against the mayor of san juan, puerto rico. so he tweeted praise for what he called the amazing work that has been done so far for the impossible situation in puerto rico outside of the fake news or politically motivated ingrates. right now by the numbers, 721 gas stations out of the 1,100 across the u.s. territory of puerto rico are open and functioning. the governor of puerto rico says 36% of the island's telecommunications has been restored. now the southeastern portion of the island where maria made landfall that remains without phone service. the pentagon has now said it has doubled the number of personnel deployed. puerto rico now has 6,400 members instead of 4,600 that were there. and we have more from marianna, and you went on a tour with the new three star general who is in charge of the relief efforts. what did he tell you today about what he's seen firsthand? >> reporter: so thomas, i was

able to go with the lieutenant general to one of the more remote areas of the commonwealth and when you're on the satellite islands off of the bigger islands you realize just the extent of the devastation. the vegetation decimated. we are talking about almost 20,000 u.s. citizens on the islands that are completely cut off. they depend on the bigger island for supplies. for medicine. for food and we already showed you just the long lines that are going on here in san juan on the outskirts of san juan. so just imagine being off of the remote areas. both airports in those two islands not operational. again they need absolutely every single thing you can imagine so i was on if ground with lieutenant general. i asked him about his plans for the recovery. he gave us a firsthand look at his planning. let's see.

>> right now we have 11 distribution centers. that are based -- but we're expanding to 25 to 30. and these are going to be based on the national guard armory and army reserve centers. we'll move the supplies from these four hubs to those 23 places so that they'll have much easier access to all the municipalities. there's a couple now -- with the red stars there's a couple we have to get into by air. we can't get there by ground right now. of course that will limit the amount of supplies. >> reporter: the those two he was referring to they're in -- smack in the middle of the island. again, i mean, places they haven't even been able to get to. so that just shows you the logistical challenges he's facing. i asked him about the medical ship coming on tuesday. with 500 -- i said why is it

taking it so long to come here? why was it not sent sooner? he said to me, just rounding up the 500 medics was a big challenge on its own and that's why you have the fema administrator calling this the biggest logistical challenge that the u.s. has ever faced. >> thank you very much and for all the hard work you have been doing around the clock. to tell the stories there. thank you. i want to bring in now our colleague, medical correspondent dr. john torres also in san juan with us. good to have you with us. i know that the needs and medical attention of so many on this u.s. territory, the island of puerto rico has been intense. and will only continue to get more intense. explain what you have been seeing just the lines outside of local pharmacies. >> and thomas, you're right. what's happening here you can see the pharmacy behind me. it's shuttered.

as a matter of fact, there are 337 pharmacies, 3-plus million of puerto rico open but open at limited capacity. what we found out driving today, going to different pharmacies are long, long lines. and talking to the people in the line they're in there trying to get medicine for themselves or loved ones. these are for critical medical conditions as well. but finding it much easier said than done. >> my grandmother, her pills -- she doesn't have any heart pills and she has five prescriptions. and we usually get her refills like it's a refill situation. and i'm trying to get her refills so she can keep taking her pills. right now we can't because there's no system. and they won't -- we went to three different walgreens. they don't have systems. they told me they -- they could give it to me in this one, but the situation is they can't. >> and what we're finding out is exactly that story there. people waiting in line and again

these pharmacies with limited capacity. what we found out at one pharmacy we got there. as soon as we got there, they said our computers aren't working so we can't make -- we can't fill new prescriptions, only refills. about half the line left. then they came out 15, 20 minutes later saying we have to change the filter in the generator so we have to shut down for a while. where are we going to go? the people that did leave they're essentially going to other pharmacies. they thought they'd spend their whole day looking for this. we went to another city, there was an apartment complex there with some elderly people, no electricity, no water. for them they're running out of medications so a private organization called heart to heart was there. they were trying to get the medicine they could. in some cases they could get it for them. other cases not. again, a lot of frustration but when you talk to them they're saying we're getting through this the best we can. we hope to get the help we can as soon as we can as well. >> explain the performance of

the naval ship "comfort" that's arrivi arriving, either tuesday or wednesday, and they haven't declared where they're going to be setting up. although many speculate it count san juan. why is that so critical to what the people of puerto rico need? >> it's critical for a couple of reasons. it's bringing the medical person neal can help out in the situation and bringing medical beds here and they need that because hospitals are opening, closing. they have their generators go out or run low on gasoline when the electricity goes out. three, the medical supplies. medications are at a premium here and these -- in some cases we talked to those with high blood pressure medication, eye medications. one doctor they gave a 12-year-old a prescription for a medicine to make sure she doesn't reject her kidney transplant. she says i don't know what she'll get that filled because the pharmacies aren't always open. when they are it's a tough run

