welcome to "morning joe." with us we have kasie hunt, rick stengel joining willie, joe and me. viewers may find the following footage disturbing. it is. at least 13 people are dead. more than 100 injured, many seriously after a person drove a rental van through a crowded pedestrian plaza in the heart of barcelona, spain's second largest city. three people have been detained relating to the attack, though police say none of them are the driver, who remains at large. isis has claimed responsibility but as if often the case has offered no proof. one person was killed, several more injured on wednesday night following an explosion in the town about 125 miles south of barcelona and police say those

involved are direct lily relateo the barcelona attack. in cambrils, people are working on the hypothesis that a thwarted attack yesterday is related to the attack in barcelona and the explosion in alcanar. richard engel joins us. what is the latest on the investigation so far this morning? >> well, i am now on the street called alsolas ram blas.

a fairly large extremist cell, jihadist cell was activated here. first there was the explosion in the house. that explosion they think happened while people were constructing some sort of explosion explosives. then you have the white van driving up this pedestrian street, the car swerving back and forth hitting as many people as possible, killing 13, injuring 80. then just a few hours later, south of here you had this thwarted attack, which police believe was related in which five suspected attackers were in another van. they were trying to drive into crowds. police quickly shot them dead and it turns out they were

wearing fake suicide attacks. so the assumption is there was a bomb factory, then there was a deadly driving attack on this iconic street and a failed attack with the remnants perhaps of the cell. the driver of the van still at large and a manhunt is under way for him and other potential attackers or accomplices. >> richard engel, thank you very much. we'll be hearing from you throughout the show. >> let's go to national security analyst juan -- we've been together on too many of these mornings, i'm thinking back to nice and berlin, london and paris. what do you do about an attack like this, a low-tech attack where somebody rents a van and drives down a crowded street? >> you're absolutely right. these are tragic events, very

hard to stop. low barriers to entry. all you need is a car or van. in this case they rented if not one, three vans. very little that authorities can do in an open society, especially when the terrorists aren't trying to attack a particular site like a government building and aren't trying to infiltrate a particular venue. it's hard in an open society. and i think the long pole in the tent here all along is intelligence. the authorities over the last 13 years since the madrid train attacks in 2004 have been incredibly good disrupting terror cells, including in barcelona. it's good preventive work that ultimately prevents these kind of attacks. unfortunately this is a

methodology that has been demonstrated to work and the terrorists are using it. they're using it and learning from it and al qaeda and isis are calling for it. unfortunately that's the wave of these attacks that we're seeing in europe may not stop. >> president trump reacted by once again pushing a huge lie. he tweeted and then a short time later he tweeted study what general pershing of the united states did to terrorists when caught. there was no more radical islamic terror for 35 years. here he is during the south carolina primary last year. >> early in the century, last

century, general pershing, did you ever hear, rough guy, rough guy. they had a terrorism problem. and there's a whole thing with swine and animals and pigs, you know the story, they don't like them. they were having a tremendous problem with terrorism. by the way, this is something you read in the history books, not a lot of history books because they don't like teaching this. he took 50 bullets and dipped them in pig's blood and he had his men load up the 50 bullets and they lined up the 50 people and they shot the 49 people and the 50th person he said you go back to your people and tell them what happened and for 25 years that want a problem. >> given, that >> again, that's a lie.

historians say that there as absolutely no evidence that the story that donald trump is pedaling there actually happened. so for, oh, my gosh, in the post war era, the world has turned -- what the good people of spain and the west and the world yesterday was the president peddling an urban myth that's a lie and that slanders a great american figure. >> the irony, joe, is that the attack in barcelona is in part a function of how successful we have been on the military

battlefield against isis. the idea of isis as a physical caliphate in syria and arab has gone away. we will take iraqi iraqqa. the coalition that john kerry put together has been success approximately. >> and six months ago, a year ago, you had people on this show telling us we're going to be successful on the battlefield, we are going to drive them from their cities, we're going to destroy the caliphate and take it apart bit by bit and when that happens, we're going to see more attacks like this. this is how they will respond to being absolutely run over and humiliated on the battlefield. >> and in fact, joe, they saw it coming. their spokesperson who wrote in their magazine two years ago before ramadan he said don't

come to the caliphate anymore, there is no caliphate to come to, attack the infidels, take cars, take buses, take trucks. you don't even have to collaborate with us. these are these so-called inspired attacks and that are low tech and that's as a result of the fact that we've basically won obliterated them on the battlefield. >> president trump began his day yesterday by targeting two senators in his own party, lindsey graham and jeff flake. now he's getting tough talk from senator bob corker of tennessee, the chairman of the foreign relations committee told the chattanooga rotary club despite his good relationship with the president, he could no longer ignore the elephant in the room. he later said there needs to be

some radical changes in the way the president conducts himself. >> the president has not yet -- has not yet been able to demonstrate the stability, nor some of the competence that he needs to demonstrate in order to be successful. he also recently has not demonstrated that he understands the character of this nation. he has not demonstrated that he understands what has made this nation great and what it is today and he's got to demonstrate the characteristics of a president who understands that. and without the things that i just mentioned happening, our nation is going to go through great peril. >> i think we all around the

table while we were listening to that said this is a big moment. >> this is a profile in courage. >> it's actually creeping up on a howard baker moment where he says the president doesn't have the stability. he doesn't have the knowledge, the working knowledge, he hasn't shown it to be president of the united states. >> and there were sort of shades of this is unfixable. i mean, he's saying the president needs to change his behavior but it appears these are permanent flaws. these aspects of this president are not going to change and, therefore, perhaps others might need to act. >> so, casey, with bob corker's extraordinary statement, i say extraordinary. it's obvious to everybody but extraordinary for powerful republican elected leader to come out and say that. but you actually can see this is a natural progression from marco rubio going out and firing off

those tweets. cory gardner at his town hall meeting speaking truth to power. corey didn't give a damn. he spoke truth to power. we can talk about jeff flake, about lindsey graham, johnson mccain and ben sass. we're talking about seven republican senators right there that are saying enough. >> and i think corker is somebody who has had this presidency or had a shot at the inside administration. that's not true for a lot of these other moderates and persistent critics of the president. he i think has an understanding. he's traveled on the plane with trump. i think that says a lot. one thing that stood out to me is the framing of what was said. he said he the president doesn't

understand what has made this country great. that strikes me as a very deep around important -- >> and he's had the time to look at this president firsthand. >> instability. think about that word. competence but stability also. he doesn't have the temperament and make-up for the job. >> that's an analysis, a concern. >> in the context of all that we're facing internationally, our allies are unsure of where we are in north korea, all of that plays in here. >> it seems to me senator corker is the perfect example of the internal struggle many republicans in that building behind you are having with president trump. senator corker has come on the show for the last couple of years during the campaign and during the first seven months of

his administration during difficult times, faced a lot of questions from us, whether it was the access hollywood or on and on and on right up until charlottesville and he said i want to give this president some time, some space. he would condemn in the moment but said i want to give him a little bit of time. it appears they're running out of patience with this president. >> there are a lot of republicans who say they really did try to give him the benefit of the doubt. while some people thought okay, this guy is brash, he's a little wild, they thought at the end of the day once he's in office, he'll be able to get legislation passed. republicans have things they've been waiting to do for eight years, infrastructure, health care, tax reform. but what they're seeing is a president picking fights with the very people he need to help him. you think about his attacks on mitch mcconnell. the republicans i talked to have

been weighing are whether or not to pull posupport for the president and some black republicans wondering if the party as a whole is a place they can remain. >> you have members of the military critical and also now 21st century fox chief executive james murdoch has criticized president trump's reaction to the violence in charlottesville and pledged to donate $1 million to the anti-defamation league. in a personal e-mail yesterday, the son of rupert murdoch, a close friend of president trump's wrote while it wasn't his habit to weight in on current affairs, quote, what we watched this last week in charlottesville and the reaction to it by the president of the united states concern all of us as americans and free people. he added i can't even believe i have to write this standing up to nazis is essential.

there are no good nazis or klans men or terrorists. democrats, republicans and others ms all agree on this and it compromises nothing for them to do so. murdoch went on to say he and his wife plan to donate $1 million to the anti-defamation league and urge others to do the same. that's big. that's a close friend of the president. they were hanging out together, were friend and very tight. that's a departure. >> you're talking about rupert murdoch, that's himself son james. rupert is still spending time with donald trump, telling him

get rid of steve bannon, get your head down and tack care of your business. if you read the editorial page of "the wall street journal" day in and day out, they are doing the right thing when it comes to criticizing this president. again, this president is finding himself more and more isolated. this very commend abable move b james murdoch. >> he's hurting his capital, his ability to maneuver whether it's domestically on legislation or internationally. he's diminishing his ability to operate. we're seeing that with the resignation from the various councils. i think even before charlottesville, there's a growing desire for greater

internal discipline, discipline for how the policy is working, discipline with respect to leaks, discipline with respect to the messaging. i think all of that has been in many ways lacking and you think the reactions you're seeing, fundamental reactions to some of the things that have come in the wake of charlottesville but even before that, the lack of policy progress on the hill and certainly challenges with the president's communication and lack of coordination within the administration has been a real challenge. and i think you're seeing and feeling a lot of frustration certainly from even the closest of allies to this president. >> rick, one of the impacts of the president's comments this week in charlottesville is everyone up and down the government is being made to answer for it. you have the secretary of state rex tillerson. he has to come out at an event where he would look to focus about other thing and he has to

talk about the ku klux klan and not to have the staff to get things done. >> the biggest gimme is politics is criticizing nazis. >> you would think at least since 1945, right? >> that's a no-brainer. you can always do that sackfully and president trump could not. willie, as you say, it's a huge distraction for everybody in government. >> and we keep hearing we're going back to tax reform. what a telling story yesterday

