte contrast to president trump's dangerous plans to steal billions from lifesaving medical research. mark, can we go back to you on this. what did president trump get out of this at the end of the day. >> it keeps the government open. they don't have time for distraction of a fight fighting with democrats and republicans. although you don't see nancy pelosi or too much else said publicly a sign that washington

is working together in some frictionless way, it was the first time the president's team talked to democrats. they had to give a ton to get this done to democrats. if you're someone who thinks there's potential to work with democrats on issues they lay the groundwork to know each other's phone numbers. >> that's ad start. >> put this behind us, keep the government open, president trump wants to focus on health care. that's checked off. current republican health care bill gives states the ability to opt out of covering pre-existing conditions if there's access to a high-risk pool. here is president trump's take on the current version of the bill. he was speaking with cbs news. >> pre-existing conditions are in the bill. i just watched another network than yours and they were saying pre-existing is not covered. pre-existing conditions are in the bill. and i mandate it. i said, it has to be. >> this bill has evolved. we don't have a file you're on the bill. it was reported like a failure.

the one thing i wouldn't have done is put a time line. the second iteration i didn't put a time line. we have now pre-existing conditions in the bill. we've set up a pool for the pre-existing condition so the premiums can be allowed to fall. when i watch some of the news reports, which are so unfair, and they say we don't cover pre-existing conditions, we cover it beautifully. i'll tell you who doesn't cover pre-existing conditions, obamacare. you know why? it's dead. >> in one of the fixes discussed pre-existing it was optional for the states. >> in one of the fixes. >> not permanent. >> of course. >> this was a development, sir. you're saying pre-existing for everybody. >> this has evolved over a period of three or four weeks. now, we really have a good bill. i think they could have voted on friday. i said, just relax. don't worry about this phony 100 day thing. >> so the phony 100 day thin, let's put that to the side.

a huge rally in pennsylvania avenue to talk about the 100 days and what he said he accomplished. he insists health care will get done. members of the freedom caucus on this show mark meadows insisting health care gets done. how does it get done? >> i'm not sure it does get done. the ral is in order to get house caucus to agree to this version of the bill, there was an amendment that said states could opt out of pre-existing conditions. i understand president trump wants a bill that would continue to cover pre-existing conditions but that's not the current bill that has some chance of getting through the house. that bill still doesn't have the votes to get through the house. as of friday the reason they didn't take the vote on friday was because paul ryan and his people looked around and said we can't pass this. on top of that, if we tried to, democrats would revolt on the spending bill and we would have the government shutdown. so now we're passed the shutdown but the problem with the health care vote bill still remains, which is a bill that is

conservative enough to get freedom caucus, alienates a bunch of people in the middle. one of the realities in washington i kept hearing all week, because i was there all week, there are a lot of house members looking at this thing saying, you know what, we may not like obamacare but the politics of this are so ruinous, if we end up passing something, whatever it is that would get through this body, would destroy a lot of political careers for republicans in the middle or moderate republican caucus. i don't know there's a bill that will ever get done that is tenable politically for enough republicans that it could actually get through and then let alone get to the senate. just through the house. >> you know what's interesting as well as intriguing. it's kind of difficult semantically following the president in his interview there with john dickerson. he in singtively know dropping pre-existing condition would be as dangerous as dynamite. people are used to it, they like

it. whether you call it obamacare, they cut that out, goes back to the states, any state legislature cuts that out, dead politically. >> there are a lot of unpopular things about the affordable care act, that is not one of the unpopular things. that is one of the very popular things. >> if they stick their neck out and vote for something, you have to look at a senate -- you can't see a scenario where this bill would pass senate. >> that's why i think it's politically untenable. it's lose lose for republicans to support this bill. if you're on the fence about this and coming up in 2018, it doesn't make section quite frankly to put your weight behind this when it looks like it's going to fail. people inevitably, back to pre-existing conditions, the most popular thing about obamacare. the one thing everyone likes about the bill and they are stripping it essentially. >> you've got to give them that. i think there's a chance they could somehow get it through the house. let's say they don't. let's say they get to a

situation again where they can't have a vote. what do they do then? acknowledge they are never going to repeal affordable care act. that would repress the base of the republican party and lead them to tax reform with zero momentum. they are in a tough spot no matter what happens. >> what is the scenario. forget repealing obamacare. that's not happening in this bill, even getting this bill to the house. where is the middle ground. >> basically trying to make side deals with enough moderates to get to exactly to a majority and hope they can live to fight another day in the senate. but again, the only reason i think it has a chance as i thought it did the first time, it's too big to fail politically for the republican party. for all the down sides of passing it, what do they say to their constituents? again most of these house members in jere gerrymander districts, most expect repeal. easy to get a bill that will

pass the house. what do they do if it doesn't. >> they have to say we've stared down the barrel of this multiple times. we can't get it passed. what we all need to do is get together and f what's wrong with affordable care act. that would depress -- have bad effects for politics -- base politics for the republican party there's no doubt but the other alternative which is not fix obamacare is worse politically. at least something republicans could say they are doing if they try to take a bipartisan effort to mend things wrong with affordable care act as currently exists. >> let's turn to foreign policy. we're learning cia director mike pompeo in south korea days after north korea carried out another failed missile launch. officials tell nbc news pomp i don't in seoul with his wife and has meetings scheduled with u.s. embassy and military officials stationed there. south korean officials announced friday that north korea launch add short range missile from an airfield north of pyongyang.

they say that missile did not leave north korean territory exploding just after launch. in that interview with cbs president trump discussed whether or not military action may be the next step in dealing with kim jong-un while offering an eyebrow raising take on the young leader. >> mr. president you said don't test a missile, they did test a missile. is the pressure not working? >> i didn't say don't test. he has to do what he has to do, but we will not be happy. >> what does that mean? >> if he does a nuclear test i won't be happy. i don't believe the president of china, who is a very respected man will be happy either. >> not happy meaning military action. >> i don't know. we'll see. >> what do you make of the north koan leader? >> i really have no comment on him. people are saying is he sane? i have no idea. i can tell you this, and a lot

of people don't like when i say it. he was a young man of 26 or 27 when he took over from his father, when his father died. he's dealing with obviously very tough people, in particular the generals and others. and at a very young age he was able to assume power. a lot of people i'm sure tried to take that power away, whether it was his uncle or anybody else, and he was able to do it. so obviously he's a smart cookie. >> all right. joining us now columnist for "the daily beast," author of "nuclear showdown, north korea takes on the world." just the way president trump has been talking about kim jong-un in the last couple of days sort of telling his back story and how difficult it must have been, how impressed he is a 27-year-old could run north korea that way. what do you make of the rhetoric? is there something strategic there with that flattery? >> i think there probably is. i think they want to talk to kim

jong-un eventually. they figure the best thing to do is flatter him. i don't think that will work. we shouldn't be doing it. it's okay for analysts to sort of talk about kim jong-un's rise to power and what he did to stay there but i don't think the president of the united states should do that. we should be being a very tough position right now largely because diplomacy is only going to work when kim jong-un feels he has no choice but to disarm. >> gordon, on that point, north korea and its leader are so isolated. those words that the president spoke in describing the president of north korea, i mean, it is literally like listening to a profile out of langley having provided the president for the rhetoric to use. don't you think that might at some level have some impact on the leadership of north korea? >> it might. but the most important thing to remember about the north korean leadership it acts under certain constraints and incentives. i don't think those incentives

and constraints are going to change because of the president characterizing kim jong-un. kim jong-un is going to make certain decisions. he'll do that. i think pretty much will be divorced from what trump says about him, whether it's flattery or whether it's criticism. >> gordon, elise jordan here. i've been personally concerned about president trump's rhetoric concerning south korea. he's mentioned he wants to re-evaluate the free trade agreement with south korea while his talk on china has been more conciliatory on trade after heated rhetoric on the campaign electr trail. the billion dollar defense in korea, suggested south korea should pay for it. how damaging is this to our relationship with south korea at a time when we do need a electronic alliance. >> you put your finger on it, what i think is the worst mistake the trump administration made in their first 100 days. we have a position where we're going easy on china on trade because we want their cooperation on north korea.

we need south korea's cooperation just as much. here we are criticizing the u.s. trade agreement with south korea. we shouldn't do that. nothing good happens when south korea and united states are on different pages when it comes to north korea. with those kmebs about the free trade agreement and paid for anti-missile defense system, thaad, we have caused damage in south korea at a time when there's an election. there's a may 9th election, these comments help the anti-american candidate. no good will come from these comments. i hope over time we'll be able to repair damage. if we get an anti-american president in south korea, that will cause us problems for years. >> to your point, elise, president trump's rhetoric on south korea, the national security adviser broke with the president over comments south korea should pay for the missile

defense system to attack north korea from the north. >> what i told our counterpart until any negotiation the deal is in place. we'll adhere to our word. what the president has asked us to do is look across all of our alliances and have the appropriate burden sharing, responsibility sharing. we're looking at that with our great ally south korea. we're looking at that with nato. what you've seen, because of the president's leadership, more and more nations are contributing more to our collective defense. >> the question is during this time of heightened tension with north korea, why are we also putting south korea on edge, our ally in this fight? >> personally it just makes absolutely no sense. it seems like this is a time when we need a stronger alliance with south korea really at any other point in history. yet president trump seems to be going out of his way to alienate south koreans. h.r. mcmaster's comments are interesting just because they are so divergent. we've seen this consistently

with the trump foreign policy where advisers are going around on damage control and have a message that's contradictory to the commander in chief. at the end of the day, the president is the commander in chief. so who is really running the foreign policy of this country? >> so gordon chang, let's talk about the rhetoric as well toward china from president trump, the way he sort of since that meeting, it seems to me with president xi and mar-a-lago, praised chinese president, changed his tone completely from the campaign. is that sort of relationship between president trump and president xi having an impact here or wl it he an impact on the relationship with north korea? >> i think it will have an impact. but what also had an impact was trump authorizing missile strike on syria, chinese friend, when xi jinping was next to him. i think that stunned the chinese. i can't prove it, but i think what happened is it intimidated chinese and they went over and told north koreans don't conduct your sixth nuclear test. that's the thing that hasn't

