"morning joe" starts right now. >>. my relationship with this zbe outstanding, has been outstanding. we are working very hard to get the tax cuts. we will continue to work to get the health care completed. i'm going to be surprising some people with an economic development bill later on. i haven't told mitch, because i want to focus on tax cuts and some other things right now. >> all right. and that short clip, pretty much sums up yesterday and the last nine months of the trump administration. the president touts his relationship with mitch mcconnell in the very next breath reveals he is operating completely independent of him. he hammers the senate for fought getting things done, hours later stands side-by-side with its leaders. he promises to reign in steve bannon after emphasizing his efforts to destroy the establishment and attacks hillary clinton nearly a year after the election and adds

welfare reform to immigration, health care and tax policy already languish on capitol hill. good morning, it's tuesday, october 17th. with us we have mike barnacle, editor at large of the "weekly standard," bill crystal, the host of kasie d.c. on msnbc. >> kasie d.c.. >> great show. >> it's like rock band. >> mika, i need the old jeans jacket that has like kasie d.c. and maybe you know has a bird with flames. >> a lightning bolt. >> we'll make it happen. >> are you getting the show done? >> i am. >> i want a transam eagles like inlaid in like. common, man, willie geist, this may be not only the greatest

show ever, this may be the greatest name for a show ever. kasie d.c.. it shook me all night long. c'mon. >> i tried to get the thunder struck going the other day. i think it will be a hit. >> all right. case ki hunt, kasie hunt, we love it. political analyst josh earnest, good to have you. >> good morning, guys. >> mika, it's a little harder to do something like with the lightning bolt with your last name being earnest. earnest. >> it's like a off show. >> we need a different side motif, i think. >> ernest guy. ernest fella. >> he can be a guest on kasie

d.c.. >> i hope legal e he'll do it. >> we begin with that political whiplash from the president, we have been seeing for months, in events of two hours of each other, trump first passed blame to senate republicans for a stalled agenda in the cabinet room, hours later, standing in the rose garden with mitch mcconnell claims to be closer than ever before and promised big developments. >> despite what the press writes, i have great relationships with actually many senators, but in particularly with most republican senators, but we're not getting the job done and i'm not going to blame myself, i'll be honest, they are not getting the job done. >> my relationship with this gentleman is outstanding, has been outstanding. we are working very hard to get the tax cuts. we will continue to work hard to get the health care completed. >> we also saw that split personality when it came to

addressing the quote war that his former strategist steve bannon has declared on the republican establishment. bannon is plotting primary challenges to republican incumbents and is targeting races across the country next year, here's the president talking about bannon, first in the cabinet room, then, stay with us. the rose garden, alongside majority leader mitch mcconnell. >> mr. president, do you approve on mitch mcconnell and the republican establishment? >> steve is committed. he's a friend of mine. he is very committed to getting things passed. we had health care approved and a surprise vote by john mccain. we've had other things happen and they're not getting the job done and i can understand where steve bannon is coming from, i can understand, to be honest with you, john, where a lot of people are coming from. because i'm not happy about it and a lot of people aren't happy about it.

. >> well, i have a very good relationship as you know with steve bannon. steve has been a friend of mine for a long time. i like steve a lot. steve is doing what steve thinks is the right thing. some of the people he may be looking at, i will see if we talk him out of that, because, photograph frankly, they're good people. >> joe, this sort of brings home the point whatever he says will be refuted moments later, possibly, how do you work with him? >> well, you don't. in that picture i'm not looking at donald trump and saying what is donald trump doing there. >> not surprised. >> i'm not saying, i'm not trying to figure donald trump out. we figured donald trump out. willie geist, i'm looking at mitch mcconnell and saying why the hell are you there? when i don't care what you are

doing, i don't care who you are, when somebody, when the president goes after you, as much as donald trump's gone after mitch mcconnell, when steve bannon says, i'm going as to destroy mitch mcconnell, you know, i don't want to give mitch mcconnell any advice. you tell the president, mr. mr. president, if you stand by mitch mcconnell's side, you can't stand by my side. if you support a man and say you understand what he is doing a guy who is your friend and says his life's work is destroying me and everybody around me, i'm not coming over. i'm not working with you. i'm going to do my own again do you and, yet, he's in there sitting there talking. there is really no excuse for it. you can have people say all they want. well, he's a majority leader. yeah, he is a majority leader. but the president is trying to