that the president des bandisbas infrastructure council because people are starting to quit that. can't even have presidential councils because people will quit. what impact is this going to have on the hill for passing health care reform, for passing tax reform, for passing whatever type of reform he wants to pass when you now have five, six, seven republican senators that the president has decided unilaterally to go to war with? >> i think obviously it is going to make their agenda that much harder. on tax reform in particular, a lot of people like gary kohn who has been very upset by the president's remarks. he is a critical player. if you start to lose people like that from the administration -- >> have you heard there was a rumor on wall street yesterday that he was leaving and -- >> yeah. >> but then the white house pushed back hard. have you guys heard anything on

whether he's even considering leaving? >> i had not heard from the white house. there was, as you say, pushback. there's been conversations on the hill if he does decide to go what might happen with tax reform. thi i think broadly on the agenda itself, we're heading for some major crises here. the president has to decide whether he wants to shut down the government over funding his border wall. that's what mitch mcconnell is deciding as he tries to respond in a forceful way way. >> i just wonder if there's a note to members of the cabinet right now, when you have the head of the senate foreign relations committee talking about the president's stability, is it okay just to be privately

upset? at this point think that's irresponsible. i mean, you can be privately upset as much as you want but you're here for this country. if the president's unstable -- >> you're asking me personally. >> i couldn't do it. >> i think if we're talking about concerns about stability, then being inside trying to bring stability to an erratic situation maybe that's justifiable. but if you're talking about a man who uses his position to bring aid and comfort to white supremacists, to cheer david duke, to have david duke cheer him back, to have neo nazis and klansmen praising him, if you

are gary kohn, at that point you are no longer serving the united states of america, you are serving a man who is against everything this country stands for when he embraces whoot supremacy and i don't know how you justify saying it, especially when you're gary kohn who has been so generous in the past to jewish centers and -- >> that's why when you saw there were rumors he was leaving, the market went down and the white house had to come out and push back against that. he and his family are leaders in the jewish community. he's from ohio. they've done a lot of good work there and in new york as well. he has to make a decision, is it

more important for him to be there to stabilize the economy and push through the agenda or does husband core pull him away from the white house because he doesn't want to be on the side of a man whose beliefs run so counter to everything he stands for? >> and provide comfort to white supremacists, klansmen and neo nazis. >> it not enough to be privately upset anymore. still ahead on "morning joe," chuck schumer urges democrats not to take the president's bait on the confederate statue. >> that's actually a smart move for chuck schumer to say don't make this about the statues, make this about the whut supremacists. >> but will nancy pelosi listen?

but first, bill karins with a check on some severe weather heading our way. bill? >> two rounds of weather coming. we're about to get hit in new york city. the rain will be during the peak of the rush hour. 36 million people at risk of severe storms. wind damage is the concern. this weekend looks very warm, very typical summer-like and 90s. we're looking good in oregon and idaho. a still iffy in kansas city. as we head into tennessee, tennessee may be one of the better states reviewing.

down around charleston and areas towards georgia, a little cloud and maybe even a shower, too. a lot of people trying to make their decisions about where to head to get to tata to the you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. for your retirement plan? start here. or here. even here. and definitely here. at fidelity, we're available 24/7 to make retirement planning simpler. we let you know where you stand, so when it comes to your retirement plan, you'll always be absolutely...clear. ♪ time to think of your future it's your retirement. know where you stand. ♪ time to think of your future >> announcer: no one loves a road trip like your furry sidekick! so when your "side glass" gets damaged... [dog barks] trust safelite autoglass

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republican lawmaker to call for the firing of white house chief strategist steve bannon. bannon targeted trump administration officials, mocked far-right voters and cast out an american military options in korea and yet today people say he feels on safe ground stemming from the president's divisive response to the violence in charlottesville. and banon said he remarks drew -- actually, he didn't, but if that max him feel better. i guess he thinks the president is so stupid that he can say that. i mean, because he does think the president's dumb. you read the interview and bannon says i'm going to fire this person,on going to move

this person out. i guess he thinks the president's so stupid, he'll easily be distracted by that sleight of hand, hey, look over here while he's taking money out of trump's pocket, look over here, while he's telling everybody i got him elected, i got him elected. he would have never been elected except for me. did you see that book josh green wrote? it said trump would never have been elected without steve bannon. i wonder who leaked all that to steve bannon. >>i io don't think it's going t change -- >> where is jared? >> isn't he on vacation? >> don't they always go on

vacation at the worst time? >> bannon's done like four on-the-record interviews. is he shaping some narrative for himself? he wrote to "the washington post" an e-mail to bob costa -- as long as the democrats fail to understand this, they will continue to lose, says bannon, but leftist elites do not value history so why would they learn from history? and the original american prospect piece, rex tillerson named adversaries including gary cohn and susan thornton. rex tillerson conspicuously shook her hand before taking seats. thornton, an obama administration holdover

continues in her capacity and till areson tillerson relies on her to run diplomacy inside asia. >> i got to say, rick, i don't know how it is with government but i know if somebody who worked for me trashed somebody in the media and said they were going to fire him, i would walk in and i think neb that had any strength or backbone at all was a leader, that wasn't just a complete wimp would walk in and say thank you for your service, i need you to pack up and you can either walk out or we'll have security walk you out but get out, we don't talk about each other that way and i make the hiring and firing decisions, not you. >> that's exactly right but it does undermine the president's job as chief executive, who

actually makes those decisions. mr. bannon has been compensating for the fact the interview was he thought off the record and then published. the thing that is so undermining about it is it changes his whole narrative. each thinks people on the right are knuckle heads. he says the president isn't aware of what's going on and everything is trying to compensate for that interview, by changing the narrative. >> also as a joint appearance, secretary of state rex tillerson and defense secretary jim mattis reinforced their strategy on north korea. bannon had told american prospect, quote, there is no military solution, forget it. until somebody solves the part of the equation that shows me 10 million people in seoul don't

die in the first 30 minutes from conventional weapons, i don't know what you're talking about. there's no military solution here. they got us. so here's what secretary tillerson and mattis said. >> i don't really have a comment on what mr. bannon's remarks were in that particular interview. i read those. we have been quite clear as to what the policy and posture is on north korea. >> together we will deter and if necessary defeat any threat, any initiation of who hostilities w be met with an effective and overwhelming response. i can just assure you in close collaboration with our allies, there are strong military consequences if dprk initiates

hostilities. >> the secretary of state and a second have to come out and confirm what the commander in chief has already told the world and they have to do it because the president's chief strategist has given interviews saying that the president was out of his mind, that there would be no military response to north korea acting in a way that's hostile towards the united states' interests. >> joe, i think this is the most damaging part of this interview because it undercuts u.s. policy. now, many people will argue that, look, there really is no good military option here with respect to north korea. the problem with what mr. bannon said in that interview is it undercuts not just policy, but it undercuts our allies who are relying on the strength of our defense commitments at a time

when the south koreans are trying to strengthen their posture. they've issued their own red line. it damages our ability to deter if north korea decide to be provocative with respect to guam or allies or anything else and frankly, it changes the equation with china. with he says "they got us," that seems to be a concession that there's nothing we can do to change the equation and we're going to have to live with a nuclear north korea that threatens the united states. and just real quickly, joe, i think that's critical because the key to the policy for this administration has been to change the calculus with china. to the, tent that the chinese don't believe we're seeious about military consequences, even though they're drastic, even though that option is difficult, that undercuts everything you're trying to do to get china to pressure north korea. so that part of the interview is incredibly damaging. >> let's focus on that, willie,

for one second before we go to break. they got us. here you have someone inside the white house who thinks he's president of the united states that has literally raised the white flag of surrender to the north koreans getting nuclear weapons that can hit seattle, that can hit portland, that can hit los angeles, that can hit san diego. he said there's no military solution, they got us. the president, the a second, the secretary of state are doing their best to tell the north koreans if you cross this red line, we're coming after you and we don't really care what china says because china hasn't done anything for 40 years. and you've got steve bannon raising the white flag, inside the white house literally surrendering to the north koreans saying they got us. >> with nuclear war in the background, steve bannon went on the record saying the whole thing is a bluff. when the president of the united

states came out and side fire and fury, that was just talk, just rhetoric. he conceded at that our policy toward north korea is a bluff and when push comes to shove, there will be no military action. >> so in the midst of the worst nuclear standoff since, you know, you got to go back to the cuban missile crisis, i guess, since the recall 60s, rick, this is what steve bannon has been doing in the midst of the worst missile crisis since the cuban missile crisis. one, he has launched attacks against america's national security adviser, who i guarantee you is working 24 hours a day with his team, trying to figure out what they can do in north korea that will forward the president's interests. his allies now even spreading unfounded personal rumors about the national security adviser, leaking about the -- so the national security adviser trying

to come up with a policy that will protect the west coast of the united states of america from nuclear attack and steve bannon's attacking him, the president's national security adviser, and then steve bannon does an interview, says the president's basically lying to the north koreans, that he's just bluffing and then in the name of the united states of america, steve bannon surrenders to north korea by saying, quote, they got us. can you imagine anyone undermining american national security interests more than that at this critical juncture? >> he's definitely undermining our policy. he is, as willie suggested, calling the president's bluff. at the same time as an american and diplomat, i'm relieved --

the talk of the military solution is part of the stick strategy to score north korea and scare china. the fact that he said we're not willing to sacrifice 10 million north koreans in seoul does undermine our policy but i took a certain amount of comfort -- >> it doesn't undermine the policy, it undermines the bluff. as we youall know, that's an important part of the policy. >> it an incredible book by evan thomas but that's what presidents do sometimes and they don't need little boys running around in the white house who think they're kings undercutting that strategy. that's part of what a command are in chief does. >> i agree that it undermines the president.

i simply was relieved, joe, that they're not planning some nuclear first strike they haven't told us about. >> but doesn't that just signal to north korea what they probably believed anyway? donald trump is all talk. let's keep pushing it. china is not going to lean on us enough, let's keep going forward. >> trump's strategy is a little bit like the nixonian one, maybe if they think i'm crazy, if i act crazy, you can be the same one -- >> the mad man theory? >> let operate on that one. juan, thank you very. coming up, we're going to read from peggy noonan's latest piece. that is straight ahead on "morning joe." stelara® works differently for adults with moderately to severely active crohn's disease. studies showed relief and remission, with dosing every 8 weeks. stelara® may lower the ability of your immune

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joe" -- >> it's so easy to act presidential, but that's not going to get it done. in fact, i said it's much easier, by the way, to act presidential than what we're doing here tonight, believe me. with the exception of the late, great abraham lincoln, i can be more presidential than any president that's ever held this

office. >> putting acid in the bath tubs. >> no, that was a house -- >> he rented a house and put as $ -- acid in a bath tub. >> i don't know. it's some weird "washington post" story about him putting acid in a bath tub. >> corrosive acid or like dropping as $? >> no, corrosive. i'm putting a lot of acid in a bath tub. >> i haven't reported that story yet. >> acid in a bath tub. >> so tommy boy, he's sort of like this tommy boy figure

running around the white house, undercutting the president. you see the president there and he kind of looks like let's just say an aged tommy boy that maybe dad gave the keys to the company to and some crazy things happened. >> i don't want to speak for president lincoln posthumously but i suspect if he heard of an attack in barcelona where now 14 people are killed, he wouldn't have looked up a false story about general pershing putting pig's blood on bullets. >> seems like we're in a low point in history. i'm worried about what's coming. >> great depression pretty bad. that was probably worse. >> this is a pretty low point. >> now the vice president. >> we're at a low point in presidential history. now the vice president is comparing trump to another -- >> did you ever see how gerald ford dressed in the middle of disco era?

