award winning design. award winning engine. the volvo xc90. the most awarded luxury suv of the century. this august visit your local volvo dealer to receive sommar savings of up to $4,500. hi, everyone. great to have you with me. i'm thomas robertss. we have breaking news this hour with president trump set to address the nation tomorrow night from arlington, virginia, where he will outline his plan for afghanistan and south asia. we'll have that in a moment. the breaking news from legendary comedian jerry lewis passing away at the age of 91.

he did die peacefully surrounded by loved ones. lewis rose to fame in the 1940s and known for his slapstick sense of humor and just as famous for raising billions of dollars for charity over decades and we'll have more in the life and legacy of jerry lewis ahead this hour. also, the new nbc news poll the president showing support is lost in several key states. these states that are the ones that helped him win the election. michigan, wisconsin and pennsylvania. we'll take a deep dive into the numbers and the fallout from steve bannon. will he prove to be a friend or foe outside of 1600 pennsylvania avenue. and then the excitement, yes, it is building. we are 24 hour away from solar eclipse 2017. we have the best watching spots and i hope everyone has found their viewing glasses because they're hard to find. >> first, we want to get into the brakieaking news.

word when the white house and president trump will tell us his plans. the address is set for tomorrow at 9:00 p.m., and nbc's kelly o'donnell joins us from bridgewater, new jersey. kelly, explain this will be the first full working day at the white house for trump and team after the extended holiday with the renovations at the white house. so explain what the news is about and if we have information on the strategy to be revealed? >> well, this will be about what really comes out of the camp david strategy session that happened on friday, thomas, where we saw the president spending several hours in the afternoon at that facility which is a military secured facility in addition to being a presidential retreat, and he was there with members of his national security team, members of his cabinet. other types of advisers and the president indicated that decisions were, in fact, made that day, and then having a little time over the weekend to continue to mull it or obviously, a speech had to be crafted and a decision was made to make this a prime time address, and that is no small

detail. when a president addresses the nation in prime time, that is a request to the networks to donate the time and it gives it a stature of importance that really puts it into a lifter cal category. the president has only done one prior prime time address and that was his joint address to congress which looks like a state of the union address, but was at the beginning of his term of office. so this is significant. on the content, it will be a plan for the american involvement in afghanistan, and it will be broader than that, because it will involve the region, i am told by sources and that will include policy that goes just beyond afghanistan, but how to get regional partners if it's afghanistan and india and pakistan, allies to try to form a plan going forward that goes beyond a military solution for a part of the world where if left unattended we have seen over time that it is a hotbed for developing terrorism and also we've seen the taliban take

a greater share of control in afghanistan, and it has been a place where the united states has been involved in 2001 just weeks after the 9/11 attacks and while we have seen troop levels be assigned up and down over time, this is the challenge for president trump as commander in chief to evaluate where things stand now. it is widely believed, although we don't have it officially confirmed yet, that there will be additional troops called for and that secretary mattis, head of the department of defense already has that authority from the president, but we don't have numbers yet. we expect that the president would be able to give us some specifics, a range of troops tomorrow night, and this will give us a picture of the footprint of the american involvement going forward, how allies will be involved and this is always a question of the cost to the american public both in blood and treasure when you're talking about such a protracted war, and it comes at a time

where his approval ratings are among historic lows and he's had a tumultuous week. those are separate issues and they certainly form the kind of backdrop for when he addresses the nation. thomas? >> there were a limited number of troops that were sent in earlier this summer. do we have any information about whether or not the president agrees with those advisers in his white house on military strategy like h.r. mcmaster who has wanted to encourage the president to sign off on sending more troops to this region? >> reporter: well, i think that's the outcome that we'll see tomorrow night, that there is now a decision, a set of plans that has been put together, pulling together the advice from those people around the president and that he will announce that. unfortunately, i don't have the specifics to share with you. >> we have talked to advisers who are very pointed about not wanting to get ahead of the president today. i would imagine by looking back over how these things play out, when the pentagon is fully staffed tomorrow, i would imagine there will be people who

have insides there who will be willing to share with reporters, but from a white house perspective tonight, other than telling us they'll have this general guidelines, we don't know what the prescription from the president will be. i think it's been widely viewed that the likely scenario is that he would increase troops, but again, that's just educated guesses looking at the foreign policy of the moment and the standing of the president. so more will come on this, but it will be a very significant moment for the president to spell out his strategy and to address the nation. thomas? >> the longest-running war in history, i think it's over $1 trillion has been spent so far -- or half a trillion dollar, excuse me, and the president giving us less than 24 hours before we find out. kelly o'donnell reporting in bridgewater, new jersey. thank you. i appreciate it. i of the to dive into the numbers that we got into the nbc news/marist poll. it shows new hope or encouragement for the democrats.