destroy him and destroy people who work for him. so don't stand by him and smile anding a like nothing's happened. >> at the same time the president says he wants to get deals done, he goes out and says the things he says publicly about mitch mcconnell, mitch mcconnell isn't fooled by the niceties president trump dropped on him in the rose garden. as mika just showed a couple hours earlier, he was on board with the bannon plan, steve bannon in shakespearian tragedy who is mitch mcconnell? who will be the brutus to your july just ceasar, we have to get rid of mitch mcconnell and the gop establishment. donald trump endorsed that when in the cabinet meeting and changed his tune in the rose garden, why, bill crystal, mitch mcconnell would believe anything he says when he stands by his side, i don't believe he believes in him. >> i don't think he believes in him, they are willing to be humiliated by donald trump.

>> why? >> they want to get tax cuts. tax cuts is a huge shiny bubble that justifies humiliating yourself. you are the senate majority leader. whether what you think of mcconnell, he had a career for three decades. you stand there and basically you have to say nice things about donald trump. we have been friends for a long time. i look forward to working with him. it's pathetic. he doesn't have to go out attacking donald trump every day. don't go to a will bech. don't stand next to him for 40 minutes while donald trump freelances the press availability. trump loves it. he likes humiliating people. from his point of view, he's got bannon and all these insurgents keeping the establishment republicans off balance. whatco i they need most? they need trump to save them from an insurgency that he, himself, is sort of fostering and aiding. so from trump's point of view, he has everyone depending on him, everyone sucking up to him, but it's not healthy and the

lack of self dignity, john mccain showed you what an actual serious grown-up human being does when confronting president trump, martin luther king jr. connell didn't. >> it's not just mitch mcconnell, it's paul ryan, mike barnacle, these two men have allowed themselves to be ridiculed, attacked. i remember one of the first times donald trump was standing on the stage with paul ryan and he said, you know, into the microphone, i love paul ryan, as long as he does what i want. well, if he doesn't, i'll find somebody to run against him, while paul ryan was standing there with a packer shirt, i'll say, mr. president, i'll tell you what i'm going to, do i'm going to keep this packer shirt, you don't deserve it, when you send your first budget over, i'm going to put it in the drawer. maybe i don't say that in front of the microphone, but i will et

the president know what tip o'neill even let democratic presidents know. hey, you are going to treat us with respect here or you are going to get nothing done. for some reason, for all of their collective wisdom, mitch mcconnell and paul ryan have never understood that they are a separate and equal part of the legislative branch. >> you know, joe, i really don't know why so many people seem so surprised by events as occurred yesterday in the white house rose garden with mitch mcconnell smiling standing next to the president of the united states, who has assaulted him repeatedly on twitter, verbally. >> repeatedly. >> yeah. >> i don't know why people are surprised at this, this is an institution now, right now, the united states senate and many members of the senate and the presidency right now that have been built if dup policety and fraudulent. this week, the president signed a proclamation yesterday,

national character counts week. go find character in any of the scenes we have shown this morning. i'll tell you where you found character, bill crystal referenced it. last night in philadelphia, every american ought to read the speech john mccain gave in philadelphia to get a sense of being a leader and having character is all about. >> we will show you that in a moment. that was amazing. >> it is a joke and the people will look back and think what the hell happened, what fever gripped the conservative, what fever gripped the republican party, what fever gripped my own people the people i grew up with, the people who helped me get elected, the evangelicals that go to value voter sums or whatever they call it and give steve bannon a standing ovation, welcome donald trump as a

conquering he. >> reporter: i'm using the word objectively a lot. because we have so drowned in information that you, just, some things cannot be debated and you look in matthew and go through the beed a tu beed a tu beattitudes. go read it. none of us are perfect. he goes out of his way, it seems, to thumb his nose at all conventions, including the basics of the beattitudes. >> very well said. we haven't even gotten to this, on health care the president claims that he brought