>> we'll be right back.

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willie, you're surprised? you didn't know that steve bannon -- >> this is like, this is known. >> steve bannon had padlocks on the inside doors and acid. >> kasie hunt and i are both stunned we didn't know the story. it was in the washington post. >> i'm sort of glad i missed it. >> his florida landlord sent him an e-mail that said the entire path tub seems to have been covered in acid. >> bannon's reply was i'm out of town, is there any way you could talk to someone else about it? >> it may not have been him. it may have been whoever was in there at the time. i don't want -- i don't know. >> why do you put -- i'm just curious. why do you put acid in a bathtub? well, in that case, it cuts through gristle and bone, but i

don't know what's happening here. zblim going to raise the bar. final thoughts as we close out this hour? >> my final thoughts are that are we looking at another access hollywood type of situation. where you have senators saying that the president is morally compromised and senator corker saying he's not stable, but then you have speeaker paul ryan talking about tax reform and the need to create better jobs. is the republican party going to pivot and go to the issue of governing and give the president a pass? i think that's what's going to happen. i think it's going to be remarkable when the republican party says we're going to continue on with these policies? >> from your reporting, republicans look like they're going to act like nothing happened and move forward? >> yes. from my reporting post by interviewing elected officials

and also by interviewing political strategists. they'll say while president trump might have had a pbad wee, they'll be endorsing his policy. they need wins to win in the next election. it's tied to his ability to be successful. you'll see a lot of elected officials condemning him and turning around and say we have to work with him to pass policies. >> thank you so much. coming up, we continue to follow breaking news from barcelona. we learned moments ago one of the injured victims has since died of her injuries. we'll have the latest and andrea mitchel joins the conversation. also ahead, the first the president lost the nation's top ceos. then he lost wall street with rumors of a resignation spooking the markets. "morning joe" is coming right back. or, you can take advantage of our best offer ever on an xt5.

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candidate confessional, sam stein. willie geist was reading "the washington post" column that talked about steve bannon -- i know you know about hot tubs. you have an advanced degree in hot tubs from tristate college that asked me not to mention your name because you went there. in steve bannon, in the article, it says what? >> i don't want to talk about this anymore. >> he had acid in a bathtub in his home. he left this place and put acid in a bathtub and padlocks on interior doors and banned the place. you know about baths, ja chot t. >> something called an acid dance. i don't know if it had anything to do with it. >> i have no idea. >> all right. so we will move on.

but it is, willie, it is fascinating. absolutely fascinating that steve bannon is undercutting the president's foreign policy to such a degree that you're the secretary of state and the secretary of defense that has to go out and correct him. >> who do we believe? if steve bannon is the man with the ear of the president, if he is, in fact, the senior advisor, was he speaking the president's true view of the policy toward north korea and others or was what we saw from the secretary of state and jim mattis, the defense secretary who said the military option is always on the table. which is it? >> i think the fact that you have to ask that and people are saying the president is unstable is a sign we're in turbulent times. let's go to pain. most viewers will find the following footage disturbing. at least 14 people are dead.

more than 100 injured. several seriously after a person drove a rental van through a crowded pedestrian plaza in barcelona. three people have been detained relating to the attack. police say none of them are the driver who remains at large. isis claimed responsibility, but as is often the case, has offered no proof, and nbc news cannot verify that claim of responsibility. meanwhile one person was killed. several more injured on wednesday night following an explosion in the town of alkanar, about 125 miles south of barcelona. police say those involved are directly related to the barcelona attack. about 75 miles southwest of barcelona police are working on the hypothesis that a thwarted attack is related. five alleged terrorists wearing fake suicide belts were killed

by police in a shootout. joining us now, andrea mitchel. you were on the air when this broke. and a lot has transpired since. and given what we're hearing about the president, what he's saying, and some of the concerns that perhaps the head of the senate foreign relations committee have about it, how do we view how this terror attack is being handled from our perspective? >> i think that there is a lot of confidence in the intelligence community, in the people leading the intelligence community, and, actually, of course, in the pentagon, and i think increasingly in rex tillerson, not in his ability to manage the state department but in his basically core values, the way he had to pivot after the first eruption by the president over north korea. on his way back, he was landing in guam when he had to be the voice of reason trying to

reestablish traditional u.s. policy, policy that has been bipartisan for decades to try to deter north korea but not to try to alarm or precipitate any kind of additional crisis or worse crisis in north korea, and similarly, i think there's a lot of confidence in the fact that you had rex tillerson and mattis. unfortunately because of bannon and the other distractions, they had to speak out about charlottesville and about bannon while they are side by side with their japanese counterparts at a very important meeting. but i think that what happened yesterday in barcelona contributed to bob corker feeling on his home turf in tennessee where senators and members feel a little more comfortable with local media, perhaps to let their hair down. we've known corker and others have been very concerned. i think that and surely charlottesville are increasingly concerned about the stability

and the reliability of what is coming out of the oval office, and -- also about surrounding them. >> why don't we show -- this is bob corker, and i've got to say, andrea is right. members feel more comfortable in their home states, but make no mistake as you watch this video. tennessee is one of the states that actually went more conservative in 2008 than 2004. it is a very conservative state. and bob corker goes home there in a very conservative part of that state and speaks truth to power by saying this. >> the president has not yet been able to demonstrate the stability for some of the competence that he needs to demonstrate in order to be successful. he also recently has not demonstrated that he understands

the character of this nation. he has not demonstrated that he understands what has made this nation great and what it is today, and he's got to demonstrate the characteristics of a president who understands that. and without the things that i just mentioned happening, our nation is going to go through great peril. >> andrea, that's not just any senator. that's the chair of the senate foreign relations committee. he that's a man relatively measured as sort of in a diplomatic way, especially when he comes on this show and says i don't like what the president said, but i want to give him space to grow and get better. that looked like a man losing patience with the leader of his own party. >> absolutely.

i think we're at an inflection point that they're home on recess, but i think when they come back, the house is certainly behind the senate. the senate has been increasingly concerned about the attacks on mitch mcconnell. this is a closed group. they are loyal to one another, and mitch mcconnell is very popular in his caucus, and they don't like the comments and the dismissive comments about john mccain the other day. it was somewhat overlooked about the concerns about him defending white supremacists and promoting his winery, but the fact is that he -- on three occasions during that rant, he was just incredibly disparaging of john mccain. one doesn't do that. then the jeff flake. it has come home to roost. i think you're seeing that with

bob corker. >> okay. let me read from peggy newnan who writes here is a cliche. in times of stress and fracture people want a president who is calm in the storm and speaks to the nation's moral conscious, recalls first principles, evokes what unites us. mr. trump did not do any of that. if a leader is gifted, he could succeed in speaking to the nation's soul and moving its heart by addressing it brain. this kind of thing comes from love of the country, our people, what we've been. it struck me this week as he spoke that his speeches and statements are loveless. the public mr. trump is not without sentiment and occasional spentment tallty. the deeper wells of a broader love seem not there to draw from. seven months in people know they can look to him for a reaction,

but not for comfort, inspiration, or higher meaning. and james peter son, i wonder, i've seen people who go on television and analyze for a living crying after hearing this president speak, weeping openly, distressed, disturbed, afraid that their president is so inadequate. >> when you think about this week, it's been a long week. i'm particularly moved by what's going on in barcelona. i was there with my family a few weeks ago. i was there with my wife and daughter and son. it's an incredible space. there's so many people there from all over the world. and the idea that he would respond to that with some mythological thing about a general using pig's blood, the islamaphobic piece is one thing, but the absence of any kind of presidential sense of the world. when you juxtapose that

terrorist activity with charlottesville, and the president's response, remember, people feel vulnerable in the immediate aftermath. they look to leadership to edify them in that moment, and this president has been completely incapable of doing that. >> donny, the great peggy newnan wrote about his ignorance of who we have been, of what we have been. i want to add to that. because that's actually an incomplete list. he has a complete ignorance of who we are. this is -- this is the most short-sighted political move the man could make. this is narrow casting in a country that has over 300 million people. this is narrow casting for early gop primaries. this gets you at 34% in approval polls. we've seen the narrow casting. we've seen the targets.

we've seen the hatred. it's shown itself in charlottesville. but look at the response to charlottesville. look at all the people that went out. filled the streets. lined the streets. like this morning in barcelona, people filling the streets, applauding, coming out, showing the strength. we saw the strength of a mother whose own daughter was slain by white supremacists hatred get up and say you know what? i've lost my daughter, but if it brings more attention to this cause, so be it. we've seen this sort of hatred in shacharleston. what did that bring up? that brought out for me, i don't know that i've ever been as moved outside of a church service as i was by the people of charleston who showed true love, showed true power, showed true compassion. >> forgiveness.