we have michigan, pennsylvania and wisconsin all putting the president over the top on election night. well, now each of those states they're saying they prefer a democratic candidate for congress over a gop one. the margin close to or more than 10% of each of the three states polled. meanwhile, we have a new warning for republicans in the wake of steve bannon's departure from the white house. here is what corey lewandowski said earlier today. >> there is a person in charge who has had the same ideas and the same goals and the same fills on fe for 30 years and the departure of steve bannon is an important measure, but it's also something that is not a finite decision because that doesn't fundamentally change the way the president wants to operate. >> joining me right now is maya wiley, senior v.p., david korp, david jolly and chief white house ethics lawyer under george w. bush. maya, let me start with you

because looking at breitbart earlier today, one headline was going after ivanka. they were using the sourcing of the daily mail saying ivanka is claiming responsibility for bannon's ouster. there is a new piece going after mcmaster. how important do you think the breitbart influence is going to be on the gop base now that steve bannon has officially returneded? >> think it is unclear. >> think the reality is that the breitbart base has always been a very, very conservative one and in some estimates, also white supremacists and neo-nazi which is not necessarily the full base of the republican party and fortunately for the country. it has had an influence on people understanding what the facts are. so i think as long as they continue to raise, frankly, false statements and false facts about important issues to the base, some of the base may get confused about what the truth is. >> meanwhile, we know that bannon did tell "the weekly standard."

i feel jacked up. i'm free and i have my hands back on my weaponses. some say it's bannon the barbarian and i'll crush the opposition. is the key word really opposition? anyone who is categorized as the opposition of steve bannon should be worried and that includes some people he might have considered friends in the white house? >> this is what i've been thinking about the last couple of days, thomas, which is how can steve bannon and the breitbart barbarians wage a campaign against the trump white house with gary cohn or ivanka without waging a campaign against donald trump. they're advising you and duping you and manipulating you and that is the last thing that donald trump wants to hear. it seems to me that there's no way they can proceed down this path without creating a civil war within the conservative movement and within the republican party and the one thing we've seen with the trump presidency so far is that they have enough trouble trying to do things in just the normal way.

>> understanding bills, talking policy, you know, maintaining stable personnel decisions in the white house. they can't do any of that. how are they going to do this? how will this work better for the trump presidency and convince americans that he's a competent president if this civil war breaks out? go to it, steve bannon, but it's the most self-defeating thing the conservative movement can do. >> richard, meanwhile, there are some people that would like to give the benefit of the doubt to the president or any of the remaining staff in the white house thinking, okay, bannon's gone. that was a big concern for us. who is left, in your opinion, richard that would be of a concern for the chaotic eight months ahead that we've seen from this original eight months? >> well, i had a body associated with steve bannon and the neo-fascist neo-fascist alt-right movement and these are people who only want to talk about race and stir

up the race pot by insulting african-americans and jews and muslims and everybody else, and that's not in the interest of our national security. steve bannon was spending the last few weeks if not months trying to undermine h.r. mcmaster and our national security team. we have a very serious situation, not only in afghanistan, but in the korean peninsula, and we need experienced military personnel to be able to make decisions without somebody like steve bannon who doesn't know what the heck is going on trying to influence everything. so it's great to get him out the door. he can sit over there at breitbart news, and real conservatives don't read breitbart news. they read "the wall street journal" or "the dallas morning news" and all he wants to talk about how bad black people are. most of us care about uniting the country, black, white, muslim, jews, christians and everyone in the united states to

defend fundamental american values and we are under threat right now not only by terrorists in the middle east, but as i say on the korean peninsula and people like steve bannon and sebastian gorka is still in the white house and he's running around saying all sorts of things about muslims trying to get the united states at war with a million muslims and wearing medals from nazi sympathizers. they have to sack him. a whole bunch of them need to go. there is a very good national security team in place, and if the president listens to them and listens to the top economic advisers, he might be stully able to do the job, but let's stop the race baiting and trying to get people upset at each other. we're all americans and we're all in this together and steve bannon never sent that message. his message was one of division and racial hatred and we have to put that behind us because we've got work to do. >> the white house certainly has work to do if they want to heal