republicans and democrats together with his executive order to stop funding subsidies to pay for low income people on obamacare him take a listen. from the gravy train ended the day i knocked out the insurance company's money, which was last week. hundreds of millions of dollars a month handed to the insurance companies for very little reason, believe me. i want the money to go to people to poor people that need it. >> republicans are meeting with democrats because of what i did with the csrs, because i cut off the gravy train. they're right now having emergency meeting toss get a short-term fix of health care. obamacare is finish ltd.. it's dead, it's gone, it's no longer, you shouldn't even mention, it's gone. there is no such thing as obamacare anymore. >> obabamacare is dead, your thoughts? >> i think what is true when we see health care premiums as a

result of the actions ordered by president trump, he took credit for right there, people are going to recognize iz that they don't have to blame obamacare anymore. they will blame the president of the united states sitting in the oval office actively sabotaging their health care. on that measure i, do i think he's right. >> wow. >> many people said this is donald trump's first move the csr move in a negotiation with democrats over health care, do you believe that? is this a strategic move by donald trump and will democrats come to the table in a way he hasn't been able to get republican toss get obamacare done for him? >> the reality here is negotiations around a bipartisan fix for the markets were going on in the early fall before the decision was made to suddenly try again to repeal obamacare with graham cassidy. this, yet, it ramps up pressure on democrats to actually do something. >> radio it. >> i think the -- watching that press conference was -- from

capitol hill yesterday, i have to say, was a little surreal, because we have been hearing behind the scenes that mitch mcconnell was not going to be going to any microphones or doing talking after the white house meeting. it seemed from our vantage point he was dragged out there, forced to stand next to the president and the die nam they can you hit on i think is one that is rally kind of pulling at the senate in a pretty unusual way that's very difficult for mitch mcconnell and i do think that, you know, democrats are going to be under a lot of pressure here to try and do something and the president is making it difficult on the one hand for them by going to the right on immigration and all these other issues, but he is going to be relying on democrats to do potentially even the help him pass tax reform if he can't get the republican party lined up here. so i do think the president is playing potentially a strategic game. now, do we know the end of it? i certainly wouldn't sit here

and predict that we do. >> joe, do you know how this ends? >> yes, it most likely ends just like health care and everything else is going to and tax reform is going to end the president is going to, they're doing the same thing over and over again and they shove people into a tiny room. they say, we're going to exclude 95, 98% of the elected leaders on capitol hill, we're going to draft something that reorganizes one-sixth of the economy, then we're going to push it out and we're going to expect everybody to jump on board, when actually it will have devastating results for nine of the ten states that voted for donald trump. it's the same thing with tax reform. we're going to reform the irs code and we're going to do it by getting three or four people in a back room. there's going to be absolutely no transparency. we're going to shove it out on the floor of the house and the

senate and we're going to demand that people vote for something that's not actually even a good bill. something that will destroy future generations, ability to deck out of t-- dig out of the . then we're going to get angry for them for voting against a bill that we never allowed them to be a part of. that's how it ends. that's how it's ended for over eight months in this administration, mika. and i was informed by the albert einstein institute yesterday that einstein did not actually say insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. so i'm just going to say, it was maury smith from queens who said it. well, maury is right. it's the same concept. they're doing the same thing over and over again and it's not going to work and donald trump is going to remain shocked and nancy pelosi is dow jones to

have her shot at it. because she's most likely going to be the next speaker of the house. >> there is much more still ahead on "morning joe." another moment from president trump's white house appearance, it was incredible. >> that fact check by nbc news in real time. what he said about president obama's treatment of american troops killed in action. plus, we'll talk to senate democrat joe manchin, who is calling on the president to withdraw his nominee for drug czar after the shocking "60 minutes" expose we told you yesterday. we will tell you about the happening on october 30th at the grand hyatt. we have amazing guests. you will be right back. you are watching "morning joe." what powers the digital world. communication. that's why a cutting edge university counts on centurylink to keep their global campus connected.