trying to get that medicine. >> all right. john, thank you very much. dr. john torres. we'll keep everybody posted about the expectation of the "comfort" for when it arrives. this is an incredible vessel that can stay operational for 30 days before it needs to be resupplied. it can do that without having to return to the states to do that which is a big relief for those needing medical services on puerto rico. joining me is the former mayor of los angeles, antonio, and when you hear about what's taking place in puerto rico. we know about so many of the people that are -- you know, american citizens. their families are living throughout the continental u.s., along the coastal communities of florida, but also out in california, what are your folks hearing about what's going on with family and friends back on the island? >> well, we're hearing that

people are suffering. the magnitude that's hard for most of us to understand. i mean, 55% of the people without drinking water. hundreds of thousands without food. without electricity. people whose homes are destroyed. people whose lives depend on the medicine that you just covered a few minutes ago and the fact of the matter is, this is an untenable situation. i know that there's been a lot of noise around what the mayor, mayor cruz of san juan had said. but it's hard for anyone to say that this is a great story, the way donald trump has tweeted over the last few days. >> so when we think about the kind of public attitude that the president has taken, certainly toward the mayor of san juan, but also the fact that at first talking about that puerto rico was an island suffering in

infrastructure and also riddled in debt, and the president kind of used that as a way to almost explain away maybe a lack of focus. fema has done a better job of trying to say and explain what they're doing, where they're going, how they're operating. does the administration need to take more ownership? if mistakes have up had to say okay, yeah, maybe we weren't there right away. but we're making sure that we are addressing those needs and we appreciate the mayor of san juan pointing out areas -- pit falls that we can do better. >> well, you sound like someone who should be the president of the united states. that's exactly the way the office of the president and the president of the greatest nation should conduct himself or herself. in this case, we haven't seen any of that. in fact, in the middle of the devastation last weekend he's tweeting about people kneeling or standing to the national anthem.

he's a big distraction and this isn't really about fema. this is about the president of the united states not acting like a president should in the middle of a crisis. calming the waters. making it clear to people who work for him that we need to do everything possible to fix this situation. yes, it's true, there are a lot of fema personnel there. it's also true that there are a lot of people suffering now as we speak. and the mayor there is on the ground. when you're mayor you're the one in charge. not the governor. it's not the president of the united states. you're on the ground in charge of the relief efforts. and obviously in a disaster of this magnitude, you need federal support. federal support in every respect. material support, moral support. not the kind of bickering that

you see coming from the president over the last few days. >> all right. so we do have some new sound coming in from the president and i want to get to that in a second but i want to thank you, antonio, and i want to have you back on. there's new information from the president that i want to get out there. so we have president trump appearing at the presidents cup tournament and this has taken place over the last several days at the liberty national club in new jersey. so we had earlier this week president obama, president bush and president clinton joining for this tournament. now we know that president trump has gone there as well after vacationing for the weekend at his resort in bedminster. let's listen to those remarks from president trump, dedicating the trophy to the people of puerto rico. take an will. -- take a listen. >> you look today and you see

what's happening, how horrible it is. but we have it under great control, puerto rico, and the people -- they're really suffering. after the hurricanes. i want to just remember them and we're going to dedicate this trophy to all of those people. thank you so much. and i'll tell you what, i have been watching this from the beginning and i have to say wow. the great -- confident in his putting stroke for many, many years, but it hasn't worked. [ indiscernible ]. and again i want to thank everybody. this is a special group of folks. tremendous moneys donated to

charity by the tour every year. how much? 270 -- $170 million that's a lot of money. that's pretty good. again, congratulations. and team usa, that was unbelievable playing. you're great champions. thank you very much, everybody. [ cheers and applause ] >> all right. there we have the president appearing in jersey city, new jersey, liberty national golf course at the end of the presidents cup. it was earlier this week with presidents bush, clinton and obama appearing there. but president trump stopping there on his way back from his

bedminster property, dedicating the presidential trophy to the people of puerto rico. and then moving on to congratulate the team that won. and raline, i don't think it's the u.s. team that won, right? hold on. we're working on it. i'm trying -- i'm listening, guys. i'm trying to figure out who the president was congratulating there. just so i can tell everybody accurately. the big moment though talking about the trophy and dedicating it to the people of puerto rico. we know that the president has taken a lot of backlash from the mayor of san juan and his treatment of the people of puerto rico for the relief efforts and talking about what needs to happen. the president will be with the first lady in puerto rico coming