>> showed forgiveness. i forgive you. donald trump is so disconnected from that country. he will never win another election. ever. he's narrow casting, and that's the political insanity of this as well. >> joe, you talk about humanity. i love the words. it's who we are. we as a country are decent people and all created equal. donald trump is not a decent man. no matter how you slice it. and the good things are the last few days, you're starting to see the big peel. you saw corker. he used the word stability. he could have put mental stability in front of it. that's what he meant. you see the republicans and the right wing media with james murdoch. you see the business community. >> and by the way, not just james murdoch. obviously powerful, but also you see on twitter feed, some of the most conservative voices on the

right coming out every day going no, no, no, no, this is not conservatism. this is trumpism. >> the pill is conservatives, business republicans starting to peel, and t time for people to choose sides. it's time -- gary cohn is a decent man. we have a lot of the same friends who privately is upset. no. once you stand next to this man now, you're standing next to a man that in some way, shape, or form endorsed the klan and nazi. that's on his lapel pin. it doesn't go away. i understand the generals who will not leave. they have a rationale, we got to keep this -- >> keep the world safe. >> if you're steve mnuchin, a jew -- >> how about people standing next to him? >> you are literally and figurati figuratively, the peel has to

happen. this is a man who is ill. it's almost pathetic the way he's behaving now. he's ill, and the peel has to continue. >> but there's been no peel in the white house. nicole wallace came on the show on wednesday and said if you don't resign this morning, you'll be forever tainted by what the president did yesterday. nobody has left yet. this is a quote from bob corker. this is a republican from tennessee, quote, the president has not demonstrated that he understands what has made this nation great. and what it is today. effectively saying president trump does not understand the country over which he presides. >> i mean, it's been a tough week for everyone, i guess. but i don't necessarily know if i agree with you guys. i think what has made this week remarkable is that trump is ar tickulated what has been previously in sort of ugly

underbelly of our nation. we are and have had a fairly nasty past when it come to race relations. and what he's done is he's essentially taken what has been a dog whistle and he's shouted it out. and this is why it's so appalling to us. for the first time that i can remember, for the first time you have a president who is actually ar ti articulating a sub text. this is the southern strategy on steroids. t not just about race. it's about religion too. watching the video of those nazis walking through the streets of charlottesville chanting "jews will not replace us "was really difficult. for a president who has a son and daughter who are orthodox jews, i don't know how he can stand there and say there are

some good people. that's his family. that's his family. >> andrea mitchel, i know you've covered foreign policy and politics for decades, and i just have to ask you. that press conference, steve mnuchin, elaine chao, gary cohn, they're standing with the president, standing by his side as all of this came out of his mouth, and i just -- at this point -- what's the decision? is the decision to step up, do something hard, to influence this presidency? or become complicit? or is that too stark a choice? >> i guess everyone has to make their own moral choice. you could not do it. i know i could not do it. >> there's no way. >> but they have to make a choice based on what they believe is the greatest good. i understand why john kelly is there. i really do, and i understand for sure why mattis and the joint chiefs. look at the way the joint chiefs

all spoke out, and the chairman of the joint chief in beijing, joe dunford on his way back from a tough trip in asia and heading into the joint military exercises that are supposed to start this weekend and monday. and the threat from kim jong-un that, okay, i'll take a pause and i won't fire that missile toward guam and precipitate what could be a nuclear confrontation if there's an escalation and retaliation depend on whether you step down and don't do that exercise? what kind of exercise? are we going to pull back? these are the decisions these people are making. and you have this incredible moment where the president does not only not come out on camera after barcelona but ends up with that false internet rumor that lie about the general. how do you get your head around that?

i don't know what i would do in that situation. but i know there's a mix of ambition and patriotism and duty and fear that may be on the domestic side among white house staff. but i give the military a total pass. i think they need to stand firm. >> i understand that. i was talking about the people standing right there. >> i know you are. >> is elaine chao still standing by both men? why? >> when one is embracing white supremacists. >> and trashing her husband. i mean, trashing her husband, and she stands there every day while donald trump is trashing her husband. here he's preaching moral equivalency with white supremacists and neo-nazis, and just standing there. >> elaine chao and gary cohn, look at the picture of yourself stand big this president. is that okay with you? >> he's talking about jews and the administration that are sitting back saying nothing.

let me talk about my people. let me talk about e have been a je -- evangelicals. i grew up in a southern baptist church that had to move beyond a lot of that, that's still fighting to move beyond a lot of that. forget about the southern baptist church. what about evangelicals? what about the evangelical leaders supporting this man and across the south and across america that hear him making common cause with white supremacists, getting praise from david duke? you have the story in the new testament of the good samaritan. you've got jesus -- one of the first things you read, the words from jesus's mouth in the new testament, blessed are the peacemakers. blessed are the meek. blessed are the poor in spirit. you can go to the sermon on the mount a couple of chapters

later. jesus says you've heard it said love your friends and hate your enemies. i say love your enemies too. he says you know how often you have to forgive? 70 times 7. that means you have to keep forgiving forever. and he says blessed are the merciful, for they shall be shown mercy. i want to know with the preside president's evangelical task force, where are those leaders? why won't they speak out? because they're speaking for, in my opinion, something much bigger than a political faction. they're speaking for a church, and they're speaking for their faith, and they have been quiet. >> or at least they should be. i'm impressed with your biblical knowledge, joe, but trump is a slippery slope. the folks who wanted to align themselves with trump and trumpism thought they would get

something out of it. whether it was tax breaks or gorsuch. the supreme court was piece for evangelicals. they'll say that's a big enough win for them -- >> so he can embrace klansmen. >> even in this context, they'll chart it up as a win, something that's important for them politically. >> mike pence would make the same one. >> exactly. >> i'm telling you what evangelicals would say. >> donald trump isn't even conservative. >> it's a slippery slope. you make a bargain saying this is what we're going to get. who knows what trump is going to do? >> you're not going to get it. our democracy is -- >> they have to look to their religion and god. that's right. to make a moral decision, but the morality of this presidency is vacant. >> joe, what you said about charleston and what the mother of heather heyer has been doing,

that's grace, and that's what the country needs right now from the white house. that's what we are not getting. >> i want to say there are priests and pastors who are spoken up strongly this week. his closest friend, i think in the evangelical community is the president of liberty university who campaigned with the president and endorsed him early on. he tweeted two days ago, he tweeted finally a leader in the white house. jobs are turning. north korea backing down. bold truthful statement about charlottesville tragedy. so proud of real donald trump. >> there you go, sam. there are some people that -- well, they don't even get 30 pieces of silver and they'll sell their souls. >> yeah. that sounds about right, and power is an amazing magnet for a lot of people. it forces them or compels them to overlook moral bankruptcy in

certain cases. i guess if you're looking at this past week, there are reasons to be heartened. there's been admonishing from congressional leaders and the ceos of corporate america serving on his councils. that's an interesting and important development. but i fear, and i think a lot of people fear that we are at this place where we will move on to the next crisis or legislative battle. when congress comes back in september, there's a host of things they have to deal with that are all massive, massive policy lifts. we have a government to fund. we have a debt ceiling crisis on the horizon. you have the possibility of tax reform and maybe an infrastructure bill. my guess is that as soon as we move onto another dramatic story, perhaps something international will happen, that will kind of put this in the

rear-view mirror. it's hard to remember that a week ago we felt like we were in a nuclear edge with north korea. we have almost too good a metabolism for news these days. we need to stop and say let's not let this story go. let's continue to chew on it. i think this is one of those stories. >> i couldn't agree more, sam. what is it four days since the press conference? >> uh-huh. >> i think we need to count it out. this is day four since the press conference, and we need to remember it. we will keep counting. bob corker has spoken out. corporate and military leaders are speaking out. who else is going to speak out, and who else is going to remain quiet? andrea, i want to bring you in for a sense of perspective. there's a lot to be discouraged about, but using the line from

yates, the second coming, and turning it a bit from the center, i wonder with what you've seen in washington through the years, is the center holding? are the men and women of the military standing up for american values? are corporate leaders standing up for american values? are people like bob corker on the republican side, obviously a lot of democrats but marco rubio, cory gardener, others, are they standing up, and do you think at the end of this week there may be hope that the center will hold? >> i'm an optimist. i have never been as discouraged as i have been this week about our country. not the people of our country but the leaders of our country. there is a central corruption of the spirit at the core of all of this, and people have overlooked a lot of the financial self-dealing and a lot of the

other thing along the way, but when you keep making excuses, you get to the center of it, and all i see is self love. and that is not leadership. i don't know where -- i don't know where we go here. i do think that you have senators tim scott and others, ted cruz, who could have thought ted cruz would be more compassionate and loving and show more character this week than the president of the united states? it's just totally confounding. i'm waiting to see what house leaders do, but someone has to go, and thinking back, someone has to be the hugh scott andb r barry gold water who say this cannot continue. i don't know who it is and whether he'll listen. >> andrea mitchel, thank you very much. we'll leave it right there. still ahead, defense secretary

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one that keeps you connected to what matters most. welcome back to moi"morning joe." joining us now kristen welker. good morning. president trump facing backlash as we've been talking about this morning from his party including bob corker, the chair of the senate foreign relations committee. his vice president, mike pence standing at his side. >> reporter: that's right, willie. vice president mike pence digging in defending the president while speaking in panama yesterday. it does come against that backdrop that you mentioned, that striking shift that we saw yesterday. an increasing number of republicans not only denouncing president trump's response to the charlottesville clashes but calling him out by name. bob corker even suggesting the country could be in peril if

president trump doesn't get things on the right track. tim scott, the only african american gop leader saying the president may have lost his moral authority. here's what vice president mike pence had to say. take a listen. >> in president trump, i think the united states once again has a president whose vision, emergency and can do spirit is reminiscent of president roosevelt. then as now we have a builder of boundless on the michl who seeks to usher in a new era of shared prosperi prosperity. we have a leader who sees things not just as they are but for what they could be, and then as now, we have a president who understands in his words, a nation is only living as long as it is striving. and just as president roosevelt exhorted his fellow americans to dare to be great, president trump has dared our nation to make america great again.