that divide. this past week was not really the best effort to do any of that, but now, congressman, we have tomorrow night, 9:00 p.m., the president will be addressing the strategy moving forward for afghanistan and this is mixed with the recent poll numbers showing that the president is down as richard is pointing out trying to come together as americans, one of the best ways that we've seen our country do that through the white house is when a president chooses a foe, and afghanistan has been technically a foe and we're a country at war over the last 16 years. does this turn the tide in any way? >> no, it doesn't. elements within afghanistan have been our enemy, listen, nothing changes and there is nothing redeeming to donald trump about being wrong. it's one who hired steve bannon in the first place? that's donald trump. who listened to steve bannon on

everything from the pair iis accord that's donald trump. who said even at breitbart will push his agenda? donald trump. the good news for steve bannon and breitbart, they have not heard this, but the good news for the american people, no reasonable republican reads breitbart. i have never been on breitbart's website nor do i care what they say. steve bannon and breitbart will not expand the base that elected donald trump, a man who lost the popular vote. they might strengthen his base that are 32 to 35%, but he will not be able to expand his base regardless of what he says about afghanistan or anything else now that steve bannon is gone. he will only harden the core base. >> if the congressman is being logical about maybe the influence of the bright bavrt, but nonetheless, was there steve bannon in the west wing and donald trump was the president having won the electoral college over the popular vote which is the way our system works to get you into the white house, yet no legislative victories from president trump. how do they right this ship to get anything done if they want

to get the left and the right working together after a nice holiday break they've just had? >> the first thing they'll have to deal with is the debt ceiling, so let's step back one step to the -- to what the problem is for the president right now. his base is white people who do not have college degrees. they have a debt ceiling. the interesting thing about steve bannon was he is in favor of raising tax rates which might pay for some programs that would allow a legislative agenda that would help people go to school and get higher education degrees and get jobs and get job training. right now they're facing a legislative agenda in which donald trump himself is not actually advocating for anything that helps his base. so what you will see is a steve bannon using breitbart to push on the issues he pushed the president on during the campaign, made part of the campaign platform like a wall with mexico, like the divisions that we've been talking about on the show, like things that do

want help the american people and he's going to do it at the same time that steve bannon ironically will push possibly for higher taxes on the wealthy. >> there is a twist because steve bannon was against expanding a footprint in a military strategy. and that's why we've seep so many had lines attacking legitimacy and mcmaster remains in position as opposed to bannon who does not. as we go to break, i want to remind you of the other breaking news, the life of jerry lewis. a look back at his legacy. >> he had his hair spiked yellow, red, green, purple. so i'm looking at him, and he said what's the matter, old man? didn't you ever do anything out of the ordinary in your life? i said yes, as a matter of fact, 20 years ago i had sex with a parrot. i thought you were my son. [ laughter ]

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so hollywood lost a legend today in comedian jerry lewis passing away at the age of 91. according to his family, he passed away peacefully at his las vegas home surrounded by loved ones. nbc's keith morrison has more on the longlegacy of jerry lewis. >> this is how most people remember jerry lewis, zany, goofy, nonstop hilarity. ♪ ♪ >> he was born jerome levich in newark, new jersey. he never finished high school, the business, making people laugh was all that ♪ ♪ >> audiences loved him. >> here he was still a teenager with second billing of the prestigious 500 club in atlantic city which is where jerry lewis formed half of one of the hottest comedy teams in history.