up on tuesday. and that's going to be his first visit there as well as his hopes -- he said he hopes to go to the u.s. virgin islands. so the other big headline that we have been following not only from the president's tweets and what's taking place in puerto rico but something that happened overnight. and a lot of people were asleep when it happened. if you blinked you might have missed it. o.j. simpson is seen free, leaving jail. after serving nine years of a 33-year sentence in a nevada prison. simpson was granted parole in july. and he was released roughly i think 3:00 a.m. today. most of us were asleep. our time. eastern. simpson landed in prison for armed robbery and kidnapping charges after an incident in las vegas and it concerns his own personal and career memorabilia that he stole back during an armed kidnapping attempt in an infamous collector's hotel room

in vegas. nbc's steve patterson has more on this. we understand that o.j. is staying in the state, hasn't filed paperwork to leave, correct? >> reporter: well, the process to file paperwork, if he was leaving the state of nevada, that process would have already taken place. and we have checked. so, you know, there are locations in which you would imagine simmelkjaer -- o.j. simpson would go. he would go to florida. you know, where he owns property. where he's lived before. where he has a support system. he did not file paperwork to do that. he might go to california where he's obviously lived before. by then -- but then you think about that conjures up the trial of the century. the bronco chase. the murders. the trial that ensued and then the 1995 verdict that split the country in half essentially. you know, so these are the options that we're looking at,

and based on what we're looking at now and what we know it is believed that it's the prevailing theory that he remains here in this state of nevada. we have talked to his attorney who said o.j. simpson is 70 years old. he just now at this point wants to enjoy the rest of his life, to be with friends and family. to what degree he'll be able to do that will remain to be seen. with all of the popularity, all the infamy and the fame surrounding all of the various cases. that surround o.j. simpson. >> do we know his whereabouts no or has he gone into privacy mode? >> reporter: he's gone into privacy mode and that stems from the fact that blink if you missed it, it was overnight. that happened in the nevada department of corrections. they wanted to control this. they didn't want to bring a public incident into what could be a populated crowd. they didn't want to have a media frenzy. so they did it by having it at

12:08 local time on a sunday morning to make sure that nobody was in place the see this happen. which means, you know, from there he was incognito. so we -- again, we have been talking to sources and people on the ground, the prevailing theory is that he is somewhere in the area here in nevada. but we don't know. and i think it's going to be a while before he resurfaces but that will happen. i think it's going to be important for him to realize that to react it to when it does and to do it in a way in which he respects the terms of his parole. back to you. >> steve patterson reporting to us from vegas, great to see you, thank you. as we all remember if we go back into the '90s, o.j. simpson became infamous during the double murder trial and the acquittals that took place for the deaths of ron goldman and nicole brown simpson. this was all in 1995 and it captured a country's fascination with the trial prospect and what

it meant for the evidence. the prosecutors became infamous in their own right. it was marcia clark later becoming a member of the press herself for the trial that happened in las vegas. and i was working with marcia in vegas, covering the o.j. simpson trial. and we're seen together in the front row of this clip of the emmy award winning espn documentary "o.j., made in memory." >> a weird confluence of events how does this happen. so i was watching the preliminary hearing and at lunch break we were in the cafeteria and he showed up there. it's o.j. and he walked by. mr. simpson, he said ms. clark. it was weird. >> it was weird. i can remember it to this day because i was there for it. and it was the first time that they had seen each other. i want to bring in investigator

reporter diane dimon. good to see you. i know you have lived this in realtime as you have been covering o.j. and his life inside the courtroom, outside the courtroom and also during this time that he's been behind bars. >> right. the day of the murders i was there the day they were taking the bodies away. >> when we think of what his life is now, steve is reporting here is 70-year-old o.j. simpson returning to a completely different world for 2017. but some of the press information that has already gotten out in the interest of o.j. to land a big interview deal and taking his own stuff from inside his prison cell to make sure it doesn't end up on ebay. is this going to be the same person that we know or do you think we'll have a reformed man reappearing in public? >> oh, gosh, what a good question. welcome to 800 count thread sheets after nine years he'll get back into the lifestyle he