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. >> it's been nearly two weeks

since four members of the u.s. special forces were killed in nagiere during an isis ambush. yesterday, president trump was asked about not having mentioned their debts. . >> i've written them personal letters. they have been september, they were going out during the weekend. i will at some point during the period of time call the parents and the families, because i have done that traditionally, i felt very, very badly about that, i always very badly. it's the toughest calls i have to make are the calls where this happens, soldiers are killed. it's a very difficult thing. now it gets to a point where, you know, you make four or five of them in one day, it's a very, very tough day. for me that's, by far the

toughest. so the traditional way if you look at president obama and other presidents, most of them didn't make calls, a lot of them didn't make calls. i like to call when it's appropriate, when i think i'm able to do it. >> i really can't. i'm so sorry, ki not help myself. really, it's tough? it's tough for you? it's tough for him. it's tough for him. i wonder if it's tough, as tough as the parents who lost their sons and daughters or brothers and sisters and wives and kids, who lost someone, can he make a moment perhaps just one not about himself? it's really hard to watch. moments later -- >> and, hold on, not just that. >> it's just gross, it's offensive. >> it's offensive enough. what is doubly offensive is that in that moment, when he had, mike barnacle, when he had refused to even mention these

heroes before when it finally comes up, he makes it about himself, say, boy, it's really tough. >> for him. >> and -- >> for him, yeah, then he brings up his petty long-running insecure pathetic, sad, weak dispute with the 44th president of the united states, donald trump makes their death, their sacrifice, about himself, saying, boy, that sure is tough for me to pick up a phone and call a parent who will never see their son or daughter again. and then he finds a way to try to attack barack obama, which just shows, again, you talked about character before, i talked about the beattitudes. this man is such a terrible role

model and character reference for all of our children for all of our grandchildren that i really i don't know where to start and that clip lays it out. >> yeah. >> joe, this is so sad. this is the presidency of the united states we're talking about. that's the president of the united states we just saw on television, lowering the office, every day it seems. >> this is rock bottom when he speaks like this about our heroes. >> i know personally, a family, that barack obama called who had lost their son in afghanistan, is josh ernest still with us? >> mike, i'm still here. >> josh, you know, too, you lived it. you saw what an emotional wrenching experience it is for a president of the united states, a man, to call the families of the fallen and it was done

repeatedly, not only by barack obama, but by george w. bush and past presidents as well and for that to occur yesterday for this sitting president of the united states to so demean the office and by implication try to demean his predecessors, is really a new low. >> you know, mike, i did see president obama in a variety of circumstances show his enormous respect and for those who had paid the ultimate sacrifice for our country. in doing so president obama also revealed the enormous burden that is carried by the commander-in-chief. in terms of making the kinds of life and death decisions that are going to have an impact on people that have signed up to serve and sacrifice for our country. that's the notable thing about president trump, he has time and time again looked for way toss devolve that decision-making down the food chain, so he doesn't have to bear that responsibility.

but i remember vividly that president obama on veteran's day, as previous presidents have done, have traveled to arlington national cemetery, given an address to pay tribute to those who paid the ultimate sacrifice for our country, gone to the tomb of the unknown soldier to lay a wreath there. something else president obama did after giving that speech and before he left to the cemetery, would go to section 60. this is a part dedicated to preserving the remains of those in our military who have given their lives in the conflict in iraq and afghanistan and he did that because he felt these were the decisions that he was making as commander-in-chief, but he also did that in private. we didn't give press reporters a heads-up in advance he was going to that part of the cemetery. i even got reporters coming into my office saying, please tell us benefit president obama is going to go to section 60. we would like to photograph him there. and president obama's preference was always to not seek that

attention and i'm not seeking to martyr president obama here, what i'm seeking to illustrate is that presidents in both parties understood that when we're talking about the sacrifice that america's men and women are paying for our country, that it's not about them partially. it's not about the president. it's not about their personal feelings. it's not about an effort to try to convince the company somehow they are showing the same kind of bravery those men and women in uniform are showing. no, in effect, we need to honor and pay tribute to their sacrifice, that is what president obama and other propertys have done. unfortunately, president trump seems incapable of actually doing that. >> completely. >> you know, mika, president trump also talked about his predecessors, talked about and we just saw a tweet there from a gem talking about what 44 and 43 did and how they care deeply. obviously, ib have many concerns with george w. bush, never his

humanity and nicole wallace privately told us that when they were writing speeches for george w. bush about the fallen, they knew that if, it was going to be a challenging speech, because he would always break down and a lot of tiles when he was preparing for it, he would start weeping and we saw that with his secretary of defense, who actually, bop gabob gates, who near the end when he would talk about the sacrifice of the men and women in uniform, he would break down and start wooepieepi public, actually that's one of the reasons he had to leave that because the pain was so real and so close to him and for donald trump, to just flippantly say, oh, boy, it sure is tough to