and we'll do it with all of our friends in the world. >> reporter: and i think it's safe to say the teddy roosevelt comparison is something history people will debate in the coming days. mike pence is going to be at meetings at camp david with president trump today. the national security team, the defense secretary, they will be focusing on the strategy moving forward in afghanistan. sources saying the president will weigh a series of options. everything from withdrawing troops to adding more. >> wow. kristen welker with the president. >> by the way, that mike pence speech -- >> it was horrible. >> none of it was true. it was like it was written from an alternate universe. not joking here. not being glib. that seriously was so disconnected from reality. i don't know how the man can read the words. >> and the other thing, you give

a compelling talk about faith. obviously this is a man who is so built on faith and religion -- excuse me? you can set the moral high grounds that you won't go out to dinner if your wife isn't there, but you can stand by and once again, endorse, stand next to -- >> praise. >> lie. >> where's the definition of religion? >> elevate a man who this past week made common cause and preached moral equivalency when it came to white supremacists. >> humiliated his cabinet. >> the klan. >> bullied members of the senate. >> found that his only political ally outside of people that he pays was david duke. i mean, i don't -- >> how far this can go with mike pence, i don't know. but i'll tell you one thing. after donald trump leaves office, it's going to be too late for mike pence to say i was

there all the time with you guys. i was just -- no. providing aid and comfort to a man who provides aid and comfor what you're doing. i've respected you for a long time, but make no mistake, when you give speeches like that in the midst of a national crisis, you're providing aid and comfort to a man who provides aid and comfort to white supremacists. if you don't believe it, just listen to what white supremacists and klansmen are saying about your boss that you dare compare to teddy roosevelt. this is easy. come on, guy. come on, buddy. >> does he believe the words he said yesterday? >> no. >> or is this a vice president being naturally loyal to a president? and how far does that loyalty go? how far do you take the loyalty? if you're a man of faith, there no faith that supports anything donald trump has done this week.

>> you put your manhood in a blind trust while you're vice president. teddy roosevelt said speak softly and carry a big stick. donald trump does the opposite. >> let's introduce -- >> as you've seen on the table, michael lighter. always good to see you. >> good to be here. >> quickly on barcelona, what did you see there yesterday? 14 dead there, and thwarted attacks down the coast of spain as well. >> i think what we have is a more sophisticated cell than people think when they see the vehicular attacks. my guess is you probably have some disruption with that explosion. people have been launching their attacks separately. and it's a little surprising, because honestly the spanish have been very good. they have less of a radicalization problem than most of their allies.

and the spanish have done quite well. >> 86% of people across spain saw isis as a major problem in their country. it sounds like they knew something like this was coming. why? >> well, they do. isis talks a lot about spain and the peninsula for historical reasons. spain has enclaves in africa. they've been attacked overseas. i think the spanish government deserves credit for raising that awareness in 2015. i think spaniards have not been panicked, but they have been aware of the threat. that being said, this still comes as a shock in barcelona where most of the radicalization has occurred. >> let's move to afghanistan in 2009 the president, president obama, trying to figure out what does he do with afghanistan, a war that had been going on eight years. he tripled the number of troops.

some generals said they needed more. we have basically -- we're still running in place in afghanistan. here we are in 2017. the president and all of his advisors are meeting at camp david this weekend to try to figure out what are we going to do in afghanistan in 2017? what's the answer? >> joe, we've talked about this now for ten plus years. the options in 2009 were not very good. i don't think the options in 2017 are all that much better. the fact is there are still segments of afghanistan in the east and south along the pakistan border where the afghanistan government does not have control. there's corruption problems. there's not a bond of trust between the central government and the outlying provinces. >> we were saying the same thing back eight years ago. there are now young men and

young women taking up arms in afghanistan from the united states that were two years old, one, one, actually one year old when this war began. >> we have to think about the time frame our enemies have and the time frame we have. we think in two, year, maybe four-year electoral cycles. they're thinking in decades. i don't want to equate it perfectly with germany, egypt, but an ongoing presence is probably going to be necessary. even then, t not going to -- >> why can't we turn the corner in afghanistan? why do we have the same complaints in 2017 as in 2009 and 2001. the british had those complaints. the russians had those complaints. they're fighting -- it's a long war. we look at time in terms of

months. they're looking at decades. part of it is the issue of do you really want to go all in, or do you just say let's declare victory and leave? there got to be something between. >> we tried that in iraq. it didn't go too well. >> thank you. >> coming up, tina fey captures the moment of a nation by stress eating on live television. we're going to have that -- >> she's so great. >> coming up on "morning joe." whoooo.

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>> i would urge people this saturday instead of participating in the screaming matches and potential violence, find a local business you support, maybe a jewish run bakery or an african american run bakery. order a cake with the american flag on it. like this one. and just eat it, collin. [ laughter ] >> i'm sorry. how is that supposed to help?

>> the next time when you see people in polo shirts screaming about taking our country back, you want to say it's not our country. we stole it from a native americans. and when they have a peaceful protest, we shoot at them with rubber bullets, but we let you march through the streets with semi automatic weapons. then when anne coulter crawls out of her roach motel and talks and you're like okay yard sale barb barbie, but the other side is nazis and klansman, and who drove the car into the crowd, hillary's e-mails? cake eating is a grass roots movement. most of the women i know have been doing it once a week since the election.

>> we have. all right. still ahead, president trump gets a history lesson after lamenting the fall of confederate monuments in cities across the country. eugene robinson will join us with his new column coming up on "morning joe." ♪ if you have moderate to severe plaque psoriasis,... ...isn't it time to let the real you shine through? maybe it's time for otezla (apremilast). otezla is not an injection or a cream. it's a pill that treats plaque psoriasis differently. with otezla, 75% clearer skin is achievable after just 4 months,...

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it all adds up to our most reliable network ever. one that keeps you connected to what matters most. our first republican president abraham lincoln ran his first campaign for public office in 1832. a great president. most people don't even know he was a republican. right? does anyone know? a lot of people don't know that. we have to build that up a little bit more. let's take an ad, use a pact. >> frederick discuss las is an example of somebody that's been doing an amazing job and done more and more i notice. >> we've had leaders like susan b. anthony. >>ed a andrew jackson acted sooner, we wouldn't have the civil war. people don't have that? why could that one fought have

been worked out? >> he told me a year-and-a-half or so, a year ago that he thought he could have done a deal to have averted the war. >> it's so painful. that's our president. absolutely -- >> you can't do a deal against health care through the senate, it seems unlikely he would have prevented the civil war. >> he says nobody really -- >> completely. >> asked that question. why did we have a civil war? >> are you a republican. did you know lincoln was a republican? >> you know despite the fact that every year i went to, you know, the lincoln day dinner and republicans have been going to lincoln day dinner now the reagan-lincoln dinner for years. no, i thought they were talking about lincoln chafee. >> he's great, too. >> he is great. but, you know, where i thought they were talking about the hot rod lincoln, that was a great song.

>> it is a surprise to find out lincoln was a republican. >> that's completely ignorant of american history from he is. >> he is. >> i was watching an old interview with him. he's different. >> i always said that. >> he is so -- >> people get kind of critical. i hate to say this. >> listen, we have been going back to the show to show clips of him talking. you don't have to go back to the ''80s, go back to 1988, 2005, he is speaking complete sentences, fluidly, a mile wide and an inch deep. he is speakingco haer coherentl. there is massive decloo into complete sentences. >> along those lines, i want to say it again, trump speaks for himself at this point. i think the key thing on his lap el pin is his condoning of nazis and clansmen. if you stand next to him, if are you a steve mnuchin, elaine

chow, other than the generals to protect our national -- you are standing next to him. we cannot let that go. the appeal has to continue. >> dr. pearson, we saw another statue come down overnight in maryland. a supreme court justice who presided over scott. sad to see the history and tull culture of our great country ripped apart with the removal of our beautiful statues and monuments, you can't change history, but you can learn from it. what is your personal reaction to that? >> i think there is one thing to be ignorant of history, it's something completely disrespectful of what american history is and not understanding chief justice haney's role in the dread scott decision. i don't think he has any sense of na whatsoever. that decision essentially said african-americans can't be citizens in the united states of america and folks should do their research on that. that is probably a statue that should have come down a long time ago. historians will tell you, it's one of the worst decision of the

supreme court. i'm not sure the president of the united states has any capacity to understand that. he may be disrespectful of what american history is. >> this debate is railing now about confederate staffers t. president would love that to be a debate. the majority of americans a as willie pointed out earlier, americans say keep the stash queus up. it isn't about snatch chstatues white supremacy. he takes that on as stash queus instead of white supremacy. i am sure that battle is raging on? >> there is legislation that senator well examiner is looking to get rid of the confederate statues in congress. i don't want to diminish this debate. i think it's an important debate to have. it's a fine debate whether we have these statues up or not. but it's not the right debate to

have. we just got off days ago, it's kra ez to even articulate this out loud. a president saying there were some good neo-nazis and some good white supremacists. that i are related, of course, because the gathering crowd in charlottesville was there to protest the removal of the robert e. lee stash coup but we as a country shouldn't lose sight of the fact that the most powerful person in this country articulated empathy and sympathy for some people gathering among private, jews will not replace us. it's not just symbolism, it's politics, of course, and i do think you are right, joe that this is much more friendly terrain for him to be on, to talk about statues. and i think that -- i don't want to advise people, but i think we can't lose sight of the fact that the bigger battle here is over empathy and sympathy for white supremacists. >> you are right t. statues,

that at debate to have, in time. but right now. >> opposites -- >> that's the debate donald trump wants us to have. we're for days past, this president, giving aid and comfort to white supremacists and neo-nazis, american fascists, chancemen. if you don't believe that, just look at their words. >> and it appears he has a cabinet and a staff that is not strong enough, does not have the moral base, doesn't have the capacity to stand up to him. >> it looks that way. >> have you an ad advisor in steve bannon openly stoking this and saying, hey, this is how -- >> this is how we beat democrats, right? >> exactly. >> james peterson, donny deutsche, thank you all. still ahead, 14 dead, 100 injured in spaint the latest terrorist attack in europe. we will get more from richard engel plus more and more republicans contrasting the president, including one from a

deep red state who was once considered for secretary of state. we'll play bob corker's eye opening comments when "morning joe" continues. they're experts in things you haven't heard of - researchers of technologies that one day, you will. some call them the best of the best. some call them veterans. we call them our team. when i was too busy with the kids to get a repair estimate. i just snapped a photo and got an estimate in 24 hours. my insurance company definitely doesn't have that... you can leave worry behind when liberty stands with you™ liberty mutual insurance. a penny it's ourr back to school one cent event at office depot office max. notebooks! one cent! rulers, glue and 12-pack pencils! all one cent each!