happened in all of this. yes, there have been tests of short range and intermediate missiles but they haven't set off a nuke. that's what we're really concerned about. here what we have with trump and xi jinping and trump and did ute and thailand is coalition building. we need to do that. of course coalition building with our allies south korea. all these things have to be done in coordinated fashion. i think "triumph" was talking off the range in the reuters interview when he mentioned thaad and free trade agreement. i think he will not try to pursue that as long as we're pursuing partners in the region. >> thanks so much. >> thank you. here at home at least 13 dead following a series of storms that ripped across the southern part of the country. in texas crews serving for survivors after tornadoes tore through that state on saturday. in the city of canton, texas,

officials say at least four people were killed and dozens more hurt by four twisters that ravaged the area. let's bring in nbc meteorologist bill karins for more on this severe weather. bill, good morning. >> good morning, willie, that tornado on the ground for 51 consecutive miles with winds up to 165 miles per hour. the damage it left in its wake ripped literally houses in half, tossed cars. this is from the canton area. that was from storm chasers. as we're adding up, many injuries occurred to this, too. this is from that same tornado. you can see these houses and mobile homes literally destroyed and tossed around. this wasn't the only damage that was done. we had a lot of flooding. we also had a blizzard in portions of kansas and colorado. not seeing severe weather, rain atlanta, panama city, pensacola, thunderstorms near you. later this afternoon, here is the danger. same storm system that produced tornadoes, 80 million people at risk all from the corridor

southward. best chance of tornado central new york, pennsylvania and areas of central virginia. here is the timing. cleveland area, rain may be strong storm early. pittsburgh looks like around 2:00 to 3:00. buffalo 3:00. crosses appalachians and heads down the hill into areas of central virginia, central narrator, charlotte to raleigh, 4:00 to 7:00. central pennsylvania, middle of the afternoon. the storms will die off and weaken as they approach washington, d.c., philadelphia, new york. that will be right around 8:00 p.m. for washington, d.c., philly, 9:00 new york around 10:00 or so. that's the timing on all of these storms. then of course historic river flooding. flood warnings from indianapolis to st. louis all the way to tulsa. willie, all this water collecting in smaller to medium size streams. all get to mississippi by the weekend. we have potential for one or two all-time flood on the mighty mississippi. that doesn't happen very often. so a lot of the damage has still yet to be done. >> severe weather all across the country for the last few days.

bill, thank you so much. still ahead on "morning joe" another controversial invitation to the white house. president will meet with philippine president rodrigo duterte, his brutal crackdown has left thousands dead. trump's version of the charm offensive. the president says chuck schumer is making a fool of himself. see if that helps break logjam. republicans congressman charity dent not ready to back his party's health care bill. "washington post" columnist david ignatius and ruth marcus will join our conversation. you're watching "morning joe" on a monday morning. we'll be right back.

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i don't have a solution on how to win back trust. i don't. but in the age of trump i know you guys have to be more perfect now more than ever, because you are how the president gets his

news. not from advisers, not from experts, not from intelligence agencies, you guys. so that's why you've got to be on your a game. you've got to be twice as good. you can't make any mistakes. because when one of you messes up, he blames your entire group. and now you know what it feels like to be a minority. >> that was a comedian at the white house dinner. president trump skipped a dinner to send a message to the media. he held a campaign rally instead in harrisburg, pennsylvania, where he spent opening 12 minutes of the speech attacking the press. >> there's another big gathering taking place tonight in washington, d.c. did you hear about it? they are gathered together for the white house correspondence

dinner without the president. and i could not possibly be more thrilled than to be more than 100 miles away from washington swamp. if the media's job is to be honest and tell the truth, then i think we would all agree the media deserves a very, very big, fat, failing grade. >> meanwhile at the correspondence dinner "washington post" bob woodward joined by his farmer partner carl bernstein counselled reporters in the room to show humility. >> we also need to face the reality that polling numbers show that most americans disapprove of and distrust the media. this is no time for

self-satisfaction or smugness. >> mark halperin, let's talk about the visual of saturday night and what president trump wanted to get accomplished by not showing up at the correspondence dinner and going to harrisburg to be with the people who put him into office. what was he trying to do and did he do it. >> he wanted to feel good himself about his night, and he wanted to rally the people on the themes that got him elected president. by that standard, i'm sure he totally enjoyed it. is it going to help him pass any major legislation, that's not clear to me. you look at the energy in that room and the fact he spent 12 minutes talking about the press, this is personal for him and not guided by deep strategic thinking about how to be a good president. but it makes the people supporting him feel fantastic. >> people wonder when is he going to get past this thing with the press, he's not going to. >> never. >> a lot of the people he was attacking he gave interviews to,

including reuters who ran the dinner saturday night. >> in a lot of ways this is like the logical conclusion or culmination of a trend we've all seen in our career for the last 20 or 30 years. it has become a staple of republican politics to attack the press, particularly "new york times." when you got in trouble, political crisis, go on offense with the media. now you have a presidency where that has become a central defining feature, rather than a break glass emergency move, it's the core of it. the reason they idot, it obviously works on some level in the sense it has deep resonance for the base trump is talking to. he is doing amazing job at solidifying and locking down all the people that voted for him in 2016. he cares for them, talks about them, they are 100% with them. that's a real political asset but it has limits. >> what's interesting, and you're absolutely right, what's interesting, though, is he

apparently doesn't have the confidence to realize two things. one, his base isn't going anywhere. they are sticking with him. they are not going anywhere. no matter what's on tv, in print papers, they are not going anywhere. the other thing is to your point getting anything done as president of the united states. just step outside the base a little, see how that works. >> well, i said 100 times the reality is, i don't think it's controversial, if you're going to do big things, if you have big ambitions, he can't do that with 45 or 44% or 42%, anywhere southf 45 in terms of his support. but there's no doubt it's helpful for the president to have a secure base. barack obama found that, too. he had a very, very high floor, and it was helpful for him that he never dropped into the 30s ever. right? but at the same time it does place a real ceiling on your ambitions if all you're doing is talking to the same people over and over again and making them more passionate about you.

doesn't get you closer to tax reform or health care reform or big infrastructure bill. that's not going to work with only 43 or 44% of the country. >> underline points you're making with poll numbers. despite poll numbers president trump remains strong with core supporters. "los angeles times" went to stronghold pueblo, california. democrats, republicans, many had doubts but not one said they regretted supporting him. a regional divide in the opinion of trump's first 100 days. his first 100 days job approval rating at 64% in places the gallop describes as working counties in apalachicola and coal country and farm lands of the plains. that rating is reversed in suburbs and big cities where more than 130 million people live. he gets just 34% approval in the suburbs and 28% in the cities. elise, you've been telling us

you've been out this weekend doing conversations with voters. what did you find among trump supporters. >> went to houston and san antonio. we did focus groups with voters from all walks of life. hard core trump supporters. those who voted with him. they called it holding their nose. the democrats who were hard core hillary supporters. what was so striking to me, trump supporters had no regrets at all. they are doubling down on their support. as one of them put it, daddy is home. they really feel the person has come who is getting the house in order. he is going -- already has started to bring more jobs. he's introduced law and order. they really just see this as a much better and stronger america since donald trump has entered office. >> other than the media, which they probably violently are opposed to, who do they blame for the lack of progress. not the president clearly. >> absolutely congress.

there's no congress that congress gets the brunt of the blame for the health care debacle. donald trump manages to just stay above it. i think that's going to continue just because his supporters are doubling down so hard. they feel so persecuted by the media and by the criticism they personally felt for supporter donald trump in their communities. a lot of these trump supporters, we're talking about being closeted, how they finally now that he's president, they feel like they can be more open with their support but this has caused relationships, friendships to end, families at each other's throats. this has been such a vitriolic period in american politics. i think to support him took so much personally to go out on a stake and put your stake with trump that they are going to stick with him for sure. >> it's so interesting, mark. it's not about policy a this point for trump supporters, the people in that rally in harrisburg, pennsylvania. it's not even about repealing health care. it's still about what he stands

for, which as we said two years ago, a giant middle finger to the system in this country. >> that symbolic link is strong. he's expert at playing it. the proof is going to be whether actually not just a few symbolic job is saved, household income goes up. first gdp number was really bad. it didn't get much attention but that performance is going to have to improve even if washington remains "gang related" -- gridlocked, again, can he pass health care reform by the end of the year. i think everything else we talk about for the political and substantive success of presidents. >> that gdp number was terrible on friday. the new tax plan is contingent on big gdp growth to make up for deficit. coming up donald trump writes a column for "washington post," a paper he blacklisted on the campaign trail. the must-read opinion pages are still ahead. "morning joe" coming right back.

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welcome back to "morning

joe." on saturday turkey expelled more than 3900 civil service and military members including 600 officers. according to an official decree, they were fired for suspected links to, quote, terrorist organizations and structures presenting a threat to national security. it's the second such instance of a major percentage of officials since turkish president erdogan was granted powers last month. more than 9,000 police officers suspended last wednesday on top of 1,000 more who were detained. since a failed coup last july, 120,000 people have been suspended or fired from their positions and more than 40,000 have been arrested. meanwhile turkish authorities banned tv dating shows which the country's deputy prime minister says are in violation of turkey's faith and culture. president trump is set to meet with president erdogan at the white house later this monday. the president congratulated him after he consolidated power in that controversial vote in april. meanwhile president trump has invited philippine president

rodrigo duterte to the white house. the official readout says the two leaders had a very friendly phone conversation on saturday which doesn't appear to have touched on widespread accusations of human rights abuses against duterte's government. they did discuss north korean threat and duterte's drug crackdown. that crackdown which started after his rise to power last june has led to 1 million people being arrested and more than 7,000 reported deaths "the new york times" reports ste departnt and other officials were caught off-guard by the invitation. the president of the council on foreign relations richard haass framed it this way tweeting even more worries on an ill-advised duterte recall invite reports done with little or no staff involvement. duterte, erdogan call suggest absent ignored history shows formal process needed so potus has what he needs not wants. joining us columnist and associate editor for "washington post" david ignatius.