had for most of his adult life. is he going to be a changed man, i don't know. i think age does that too. as you mentioned he's 70 years old. i think the first thing he'll do is have that steak, have some seafood. have a drink. see his family. relax. but then quickly i think the conversation is going to go to how can i make money? >> right. >> shall i do a reality show, shall i put my hot plate on ebay? shall i sell an interview to one of the broadcast networks for 3 or $5 million? i think that he's quickly going to think in that realm because frankly time is up for him to earn a lot of money. >> well, when we think of the 800 count bed sheets, he has netflix and the other streaming opportunities to consider and if they want to make some type of lucrative offer. so diane, the goldman family they have a civil conviction for the murders. >> right. >> specifically for ron. and the fact that there is a

financial attachment to that that o.j. has never paid off. he went to florida to avoid it and pam bondi said she doesn't want him coming to florida but legally that's kind of a grand stand moment for her. >> it is a grand standing moment but if florida says you can come, he the come. it's still the united states of america. he served his time. >> it's long been that way. that's why he went there in the first place to avoid having to pay the goldman. we get caught up in the kind of the chaos of o.j.'s behavior about the deaths of ron and nicole. and this the families that were decimated by this and the fact that he was acquitted. this was played out for millions of people to watch. >> i'm so glad you brought that up. i know kim goldman fairly well. and i know that this is a painful time for them. i'm sure it's a painful time for the brown family as well. and nicole brown simpson and ron goldman somehow got forgotten in all of this. i'm glad you have the pictures

ready to put up. really that's why we care, why this is happening to o.j. simpson today. he's a faded football star, he's a faded movie star as it were but we think a -- a great many of us think he got away with murder. that's why we care about what he'll do from here on out. >> what do we know about the relationship with the kids? there's the kids from his marriage to nicole and children from the first marriage. >> right. >> so the relationship that he has with the younger kids, sydney and justin is what? >> well, they're in florida. i have been given to believe they have been buying up real estate. i don't know where they're getting the money, although maybe it's his $20,000 a month pension or the s.a.g. thing. it's a tax haven in florida. you can't take my homestead or

my pension in i live there and you can't take my other pension if i live there and by the way, my kids have bought up a bunch of real estate. >> have you tried to talk to im over the last ten years? >> i have written letters. >> what response? >> crickets. >> what about those who talked about his time behind the bars. >> i watched the parole hearing with walter alexander. he went into the hotel room with the gun. he says at o.j.'s behest. at the parole hearing, o.j. says to the parole commissioners, gee, i've led a conflict free life. i don't know what -- the security guys went with me. i didn't know who they were. that they had guns. >> that's not true. >> not true. walter alexander knew him for 20 years and he and others testified that o.j. told him to get guns so this man is out on parole. frankly because he lied to the parole board and they bought it. >> well, the thing about what happened in vegas, the fact that there was audio, nobody in that hotel room was an honest broker doing the right thing.

>> bingo. >> the documentary kind of revealed that. and people lived through it on fx with the recreation. do you hope to get -- your letters, you can probably get him on the iphone, are you going to try to get him? >> to what end? if i get him, maybe we'll put him on msnbc. >> you're the best. thank you. great to see you. coming up next we'll shift our attention to the efforts taking place in puerto rico. so many millions there are trying to get their lives back to some sense of normalcy and now with the president just dedicating the presidents cup from the golf tournament to the people of puerto rico, and also those that have been devastated by the other hurricanes this season, just to update you, it was the u.s. that won. so it took me a minute to figure that out. but you know, light dawns on marble head. back after this. how do you chase what you love

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so we have so many residents in puerto rico still waiting for basic necessities.

more relief has been on the way, it's mounting by the way. but the power is still out across most of the island. only about 5% of it is restored. 9,000 people are living currently in shelters. millions on the island still don't have access to drinking water. president trump is going to be visiting the u.s. territory of puerto rico on tuesday. and this is after we have watched over the weekend the president slammed the mayor of san juan for her poor leadership ability but listen to what she told abc's "this week" about a potential meeting between herself and president trump. >> and if he asks to meet with me, of course i would. you know, anything that can be done and anyone that can listen, again, i have been quite complimentary of the people from hhs and fema. their heart is in the right place but we have to cut the red

tape. >> all right. have to cut the red tape there. so all week nbc news has been covering the recovering efforts, how it's going for the people in puerto rico as well as the virgin islands. after the devastation of this hurricane season. not on the by maria, but there was irma. stories of the inspiration and the struggles for many on the island and the feeling of how to get water. how to get food. and how to live through the shortage of electricity. the mayor of san juan has made this national plea and made her voice very public, taking on the president and the federal response and saying that more needed to be done for the people of puerto rico. but in this time of crisis, the president shifted a lot of the blame for the administration's performance directly to a number of tweets towards the mayor. also to the fact that there was poor infrastructure already existing on the island and this is a nation in debt. so does the buck ever stop truly with president trump or does