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spain's second largest city. joining us now from barcelona, nbc chief foreign correspondent richard engel. >> reporter: good morning, this is barcelona's beating heart of the city. practices the most important pedestrian street is also unfortunately the scene of a terrorist attack. it was here when a van went rushing down this street, running people over, sending others running for their leaves. in this area this morning, there was a moment of silence, still, thousands of people have been coming out today to express sympathy with the victim but also to show the resolve that they will not be afraid. a manhunt is under what i this morning for the driver responsible for mowing down people on barcelona's main pedestrian street. the terrorists driving a rented white van turned this normally vibrant area into a spill zone. >> share speeding. >> reporter: american jack

davies filmed as she ran for her life. american tourists heidi noonist and her husband jared tucker were there, too. they had just separated when he went looking for a bathroom. now he's missing. >> the cops just kept pushing us, you know, away. i just ended up further and further away without my husband. i haven't seen him or we heard from him since. >> reporter: the van came speeding down the street. it was about as crowded as it is right now, completely packed t. van traveled about 600 yard, it wasn't just driving, zigzagging back and forth, chasing down victims. people still came back today to show they won't be terrorized. >> i ran into the bakery, where they let me in and there were a couple of us about 20 in that bakery hiding. >> reporter: the attack is the latest case of terrorists turning ordinary vehicles into deadly weapons. hundreds killed in the last two

years alone, in beloved cities all over europe, including berlin, london and paris. spanish dignitaries this morning leading a moment of silence in the very heart of barcelona the center of the city's famed street lighting. the mood now, a mix of shock, sadness and anger on this day of mourning. overnight, paris and new york, cities all too familiar with terror showing their solidarity. isis claimed responsible for this attack, saying that, quote, one of its soldiers was responsible for driving that van down these streets, to such deadly effect, isis, however, offered no specific proof it had advanced knowledge of this attack a. manhunt is under way for the driver of that van who is believed to have escaped on foot, also for any other possible accomplices or more attackers who may be linked to what now seems very likely to be a terrorist cell.

back to you. >> nbc news' richard engel in barcelona, thank you, willie. >> let's go now to senior national security analyst for nbc news and the chairman and co-founder of the terrorism network. juan, we have been together on too many of these morning, i'm thinking back to nice, berlin, i asked the question i'm worried there is not an answer to, what do you do about an attack, a low attack and somebody rents a van and drives down a crowded street? >> these are tragic events, low barriers to entry. all you need is a car or van in this case, they apparently rented one if not three vans. i believe police are on the lookout for two other vans they may have rented. very little that authorities can do in an open society, especially when the terrorists aren't trying to attack a particular site, like a government building and aren't trying to infiltrate a particularly venue, like a

concert, where you can build barriers to entry. it's hard in an open society. i think the long pole in the tent here all along is intelligence. spanish authorities have since the last 13 years in the madrid train subway attacks if 2004 been incredibly good at disrupting terror cells. in barcelona just this april to disrupt cells. so it's good preventative work that ultimately prevents these kind of attack, you can't stop all the attacks all the time in an open society. and unfortunately, there is a methodology that has been demonstrated to work and the terrorists are using it. they're learning from it and al qaeda and isis are calling for it. so, unfortunately, that's the wave of these attacks we are seeing in europe may not stop. >> president trump reacted to the terrorist attack by, once again, pushing a huge historic ally. he first tweeted, quote, the united states condemns the

terrorist attack in barcelona, spain, and will do whatever is necessary to help. be tough and strong, we lover you. then a short time later, he tweeted. study what general pershing of the united states did to terrorists when caught. there was no more radical islamic terror for 35 years. historians say, there is no evidence that what trump is referencing actually occurred and this isn't the first time he has promoted this debunked story. here he is during the south carolina primary last year. >> early on in the century, last century, general pershing, did you ever hear rough guy, rough guy? and they had a terrorism problem and there is a whole thing with swine and animals and pigs, you know the story. they don't like that. they were having a tremendous problem with terrorism and by the way, there is something you can read in the history books, not a lot of history books, they don't like teaching this. he took 50 bullets and he dipped

them in pig's blood. and he had his men load his rifles and he lined up the 50 people and they shot 49 of those people and the 50ing person, he said, you go back to your people and you tell them what happened. and for 25 years, there wasn't a problem. okay. >> again, that's a lie. historians say there's absolutely positively no evidence that the story that donald trump was meddling there. >> in the wake of a terrorist attack where people died. >> actually happened. so rick stengel, obviously, for, my go, at least let's at least comfortably say, in the post-war era, since 1945 the world has turned to america in times of crises. to be a calm staying force and

to provide support, what the good people of barcelona in spain and the west and the world got yesterday was, a president meddling an urban myth that is a lie and that actually slanders a great historical figure and in the united states and also has once again a deep under current of racism attached and hatred of muslims. >> you know the irony, joe, is the attack in barcelona is in part a function of how successful we have been on the battlefield. the idea of isis as a physical caliphate in syria and iraq has gone away. we will take ra ka, the 66 member coalition that barack obama and senator kerry put towing has been incredibly successful on the ground. >> it is important to stop today on august the 18th, 2017, to say, six months ago, a year ago,

we had people on this show telling us, we're going to be successful on the battlefield. >> yes. >> we are going to drive them from their cities. we are going to destroy the caliphate and take it apart bit by bit. when that happens, we are going to see more attacks like this. this is how they will respond to being absolutely run over and humiliated on the battlefield. >> in fact, joe, they saw it coming. their spokesperson also wrote in their magazine, two years ago before ramadan, he said, don't come to the caliphate, attack the infidels, wherever you are. take cars, take buses, take trucks, and you don't even have to collaborate with us. these are these so-called inspired attacks that are low tech, and that is a result of the fact that we have basically won and obliterated them on the military battlefield. >> so in the wake of this terrorist attack, there are a

couple other things coming to the table, president trump began his day yesterday by targeting two senators in his own party, lindsey graham and jeff blake. now he is getting tough straight talk from a powerful senator, who he vetted for vice president and later considered for secretary of state. senator bob corker of tennessee, the chairman of the foreign relations committee told the chattanooga rotary club yesterday despite his good relationship with the president, he could no longer ignore quote the elephant in the room. displaced by the daily distractions, he later said to reporters, there needs to be quote some radical changes in the way the president conducts himself. >> the president has not yet, has not yet been able to demonstrate the stability nor some of the competence that he needs to demonstrate in order to be successful. he also recently has not

demonstrate thad he understands the character of this nation. he has not demonstrate d he's understands what has made this nation great and what it is today and he's got to demonstrate the characteristics of a president who understands that. and without the things that i just mentioned happening, our nation is going to go through a great per im. >> i think we all around the table, well, we listening to that said this is a big moment. >> courage. >> actually a creeping up on a howard baker moment, where he says the president doesn't have the stability. he doesn't have the knowledge the working knowledge. he hasn't shown it to be president of the united states. >> and there were a sort of shades of this is unfixable.

i mean, he's saying the president needs to change his behavior. it appears these are permanent flaws, that these are -- these aspects of this president are not going to change and, therefore, perhaps others might need to act, still ahead on "morning joe" the murdocks supply pressure to the president from his comments on chorltsville to please get rid of steve bannon. plus the white house chief strategist feels he's on solid ground after publicly undermining u.s. military efforts in korea and calming far right americans clowns. but first, here's bill kierans with a check on some severe weather. bill. >> friday, a difficult day to get out on the airports, major delays at the new york city airport, cancellations from morning rain and heavy thunderstorm going through now, we will get round two later this afternoon, here's that rain in new york city, missed philadelphia, up through new england. this will be round two, it's now over the mountains, it is very

humid up the eastern seaboard. when we get if you have sunshine, we get hot, too, d.c., baltimore, philly, new york the potential, half the population that's in the way. 36 million people, not everyone will get hit by those storms, the rest of the country is quiet, scattered storms in the southeast. your typical storms, saturday looks nice, not a lot of problems out there, a summer-like thunderstorms across the board. by the time we get to sunday, the gulf coast, those are the type you are actually happy about. as far as the forecast goes for the eclipse, everything is looking good from idaho to oregon, wyoming is not too bad either. kansas city is concerned in missouri, clouds and showers, it hasn't changed in south carolina, especially around charleston, that rain, we'd like to get it out of the forecast. time's square in new york city. we have been watching the heavy rain, significant airport delays out there. they will be playing catch up all afternoon before that next round comes through. you are watching "morning joe."