david, good morning. >> good morning. >> just your take. let's start on duterte. the fact we had this conversation with them. white house said to shore up north korean question and get help from philippines on that. but the way the invitation, not just based on what's happens inside that country but things duterte has said about president obama in the past, what's your view on this? >> well, in the short run, the idea of bolstering our asian allies having a strong network of asian allies as we head toward what may be a confrontation with north korea obviously makes some sense. to ignore duterte's human rights violations, just give him a pass and say come on over to the white house disregarding the really extraordinary level of violence against his own sense i think is wrong. but more to the point, it is in character with the one thing you'd say about the first 100 days of the donald trump administration, we've decided when it comes to authoritarian

regions that are traditional allies, i would list saudi arabia, i would list egypt, i would list uae. turkey is obviously another example and now the philippines. the message is we have your back. you're our longtime friends. we need you in our foreign policy and we're going to overlook some of these domestic issues because the foreign policy themes predominate. >> so david, let's harken back to turkey and just mention it. an increasingly authoritarian regime. president erdogan sweeping up 40,000 people arrested in turkey. what role, if any, does the base we use with turkey's consent have to play in the role to silence the united states about what's going on in turkey. >> i think it's a significant

role in terms of our campaign to eradicate isis, which is a real national security priority. there are isis people gathered in raqqa, who would attack the united states and europe right now if they could. our principle point for attack aircraft has been incirlik even amid very sharp turkey tensions. those flights took off every day in support of ours. that is an air base. turkey on its way to being part of europe. that still was the expectation. there were negotiations about asession. opposition of political parties, erdogan. the prime minister then was rebuffed in his efforts to become more powerful. that's really all eroded after

this coup last summer that allowed erdogan to consolidate his power so much. i think trump now faces a question, are we going to embrace this new turkey offered wan -- much more limited democracy. from everything we see, yes, we will face that turkey. >> david, elise jordan here. you reported extensionively on general mike flynn and allegations of his associations with russia and turkey to some extent. how influential do you think mike flynn was in forming president trump's world view on turkey? do you any updates on ongoing developments in the mike flynn saga? >> well, i think flynn was probably a lagging indicator more than a leading one on turkey. i think there were reasons trump would want to make common cause with erdogan quite apart from flynn.

with flynn what we're seeing is the issues that may give him the most trouble are the very practical paperwork issues. the pentagon issues detailed instructions for everybody leaving senior positions. we have a copy of the letter that was sent to mike flynn in october 2014 listing eight things that he had to do as a former top official. he was then leaving as head of the defense intelligence agency to comply with regulations. and according to the house oversight committee, which has been in touch with the pentagon, the pentagon inspector general is now investigating flynn for -- they believe, perhaps, failing to meet those requirements spelled out in the letter to notify the pentagon if you're about to take money from a foreign government it's alleged flynn took over $45,000 from russia. if you're about to do business

with a foreign related entity, it's alleged flynn received over $500,000 from a company very close to the leadership of turkey. these are very practical, almost paperwork requirements, but they are required of everybody leaving government. and i think right now they are the center of flynn's problems. >> david ignatius, stay with us, if you would, all 17 intelligence agencies agree it was the russians who interfered in our election. the secretary of state agreed when he was in moscow last month. president trump still says it could have been someone else. we'll talk about that just ahead. ♪

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despite evidence to the contrary, president trump will for the say russia was involved in the 2017 russia hacking scandal. >> that i don't know. >> you do know or you don't know?

>> i have a problem. you have podesta who has a company with his brother in russia. hillary's husband makes speeches in russia. nobody ever talks about that. i don't know. the fbi was not allowed by podesta to go in and check all of the records and their servers and everything else you would normally have to check. number two, knowing something about hacking if you don't cash a hacker, okay, in the act, it's very hard to say who did the hacking. with that being said, i'll go along with russia. could have been china. could have been a lot of different groups. >> president trump's own secretary of state who met with his russian counterpart in moscow last month said russian interference in u.s. elections is "fairly well established." president trump yesterday raising the possibility that it was china and not russia despite what intelligence agencies have said and despite what rex

tillerson has said. you remember that debate where he said it could have been china or fat guy sitting on his bed. >> that guy is off the list. >> barnicle is now back on the list. >> he said some guy in new jersey that weighs 400 pounds is the way the president put it. why won't the president take his secretary of state and his intelligence agency? >> don't no. you know, he's no longer the fiercest defender of russia in america. the relations there have gone in a different direction. he's trying to build a strong relationship with china. as is often the case when the president and people around him speak about russia, it defies linear analysis. >> this is something he's clearly so tense tsensitive abo win was his own political prowess. at the end of the day it comes down to ego and he'll deny facts

in front of him if his ego can't process. >> you studied the intelligence agency and report on them more than anyone around. is there any corner of the intelligence community that thinks it is wasn't russia and perhaps it was china. >> not to my knowledge, no. i think the evidence is overwhelming that it was russia. i think they've done the forensics. china does dangerous acting also. don't misunderstand that. but in terms of the hacking scandal that we're talking about, the covert action by russia last year to hurt hillary clinton and help trump, i think there's really no doubt that i've encountered. the question is why does trump keep -- the business about john podesta's e-mail and they didn't do enough to secure their servers and what about hillary's uranium deal. throws out a lot of stuff that

has nothing to do with -- >> i have an answer, david. see this kleenex. the president's skin is thinner than the kleenex. he thinks it takes away from his personal role in his stunning victory. >> that is double ply kleenex in fairness. >> we understand the vanity of politicians and especially this one. here's the reason why he would be wise to amend this approach. this investigation is going to go forward, and it's going to go to a place that donald trump isn't going to like. some of his associates are under criminal investigation by the fbi and given leaks that have been coming out, it seems entirely possible that one of them is going to be indicted. the outlines of activities that will be hard for trump to explain away will be revealed in the course of this administration.

the time to be dealing with it in a more serious way and positioning himself sensibly is now. and he's still not doing it. i have to be honest. following this fairly carefully. i don't get it. this is where he should subtly change tact and he hasn't done so. >> i love when barnicle brings props. still ahead on "morning joe" -- >> now they don't have the presidency. they don't have the house. they don't have the senate. and schumer is going around making a fool out of himself. >> while the president was criticizing chuck schumer, democrats were securing funding for planned parenthood, so-called sanctuary cities and the epa. still unfunded is the border wall. we'll talk about that, health care and the president's tax plan and kristen welker and "the new york times" jeremy peters with their latest reporting out of the white house. "morning joe" back in a moment.

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the bigge tax cut plan in story. you wouldn't know it from watching the news. america is winning and president trump is making america great again. >> president trump out with that new campaign-style ad this morning on his first 100 days in office which he marked on saturday with a big rally in harrisburg, pennsylvania. welcome back to "morning joe." i'm willie geist. joe and mika have the morning off. they'll be back with us tomorrow. with us on set, veteran columnist mike barnicle. there's no feeling behind it anymore. it's become sad. senior political analyst for nbc news and msnbc mark halperin. his co-executive producer john heilemann. contributor to "time" magazine and former aide to the george w. bush white house and state department, and now joining our conversation, "the new york times" reporter jeremy peters.

word of a deal to keep the government open through september according to aides to senior members of congress. the $1 trillion plan includes billions more for defense spending though not as much as the president had asked for. it also includes a permanent fix for coal miners health. democrats tell nbc news it does not include border wall funding. morning for deportation force or cuts in spending. instead of the $3 billion proposed for border security, it gets about $1.5 billion. it also reportedly increases funding to the national institutes of health by $2 billion. the ap reports the plan does not defund planned parenthood but partially funds puerto rico's medicare gap. congress needs to pass it by friday. that's when the continuing resolution it passed last week expir expires. nancy pelosi said the omnibus does not fund president trump's

immoral or unwise border wall or create a cruel new deportation force. the omnibus is in sharp contrast to president trump's dangerous plans to steal billions from life saving medical research. many things he talked about during his campaign are not included. >> a lot of fights get pushed down the road especially the divisive one about what to do with funding planned parenthood. that rolls into the health care debate we're about to see kicked off this week. this was an anti-climax. looked that way for the last week or so that the government probably wasn't going to shutdown. it would have been embarrassing for president trump to have a shutdown on his 100-day mark anniversary. they were always going to work something out. there still is an awful lot of money in here for border

security. it may not be specifically for a wall but donald trump will have more border agents at the border and he'll able to -- i think all it takes is for trump to go down to the southern border, lay that cornerstone and show there's progress made on that and other fronts on border security and his supporters will be fine with it. they don't expect to see a wall across the entire southern border. >> you mention health care and funding agreed upon for now and focus turns to health care. the current republican health care bill states the ability to opt out of covering pre-existing conditions if there is access to a high-risk pool. here's president trump's take on the current version of the bill speaking with cbs news. >> pre-existing conditions are in the bill. i watched another network saying pre-existing is not covered. pre-existing conditions are in the bill. i mandated it.

i said it has to be. this bill has evolved. we didn't have a failure on the bill. it was reported like a failure. the one thing i wouldn't have done again is put a time line. that's why i didn't do that the second time. we have pre-existing conditions in the pool. we set up a pool for pre-existing conditions so premiums can be allowed to fall. when i watch some of the news reports, which is so unfair, and they say we don't cover pre-existing conditions, we cover it beautifully. i'll tell you who doesn't cover pre-existing conditions. obamacare. you know why? it's dead. >> one of the fixes discussed pre-existing was optional for the states. >> sure. in one of the fixes. they're changing it and changing. >> it will be permanent? >> of course. >> it's a development. >> this has evolved over a period of three or four weeks. we really have a good bill. i think they could have voted on friday. i said just relax. don't worry about this phony

100-day thing. >> so, mark halperin, how does president of the united states explain to his basic core constituency that we can't kill obamacare. we can't do it. >> his lack of familiarity with what the deal seems to be and his failure to live up to the promises he made to people about what he would do on health care preserving people's insurance and not cutting medicare and medica medicaid, i think eventually will become a big political problem for him. in the short-term, he's denying the reality of what it will take to get a bill through the house. you are going to see eventually him, i believe, held accountable for making a broad set of promises about preserving certain aspects of health care that republicans in congress don't plan to do. >> this isn't the first time the president has done that, which is to go out and say we'll take care of everybody as he did a few months ago without going into details of what the plan does in terms of taking care of everybody. >> one thing trump promised when

he came in is he would be a great negotiator. in some areas, for instance last week on the nafta matter, the notion of threatening to withdraw and getting heads of canada and mexico on the phone saying we'll renegotiate. he played that well. that was a decent piece of negotiating. bluster at the front end and then opening up to renegotiation on the back end. on health care, his lack of familiarity with the substance of what his administration's position is and what basic tenants are various republican proposals has throughout been a problem for him. a lot of legislators who are deeply immersed in details of a complicated piece of legislation to have a negotiation, the president has to have a basic command of things and that interview suggested he doesn't have command of what's in the current piece of legislation that has a slim but real chance of getting passed at least through the house because the reality is in order to get it passed through the house, the amendment that freedom caucus

wants basically says that states can opt out of covering pre-existing conditions and president trump did not seem familiar with that at all. that's not just a question about his level of knowledge. it's a negotiating weakness if he cannot represent the reality affectively and accurately. >> i believe it was in reuters interview that he opined that who knew health care was so complicated. >> he wants tax reform. the reason he wants health care is because he has to get it out of the way to do tax reform. >> how did he get here? why isn't he getting what he wants? he talked about that over the weekend in multiple interviews. president trump expressed his frustration with the system. >> i've always been a closer. we don't have a lot of closers in politics. i understand why. it's a very rough system. it's an archaic system. you look at the rules of the senate and even the rules of the house but the rules of the senate and some of the things you have to go through, it's really a bad thing for the country in my opinion.