♪ >> dean martin and jerry lewis, the crooning casanova and the clown, jerry lewis and dean martin were literally an overnight sensation. it wasn't long before hollywood called. they made 17 movies together, all box office hits. then in 1950 they got their own variety show. jerry lewis was only 24 years old. they were making $10 million a year. fans couldn't get enough of them, but then as suddenly as it started it was over. after ten rolicing years, jerry and dean called it quits. when martin and lewis parted they were no longer friend, and there were rumors that the break-up would end each of the men's careers. instead, jerry lewis went on to sign the biggest deal in hollywood history, a $10 million contract with paramount. he made more than 30 movies solo. those movies broke new ground.

unlike nearly anyone else at that time, jerry lewis had complete control. he not only acted in his film, he wrote them, produced them and directed many of them, too. years later his movies didn't do so well, and the only place left to see a jerry lewis movie was late-night tv, but there was one thing, one huge, long-running act that never seemed to get old. every labor day, the jerry lewis telethon for muscular dystrophy. and long after a legendary career in movies, club acts and tv when he was 69, he got going all over again. debuting on broadway in the hit musical "damn ♪ ♪ >> his was a life as big as entertainment, the only thing he ever wanted to do, he did so well he got the whole world to watch. ♪ ♪

mama, yoquiero ♪ >> you can watch and watch and watch. joining me is james kaplan. he penned a profile of lewis in 2004 for "the new yorker" and he also wrote, co-authoring the biography, dean and me, a love story. it's great to have you here and it was fun to watch keith's piece with you, kind of bopping along getting to ask questions. >> it's great to be here. it's a sad day. >> you knew jerry lewis personally. >> yes. >> how much did we really know jerry lewis from his illustrious career and his movies, with the telethons every labor day. did we really know him the way we think we did? >> he was a complicated guy and the complications were summed up in "the nutty professor" when he was jekyll and hyde in the movie. he didn't suffer fools gladly, and he was a brilliant man and we lost the last of the great

lizards and the guys who walked, frank and dean are gone. >> i thought that that was kind of the jerry lewis persona, the goofy guy that then turns into the suave cat. >> yes. >> and then getting to know him, "i'm 44," and 44 years of muscular dystrophy telethons every labor day. this is jerry lewis' time of year when you think of it, the end of august. >> it's a bittersweet time of year. was he embraced by the rat pack. we associate dean martin so heavily with that, but they had their long-running professional hollywood marriage as a team. >> yes. >> and then they split. explain the background there. >> yes. let's not forget that by the time the rat pack formed in 1960 jerry and dean martin who was an integral part of the rat pack were alienated from each other. they didn't speak.

frank and dean were friends and they did charity events together, but as far as jerry becoming part of the rat pack or associated with the rat pack, it wasn't going to happen as long as dean was involved. >> when they did have that makeup moment. >> yes. >> did their friendship ever revert to form or was it always -- jerry tried to keep in touch with dean, but dean had a very hard time of it after his adored oldest son dino was killeded in 1987 in a -- in the air force reserve jet crash near palm springs and jerry was very sympathetic, but -- and they talked on the phone from time to time, but no, they never became very close again. >> as we think about jerry lewis passing away at 91 years old. james, what word do you think that he would want us to associate with him? >> genius!

nothing less. >> thank you for your time. james kaplan helping us remember jerry lewis and none of us will ever forget. thank you, sir. >> coming up, we'll get up to speed on president trump and what he has plans for. he'll have the address tomorrow night talking about afghanistan's strategy for america, but he's still catching heat for his response to last week's violence in charlottesville as fellow republicans get back to work, too, and they're calling for the president to do more to stand up to hate, but some religious leaders, they are standing by the president and we'll talk about who next. this time it's his turn.

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it's all jake about people getting to him and explaining to him, we've got to bring the country together and blaming one side or another when we're talking about the kkk or white supremacy, there is no comparison between these hate groups and everybody else. >> if the president wants to have a better understanding and appreciation for what he should do next, he needs to hear something from folks who have gone through this painful history. without that personal connection to the painful past, it will be hard for him to regain that moral authority, from my

perspective. >> this is not a time for us to suppress our convicts. i know a lot of those members of congress, and i -- they don't think like that. they don't think the way the white supremacists or the kkk thing. however, chuck, if they're silent, they wear the cap of -- of -- of intentionally or unintentionally. they wear the cap saying we agree with that. >> so three prominent republicans today talking about charlottesville, president trump, congress and the need to stand up to hate in this country. one day after the president's explosive news conference at trump tower where he said there's blame on both sides, the reverent jerry fallwell jr. praised the president's comments and this morning fallwell, a member of the white house evangelical advisory council offered this explanation. >> one of the reasons i supported him is because he doesn't say what's politically correct. he says what's in his heart,