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20th century fox james murdock has criticized president trump's reaction to the violence in charlottesville and pledged to do nate $1 million to the anti-defamation league. in a personal e-mail yesterday, to friends later confirmed by a spokesman, the son of rupert murdock, a close friend of president trumps, wrote it wasn't his habit to weigh in on current affairs, quote, what we watched this last week in charlottesville and the reaction to it be i the profit united states concern all of us as americans and free people. he added, i can't even believe i have to write this. standing up to nazis is essential. there are no good nazis or clansmen or terrorists. democrats, republicans and others must all agree on this

and it comprises nothing for them to do so. murdock went on to say that he and his wife plan to do nate $1 million to the anti-defamation league and urged others to do the same. that's big, that's a close friend of the president. they spent lots of time together. i know they were together the sunday after president trump won the election. they were hanging out together with friends and very tight. that's a departure. >> rupert murdock was, his son james, who obviously helps run the company and one, obviously, rupert murdock, one of the most powerful guys in media actually still is spending a good bit of time with donald trump and by all accounts is telling him, get rid of steve bannon, get your head down and start doing your business. even a man who many consider to be his closest allie in media, rupert murdock. if you read the editorial page

of the "wall street journal" day in and day out, they are doing the right thing when it comes to criticizing this president. again, this president is finding himself more and more isolated and this very commendable letter shows just how small this president's circle is becoming, where he's now surrounded by, you know, perhaps white nationalists and a few people who pathetically:eng to power for their resume. >> right. he is hurting his capital, his ability to maneuver, whether it's domestically on legislation or nationally. he is diminishing his ability to operate. we are seeing that with resignations from council, i think before charlottesville, there was this growing zierks as you all know and have talked a lot about for greater internal discipline, discipline for how the policy process is working, discipline for how the white house, itself, operates, discipline with respect to

leaks, discipline with respect to the messaging. i think all of that has been mainly lacking. i think the reactions you are seeing, both fundamental reactions to some of the things that have come in the wake of charlottesville, also even before that, a lack of policy progress on the hill and certainly challenges with the president's communication and lack of coordination within the administration has been a real challenge. i think you are seeing and feeling a lot of frustration, certainly from the closest of allies to this president. >> you know, rick, one of the impacts of the president's comments in charlottesville, everyone up and down the government is being made to answer for you. have you the secretary of state rex tillerson, he has to come out and focus on other things and talk about the klu klux klan and nazis and what happened in the streets of charlottesville, virginia, what does that do to a state department to have all the attention and all the oxygen on something like that, not the way he wants, be i the way, not to have the staff to get things

done the way he wants. >> the biggest give me in politics is criticizing nazis. >> you would thinks, at least since 1945. right? >> that's a no brainer. you can always do that, successfully and president trump could not, in fact, willie, as you say, it's a huge distraction for everybody in government, that you have to instead of going about your daily business, you have to support something that the president's said and it just speaks to how transgressive his presidency is. it undermines the regular operations of government, not doing the tackling in the white house, that is getting in the way of the agencies doing that, that's a real problem. >> coming up on ""morning joe,"" steve bannon wants to fire a high ranking official at the state department. secretary of state rex tillerson has other ideas for his state department. will the president side with his top strategist or top diplomat? what powers the digital world. communication.

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>> i think it's important for the president to fire steve bannon. where he said he hopes the democrats use race as an issue, because that's a win for republicans, that to me is

exploiting a racial issue. also the fact that he is undercutting the president, the secretary of defense the secretary of saes state and the head of the national security council or north korea, his time in the white house to me should be over. >> republican congressman peter king of new york becomes by our count the first republican law maker to call for the firing of white house chief strategist steve bannon. in a series of reports on wednesday, bannon targeted trump administration officials, mocked far right voters who helped propel the president. and cast out people. he says he feels on safe ground that the white house infighting stemming from the president's divisive response and told daily mail.com, his remarks drew fire away from the president and he successfully changed the media narrative with no phone call.

>> actually, he didn't. if that makes him feel better. as guests, he thinks the president is so stupid that he can say that. i mean, because he does think the president is dumb. you read the interview. he said, bannon says, i'm going to fire this person, i'm going to move that person out. i'm responsible for this. he tells everybody he is responsible. i guess he thinks the president is so stupid, that he will easily be distracted be i that stupid little slight of hand, hey, kid, look over here, while he's taking money out of trump's pocket. look over here, while he's taking credibility. . look over here, he's telling everybody, i got him elected. i got him elected. he would have never been elected. did you see that book josh green wrote? he says trump would have never been elected, who do you think leaked all of that to josh green? >> i don't think firing steve bannon at this point is going to change what's in the president's

heart. a heavy problem at the top, ivanka, moderating force, it's not jared, although, where are they? >> aren't they on vacation? >> i don't know. >> they go on vacation. >> if you work in the white house, it is a vacation. >> because they go on a vacation with the health care problem. everyone vacations during the neonazi stuff. >> don't they go on the worst times? >> it seems like bannon has done four on the record interviews in the last couple of days. he's shaping some narrative for himself, remember, he wrote to the washington post, an ema ill to bob costa and reporters there, quote this past election the democrats used every personal attack, including charges of racism against president trump. he then won a landslide victory on a platform of economic nationalism. as long as the democrats fail to understand this, they will continue to lose, says bannon but leftist elites do not value history so why would they learn from history? in the original prospect piece,

he famed chief economic advisory gary cohn and santa secretary of state of san thornson, secretary ril tillerson conspicuously shook her hand a. state department official tells nbc news, thornton, an obama administration holdover continues in her capacity and tillerson relies on her to lead the state department's diplomacy inside asia. remember the first spin from steve bannon, he didn't know it was on the record, all of a sudden yesterday it became actually it was nine dimensional chats where i was drawing fire away from the president in charlottesville and protecting my guy in the oval office. >> i have to say, rick i don't know how it is with government, if somebody worked for me trashed somebody in the media and said they were going to fire them i would walk in and think anybody with a backbone that wasn't a leadish wasn't a complete wimp. would walk in, say thank you for

your service. i need you to pack up and you can either walk out or we'll have security walk you out. get out. we don't talk about each other that way i make the firing decisions. not you. >> it does undermine the president's job as a chief executive who actually makes those decisions. he has been compensating for the fact the interview he was off the record, it was then published. the thing so undermining is it changes his whole narrative. he thinks knuckleheads impedes, the fact that the president isn't aware of what's going on, everything he has been doing is trying to compensate for that interview, by changing the narrative. >> coming up on "morning joe" we will be joined by halle jackson, and press froomd around the world reached it lowest point, a first look at the vice

documentary about a free press ungreater obstruction and greater danger "morning joe" is back after this. ♪ (music plays throughout) ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

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>> tliv past the hour. on monday, the mother of counterprotesters heather heyer, the young mother killed in charlottesville, thanked the president for his comments, denouncing the kk and white supremacists by name. now she says she will not speak to the president after what he said on tuesday. >> i haven't really watched the news until last night and i'm not talking to the president now. i'm sorry. after what he said about my child and it's not that i saw somebody else's tweets about him. i saw an actual clip of him at a press conference equating the protesters, like miss heyer, with the kkk and the white

supremacists. >> joining us now, pulitzer prize winning columnist and associate editor of the washington post, correspondent halle jackson and visiting scholar at the american author of the upside of inequality how good intentions under mine the middle class. we will get to ed's new piece in just a moment. but first, gene, you write in the baugh post, history will remember republicans who stick around. this is, of course, what we have been talking about, quote, trump, may indeed not know most confederate monuments were elect e recollected not in the years after the civil war and around the turn of the 20th century, racial oppression was being established. they symbolize fought history, but the defiance of history. they celebrate not defeat on the

battlefield but victory in putting up etty african-americans in their place. even if someone explained all this to president trump with lots of pictures, he wouldn't care. for him the important thing the to tell the white voters who constitute his base, they are being disrespected and possessed. it's a cynical and dangerous ploy t. chiefs of the army, navy, air force marines and national guard publicly condemned hate groups in the wake of charlottesville, they, of course, could not mention the commander-in-chief by name, but politicians can and they must. it's really a powerful column. a lot of people are looking for politicians to stay the president's name and say what they see and they hear from his lips. >> we are heartened by what bob corker said? >> i was very much heartened by bob corker's remarks.

at the same time, you hear an experienced senior, u.s. senator, chairman of the formal committee, speaking like that about a sitting u.s. president and so while i'm heartened, he speaks the truth on how can you not be, i think the term of art freaked out, this is the fact about the president right now. you know, he is not up to this job in any sense, morally, intlebl intlebltually in terms of his willingness the work at it, his willingness to learn, which there apparently is none. now he is cynically using race as a wedge issue, which has to be a no go zone in our politics. this is a diverse country. we can't do this, this way. and it's disgraceful, it's

dangerous and, you know, thank you, bob corker, for speaking out and let's hear from others, too? how about members of the cabinet. >> freaked out is the term of art, of course, free philosophy, willie. so you start tallying up the bob corkers, you tally up the people that donald trump's you know talking about primary and john mcclain has always been out there. there are a lot of people that would agree with him on policy that he's, you know, he's making enemies. it's hard to get to 50. he's playing a game of subtraction rather than addition. >> mika, you talked about cabinet member, i talked to ben carson, to the local d.c. station in walk, within they went and knocked on his door,

they brought him in on a 45-minute interview. he doesn't agree with saying you don't know history. but remarkably similar, within it comes to policy, they do want a row in the same direction t. question is, how do you say in the boat? i don't think what we let heather heyer or mother said this morning pass the white house as of 18 hours ago, when i was in bridgewater, were talking about setting up a call with them t. president in that news conference we were at in the lobby of the trump tower specifically tanked the mother, we just saw, thanking the president for his remarks that he first had made earlier in the week. then she watched the news. i think that is significant. i'm curious to see how the president reacts. how can he attack her now? he praised her. >> you think about that, joe, help me understand, how can

heather heyer's mother be so strong in the face of such deep loss, personal loss and members of the cabinet and people standing be i the president when he said those words can find the strength to stand up to him. >> we actually talked about this when we were in charleston near your hometown we grew up in. we seen the strength out of charlottesville and this mother. >> we certainly have, one big difference in charleston, of course, was the president of the united states went to the funeral of the reverend who was one of the nine killed in that horrible attack and delivered a you'llology i think will be remembered for a long time and president trump by contrast did what he did. he was the exact option.