there are archaic rules and maybe at some point we'll have to take those rules on because for the good of the nation, things are going to have to be different. you can't go through a process like this. it's not fair. it forces you to make bad decisions. you are forced into doing things that you would normally not do except for these archaic rules. the filibuster concept is not a good concept to start off with. if you have filibuster, let someone stand up for 20 hours and talk and do what they have to do even if they are reading comic books to everybody. let them do it. hone honestly, so many bad concepts in our rules and it's forcing bad decisions. things generally tend to go a little bit slower than you would like them to go. >> why? >> just the system. it's a very bureaucratic system. i think the rules in congress and in particular the rules in

the senate arenbelievably archaic and slow moving and in many cases unfair. in many cases, you're forced to make deals that are not the deal you would make. you would make a much different kind of a deal. you're forced into situations that you hate to be forced into. >> at least he just explained the united states system of government. i think, didn't he? united states congress had a sometimes slows down the wishes of the chief executive. i think this has been a core frustration. this is not the way he's used to doing business. he's used to having an idea and pushing it through. courts in his way and congress in his way. >> i find that almost a little bit funny and sad. other presidents don't usually sit around and complain about the foundational principles of our democracy as the number one impediment as to why they can't get things done. other presidents have figured this out.

they worked with congress. he'll have to do the same. >> david ignatius, this is a lesson of washington. washington always wins. 100 days in. he has a supreme court justice. beyond that in terms of legislation, washington has won so far. >> washington has won. this archaic system the president keeps complaining about is called u.s. constitution. this is our system of government. i'm sorry, mr. trump. that's what we've got. someone described to me this week an amazing meeting at the white house where the first hour was spent just complaining about the obama administration. they messed everything up. it's awful. what are we going to do. second hour was spent pretty much reconstructing the same policy that obama had followed in this foreign policy issue. i think there's a frustration that you hear on every issue. they don't have the ability to

move through significant new ideas. so we see that. the president obviously in harrisburg felt campaigning is more fun than governing. governing is hard. so you saw a happy trump up in harrisburg making fun of the poor trudging news media down in washington. >> what has he shown you in these first 100 days that leads you to believe he can adapt to washington in the next 100 days for his own benefit to get his agenda through? >> i think the biggest thing right now is reevaluation of can they build more political capital or think more strategically about how to spend what political capital they have. they spent so much time spending political capital on things that aren't advancing their agenda. i think one of the things that some of the people in the white house are re-evaluating is can

we build more political capital and make the president more popular in some ways or make better choices. do we spend it on health care or cut our losses and spend it on tax reform? >> trump unleashed his fration as well on democrats. he said mocrats without a leader have become the party of obstruction. they are only interested in themselves and not in what's best for the united states. he continued that line of criticism in an interview that aired sunday morning. >> the democrats have been totally obstructionist. chuck schumer turned out to be a bad leader for the country. democrats are extremely obstructionist. all they do is obstruct and delay. look at where democrats have ended up. they had everything going. now they don't have the presidency. they don't have the house. they don't have the senate. and schumer is going around making a fool out of himself. >> well, look, the president name calling doesn't work. let's look at values. let's look at issues.

he's not governing from the middle. he's governing from the hard right. that's why his regime has had hardly any major successes with the exception of gorsuch. if he changes, we could work together. >> jeremy peters, what is the strategy of donald trump going after chuck schumer in that way. you know who he needs for intoxicate reform? chuck schumer. >> democratic strategy is not cooperating with donald trump as long as he's seen governing hard to the right. they see no reason to cooperate with him on any level especially when his approval ratings are so low. i think the bigger question of whether or not trump can expand his political support, what mark was getting at earlier, is really key right now inside the

white house. there are a lot of people who inside trump's inner circle who will say, look, there isn't a single democrat who will ever support donald trump. look at the signs surrounding donald trump at this rally on the screen right now. promises made. promises kept. this is so crucial for this administration that they are able to demonstrate that they have honored the pledges that trump committed himself to because they need to keep that base happy. getting beyond that base, he's proven that he can win without the support of a lot of democrats and swing voters. i think there is a certain element inside the trump administration right now that says democrats won't want to work with us. we don't need you either. >> jeremy just touched on one of the more mystifying aspects of donald trump's presidency/his personality. he has always shown -- you know him as well as anyone knows him

here, he's always showed an eagerness to be liked by people and prove to people that he's a great bargainer. he can make deals. and the idea -- the fact that has not gotten in the beast and left 1600 pennsylvania avenue and driven up to capitol hill, walked into chuck schumer's office and said what do you want? i'm going to tell you what i want. let's figure out what we can do. someone on the opposite side of the aisle. not in pennsylvania on saturday night talking to 42% of the people who are going to stick th him no mr what trying to get a win. why has he not done that? >> i do not know. the thing is that he's made it easy for democrats to oppose him. he's just made it easy for them. way too easy. at the outset of this administration, trump was not seen particularly as a republican. that was a huge asset he had. he was not seen as ideological or partisan. if he decided he wanted to make

chuck schumer's life miserable, he could have done something like what you talked about and tried to make schumer make tough choices, shower him with love and make it difficult for schumer. instead he's behaved like a partisan republican and made it easy for schumer not to work with him. he personally attack eed schume. he's put things on the table that is making their lives too easy. >> he sounds more like ted cruz than about who he is ideological ideologically. >> to some extent it's because of his personality and the fact that democrats have attacked him, he's attacked them. i think he's become part of just the polarized nature of our politics. he's become a conventional republican. he's not triangulating in any way. he led off with a series of policy proposals on regulation, on health care, on taxes now

that democrats don't like at all. he's not personally in a position to go make those offers right now. he could have done it early on. it's very hard to resist if you're a republican to not start your administration being super partisan because of the dynamics of politics in washington. some people hoped he would be a different kind of politician and wouldn't be beholden but he has been the way president obama was in his first few days in office. >> and president bush didn't talk about how huge his win was over vice president al gore. a difference in tone. he understood where the country was at that moment and he needed to be a conciliatory figure and he could learn a lot from president bush on how he addressed the country. >> you remember george w. bush first thing he did when he got into office, said let's make a deal with ted kennedy. again, that was apart from the sort of it's nice he's working

with democrats, he was making life difficult for the democratic party in a lot of ways by showering them with love and open arms and put them in a position it was hard to refuse because he making them say here's a deal you should like. trump could have done that on infrastructure. >> the other thing is donald trump's life experience, you can have a huge fight with someone one day and make a deal with them the next day. i think he thought eventually he could go back to schumer and do that kind of thing and even by now he didn't appreciate the tribalism within the democratic party. they can't make a deal with that. >> i remember one of the narratives on inauguration day as we sat in the bar that morning, chuck schumer on the set. you have two new york guys. chuck schumer. donald trump. they know each other a long time. they'll get things done behind the scenes. have you seen that? >> in fact, chuck schumer has run away from that portrait of himself and donald trump being chummy. as soon as those stories started

to appear that these guys have a history and could maybe work together, schumer's people were batting that down. they don't really know each other all that well. they are casual acquaintances but don't read too much into that. that same inflexibility and resistance to do deals that democrats have with republicans, the white house sees it the same way. inside the white house there is this sense that the democrats right now are being pushed very far to the left very hard by their base. someone said to me inside the white house the other day, we know this for a fact. your base can take you to some very dark places. i think right now as long as the white house sees democrats as being inflexible, there's not going to be much incentive for them to cut deals with the democrats either. >> i remember as you say that chuck schumer on the set on inauguration day batted away that theory they were old

friends. staill ahead on "morning joe," president trump wrote an op-ed about his first 100 days. charlie dent co-wrote a piece on what moderate lawmakers hope to do in the next 100 days. later, a live report from south korea where cia director mike pompeo is among ongoing tensions with north korea. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. why pause a spontaneous moment? cialis for daily use treats ed and the urinary symptoms of bph. tell your doctor about your medicines, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, or adempas® for pulmonary hypertension, as this may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. do not drink alcohol in excess. to avoid long-term injury, get medical help right away for an erection lasting more than four hours. if you have a sudden decrease or loss of hearing or vision, or an allergic reaction, stop taking cialis and get medical help right away.