what he believes and sometimes that gets him in trouble, but he does not have a racist bone in his body. i know him well. >> all right. so getting the reverend fallwell jr. to vouch for his heart, i want to take a look at where things go from here. the reverend, tracy blackmon after the shooting of michael brown and she's with the church of christ nearby, and stan mitchell with grace point church in nashville which calls itself a progressive christian community and here in new york at 30 rock with me, ceo and national director of the anti-defamation league. it is great to have you all with me and reverend blackmon, i want to start with you. i think a lot of our viewers at home will recognize your face because we saw on saturday morning just how close you were to the violence and the chaos in charlottesville. you were on with my colleague joy reid. i want to remind everybody what happened to you. take a look. >> i was invited in to give a

speech to that regard, and as we were closing down -- i've got to go! i've got to go! >> i don't know what is happening here. i don't know what just happened there. >> so reverend, i know you appeared and were able to call back in to joy and give more into that interview and also insight about what was happening on the ground, but you know, and got to see first hand what the chaos, and the violence led to that day and then you later heard the president talk about both sides. what did you think of the president's response and do you think that there is any way that he can make it better? >> first of all, thank you for having me on, and i thought that the president's response to what was happening in charlottesville was woefully inadequate. there are ways to make it better, but those ways don't just target the uprising that are happening. it doesn't just target what the

white supremacists are doing, but we can look at this administration and see by the appointments that he has made that his choices are not very diverse. they're not very diverse racially and they're not very diverse ethnically and they're not even diverse theologically in term was having representation across faiths. so if he really, sincerely is not racist and doesn't have the intent of what is happening here, then one of the places he has the most influence is in the people that he puts in positions of power. the president also can alter his rhetoric some. the reality is that this is not an issue about what side is doing what. though if you watch the tapes that have come out of charlestop, it is clear that one side was armed and prepared for violence and the other side was

not. what we are facing here is a moral dilemma in our country, and we need a leadership at the helm of our guidance that will address the moral deficits in this country. it's not whether he sides on the right or the left and it's about whether he stands for what is right for american people and when i say american people i mean all of the people, not select groups. >> it does get down to just the basic functionality of what we learn as kids, right and wrong. >> absolutely. >> and what are american ideals. >> absolutely. >> and where we go from this point forward as we learn the history of where we survived and emerged from. let me ask you from the president's evangelical council, and it was pastor a.r. bernard that it became obvious that there was a deepening conflict in values between myself and the administration. if faith leaders are leaving the president in terms of being able

to provide counsel, is that what faith leaders should be doing or should they be kind of figuring out a way to offer guidance and assistance to a president that obviously needs it? >> dr. bernard actually said that's exactly what he was trying to do in the months that he was on the president's council. he was taken to task by many of us when he actually made the decision to be on that council. his pushback was that he felt that he could be salt and light in that place and so he tried to provide that salt and light. some sense of preservation and some sense of influence with the man that on many issues he did disagree with. it finally became insufferable and intolerable. a line was crossed and finding that line is not an exact algorithm for sure and we all want to have influence and just how much influence we do have on this president and his moral persuasions, i don't know. i don't know who has influence

at this point, if any, in the religious community. >> jonathan we heard reverend fallwell say that only groups that mr. trump called evil were the nazi, the kkk and white supremacists, but when you hear the reverend fallwell there try to -- i don't justify the president's remarks in some way in saying that it is politically incorrect, is that too broad of a stroke for an application here? >> i'm really not sure what set of remarks the reverend was watching. the set of remarks that i watched was the president saying there were fine people on both sides and there are no fine people among the ranks of nazis and try to divert it to the quote, unquote, alt-left. there is no comparable side of the alt-left to the alt-right and the white supremacists who amassed with an idea that pushes out minorities based on how you pray, who you love or where you're from. so it's really not comparable. >> the idea of when we learn

more about what say those hate groups represent or wanting to have some type of ethno-state and specifically targeting members of the jewish faith, we think about the fact that the president's daughter had converted to judaism. his grandchildren are being raised in the jewish faith. so don't you think this would be a slam dunk for someone in that position to be able to address what this really means? the basis of what it really means. >> it's baffling that we have jewish grandchildren running around the white house and we have someone in the oval office who values with white supremacists. it's hard for us to sort this out, but as reverend blackmon said, we have this deficit and jews and muslims and christians from all denominations are actually coming together. >> we saw it in boston yesterday and we've seen it around the country this week. the bottom line is this, thomas, we can't wait. we can't wait for a president