make those calls, he has to make more than a couple every day and suggesting again none of the former chiefs did, again, i know we are going on about this. >> no. >> sometimes, there is a moment that adds all the kwcontext a story need. when it comes to donald trump, this is that story that he made the deaths of our american heroes about himself having to make a tough phone call and then attacked barack obama and his other predecessors for not doing it. >> can you imagine a president in recent memory in our lifetimes that would complain about those phone calls? moments after that answer, then we'll get you bill crystal, nbc's peter alexander pressed the president on his claim about obama. >> earlier you said president obama never called the families of fallen soldiers. >> i don't know he did. i was told that he didn't often and a lot of presidents don't,

they write letters, excuse me, i do a combination of both. sometimes it's a very difficult thing to do, but i do a combination of both. president obama i think probably did sometimes and maybe sometimes he didn't, i don't know, that's what i was told. all i can do is ask my generals other presidents did not call, they'd write letters. some presidents didn't do anything. >> under line it one more time, that's a demonstrable lie president obama and others of course called the families of the fallen. wril bill crystal this is at once the most difficult serious and somber duty of a president and also the easiest and most obvious things to do. these are the ceremonial aspects he seems to fame at, talking about hurricane victims, going and being with the people, showing embaath, this not only to say this is difficult about

me as he always does, to try to imflict previous presidentles falsely again, it's beyond the pale. >> as mike said, it's a new low, even previous presidents haven't, what president would say that? it's sudden irrelevant, right? you want to defend the dignity of the presidency. >> what good person with a sense of duty and honor to this country, what person that loves america would say something like that? let's just say it. there is nothing good, it's horrible. >> i really felt, my student said this to me last night, nothing is beautiful, gorsuch isn't worth it. tax cuts isn't worth it. president obama isn't worth it and republicans and my fellow republicans i can say that and people like mitch mcconnell and decent senators need to stand up and should stand up today. >> together. >> this is terrible. this is terrible the degradation of our public life, the civic

discourse happening in this presidency, none of the policy victories or bigger policy victories is worth it. >> when you listen to them welcoming home the remains or the families of a fallen soldier, it's the most solemn and serious thing to do. when they go do dover air force base in the middle of the night, barack obama has done, when president bush went to walter reed. it's the most heaviest and difficult thing to do. they wouldn't talk in such a fl flippant way. >> it's gratuitous, blaming, justifying yourself in a gratuitous and false attacks on your predecessorss, who were president of the united states whoever behaved decently and appropriately. coming up, for john mccain seems to call out president trump and at least some of his supporters

in an emotional event attended by former vice president joe biden. we'll play his remarks plus the president says the military shouldn't have to be distributing food and water in storm-battered puerto rico. we'll get reaction when "morning joe" comes right back. ( ♪ ) ♪ one is the only number ♪ that you'll ever need ♪ ♪ because one is the only number ♪ when everything you do is focused on being the best... serenity is a welcome distraction. the one and only cadillac escalade. ( ♪ ) the one and only cadillac escalade.

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. >> it's been a month since hurricane maria hit puerto rico t. government of puerto rico says his goal is to get up to 95% by mid-december and water is still a big concern. the e is testing well toss make sure the water is safe to drink. president trump was asked about disaster relief speaking yesterday in the rose garden. he defended the federal response and blamed distribution problems on local issues. >> we have massive amounts of water, we have massive amount osf food, but they have to distribute the foopd they have to do this. they have to distribute the food to the people of the island. so what we've done is we now actually have military distributing food, something that really they shouldn't have to be doing. >> joining us the speaker of the count sim, she is going to

washington tomorrow at the capitol to demand the trump administration do more in support of puerto rico. speaker, good to have you with us. first a snapshot of what's going on, on the island now, we're a month in. the power is still at 15%. the water is a big concern. but what about the question that the president raised about relief reaching the ports of san juan, not being distributed around the island. >> there is, let's be honest, distribution happening, that's important. there are personnel on the ground. we continue to say there is not enough personnel on the ground. you always wonder how can trump, himself, right? he just continues to say things that enflame the anxiety, right, aed the pain that people are feeling. he is not saying this toing the, he is not saying these things to florida. there is this double standard i think is bigoted in response to puerto ricans. i always include the u.s. virgin