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welcome back to "morning joe." 7:24 on the east coast. president trump wrote in "the washington post" in the first 100 days i kept my promise to americans. after decades of a shrinking middle class, open borders and mass offshoring of american jobs and wealth, this government is working for the citizens of our country and no one else.

the same establishment media that concealed these promise and profited from them is obviously not going tell this story. that is why we're taking our message directly to america. we're proving that by and hire american isn't the slogan but the policy of the u.s. government. it, along with many other things we're doing, will make america great again. no longer will we listen to the same failed voices of the past. the white house is once again the people's house. and i will do everything in my power to be the people's president. also in "the washington post," republican congressman charlie dent and democratic congressman jim hymes wrote about what lawmakers want to get done. they write nearly every substantial piece of legislation passed since 2011 has been the product of coalitions between pragmatic republicans and democrats willing to put partisanship aside. now questions are ripe for this to become the norm rather than the last resort. the unfolding drama of the long promise repeal of the affordable care act gave the administration in congress a bracing lesson in

difference between campaigning and governing. ideological purity is a recipe for continued bitterness, a divided nation and stalemate. fail to seek commonalty will threaten more than our congressional seats and reputations, it puts our government at risk. we owe it to our country to do better. congressman dent joins us now. good morning. good to see you. >> thank you for having me on the program. >> let's have you elaborate a little bit on that if you would. sounds like you're talking about not just to president trump but members of your own caucus but broader congress about the way forward here. >> yes, we are. in fact, i guess the big issue is we're going to have another example of just what we talkeded about in that op-ed this week. we're going to pass a bill that will require a bipartisan coalition. there won't be 218 votes for this. we know that. that's the case for the last several years whether it was on

hurricane sandy relief, debt ceilings, continued resolutions, budget issues. we put together bipartisan coalitions over the last several years. i suspect that's the case going forward. >> do you believe that can happen with health care? we've seen on the first go-around last month it was held up by the freedom caucus and now second go-around appears to be held up by the more moderates in the caucus. do you see these not just between republicans and democrats but within your own republican caucus these factions coming together to get health care passed? >> well, i have concerns about the health care bill in its current form along with the amendment that's offered. i argued we need to do health care from the center out and we should work together in a bipartisan way to try to do a sustainable reform. i suspect we should work on fixing the individual insurance market. i know democrats know that that's broken under obamacare and work to repeal some of the taxes if health care law. we can do it from the center

out. right now i believe we as republicans might make the same mistakes democrats did where democrats muscled obamacare through. we shouldn't make that same mistake in 2017. >> how often have you talked to the president about your position and thinking on this governing from the middle out? >> i never had that conversation with the president. i have met with him twice on health care. i've never had that conversation with him on governing from the center out. i think we have to get real about this. we all know that we've had to do it on a bipartisan basis. what part of the last six years have a lot of people missed in congress? everything that we had to do again including this week on the omnibus appropriations bill bipartisan coalition. same thing on the debt ceiling. >> charlie, what's his position when you talk about your position on health care instead of we keep hearing, you know, people from the freedom caucus talking about opts out including

basically, you know, life giving elements of health care. what does he say when you talk to him about your position? >> well, the issues i raised with the president and with our house republican leadership are these. the medicaid provisions in the bill do not provide a soft enough landing. we should be consulting with republican governors who gave us a thoughtful proposal to make sure states have the flexibility and resources needed to care for people. there would not be a cost shift if we adopt their proposal. my suggestions on medicaid have not been particularly well received. the other issue, too, is once people are moved off medicaid, they'll be forced into the exchanges. under the current bill, the maximum amount of a tax credit is about $4,000. i suspect a lot of people won't be able to afford insurance on the exchanges so they'll go bare or naked and they'll be uninsured. those are some of my concerned. too many people are losing

coverage. there has to be a better way to do this. i voted against obamacare in 2010. i've been critical of the law. >> it looks like the way the leadership and white house want to proceed is not following your advice on health care but to have a partisan only vote this week on the bill. do you think there will be a vote? do you think it will pass and do you think anyone that votes for it could lose their jobs because they vote for it? >> well, i don't know if there will be a vote this week or not. like with anything else, there will not be a vote unless there are 216 votes for it. the worst thing that you can do is put up a bill and then watch it be defeated. that's the worst thing for the people to be voting for it. so i really can't tell you today if the votes are going to be there it all i can tell you is amendment that's offered does weaken protections for people with pro exie-existing conditio. that's a big concern for many of the center right members with whom i'm affiliated with. >> congressman, your op-ed was about the next 100 days.

what was most surprising about the first 100 days of president trump's time in office for you? >> well, it was interesting. he was able to accomplish some things particularly on the executive order front, you know, moving forward on the keystone pipeline as an example was very important for many of us. there are other issues on the regulatory side that i thought he made some good progress. i think one of the challenges were various distractions on crowd size and president obama spying and those issues. too many distractions that were frankly unnecessary and self-inflicted. i'm hoping going forward we'll see less tweeting. a little bit more substantive dialogue on these big issues whether it's tax reform or health care or debt ceiling, whatever it is. that's where we should be focused and try to avoid these distractions. the president put together a strong foreign policy team in my view and he's seen successes in that realm. i just returned from south korea last week.

i feel like we're in a better place than we had been particularly with respect to china being more helpful. >> congressman, david ignatius has a question for you. >> congressman, let me ask you to look inside this white house and the political balance. it seemed to many of us three weeks ago that steve bannon hard right economic nationalist was on his way out and a chance after the failure of the health care bill for the kinds of moderate voices that you represent to have more say. now it looks as if maybe bannon is back on top. is that your impression? >> well, i don't know. i do know that i'm going to have an opportunity this week -- our tuesday group will have a chance to meet with secretary mnuchin to discuss tax reform. on these big issues, tax reform, it looks like mnuchin is driving the train on that particular issue. i can't speak to the dynamics inside the white house. there's a lot of maneuvering

going on. i'm getting the sense that they have great deal of influence. >> congressman, the president in an interview over the weekend talked about the united states system of government. he said it's a rough system. he called it an archaic system and thinks some things have to be changed and he's frustrated by his inability to get a legislative win. do you think congress where you sit is archaic and number two, what would you advise president trump in dealing with you all where he could maybe get some victories? >> well, i think we have a tremendous system. i'll tell you, a system of checks and balances. it's a wonderful system. it's the best system anybody has yet devised. all of the others are worse as far as i'm concerned. if i were the president, i would move forward on infrastructure right now. that's an issue that appeals not only to republicans but certainly to a lot of democrats. i always felt from a strategic standpoint i would have started off with infrastructure to try

to attempt to get some democrats onboard. it would be hard for democrats to vote against that kind of funding. so those are types of issues i would be pushing if i were the president right now. >> you think that's still on the table given the back and forth they've had now for three months and we're starting with health care and talking about tax reform? can he still get through infrastructure with democrats help? >> sure we can. one of the challenges we had over the first few months is too much dialogue on health care has been driven by artificial time lines, arbitrary deadlines, all to improve the baseline for tax reform. now we have a tax reform proposal, one page any way, that doesn't appear it will be paid for at the moment. that's another debate. but i think there's been too much focus on these time lines, deadlines and baselines and that's where we have to change our approach. let's have this conversation on tax reform. they put forward a starting point. a lot of things i do like. i think we can have a productive

dialogue on tax reform as well as infrastructure and marry the two issues together at some point. no labels group, problem solvers are also advocating for this type of approach that i've just outlined. >> congressman charlie dent, republican of pennsylvania, one of the co-chairman of the tuesday group, moderates in the house, thank you for your time this morning, congressman. appreciate it. >> thank you, willie. great to be with you, as always. more defiance from south korea. the country is vowing to speed up its nuclear program despite repeated warnings from the trump administration. reports ahead from the white house and from seoul, south korea. "morning joe" is back in a moment.

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mr. president, you and the administration said to north korea don't test a missile. they have tested the missile. is the pressure not working? >> i didn't say don't test a missile. he's going to have to do what he has to do. he understands that we're not going to be very happy. >> you say not happy. what does that mean? >> i would not be happy if he does a nuclear test. i will not be happy. i can tell you also i don't believe that the president of china who is a very respected

man will be happy either. >> not happy meaning military action? >> i don't know. we'll see. >> president trump speaking with cbs news following north korea's latest missile test on friday. joining us now, nbc news white house correspondent kristen welker and from seoul, south korea, nbc news correspondent. we learned that mike pompeo is in south korea after that missile test from north korea. what more do we know about his visit? >> reporter: not too many details coming out at this point. we do know that cia director pompeo is here in seoul with his wife. we understand that he is meeting with u.s. military and u.s. embassy officials as well in the wake of that failed missile test by north korea over the weekend. u.s. military first detected that missile test in the early morning hours saturday. two u.s. military officials tell nbc news that it was a medium range ballistic missile that blew apart mid air 20 miles from the launch site north of the

capital pyongyang. president trump in that interview downplayed this launch and reiterated as you heard that he will not rule out the use of force against north korea. meantime in this region, the military buildup continues. japan strongly condemns that missile launch over the weekend. they are now sending in their largest warship to protect a u.s. supply ship which is headed toward the "uss carl vinson" aircraft carrier group. and mcmaster talking to south korean counterpart reassuring the ally would stand by the deal to pay for thaad. they say the response is to push their nuclear program "at a maximum pace."

willie? >> kelly, thank you. let's turn to kristen welker at the white house. north korea has occupied so much of the foreign policy conversation the first 102 days now. what more are you hearing on this? >> behind the scenes based on my conversations with senior administration officials, the thinking is this administration still favors diplomacy over military action. publicly, though, the president talking tough and not ruling anything out. but also not showing his hands. this is something he said on the campaign trail. wasn't going to tip his hands about strategy. he reiterated that during his interview with cbs news over the weekend. he also downplayed that failed missile launch and called it a little missile. we also know the administration isn't ruling out preemptive action although that is a last resort. when the president was asked if the u.s. had anything to do with blocking that missile test, take a listen to what he had to say.

>> why do these missiles keep blowing up? >> i rather not discuss it but perhaps they're just not very good missiles but eventually he'll have good missiles. >> you don't want to discuss it because maybe we have something to do with it? >> i don't want to discuss it. you know me very well. you asked me many times over the last couple of years about military. i said we shouldn't be announcing we're going into mosul. i said we shouldn't be announcing all our moves. it is a chess game. i don't want people to know what my thinking is. eventually he will have a better delivery system and if that happens, we can't allow it to happen. >> now, the other part of the president's strategy is pressuring china to turn up the heat on north korea and over the weekend president trump reached out to leaders of other countries in the region including the leader of the philippines. a controversial leader who he invited here to the white house. that is getting a lot of blowback. is a leader who has been

criticized for human rights abuses including his bloody crackdown of drug suspects. he's the same leader who had very harsh words for former president obama. you recall president obama was set to meet with him and then canceled a meeting because he criticized him so personally and sharply. so this is something that will continue to get a lot of attention. reince priebus putting the pressure on saying that pressure on south korea trumps those concerns. david ignatius, the foreign policy vehicle, tilers ertiller mcmaster, the president, how is it working? >> you can see on north korea that it's operating effectively in the sense of bringing options to the president in particular trying to pull china away from

the positions its taken. the president well did an about-face on his china policy dropping the currency manipulatoring ing alanguage b was convinced by this group, tillerson, mathis, mcmaster, et cetera, and there is a sign of flexibility and in a recent set of threats that we just heard, the president is all over the lot. he's threatening military action. he's almost drawing a red line on a future nuclear test but he's saying we want to work with china. china will be upset if they do this. he's binding his policy to china. he's kind of wink-wink suggesting that maybe he doesn't want to talk about any role we might have in knocking down the north korean missiles. he's even flattering kim jong-un saying that i don't know whether

he's insane but he's a smart cookie as if he would be ready to talk with him and sit down and talk with this smart cookie. so i think we're seeing trump play the liar on all its strings you might say as he deals with this. yes. he is getting better advice in this sphere contrast to what we heard about domestic policy, much better advice in this foreign policy area than in others. >> all right. coming up next, we'll talk about a provocative idea about the first amendment that's still being floated by the trump administration. provocative is an understatement. that's still to come on "morning joe." okay, let's go. find your awesome with the xfinity x1 voice remote. that's amazing!