twit give him an easy out with pointing the finger in another direction? joining me is ed gearrin from the washington post and charlie savage. charlie, is the president shirking a responsibility of what his administration has done or hasn't done for the people in puerto rico and the u.s. virgin islands? >> well, i think that at this point, it's starting to -- the aid is starting to ramp up, but the first couple of days there seemed to have been slow. seemed to have been no advanced plan to bring ships in right away. to waive that law -- >> the jones act. >> that keeps the ships from docking there. that's right. so what we're seeing here is the standard playbook for trump. he counterpunches. he goes to the culture war. he doesn't immediately admit fault over anything. here i think he really sees that this is a terrible storm and

there was not going to be -- oh, we can fix it in one day. he thinks his critics are trying to turn this into him what katrina was for bush so he's going -- which is a veiled political move and going to his political playbook which works or doesn't work. as a way to try to prevent that from happening. >> when we think about what happened in houston, the devastation that harvey caused there, also what we witnessed with florida and irma, we know that this was kind of a double whammy for the people in puerto rico and also the u.s. virgin islands. from these storms. this hurricane season. the president had to go to houston twice because the first impression that he made there wasn't a good one. and had to go back to actually meet with people that had been survivors of the hurricane. is this -- you know, these are legacy moments for presidents. so many people talk about george w. bush with katrina. is this worse than what it was for bush and katrina the way

that this president has acted? >> well, i mean, let's not forget that katrina -- the scale of katrina, the scale of deaths and people, you know, whose lives were permanently uprooted from a preventable disaster in katrina does change the circumstances. i mean, no president can control the path of the storm but there was plenty that the federal government could have done to control the flooding in new orleans that wasn't done. what happened here it really appears is this was a triple whammy. we had three major, you know, storm of the century styles -- type of storms that happened in just a little over three weeks. and overall, the president and the federal government ended up getting pretty good marks for the handling of the two that were in the main land united states and the two that, you know, clearly really occupied

trump's head space politically and, you know, he's a television guy. he understands how this stuff looks on television. he understands much of -- he gets his information visually. he understands how to respond to it visually. puerto rico was different. it moves off his radar clearly the federal government's response was not as fast, was not as proactive. and he's paying the consequences for that politically now. >> so when we think of what the president knows and how he treats the information that he knows, charlie, is there a deficit for people within the administration as ann was pointing out you know there are certainly qualified people. not only working in fema but in other institutions over at defense. and certainly at the national hurricane center talking about this hurricane season that might have been able to have a better response to how to react the to the storm.

>> we want to find out what sort of early planning and discussions there were. if there was a gap it will be surprising because even if president trump pays attention to what is on television, he is surrounded by more people experienced in this and his white house chief of staff kelly was the top military commander that dealt with the caribbean and central and south america and hurricane response and disaster response in his previous job. and so i'd -- he certainly knew what was happening. i wonder what role he played in the planning for this. i'd like to add one other thing. this is a terribly serious subject, but everything has a political overtone. to the fact that he's seen as a master manipulator the fact that he stayed at his golf club through the weekend, this thing you showed of dedicating a golf cup to the people of puerto rico which is going to be cross cut with the scenes of devastation and not having power, medicine,

food, seems awfully tone deaf. i wonder if his critics are going to seize on that in particular. the sort of let them eat cake moment. let them have this golf cup dedicated to them when there are more serious needs yet to be met. >> what do you think about that? i mean, he spent the weekend at his private golf club. now he's showing up a at a golf club. obama, bush and clinton were all there, but this was the moment for the current president. using that as charlie points out to dedicate a trophy to the people of puerto rico. do you think that the critics will seize on that? >> i expect they will. but the president seems untroubled by irony. i mean, he has directly criticized his predecessor, barack obama, for doing the two things that he will be shown to or criticized for doing this weekend. getting out of town during an important moment and playing

golf. he did both of those things together. and then also went to this golf tournament on top of that. >> fortunately or unfortunately, there is a tweet for everything. in the past. of showing and highlighting some type of contrast or comparison to modern day. ann, great to have you with me. charlie, you as well. straight ahead, we are going to continue the coverage of what's taking place for the people of puerto rico. so much attention has been paid now to what's taking place. we know celebrities have taken to their own platforms to raise money as well as the naval vessel "comfort" is on it way there. set to arrive tuesday or wednesday and president trump and the first lady are going there as well on tuesday. we had the president as we just talked about moments ago appearing at that presidents cup golf tournament at liberty national golf club in new jersey and took that moment before congratulating the u.s. team that won to dedicate the trophy to the people of puerto rico. more in a moment.