islands in the conversation, too the relief is not enough in terms of both areas. so the issue is -- there is no power. power also in some cases affects the water distribution. they need electricity, we are talking about a health care crisis, hospitals are running on generators, a hospital cannot operate at 100% on generators. so you have a health crisis. have you water that is contaminated. people drinking contaminated water and the implication that has. the solution is it has to be focused. the military has a responsibility and has done this in other missions in terms of providing relief and providing supplies to people in need. the people of puerto rico are suffering. >> that is a reality. we are u.s. citizens. we have given our life for this country. we pay taxes despite what some other congressional republicans want to say and the response is totally inadequate. it is something that has to be call out. we are going to washington

tomorrow, because there is a lot of work that has to be done. >> if you were sitting across from the president and the fema director right now what would you say specifically you need more of, we don't want to get into the political area. there i say there is insufficient personnel and military presence on the island for the humanitarian effort. right. that what we need, according to our website, there are 18,000, 19,000 personnel. florida was at 40,000 personnel after irma hit. obviously we have to focus on what the congress needs to do. when you talk about that relief, it was provided in the aid package last week were loans, not gravenlts you have the issue of the jones act which continues to weigh on the people of puerto rico. >> that has to permanently be waived. i want to thank senator mccain, he has been supporting that for a while. most immediately, we are at a point where we are saving lives a month down the line. >> i will get political.

you said the president's approach was bigoted. what do you mean? >> i think there is tones here, you talk of people of color, this idea we are an other. when you hear of republicans speak about puerto rico, you would think their foreigners and we don't have the relationship we've had with the united states, a congress mon woman at a hearing said in 1898 puerto rico was invaded by the united states that invasion has responsibilities. 1917, we got u.s. citizenship, we have 100 years, we served with distinction, disproportionately in every major conflict. we shed blood for this country and we pay tax there is a double standard for the way it's treated and the support that's provided. can you only say, i can only assume and call it out as being bigoted. >> joe. >> willie, you know r, there ar

times when i believe and a lot of people believe, certainly a lot of conservatives believe talking about, using the race card or calling somebody bigoted bus of a policy position causes grave concern. that's not where you should go, but is it not hard to look at donald trump's history, how he launched his campaign for president of the united states, how he has acted every step of the way and look at the uneven treatment between texas and puerto rico, florida and puerto rico? the rest of the country and puerto rico? and not say, that this unequal treatment has to do with race? >> i think there has been a tone and the tenor from the beginning of this crisis from the beginning of the hurricane a that undeniably has been different about puerto rico than the other storms. you can't -- the way he's talked about the mayor of san juan, he

said, ah the military shouldn't have to be doing that stuff. it's the way he talks about it. there is no question. there is absolutely no denying. it's different. i think the people of puerto rico are suffering for it and i think, you know, if you look at what's happening down there, people watching this show right now would say if the federal government is not doing enough what can i do? what would you say to somebody watching this show? how can they continue to help puerto rico? >> let me be clear, there are organizations people in puerto rico are coming towing, helping themselves, there is a sense of spirit and entrepreneurship and innovation happening on the ground. we have to continue to support them, supporting non-profit organizations doing work on the ground. if people can volunteer in brigade and provide assistance in more remote areas and levels of sadistic behavior on the part of this president, people that are suffering, you again in less than a week say you will turn your back on them, i don't understand what is going through the mind. this is pathological behavior.

it is sadistic. it is sociopathic. i'm very serious, this is a level of lack of empathy that just is egregious so we have to call it out for what it is, the people of puerto rico need support and i want to thank everyone that has supported. because we hagot an lot of solidarity, congress needs to step up now. we need to make sure they are held accountable and responsible as well. >> thank you for your candor. thank you for coming othen show, speaker of new york city council, thank you very much. still ahead, senator john mccain takes on the quote tired dogma of half baked nationalists. his 68thing comments are next on "morning joe."