who doesn't seem to get it, which is why i think you're seeing, leaders and the clergy and non-profits and even the army and everyone in the gop, except for the president stand up and say this is wrong. >> all right. >> hopefully we'll have time for it, just very quickly, i was looking around the tv, and i saw the reverend joel olstein on today and something he said struck me that i wanted to share with everyone in this context. take a look. >> the enemy would love for you to become a slave to your past, live guilty, discouraged, with a chip on your shoulder. don't fall into that trap, and the past doesn't have to hold you back. we've all had negative things happen, things we don't understand, but god has beauty for those ashes. he has mercy for mistakes. he has new beginnings. nothing that's happened in your past, nothing that you've done has to keep you from the good

things god has in store. >> that really struck me because whether you're religious or not, i thought the theme there was important and reverend blackmon, would you agree with that that in looking at what this administration has done so far that there are certain things that maybe we can forgive, but not forget? and if so, how do we do that and expect the type of moral authority that you're looking for in the occupant of the white house right now? >> absolutely. actually, i do agree with that premise. the place that i think is important to articulate is that you don't have to be held captive to the past, but you cannot forget the past. remembering the past is what allows you to be free and to ensure that it does not happen again. i put those kinds of statements. i don't know where joel olstein stands on the president's remarks.

i haven't listened to him lately, but i also want to comment on what you said about jerry falwell, the reason he is able to support this president, he said is because he does not say what is politically correct, but both dr. falwell and i are in the business of what is prophetically correct, and what this president said is in error to scripture. what this president said creates and helps to form a hierarchy that is antithetical to the gospel. we are not in the business of politics. we are in the business of the prophetic. we are in the business of a moral compass and it is imperative that those religious leaders, for whatever reason they joined that counsel, my question would not be who's getting off. my question would be why are the ones who are still there there? for whatever reason, they got on

that counsel, now is the time for those who have been called to give this nation a moral center, a moral balance to stand up and to be prophetic. >> i wish i had more time because my catholic guilt is going to kick in by ending our chat with three such important religious figures, but thank you very much for your insight. reverend tracy blackman, jonathan greenblat, thank you all. up next, the biggest event of the summer and a lot of people are looking forward to it, trying to figure out where they will get the best site for seeing the eclipse of 2017. we'll have a live report coming up from the specific spot out west and i don't want to reveal it, but it is the top spot in the country where thousands will descend to witness this rare event. stay with us.

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tomorrow the day will briefly turn into night as millions will

witness a total eclipse. the path of totality will start in oregon and stretch across 14 states to south carolina. they'll have two and a half minutes to actually see the eclipse marking the first time since 1979 that people in the u.s. will see the moon completely block the sun. joining me now from the best spot, one of them to watch in is our jacob soboroff. he's in oregon. jacob, i'll let you reveal this hot spot where everyone is trying to get to to be a part of this historic moment in the middle of the day tomorrow. >> reporter: yeah, thomas. it's madras, oregon. it's truly unbelievable. it feels like you're at a music festival and not a science to see. it's to see the total solar eclipse. people are hanging out and playing badminton and hanging out. there are 100,000 people here now and it went from the 80th biggest town in oregon to the

fourth largest city just in one day. this gentleman right here is jerry. he works for nasa. hi, jerry. how are you doing? >> jerry came by himself and sitting here reading physics today, why did you come out? >> saw one in 1979 and it was fantastic, and it's a life-changing experience, if you think about it. people don't realize that. you'll hear people screaming and crying and it's such an exciting thing. >> reporter: it is that amazing? >> as someone who has seen one before what is the number one tip that you'll have for people watching this time around. >> make sure you watch it, a lot of people want to take pictures. >> it only lasts 2:03. watch it safely with special glasses that are approved and the right way to go because if not, it could be a very dangerous thing. have fun, guys. thomas, i'll throw it back to you. >> everybody looking for those special glasses. jacob, if you can overnight me a

pair, if you can find one from your friends in madras. i haven't been able to score a pair yet. >> you got it. >> be very careful out there, thomas. >> yes, i'm going to find my glasses, but i want to make sure if i don't find my glasses you can do what i'm going to do, i'll switch on nbc news and msnbc tomorrow for a complete coverage of the solar eclipse. so when we return, we'll talk more about charlottesville, and the president's reaction to it. the different reactions that he had and why it's confused a lot of people and also a look at trump's personal history when it comes to race and discrimination when he was in real estate. then coming up tomorrow night at 9:00 p.m., president trump will address will nation from arlington, virginia, where he'll outline his strategy going forward in afghanistan and south asia. we'll be right back here on msnbc with more on that. ♪