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look today you see what's happening, how horrible it is. but we have it under great control in puerto rico and the people as far as who really suffered with the hurricanes. i want to just remember them and we're going to dedicate this trophy to all the people in puerto rico. [ cheers and applause ] [ indiscernible ]. >> and there we have president trump just a short time ago at the presidents golf cup tournament at liberty national golf club in new jersey dedicating the trophy that was handed to the u.s. team that won. dedicating it to the people of puerto rico. kind of an interesting contrast to the president we have seen over the weekend. taking moments to tweet and slam certain aspects of the relief coverage for the people of the u.s. territory of puerto rico.

joining me now, amherst visiting professor ray suarez and the author of "latino-americans, the 500 year history that reshaped a nation." i want to ask you about your relatives many puerto rico in a second, but the contrast of the president we just saw taking on the mantle of comforter of chief, compared to the man who took to twitter and being more vicious about the situation in puerto rico and the mayor of san juan. >> well, you know, thomas, if you live in an isolated community that can only be reached by very difficult roads through the mountains and you had only intermittent fresh water, nine days after maria made landfall in puerto rico, you're probably only interested that the president dedicated a cup to you if it's filled with fresh, drinkable water. presidents give definition to the moments. think of ronald reagan after the challenger disaster.

and think of president bush after the explosion in the murrah building in oklahoma. we have come to expect in a media age a president to define a moment for the country. and then the country sort of fills in around it. president trump still has plenty of time i think to catch up, but right now he's -- i think it's fair to say behind given the real situation on the ground in puerto rico. dedicating a cup is not something that's going to make much difference to the people far away from san juan who are still waiting for relief. >> you talked about intermittent access to basic life necessities or even communication for the people on the island. is that specifically about family members because you have family there. >> everybody connected to me is okay, safe. but it's very rough.

it's rough having no electricity. no refrigeration. and this is a very hot time on the island. very high humidity. after that storm. and if you can't be sure when the next fresh water is coming or if it's going to be enough, you don't know how much you can consume now. if you have enough to meet your needs. this is difficult days, especially for people far away from getting their basic services returned and who live at the end -- you know, you have to know a little bit about puerto rican geography to understand just how difficult this is. there are communities that are only reachable by very, very difficult roads even in the best of circumstances. you can bet those communities as small as many are haven't been getting sufficient help. >> when we talk about having the greatest military in the world, that's what -- you know, we herald ourselves on being able to pop up a shop in the desert

not looking for a wall outlet, being able to fly into any circumstance or situation, is it surprising that there was not some type of strategy and maybe not specifically for maria, but some type of rainy day plan that is ready to enact when a crisis happens? why be caught so short footed? >> you know, this was a storm that we knew was catastrophic, days before it made landfall in puerto rico. a densely populated area with a much larger population than the islands previously hit by maria. we knew it was going to be bad. everybody on puerto rico knew it was going to be bad and this is an island that's routinely hit by hurricanes. why the response has been so slow and so insufficient is going to have to be a question that remains long after people start to get basic help. why was there no plan? yes, people are saying it's an

island. yes, that's true. it's a thousand miles away from miami. very true as well. but once the weather cleared and the seas settled down even if there was damage to the port, even if there was damage to the runways, we have elements of the united states armed forces that can repair damaged runways because enemies blow them up in the interest of keeping our planes out. when we're trying to stage a landing in a place. we know how to do this and there are parts -- assets that are held by the united states today where it's very well understood how to do this. so why aid was piling up in san juan and not being distributed, why roads were not being quickly patched just so basic things could get through, that's going to have to be asked about. even after this hurricane starts to recede in the rearview mirror. >> we know the president will be

there on tuesday. we don't know of the full official schedule yet but know he'll be in puerto rico and will go to the u.s. virgin islands. thank you, ray. >> good to talk to you. >> so we know that the president's recent attacks against the nfl this is nothing new but it comes at the same time as so much attention has been paid to lack of relief effort to puerto rico. but the latest kind of dustup between the president and the nfl kind of dates back a long time because if we think about donald trump the businessman he was outbid in his 2014 attempt to purchase the buffalo bills, wow, the nfl ratings are down, i'm glad i didn't get it. the trump feud can be traced back further, 30 years to if 1980s. that's when he first challenged

them as the owner of the new jersey generals and upstate united states football league. shifting from the spring, to compete directly with the nfl that was trying to lure lawrence taylor from the giants. a jury sided with the usfl but only awarded it a single dollar in damages. joining me now author jeff pearlman, his upcoming book is about trump's history with the usfl. with the president and his interest in pro sports especially with football you interviewed about 420 people for this book. concerning the usfl and donald trump and the owner of the generals in 1984 and 1985, how is he viewed by the fellow owners in the brief time period?