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the man who tweets everything that enters his head refuses to acknowledge the amendment that allows him to do it. think about it. it's almost -- what is it? 11:00 p.m. in four hours, donald trump will be tweeting about how bad nikki minaj bombed at this dinner. and he'll be doing it completely

sober. amid ongoing feud, reince priebus says the administration is still considering pursuing press restrictions. idea floated by the president during the campaign. >> there was what he said about opening up the liable laws. that would require as i understand it a constitutional amendment. is he really going to pursue that? >> i think it's something we've looked at and how that gets executed or whether that goes anywhere is a different story. >> what are they looking at exactly? >> i don't think this is going anywhere. i know this is a three hour show, but i think we've already

spent too much time on it. >> why do they keep saying it? what are they gaining other than continuing undermining of the med media. >> other than. >> cheap shots. >> i watch that rally on saturday night. there was like this young girl behind the president who was chanting cnn over and over again. and just. >> incredible. >> just to me, that illustrated just how deeply engrained for a very large percentage of the country the notion is what ails america is the media. and that you can't do enough to try to criticize what we do. as bob pointed out over the weekend, vitally important, we have brought a lot on ourselves by performing in a way that's weaking and lazy and under funded. we have to be great at what we do or we will be vulnerable to

these kinds of attacks. >> of course that's the case. there's nothing to do. they're not going to do anything. it's a piece with the front end of that speech, just part of tv mosaic of try to kick in the press and make people hate the press. >> that's embarrassing on reince priebus's part. truly embarrassing he's pandering to his boss like that. performance on one. reince priebus knows better. >> when you hear talk like that, what do you think as a reporter. >> i think it's our job to keep doing or job. it's not a popularity contest. in some ways it's been bad for the media to become more popular in recent decades. the white house correspondence dinner frankly has bothered me for years. next thing hollywood stars and journalists. we just have to do what we're supposed to do, which is be tough with everybody.

hold people accountable. stop feeling thin skinned ourselves. the president goes after us because we're an easier target than kim jong-un. don't make it easy for im. don't get in that battle. don't play the role he wants us to. >> pretty simple. leave the office. take time to think about what you're writing. be curious and listen. listen to the people you're reporting on. and. >> and be fair. still ahead president trump begins next 100 days. hoping to lock down a few legislative wins. health care still at the top of his list. plus, government shutdown averted for now. latest budget negotiations appear to show democrats with the upper hand. severe weather that slammed the middle of the country this weekend now heads east with 80 million people in its path. morning joe is com back.

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goodbye! oof, that milk in your coffee was messing with you, wasn't it? yeah. happens to more people than you think. try lactaid, it's real milk, without that annoying lactose. mmm. good right? yeah. lactaid. it's the milk that doesn't mess with you. history has proved to be kinder to me than many of you thought. >> good morning. it is may 1. i'm willie geist. that of course was will ferrell as president george w. bush at not the white house correspondence dinner. hosted by sam b on saturday night. with us onset, contribute mike barn cal in town.

contributor to time magazine. nbc political analyst and former aide to george w. bush. now the white house faces all the same issues they faced during the first 100 days and last week of the 100 days. budget. now figure out health care, tax reform. north korea, trade, et cetera, et cetera. >> only those things. >> let's start with the news late last night. word of a budget deal to keep the government open through september. $1 trillion plan as of now includes billions more for defense spending. not as much as the president had

asked for. also including a permanent fix for coal miner's health. democrats tell nbc news it doesn't include border wall funding or cuts in funding to sanctuary cities. instead, the $3 billion proposed for border security it gets about $1.5 billion. it also reportedly increases funding to the national institutes of health by 2 billion. >> the ap reports plan does not defund planned parenthood. does partially defund medicaid gap. continuing resolution congress passed last week expires. house minority leader said in a statement, the omnibus does not fund unmoral and unwise border wall or create a cruel new deportation force. she added the omnibus is in sharp contrast to president trump's dangerous plans to stall billions from life saving million research. >> what did president trump get

out of this at the end of the dare. >> keeps the government open. don't have time for distraction with a fight. although you don't see a nancy pelosi statement or a sign that washington is working together in some frictionless way. it was really the first significant time the president's team talked to democrats. they had to give a ton to get this done to the democrats. if you're someone who thinks there's a potential to work with democrats on other issues. they lay the groundwork to know the phone numbers. >> that's a good start. put this bhienld us. keep the government open. president trump wants to focus on health care. the government that's chaked up. >> here's president trump's take on the current version of the bill. >> preexisting conditions in the bill. i watched another network than yourself and they're saying

preexisting conditions is not covered. it's in the bill. i mandate it. i said it has to be. this bill has evolved. we didn't have a failure on the bill. it was reported like a failure. the one thing i wouldn't do is put a timeline. that's why the second it ration i didn't put a timeline. we set up a pool for the preexisting condition so the premiums can be allowed to fall. when i watch some of the news reports which is so unfair and they say we don't cover preexisting conditions, we cover it beautifully. tell you who doesn't cover preexisting conditions, obamacare, you know why, it's dead. >> one of the things that was discussed preexisting was optional for the fixes. >> one of the fixes. >> so you're saying it's going to be preexisting for everybody. >> this has evolved over a period of three or four weeks.

we really have a good bill. i think they could have voted on friday. i said just relax. don't worry about the phony 100 day thing. >> he had a huge rally to pennsylvania to talk about the 100 days and a what he accomplished. he insists health care is going to get done. mark mae d how does it get done? >> i'm not sure it ever does get done. the reality is to get the house freedom caucus to agree to this bill there was an amendment that basically said states could opt out of covering preexisting conditions. that's the reality of the situation. i understand president trump wants a bill that would continue to cover preexisting conditions. that's not the current bill that has some chance of getting through the house. that bill still doesn't have the votes to get through the house. as of friday the reason they didn't take the vote on friday is because paul ryan and his people looked around and said we can't pass this. on top of that, if we tried to, democrats would revolt on

spending bill and we would have the government shutdown. now we're passed the shutdown. the problem with the health care bill still remains, which is that a bill that is conservative enough to get the freedom caucus alienates a bunch of people in the middle. one of the things i kept hearing on capitol hill last week is there were a lot of house members looking at this and saying you know what, we may not like obamacare, but the politics of this are so whatever could get through the body would destroy political careers for republicans in the middle of the republican caucus. i don't know there's a bill that will ever get done that is tenable for enough republicans to get through and then let alone get to the senate. just through the house. >> you know what's interesting as well as intriguing. it's kind of difficult, smantically following the he kn

preexisting conditions is dynamite. if they cut that out, if it goes back to is the states and any state government or legislature cuts that out. >> that is not one of the unpopular things. that is one of the skvery popul things. you can't see a scenario where this vote will pass the senate. >> i think it's politically untenable. >> coming up in 2018. it just doesn't make sense quite frankly to put your weight behind this when it looks like it's going to fail. all goes back to preexisting condition. this is the most popular thing about obamacare. the one thing everyone is likes about the bill.

stripping it exactly. >> i think there's a chance they could somehow get it through the house. let's say they don't. acknowledge they are never going to appeal the affordable care act. that would perez the republican party and leave them moving on to tax reform with zero momentum. >> what is the scenario they forget repealing obamacare. that's not happening in this bill. even felt this bill through the house. where is that middle ground between the freedom caucus and trying to make side deals with enough moderates to get to exactly to a majority and hope they can, you know, live to fight another day in the senate. again, the only reason i think it has a chance as i thought it did the first time around, too big to fail. politically for the republican party for all the down sides of passing it, what do they say to their constituents. most of the members, most of the

constituents expect them to repeal and replace the affordable care act. it's easy to say it's not going to get a vote. >> what they would have to do is say, you know, there's not -- just stair down the barrel of this multiple times. cannot get this passed. we need to all get together and try to fix what is wrong with the affordable care act. that would depress. have a lot of bad effects in terms of politics for base politics republican party. there's no doubt. the other alternative which is not even try to fix obamacare. is even worse politically. there will be something that republicans can say they were doing if they try to take up somewhat bipartisan effort to try to mend the things everyone acknowledges are wrong with the affordable care act as it currently exists. >> still ahead, high-ranking official to south korea as northern neighbor threatens nuclear war. plus we'll see how the markets are reacting to congress

closing a deal on a long-term spending plan. live report from the new york stock exchange straight ahead. first, here's bill who has been tracking severe weather all weekend. really bad damage hopefully has already been done. still a threat today. catch you up first on the weekend. historic flooding and a couple of tornados. this was the big one. 160-mile-an-hour winds estimated. went through texas. east of the dallas area. mobile homes sledded in the area. four people died. 50 injuries. that tornado on the ground for 50 miles consecutively. let me fete you to today's threat and dangers. same storm. we're watching the storms down in florida. not bad. as we go through this afternoon, peak heating of the day, severe threat for 80 million people. new york, d.c., washington, all the way down to richmond and norfolk area.

originally forming out here near buffalo and pittsburgh. let me break down the timing for you. of course get the airport delays. storms around atlanta around 9:00 a.m. this morning. take you through the afternoon, pause it around 3:00. this is the greatest risk of tornados. these storms out ahead of the main line. virginia. then by the time we get through this evening, more of a squall line with damaging winds. washington, d.c. potentially and eastern pennsylvania. notice that baltimore, philly, new york. i think d.c. has a much greater threat than area cities to the north. watch how it develops this afternoon. finally flood warnings. all of the central portions of missouri, illinois. i understo indiana. we're going to have an historic flood. we leave you with a shot of 30 rock in the city.

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meetings scheduled with u.s. embassy and military officials stationed there. the missile did not leave north korean territory e employxplodi after launch. while offering eyebrow raising take on the young leader. mr. president, you and the administration said to north korea don't test a missile. they tested a missile. is the pressure not working.