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. >> the fear of the world we have

expanded the ideals to refuse the obligations of international leader scholarship and our duty to remain the last best hope of earth for the sake of some half-baked surious nationalism cooked up by people who would rather find scapegoats than solve problems is as unpatriotic as an attachment to any other tired dogma of the past that americans conseened to the ash heap of history. we live in a land made of ideals, not blood and soil. >> an emotional senator john mccain last night as he was awarded the prestigious liberty medal. he reflected on his years of

service, while putting a laser focus on today's political climate. joe. >> john mccain has not slowed down, he's gotten tougher. his words have become more important, especially in 2017. last night, what a speech. the statesmen and leaders are. we ask all the time where republicans are. who are courageous and will stand up. to what is happening in the white house and what is happening across washington. >> well, there he is, and that's what he's done. and he's done it now for the overwhelming majority of his adult life. good bless john mccain. >> again, i would urge everyone

watching this this morning to go out. you can google the speech. you can read it in six or seven minutes. it was a brief speech. in the speech he was john mccain. he spoke about our ideals as a nation, our history, our values, our enduring impression around the world that we have made, the fact that we have been around the world fighting on behalf of freedom and always left every place we've ever been. never claimed territory. came back home with our own ideas. and josh, i don't know about what you but when i read that speech, i felt such an overwhelming feeling of sadness for what is lacking today in terms of dialogue in washington d.c. >> mike, i think that's one of the reasons it stands out. it wasn't just an eloquent speech, but it was an opportunity for him to express the kind of sentiment about our country and our history, and the exceptionalism of the united states of america that we rarely

hear in washington d.c. these days. and snenator mccain put his lif on the line to defend it. he crossed party lines in d.c. even when it wasn't popular to try to advance it. and look, for all the political differences, and i don't want to minimize them, that i and other members of the obama administration had with senator mccain, there was always an esteem and respect that despite our differences, he was somebody to got up every morning, motivated, most of all by his love and patriotism for the united states of america. that's worthy of our aren't, particularly where there's a strong attachment to partisan identity, this desire to try to escape criticism including from the twitter stream of the current president of the united states. senator mccain doesn't have any time to mess with that. he's focussed on the best interest of the country, and

that's -- that's laudable. >> and josh, president obama tweeted last night, i'm grateful to john mccain for his lifetime of service. congratulated him on the award. kasie hunt, next week will be the 50th on veranniversary of j mccain being shot down and then held hostage. i think we thought why didn't paul ryan speak up more? we're learning over the last year what people stand for. do you believe all the things you say? are you a man of honor? are you a man of duty? are you a man who sticks by the things he said he believes all his life, and we're finding in this case that john mccain does. >> i think that's right. and i think john mccain right now is a man who is thinking about his life in the broadest terms possible. he is, of course, battling this

cancer, and that is something that i think he's pulling back kind of the lens and looking at, you mentioned she was shot down 50 years ago. the life this man has lived is just a story that quite frankly we don't have in a lot of our other elected representatives. and i would say as well, i mean, that's one of the major challenges i think our country faces is that the people that are interested in coming to washington to work in the senate or to work in the house, they don't necessarily bring the same kinds of backgrounds, and that's a lot due to the nature of our politics today, and i think that's something that goes undercovered. >> absolutely. >> all right. josh, thank you very much. and coming up, president trump in need of a legislative win, and trying to patch up a rocky relationship claims he and senate majority leader mitch mcconnell are, quote, closer than ever before. but what about he said just two hours earlier.

plus senator joe manchin says congress was fooled into supporting a bill that supported stemming the opioid epidemic. "morning joe" will be right back. how do you chase what you love

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kasie hunt, we need a lightning bolt every time right across the screen, and joining the conversation, john hallman, and chief white house correspondent for the new york times, peter baker. good to have you all on board. we begin with the political whiplash yesterday from the president. events within two hours of each other he passed blame to senate republicans for a stalled agenda in the cabinet room and hours later standing in the rose garden with mitch mcconnell, he claimed to be closer than ever before, and promised big developments. >> despite what the press writes, i have great relationships with actually many senators, but in particular, with most republican senators. but we're not getting the job done. and i'm not going to blame myself, i'll be honest.