>> terribly. horribly. i mean, the usfl came along, and it was going to be a spring football league. it would be regional rosters and trump bought the generals in '84. right before he was approved he said how great spring football is and he's so excited to be part of it. as soon as he was approved and he became an owner, his whole plan changed. it was about moving to the fall, we need to challenge the nfl. we'll take down the nfl. and the whole goal for him which i have talked about with many people he wanted an nfl franchise. he didn't care what happened to the usfl. he wanted a team in the nfl and he thought either it was going to crumble and the nfl would absorb the generals and put them in new york or would see the nfl and the nfl would eventually absorb a bunch of team and neither things happened and the usfl died and donald trump's football team died. >> when we think of why the president is taking on the

moment of the nfl and knowing that the owners have recently had to take a stand before with colin kaepernick, so many were silent their opinions known, right? and the president saying at that friday alabama rally, fire these s.o.b.s, drag them off the field. jerry jones even went down to show solidarity with his players and this is leading up to preseason where he was very adamant against it. but so many have been forced into this kind of unity moment because of the punctuation on free speech. not so much about what kaepernick did but to show support for the fact he has a right to demonstrate an opinion. do you think that all of this is a lot of retaliation by the president for a boys club that wasn't ready to accept him? >> yeah. 100%. early 1980s, donald trump tries

to bauy the baltimore colts. doesn't work out. 1984, '85 tries to get into the usfl. the commissioner of the nfl has a meet with trump in the suite of the pierre hotel and tells trump, as long as i'm involved with the league, you will never, ever have anything to do with it. 1988, donald trump is offered a chance to buy the new england patriots by the sullivan family. he turns down the opportunity because he doesn't want to take over their debts. the patriots are now the second most valuable team in the nfl. 2014, buffalo bills. he puts in a lowball bid. doesn't get it. the owner of the buffalo sabres gets the team. donald trump live tweets during the new owner's press conference saying he wanted nothing to do with the nfl and this is a bunch of losers. his whole existence with the nfl is one of rejection, rejection, rejection, rejection. this guy, if we know anything, he carries grudges for a long time. >> certainly does.

long memory, president trump. jeff pearlson, great to talk to you. congratulations on the new book. it's going to be a great read for so many. we need to take a listen to the author tanitia colts earlier on "meet the press" talking about how the race conversation has been front and center since president trump took office. >> i think this is a moment where people are seeing it. i think the capacity for people to forget should not be underestimated. and i don't so that sort of blankly. we had a war in this country from 1860 to 1865 where large numbers of americans died and the price of slavery was made very, very clear and immediately after that, people were very, very clear on that. within about ten years we were back trying to inscribe white supremacy in our laws. >> it's great to have you with me. and that's a really outfront statement about reminding

everybody what has happened in terms of our american culture and thinking about that we still have such a divide. and what was done to intimidate people about race relations in this country. what does it mean to have president trump kind of with a dog whistle or a twitter handle that backs up what so many people think is really happening with a wink and a nod? >> yeah, we're so far past the point of dog whistle politics, and it's deeply disturbing. one of the things i think about this is that we should remember that the distinction between dictatorships and democracies is that dictatorships demand adherence and democracies respect and protect dissuppoent. when you have a president calling for the nfl to fire players for merely expressing political opinions, then we're in a really dangerous moment. and that doesn't just affect the players of color who have by and large led these protests. that affects all americans. things done to our most vulnerable can easily be done to

white folks in a moment's notice. we should be really careful to both respect their rights to protest but also to listen to the content of the protest so we're in a moment where trust in government is down on all sides and it's down and african-american communities because of continued police brutality, we have a president deeply antagonistic to communities of color, and our democracy gives us the right and says if we want to have any integrity and believe in liberty and justice then we always have to be pushing these conversations forward. i think he was right to remind us the unfortunate truth about this country is that it took a war between northern liberals and southern conservatives for us to move the needle even a bit on our most formidable racial challenge ever and that's's institution of slavery. >> when we think about what colin kaepernick was taking a knee for and trying to draw attention to, the fact that it was the president, not that long ago, who was at an event for