but, no, we see time and again, there are a lot of good, strong, remarkably strong people in this country and that had has to give you hope, despite what might be happening at the want to of the government. >> in a lot of way, susan broeg filled the void the country was looking for in the absence of too many other ones. let's talk about a new poll about the economy. it shows optimism, voters in the quinnipiac poll give president trump a 39% job approval rating overall, up from his low 33% last month, earlier this month actually, 38% believe trump and republicans in congress will pass significant legislation this year, nearly six in ten say they will not, meanwhile, 62% say the state of the economy is either excellence or good. that's up 8 points since june. voters are split down the

middle. more voters are crediting president trump for the state of the economy. 50% believing obama is responsible. 38% saying it's trump. before we get to your piece, let's talk about that. that is the case donald trump is making the case is the dow is at an all time high, it created a million jobs, for the record, that is slower growth than the last year of president obama's administration, it's the number the white house is using, consumer confidence, business confidence all up. does he have a case? >> i think he has a case i think in the short run it was baked into the cake. in six months, he can't have a lot of impact. with the stockmarket and the economy at a high, it went up 25%, the day he was elected, it's dropped a little in the last couple day, i think in the obama administration, it grew two-and-a-half for several decades, there was a lot of regulatory burden put on the

economy in the first two years of the obama administration, there is a lot of regulatory reform the executive branch can do. i think people expect it. you don't see the short run. you do see it in consumer confidence, in the stockmarket, things that are reflecting the future. >> when you look at the economy number, that itself the things you hear when you talk to human beings outside new york and walk. they talk about jobs and the economy. that's the people said, even if they didn't like his comments, there is one woman, we sent to her yesterday, rehema ellis talked to this group of voters. one woman had not seen the news conference from tuesday, until they showed it to her. so sometimes i wonder, what is penetrating for folkser, when you look at the economic numbers, that sinks in, that's something people feel. >> we have a feel piece in the krooet wall street journal, america's got talent, not nearly enough in it you write,

president trump has proposed cutting the number of green cards each year, from 1 million to 500,000. issuing on skill levels. this approach gets it half right. it would be good for the economy. if america issues green cards based on skills, cutting the number would squander the best opportunity for economic growth. with the chinese economy expected to surpass america's in size in 10 to 15 years the u.s. needs to do more than paying for retire, baby boomers. it into evidence to grow quickly enough to maintain a strong national defense, boosting growth with high skilled immigration is the only viable alternative. >> and you believe this strongly. this is the only vieblg alternative, where i in more skilled labor. >> i absolutely believe it. the the retiger baby boomers eat us alive, government spending is expected to grow 8 to 9% of gdp

as they retire. >> that moves government spending up almost life in%. we will be eaten alive which growth killing tax increases, enormous, if we just get organic growth. there is no other way to make america strong after we get done paying for the baby boomers. >> and it used to be, we'd be happy when we got 3, 4% growth. right now we have been looking at 1, 2%. is it safe to say, unless we do something like this, that's what we will be looking at for a long time? >> i think we could see two to three% growth. >> if you look at what's driving growth, it's the top innovation, five or 6 million workers. we could double the number of ultrahigh skilled workers in a fairly short period of time. >> that might potentially double the growth rate in the united

states, which would solve this problem. >> which of course silly con valley is looking for. >> one of the issues is the president's immigration policy has been a dampen on people applying for visas, skilled people. we seen fewer people applying for those jobs, it's depressing it. the fact that he does not a us the rhetoric that we have used for 100 years is all going against this, which i support, people feel leak i will not be welcome there. >> that's why you say, he's got it half right the high skills labor part right. don't cut it to half a million green cards, keep it at a million, actually increase the ratio of high skilled to low skilled immigrants. >> he sets the bar so high on skilled, it's hard for anybody to actually get into the country. i agree with you, it's trying to advocate for more high skilled immigration, the kind of practical immigration that would

grow the economy. i don't think we can get there with education, which will take decades and decades. we don't have the time for that. >> let's go to c nbc's domenic clu for the latest on the markets. >> i took a dip t. barcelona effect or the gary cohn effect? >> it was all the things you guys have been talking about and more. i have been listening intently on the panel over here. much of that market was because of many of those things like you said, president trump is certainly a part of the story. there is a concern in some;ments on wall street the president and the republican agenda may be hitting a big snag here, of course you have that big interview that home depot co-founder and trump supporter gave the "new york times." he said the president completely mishandled things armed charlottesville, that's damaged his ability to press his economic agenda. i will say this, in that

"time's" ber vieinterview, he believes trump can get things done, like you said, you get the market sell-off we saw yesterday, we'll see if that careers e carries through. i would say we are keeping an eye on some other things as well. manufacturing and jobs specifically. lawmakers in the state of wisconsin have advanced a bill that could provide inclintfs to taiwanese manufacturer foxconn. they may build factories in wisconsin, focusing on things for smartphones, that could be 20 million and employ thousands. certainly, big headlines on the politics and the economic front if wall street today, back over to you. >> all right. i'm kcurious that new piece in the "new york times," how we need immigrants with skills, work, marred is a skill. he had come out in opposition.

what's the argument? >> i'm not sure i understand his argumentch sure, work, hard is a skill. i think we get immigrants that work incredibly hard and they set the bar high for the rest of the americans to cross over that bar, that's an important aspect to driving up productivity in our country, to get the training, to take the risks, make the effort, to create the productivity that increases the wages for the rest of our economy. i mean, i do see business as a way to serve fellow man by serving customers. and i think that we have a moral obligation as talented people to engage in those activities we had seen business relative to charity over the long run is the predominant source of increase of standard of living and help for our poor people. to d e think high-skilled is best for us? no. but they've benefited the most in the last 20 or 30 years.

i think it's time the rest of the economy shared in the success and i think this is way to do it, doubling the number of high-skilled people, double the amount of supervision of low-skilled people, double the amount of productivity improvements you're likely to get and that puts upper pressure on low-skilled wages. >> ed o'connor, thank you so much. check out his column in "the wall street journal." hallie jackson, thank you as well. president trump is well-known for his attacks on the so-called fake news. just ahead, a new vice documentary takes us to the philippines where president rodrigo duarte reportedly told journalists because you're a journal is doesn't mean you're exempted from assassination. oh, okay.

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now he's added a new routine. making depositing a check seem so effortless. easy to use chase technology, for whatever you're trying to master. isaac, are you ready? yeah. chase. so you can. at least once person who was killed. very possibly the bodies can be taken away by then. >> it's widely believed that president duarte orders police to kill suspected drug users indiscriminately so journal ichss race to investigate the crime scenes before all evidence is removed. >> drives so fast.

>> so, they were able to get the body already. >> they got it already. >> that clip if tonight's episode of "voice" on hbo was a recent look at the dangerous work local filipino journalists endure reporting on the president's brutal war on drugs there. our next guest, "vice" correspondent and producer, she joins us now. i can't wait to see it. this is kind of an incredible time for the press around the world where freedoms are being diminished by the day, here, there, and everywhere. >> absolutely. i mean, the philippines is one example and part of the reason we went there is because surprisingly outside of war zones it's the deadliest place to be a journalist, single deadliest event for people working for pedia in modern history across the world was in the philippines, which a lot of people don't know.

being there, you see it first hand. you've seen the archival of duarte essentially condoning the assassination of journalists, but the way we saw it there was how journalists, even the most dogged of journalists who are presenting the best reports are self-sensoring in some way, you know, for self-preservation. >> self-preservation. >> so they don't get killed. >> this campaign of assassination has been going on for a while now. how are communities reacting? how are people -- are they afraid? are people cheering this on? what's the reaction? >> actually, one of the most interesting things is that, you know, even with president duterte executing the war on drugs, thoups killed in just over a year, he has an approval rating very consistently in the 70s and 80s, different than president trump, even though there are a lot of parallels there. >> it's like putin and russia. >> absolutely. you wonder is it because people fear him, you know, so they're saying they support him, or is it that v they really buy his

message and to his credit in a strange way his propaganda machine is exceptionally executed. >> is it really. >> it's unbelievable. >> president trump has basically pratz praised his effectiveness, invited him to the white house, gushed over him. >> phone calls. >> put that into context for us based on what you saw. >> absolutely. 've had multiple phone calls and multiple invitations for president duterte to visit the white house and lots of support for his war on drugs. trump thab clear on that, which i think is shocking far lot of people living here. there are a lot of parallels between the two of them. both try to intimidate reporters aggressively during press conferences and social media. both try to circumvent the press. trump is going straight to twitter so he doesn't have to be challenged by reporters and the press corps. in the same way, duterte, when he was inaugurated he didn't let independent journalists into the

room. they had to sit outside. it was only state-run media. there were v there are a lot-parallels between the two of them. >> this rise in disinformation and a clampdown on free speech around the world, it's a terrible threat to democracy. in fact, duterte is one of the worst examples for press but we're seeing this also in egypt, turkey. you see a wider issue like this? >> absolutely. egypt is one of the worst examples. china, turkey, two of the worst jailers in the world, russia, obviously, terrible. we went to mexico to report on this, not coming out far bit, but that country is interesting because the cartel, local journalists fear politician mrs. than the cartels. >> the new episode of "vice" is on hbo, airs tonight. gianna tabani, thank you. >> 7:30 on the east coast. >> and 11:00. >> thank you very much. >> thank you. >> great work. that does it for us this morning. chris jansing picks up the coverage right now. >> joe and mika, thank you.

i'm chris jansing in for stephanie ruhle. this morning, terror in spain. >> overnight suspects shot and killed. spanish investigators are in multiple cities this morning after the worst terror attack there in more than a decade. 14 dead, more than 100 injured after a van attack in barcelona and a second attack just hours later. >> i just ended up further and further away without my husband. i haven't heard from him since. >> president trump comes down on the side of the to confederate statues in a tweet storm as more republicans go on the record. >> the president has not yet been able to demonstrate p stability nor some of the competence that he needs to demonstrate. >> we'll have a lot more on that, but we begin in spain where police are simultaneously searching