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all right, so as we reported, for a long time, donald trump has had rashcial issues and the reporting of that dates all the way back to 1970. in february, the fbi released nearly 400 pages with dozens of interviews. some records documented instances of black and white rent rental applicants being told two different stories, white applicants were told that units were available, black applicants were told there were none. >> what do you have to lose? you're living in poverty, your schools are no good, you have no jobs, 58% of your youth is

unemployed, what the hell do you have to lose? >> then we have this exchange with former fox news host bill o'reilly and donald trump taking on the black lives matter movement. >> how do you define black lives matter? >> first of all i think the term is very divisive, the first time i heard it, i thought, you can't use that term. it's a very, very divisive terms. >> in his eight years since he's been using social media, he's more likely to accuse african-americans of racism than white people. david king johnson, author of "the making of trump" and richard painter, the ethics advisor for george w. bush. i just want to talk about the

fbi's release of records, black applicants were told there were no apartments available and white applicants were able to get rentals. >> i think donald trump has made clear that donald trump is going to use race as a wedge, he's going to divide this country and that he doesn't actually have a great legal of care for the black community, the latino community or the muslim community. that is standard issue race discrimination in housing, whether black applicants are told something completely different when they apply for an apartment. you can't attribute that to

donald trump if he wasn't the one showing the apartment. but what we do have to do is fight tooth and nail to fight the problem that existed in his organization. >> in terms of the president, looking back over his time, running the trump organization, should be a different strategy than how we see what he achieves from running america from the oval office, like he's leasing the country for a brief time and leasing the white house at the helm of what we do, how we grow as a nation. do you see the trump administration moving forward in a more positive direction from charlottesville to be able to handle it better because most likely it will happen again? >> no, not at all.

i think the performance that you saw in the lobby of trump tower is -- this investigation was done by the housing authority, not the fbi, they also turned up color coding of and canpplicant they steered certain applicants to certain buildings. donald trump is not going to change. he's 71 years old. he sees people in racial terms as his many comments including some of those in trump tower this week made clear. and his budget, further re-enforces this, the biggest damage the education would do under donald trump's proposed budget would be to historically black colleges and universities which he had pledged and had a video made that pledged -- fewer

black young people who strive will get a college degree. >> richard, let me ask you just off of david's comments there, referring to the press conference we had from the president on tuesday at the bottom of the elevators there, david called her a performance. all politicians are performers. when they need to be. complain, though, how ethically, the government has trip wires set in place for when a president is not performing in a way that is best for all americans that some would say is what this president has demonstrated, simple after charlottes vil charlottesville? >> you're going to have to remove them, if things get bad enough. i think a lot is being made out of what the trump family was doing in queens in the 1960 and '70s, but the fact is a lot of

real estate people were doing that, because we have a persistent history particularly in that time frame against african-americans across the board, and that is why republican administrations, including nixon administration, and the ford administration supported affirmative action, to redress some of those actions. the failure of the democrats and the wigs and other parties to deal with the slavery, the immorality of the slavery, we have a serious issue with the discrimination of african-americans in this country and we see the president kowtowing to people like steve bannon, people like ann coulter running around the college campuses saying we have a big problem. we have a big problem recruiting african-americans for our universities.

he has to be the president of all americans and we're tired offense this divisive rhetoric. >> as always, david k. johnson, thank you for sticking with us, stick around, much more news when we come back, coming tomorrow night, 9:00 p.m., president trump addressing the nation from arlington, virginia, his strategy for going forward in afghanistan and south asia. we're going to talk more about that coming up in the next hour, but again, that's tomorrow night, 9:00 p.m. ♪ sailin' away on the crest of a wave, it's like magic ♪ ♪ rollin' and ridin' and slippin' and slidin' ♪ ♪ it's magic introducing the all new volkswagen tiguan. ♪ higher and higher, baby the new king of the concrete jungle. this timyou haveis turn. 4.3 minutes to yourself.

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