police members on long island that condoned and encouraged rough them up kind of policies of banging people around. >> that's right. >> when it comes to arresting them. >> that's right. >> and this is expectly what colin kaepernick was trying to draw attention to. not disrespect to the flag or our military members but using his moment to have a platform, right? to have this figured -- bigger moment that makes people uncomfortable. and that's what -- i can't even look at facebook because so many people want to watch a game, they don't want to be reminded that they're not doing anything to help with problems in the country. they just want to sit there and eat their nachos. >> the taking a knee is considered disrespectful. kaepernick chose to take a knee after he met with veterans who said in the armed services we take a knee when someone passes away. it's a show of respect. it's a way to say that we both haven't -- that we have an issue here or a bad thing has happened but also that we don't want to

disrespect the folks who fought for the country. it's unfortunate that this is being pitted as a respect for those who fight for our countries versus our democratic principles. >> how bad is it with the president saying what he said in alabama about, you know, the s.o.b.s, they -- get them off the field. the fact that colin kaepernick doesn't have a job, all these owners have to realize, oh, man, i have done exactly what the president wanted me to do and is encouraging me to do now to current players who are doing this. kaepernick doesn't have a job. >> absolutely. i think kaepernick should have a job but the other thing is, we are very comfortable in this country with having young black men provide us entertainment in terms of sport, whether basketball or the nfl. and we have old racial myths that support that that black folks are more athletic. we have a country deeply comfortable with black folks providing entertainment but we want that entertainment or white people want that entertainment but not the political critique. they want to see black folks but

they want them to be silent about the daily realities that people are facing. we have to talk about this. that part of what black communities ask of these players is when you make it, don't forget that everybody in the community doesn't have this opportunity. use your platform for good. >> that's like saying when even no matter who you are, that if you have made a better way for yourself that when you get there you pull the ladder up and that's not what we're supposed to do. we're supposed to keep the ladder out or teach people what we did to climb out of certain circumstances if we don't have dad getting us a job or mom getting us an internship. we're supposed to be helping people out with the path we took and that's silly to think these players give up some type of right to conscience or opinion if they get rich. >> we can raise -- we can have athletes in this country who also have a critical perspective. we need to be doing that in education and our classrooms. and this is one of the things we

do with black athletes in the country is undereducate them because we want them to merely provide entertainment. we have a lot of work to do in this country around continuing to insist that black lives matter and that when you have a president who tells the folks who enforce the laws that it's okay to disrespect a group of citizens because of a bunch of stereotypes, everybody should be enraged by that. what bothers me is that more aren't upset by this attack on the president on fundamental american values and on the dignity of american citizens and that they would rather make this about the flag than about what that flag stands for and what all the blood shed for it means. >> and, you know, we think about a lot of athletes, performance-based, look the other way, no matter what color you are, as long as you do well on game day we're going to make a lot of exceptions or exce exemptions so you can stay on the field, unless you decide to demonstrate or grow a spine when it comes to an opinion.

but the players themselves who are now taking a knee, that's what people need to remember. this is not so much they are aligning themselves with kaepernick in his cause or attention, but they are aligning themselves with something more patriotic. free expression. >> i think we should align ourselves with colin kaepernick so i think there are the two issues that they have the right to protest but also that colin kaepernick's protest is a noble and fundamentally american one. >> all right. this is going to be a hard turn and an interesting one after this conversation. so stay with me because the other big headline today, o.j. >> i know. >> out of jail. take a look at this. it's the first glimpse of o.j. simpson at a gas station released this morning after his almost ten-year sentence behind bars at a nevada prison. >> i've been in a car for the last five years so how do i know how it feels to be out? i've been to nowhere usa for the last nine years doing nothing. nothing has changed in my life.

what do you expect? >> all right. so next up, reports indicate o.j. would like to live in florida. that's where he was living prior to going behind bars. now attorney general pam bondy is saying she doesn't want him to. that's going to wrap up this hour. stick with us on msnbc for updates and breaking new throughout the night. this sunday, disaster and response. the mayor of san juan, puerto rico, lashes out at the trump administration over recovery efforts. >> we are dying, and you are killing us with the inefficiency. >> president trump hits back. >> the loss of life, it's always tragic, but it's been an incredible -- the results that we've had with respect to loss of life. >> and tweets, they want everything to be done for them. we'll have a report from puerto rico this morning. plus promises, promises. the republicans say their tax plan gives everyone a tax cut, won't favor e al