>> i didn't say don't test. he's going to have to do what he has to do. he has to understand we're not very happy. >> i would not be happy. if he does a nuclear test, i will not be happy. i can tell you also blobl that the president of china who is a very respected man will be happy either. >> not happy mean military action. >> i don't know. we'll see. >> what do you make of the north korean leader. >> i have -- i really, you know, have no comment on him. the people are saying is he sane. i have no idea. i can tell you this, a lot of people don't like when i say it, but he was a young man of 26 or 27 when he took over from his father, when his father died. he's dealing with obviously very tough people. in particular the generals and others. and at a very young age he was able to assume power. a lot of people i'm sure tried to take that power away, whether it was his uncle on anybody else.

he was able to do it. obviously he's a pretty smart cookie. >> joining us now. author of the book. nuclear shutdown north korea takes on the world. get to the policy in a second. just the way president trump has been talking about kim jong-un in the last couple of days, telling his back story and saying how difficult it must have been and how impressed a 27-year-old could run north korea that way. what do you make of the rhetoric. is there something strategic there with that flattery. >> i think there probably is. they want to talk to kim jong-un eventually and figure the best thing to do is flatter him. i don't think that will work. we shouldn't be doing it. it's okay for analysts to talk about kim jong-un's rise to power and what he did to stay there, i don't think the president of the united states should do that. we should be being a very tough position rites now. largely because the diplomacy is only going to work when kim jong-un feels he has no choice, but to disarm. >> gordon, on that point, north

korea and its leader is so isolated. those words that the president spoke in describing the president of north korea, i mean, it is literally like listening to a profile or having provided the rhetoric for the president to use. don't you think that might have at some level some impact on the leadership of north korea. >> well, it could very well, but the most important thing so remember about the north korean leadership is it acts under certain constraints and incentives. i don't think those incentives and con straights are going to change because of president characterizing kim jong-un. kim jong-un is going to make certain decisions. he'll do that. i think it pretty much will be divorce from what trump says about him whether it's flattery or criticism. >> gordon, i've been personally concerned about president trump's rhetoric concerning south korea. you know, he mentioned he wants to re-evaluate the free trade

agreement with south korea. the talk on china has been more conciliatory on trade after heated rhetoric on the campaign trail. he suggested south korea should pay for the missile defense system. how damaging is this to our relationship at a time we need a strong alliance. >> what i think the worst mistake they made in the first 100 days, we have a position where we're going easy on china on trade because we want their cooperation on north korea. well, we need south korea's cooperation just as much. and here we are criticizing chorus, the u.s. trade agreement withal south korea. we shouldn't be doing that. nothing ever good happens when south korea and the united states are on different pages when it comes to north korea. and with those comments about the free trade agreement and with the payment for the anti-missile defense system, we

have damage in south korea at a time when there's an election. may 9 presidential election. these comments help the anti-american cko candidate. nothing good will come from trump's comment. if we get an anti-american president in south korea, that is going to cause us problems for years. >> gordon. still ahead, $60 million really not enough for the obamas. that's what "the washington post" asked in her new column. consider why the former president is accepting wall street cash after he and the former first lady just locked in huge book deals. so tell us your big idea for getting the whole country booking on choice hotels.com.

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in this case, if you mess up, he blames your entire group. and now you know what it feels like to be a minority. >> that was comedian at the white house correspondence dinner on saturday night. president trump of course skipped that dinner to send a message to the media. he held a campaign rally instead in harrisburg pennsylvania spent the first 12 minutes of speech attacking the press. >> there's another big gathering taking place tonight in washington, d.c. did you hear about it. they are gathered together for the white house correspondence dinner without the president. and i could not possibly be more thrilled than to be more tha

100 les away from wasngton. if the media's job is to be honest and tell the truth, i think we would all agree the media deserves a very, very big fat failing grade. meanwhile, at the correspondence dinner, "washington post" bod woodward joined by karl bernstein counselled reporters in the room to show humanity. >> we also need to face the real reality shows that polling numbers show most americans disapprove of and distrust the media. this is no time for self satisfaction or smugness. >> let's just talk about the visual of saturday night and what president trump's wanted to get accomplished by not showing up at correspondence dinner and

going to harrisburg to be with people who put him into office. what was he trying to do and did he do it. >> wanted to feel good himself a about his night and rally people on the themes that got him elected president. by that standard, i'm sure he totally enjoyed it. spent minutes talking about the press and realize this is personal for him. it is not necessarily guided by deep strategic thinking about how to be more successful president, but makes the people who supported him feel better. he wants he's not going to get past this thing with the press. he's obsessed with it. a lot of people he was attacking he gave interviews to. >> look a lot of ways this is like the logical conclusion or culmination of a trend that we've all seen in our career for

the last 20-30 years. become a staple of republican politics to attack the mainstream press, playly the "new york times." when you got in trouble. political crisis. going off against the media. now you have a presidency where that has become a central defining feature rather than break glass emergency move. it's now the core of it. the reason they do it obviously it works on some level. in the sense it speds deep residence. he is doing an amazing job at solidifying and locking down all people that voted for him in 2016. they are 100% with them. apparently doesn't have the confidence yet to look at it. one, his what's on tv and print

papers are not going anywhere. the other thing is to your point, getting anything done as president of the united states. just step outside the base a little. see how that works. >> i've said 100 times the really and i don't know if it's controversial. there's no doubt it's hopeful for a president to have a secure base. barack obama found that too. he had a very, very high floor. it was helpful for him that he never dropped into the 30s. >> coming up on morning joe, few people have done reporting on the generation than tom brokaw. tom taking a look at vietnam veterans. brings us remarkable story 42 years after the fall of saigon. that's straight ahead on morning joe. find ping-pong.

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plenty of strategy with a roughly 18 month timeline. if he decides on another presidential run. best positioned to get it off the ground. biden will be 77 by the time of the next iowa caucus, biden 2020 might just happen. has a breakneck schedule the days to come. appearing at events with new york governor cuomo and florida and salt conference with other political and economic people. here's the former vice president last night in new hampshire speaking to 800 democrats. >> i got asked by ray to come up here. wasn't a doubt in my mind. even though i now it causes a lot of speculation. i'm not running. >> i continue to do everything

in my power to support the democratic party, elect democrats at every level across this nation. i meant it because it is important. i'm ready to help candidates campaign wherever you want just let me know. because it's important. no, i'm not looking for applause. it's really, really generally important. >> the "new york times" also reports the senators bernie sanders and elizabeth warren. there's a divide with cory booker, and pamela hairs on the younger end.

president trump friday for the nra convention and while he was there, he made prediction about the election four years away. >> i have a feeling in the next election you're going be swamped by candidates. >> remembered that. >> president using that terms to refer to senator elizabeth warren joining us now deputy editorial page columnist at "the washington post." good morning. mark and john, let me begin with you as the game changers. this is more than just a parlor game. younger progressive. is it joe biden. what do you take away from the presidency.

chance of being a democratic nominee. talk of running against donald trump given his current approval ratings and top political environment he faces not a guarantee become the president. it's a clean as shot as you can imagine having at this point. it is wide open. i think you'll see speculation continue because it's so wide open and there's an get in early. to try to get a little bit of lean and narrow down people's consideration. i suspect this will be a wild a thing we'll see. started basically last week. >> john, mike, you can answer this too. you know biden well. is this real or wistful. >> some part of it may can't run. you know, whether there's always

alarm, big space between biden and running for president. he is not in step with where the party is right now. and where it's headed which is further and further to the left. more and more progressive. and, you know, he's a gentleman in his early 70s who is going to be in middle 70s by the time we get there. another issue afflicts the person who would ordinarily if not for age be the front-runner bernie sanders. who came close to winning the democratic notimination last ti and most popular political person in the country. continues to be the only person besides donald trump to go to any state, any city and get five or ten,000 people to show up at an event for him. he would be 74, 75. by the time he came. know he's thinking about it. it's a tall order for somebody at that able to run for

president given physical and other demands it would put on him. >> what do you think of that. you get bernie sanders, he'll be 77. 78 or so. in a few years. former vice president, bieden wo has a deep appreciation of what fate and life can do to you. will be 77 and they are the two perhaps arguably leading candidates in the democratic side of tballot right now. >> it's pretty incredible state of as affairs and the graying o the democratic party in the elect torl ranks and possible presidential ranks. something that should give pause to democrats. run of the reasons for that is of course what happened during the obama administration. felt wiping out of the democratic bench. not just losing the house and the senate, but losing something like 900 legislative seats. you grow presidential candidates

from the ground up usually acce except if there are reality tycoons. that's not going to solve their problem necessarily. this time around, but i do think that look, 70 might be the new 60 on maybe 80 is the new 70. that's awfully old for a job as demanding as the president. with no disrespect to the current office holder to pretty energetic guys who might be interested. >> let's talk about the other end of the spectrum. cory booker, kristen, seth motelen came up.

that said. it is too early. also, i really don't think is going to necessarily be an incumbent politician who ends up winning the democratic nomination. i think national level politics is fundamentally changed. i think name recognition is so important. in especially going up against donald trump. and i think that we could see some really interesting outside contenders surface. >> yes. you either have to be famous or get famous quickly. also have to have a lot of money yourself, be able to raise a lot of money. or do what donald trump did and use social media and get access to voters without paid advertising. i look at all these names and don't see the potential to do that. >> there is one person i know we both think. don't sleep of harris. for reasons we talked about.

she's not famous, but she could get famous quick. an african-american from california who could raise a lot of money quickly. with one moment could become a huge super star in the paurtthe she hasn't had that moment. >> she has not been a monster fund raiser in california. >> she could. >> she's at capacity. >> so ruth, let me ask you, kamala harris or any of the candidates who might be at the top of the ballot in the democrats in a couple of years, are they going to have to deal or ought they to deal or will that be forced to deal with the fra phrase deplorables. did such damage to the basic core constituency. how would any democratic do that. >> any democratic who is running is going to have to make sure

that he or she addresses the question of the angryish or anxious working class voter. white working class voter. simply relying on dem gra demographics to get there is a dangerous route. being able to speak to anger and frustration with washington to the economic anxiety that helps to propel bernie sanders and donald trump is going to be essential for the democratic nominee, whether it's bernie sanders or somebody else. and you can't treat people with disrespect and then ask for their votes. that's like a fact of political life. so we're going to have to find a way to address the anxiety, democrats are going to have to try to find a way to address the anxiety and to come up with

programs that appeal to these voters. >> ruth, as we talk about a potential next president, your column is about the previous president. criticized president obama for hitting the big money speaking circuit after reports say he and the former first lady signed a $60 million joint book deal. in collecting $400,000 to make a single speech, barack obama following in the past footsteps. to acknowledge obama has plenty of precedent on his side is not to say his choice is wide. propulsion on the circuit arrives at a moment of disgust with wall street greed and washington swamp. comes after a campaign with hillary clinton's speaking fees become a symbol of elitism. imagine the powerful message obama would have sent had he chosen to renounce this road to riches. ruth, you actually have elizabeth warren herself saying

she was troubled. especially given the attacks. is he entitled. he's not running for office the way hillary clinton was. it's not something he has to think about. is he not entitled to go make money the way he pleases. >> he's totally entitled and legally totally entitled to go make money as he pleases and historically as i said, this is a well trotten path. he could have sent. he could have chosen to send a different message and by the way, in terms of making money, his book deals, reported to be between $60-65 million. seems like a lot of money to me. enough to live on. give a lot to charity. help your foundation. and it -- look, this goes back to what we were talking about earlier and the ability of the democrats to speak to voters who feel like the democratic party

and washington are not attentive to their issues. just think about the signal it would have sent if the former president had just quietly said i'm not going on the lecture circuit. it would have -- not that donald trump would have renounced lecture circuit in the future. he's going to make money when he leaves office and all the ways he likes to make money. would have said enough is enough. obama did not leave the democratic party in a great shape. maybe he could have helped it a little bit by not opening front of sure you're going to hear republican candidates talking about him. vacuuming up checks. it somewhat tarnishes. i'm not saying it's a logical or would have been a nice signal if he had done it. i've been writing about this

problem with a lot of different presidents. >> you can read the full piece of "the washington post." it's fascinating. >> speaking of wall street. bring in cnbc sara eisen. live at the stock exchange. big announcements coming this week. >> we are in the heart of earning season. set the tone for the markets. tell you how we're starting off the week of may. coming off five months of gains for the s&p and dow out of the last six months for the nasdaq which is the tech heavy index, we're talking six months of gains in a row. all trading near record highs. big earnings movers this week would be apple, of course. not just because it is the biggest company in the market, but also there's this question of its cash pile overseas. apple is set to have more than $250 billion in cash. sitting overseas. according to the wall street journal. that's very much in discussion

right now. the administration had proposed a one time tax benefit to bring that money back from overseas. so everybody is going to be listening to hear what apple wants to do with the cash if that does come to fruition. we also have a federal reserve meeting on wednesday. no change in policy expected there. busy job report. look for a heavy week not just politics. economic data to move the markets. also wanted to just mention some deal buzz speculation this morning. according to reports. there could be a bidding war for tribune media company. the latest 21st century fox owner of fox news is working with black stone, big private equity firm.

s number one the demand for local tv stations. the business it is in. owns 40 tribune stations. fox news trying to diversify amid the scandal and drama. second big thing is loosening rules from the trump administration when it comes to deals overall. already seen steps taken by the fcc on this front. >> busy week down there. thanks so much. this morning. hollywood studios trying to avert a potential writer's strike. contract between the writer's guild of america expires tonight at midnight. the big issues are wages and health care with the los angeles times report. two sides do appear to be moving closer to a deal. if the writers do strike, it would be the seventh time since 1960. you remember one ten years ago in 2007 that lasted 100 days. still ahead, donald trump caused an uproar when he claimed senator john mccain was not a war hero because he was captured in vietnam. now hearing from another combat

pilot who suffered similar fate year before mccain. tom brokaw joins us with an emotional reunion next on morning joe. no, i'm talking before that. do you have things you want to do before you retire? oh yeah sure... ok, like what? but i thought we were supposed to be talking about investing for retirement? we're absolutely doing that. but there's no law you can't make the most of today. what do you want to do? i'd really like to run with the bulls. wow. yea. hope you're fast. i am. get a portfolio that works for you now and as your needs change. investment management services from td ameritrade. introducing new depend silhouette briefs. featuring a comfortable sleek fit. as a dancer, i've learned you can't have any doubts. because looking good on stage is one thing. but real confidence comes from feeling good out there. get a free sample at depend.com.

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or snack a day with glucerna made with carbsteady to help minimize blood sugar spikes you can really feel it. glucerna. everyday progress. what in real time?stomer insights from the data wait, our data center and our clouds can't connect? michael, can we get this data to...? look at me...look at me... look at me... you used to be the "yes" guy. what happened to that guy? legacy technology can handcuff any company. but "yes" is here. so, you're saying we can cut delivery time? yeah. with help from hpe, we can finally work the way we want to. with the right mix of hybrid it, everything computes. welcome back to "morning joe." nbc's senior correspondent tom brokaw has introduced us to the stories of heroism and perseverance of the greatest generation now one day after the 4 nd anniversary of the -- 42nd anniversary of the fall of

saigon he brings us a group of veterans from the war. >> one of the most remarkable stories coming out of vietnam, of course, involved the american pilots who were imprisoned in the north in brutal conditions for many years and yet so many of them emerged and just picked up their lives, even resuming military careers, bound by brotherhood and the exhilaration of flight. i joined them for a recent reunion this year in san antonio. >> general chuck boyd, u.s. air force retired, has never lost his love of flight. not even after almost seven years in a north vietnamese prison. >> it was a special bond that exists between men who not only survived but in many ways prevailed under difficult circumstances. >> reporter: boyd was shot down on april 22nd, 1966. and experienced some of the worst the north vietnamese prison system had to offer,

including the infamous hanoi hilton. so did julius and tom. >> this a time and a week or a month when you don't remember where you were when you were in prison? >> every present fact. >> reporter: facing isolation and torture the p.o.w.s were desperate to communicate with one another, but how? >> the sixth pilot that was down that was taken prisoner was smithy harris and he remember learning about a tap code taught in survival code. >> reporter: the tap code was based on a simple 5 by 5 matrix with the letter "c" standing in for "k." >> if you tapped once and then paused and then tapped again it was an "a." if you tapped once and two together, it was a "b." >> reporter: suddenly, the prisoners were no longer alone.

every tap, every word meant hope. >> we did it religiously because i shortly learned that communication was the key to my survival. >> absolutely. >> without that, i wouldn't be here today. >> reporter: by chance, another captured pilot, was a spanish language whiz. ken fisher became a tap code professor. >> they used me like a dictionary. >> he would send words and then the guy in between the cell would come over and tap them on our wall and we would collect them in our mind. >> all by tap? >> all by tap. >> how good was your spanish when you tried it back here no. >> i found out that absolutely everything that this man had taught me was correct. absolutely everything. >> reporter: it wasn't just a language, it was a lifeline, astonishingly all three emerged from captivity speak spanish fluently. >> that's something that you all must have learned, was about how the brain works and how

endlessly powerful it is. >> the brain is not like a computer disk. it doesn't get full. the more you put into it, the more it expands. and becomes greater. >> reporter: perspective on what matters earned the hard way. >> any day that the door handle is on your side, it's a good day. >> reporter: to honor those who did not return, and to celebrate those who did, boyd leads a ceremonial missing man flyover. soaring high forever free. . >> i just say one thing about them -- these guys are still bound together. there's not a day that goes by that they don't think about being in prison and tonight on "nbc nightly news" in an inspiring america, we will talk more about what they remember and how it changed all of them. this is a smaller reunion but they're there every year together and they also, must be

said, give a lot of credit to the air force about how they were brought out, how they were welcomed home, how they were, you know -- mccain has talked about, for example, scrapbooks to catch up on the news that they had missed, so it really is testimony to not only their individual bravery, but also to the military taking care of them once they got out. >> we live in a culture right now where everything is so quick, so fleeting. these stories, these men, their lives, what they endured, ought to be remembered, much more so than we remember a lot of things. >> well, i couldn't agree more, mike. and actually people have come to me and said why don't you do the greatest generation about vietnam but there are a couple books under way about that now and you find -- i mean chuck boyd, for example, came out, re-enlisted, in effect, and became the first four-star general who had been a prisoner of war and he had been in 7 1/2 years at that point. there are so many stories of heroism and then when they came home they came home to a very chilly climate as you know, to

put it mildly, but they found their way through american life and they really are great testimony to the will of brotherhood and also, they all said, we became better people by that experience, which is pretty remarkable. >> as tom mentioned see more of his reporting on this tonight on "nbc nightly news." as you walk up to the set you were listening to our previous conversation about already the race for 2020, really more of a conversation about where the democratic party is in opposition to donald trump, and who can best take him on. what are your thoughts? >> i think it's impossible to know now. there will be people emerging we cannot yet imagine, my guess is. i would love to see joe biden, for example, continue moonshot which is a great crusade to find a cure for cancer. he's so personally involved in that and he had a very, very strong start with that. but we'll find people who will be emerging. for example, howard schultz from starbucks, there are already talks about him wanting to get

involved in politics. he has an extraordinary financial record, obviously, he's also a very compassionate leader. he gets college education on-line for his employees. they are paid benefits. he is very much in the progressive wing of the party. and i think because of trump's success we'll see more people coming out of not necessarily the conventional political climate that we've all gotten used to. i think there will be more people throwing their hat into the ring. >> mark, the next candidate, does it have to be a strident progressive to fight donald trump or someone like howard schultz who has progressive values. >> the easy way to get the nomination is to be a strident progressive, the harder one to understand the progressive moment but has an appeal to a broader group of americans. >> tom brokaw, glad to see you. more of your reporting on "nightly news." stephanie ruhle picks up our coverage. >> thanks so much. good morning.

i'm stephanie ruhle. we got breaking news overnight. open for business, congress strikes a deal to keep the government open while military increases are in, spending on the wall is out. and a health care showdown. republicans may push a vote this week, but is the president describing a bill very different than the one working it ways through congress? >> they say we don't cover preexisting conditions. we cover it beautifully. plus the never-ending campaign. the president with a giant rally in pennsylvania. just out a brand new tv ad praising his first 100 days. >> donald trump, sworn in as president 100 days ago. america has rarely seen such success. >> we begin this morning with the brand new budget that will keep the government running for the next five months. the vice president spoke about it just moments ago.