they are not getting the job done. >> my relationship with this gentleman is zwrout standing. has been outstanding. we are working very hard to get the tax cuts. we will continue to work hard to get the health care completed. >> joe, on that shot right there, a thought bubble over mitch mcconnell. what do you think it would say? >> i have no idea. i have absolutely no idea, because i have no idea why he was even there. i have no idea why he's still talking to the president. i have no idea why he's still playing a game. he's lying to the people of kentucky and the people of america, and donald trump is lying to the people of america. that is standard operating practice for donald trump. it's not more mitch mcconnell. i don't know why mitch mcconnell is playing this game, whatever tax cut he thinks he's going to get out of donald trump is not worth it. he's an honorable man. he has served honorableably the

people of kentucky. he took chances early in his career. he got out in front of civil rights. and believed in it before most republicans, and a lot of other people did. and so why denigrate yourself now for this thing, this movement, that is going to -- that's going to go away. that's going to evaporate? i don't understand it. and john hileman, i haven't understood from day one, and we said it in realtime on this show to paul ryan through this magical box, why are you bowing at the feet of donald trump? why don't you make demands first? why are you turning over your support and all the things you have worked for since you were a young man without demanding

something in return? nobody ever demands anything in return from donald trump. and so they just go up there and humiliate themselves over and over and over again. it's like they live in a different dimension than john mccain. >> yeah. >> yeah. it's one of the most extraordinary spectacles. there are a variety of them going on in the events yesterday. we know the president has a penchant for wanting to humiliate the people he's around in public. i can't imagine why one would -- it's not like the president's delivering on big victories over and over again and putting them in a ribbon and dropping them on mitch mcconnell's desk for the republican party. you could understand early in the year at least a little bit how republicans thought, well, this is the vehicle by which we'll achieve our long term policy octoberivbjectives.

we'll deliver wins. >> what are you holding onto you? >> we don't love him, but he'll get stuff done we want, but it's 10 months in the administration, and not one of the big legislative victories has been brought to bear. i find it inexplicable. i think it must have been humiliating for mcconnell on some level, especially in the context of steve bannon stuff you were discussing earlier in the show. but i -- look, i wish i had a rational explanation for it at this point. it's getting hard to understand except to point to basic political misjudgments and character flaws on the part of some of the republican leaders. ? yesterday's awkward side by side appearance caps a complicated relationship between mitch mcconnell and the president. take a look. >> we are probably now despite what we read, we're probably now, i think, at least as far as i'm concerned, closer than ever before. >> i'm very disappointed in

mitch. >> we should have had health care approved. my relationship with this gentleman is outstanding. what happened, in my opinion last week, is unacceptable. has been outstanding. they should have had this last one done. we are working very hard. they lost by one vote. but we've been friends for a long time. for a thing like that to happen is a disgrace. i have a fantastic relationship with the meme in the senate. i said mitch, get to work and let's get it done. and with the people in congress. >> yeah. >> yeah. you know, willie, i -- >> yeah. >> i just feel the need to explain this again to mitch mcconnell. the guy that i have long side is the smartest guy on capitol hill in knowing how capitol hill works, but i feel a need to explain this again to mitch mcconnell and to paul ryan, the framers of our constitution,

willie, made them an equal but separate branch from the executive of the united states of america. donald trump can't do anything without their support. everything he -- the checks are written by the house and approved by the senate. why do they humiliate themselves by going over there and why do they act like donald trump is king when, in fact, it's congress that just about every other president finds out ends up ultimately holding the power on whether their presidencies are successes or failures? why do they keep humiliating themselves? >> the only answer is he wants a deal on tax reform. and he thinks he needs president trump along with them to get something done. that's what you hear out of

mcconnell's office is he still has an agenda that he'd like to push. he knows he needs the president to do that. the other thing that's mentioned in the front page of the new york times today, this is two on the list is his wife, elaine chao is the secretary of transportation, and that's awkward for him. she sits at the side as she said yesterday of the president of the united states. he has to manage that as well. >> get over it. >> that's in the stew as well. peter baker, it's interesting. if you think about president trump's list of achievements thus far as mt., his supporters always point to gorsuch being nominated to the supreme court, and the truth of that story is that it was mitch mcconnell who got gorsuch on the supreme court, refused to hold hearings for president obama's nominee and pushed through gorsuch. so president trump has a lot to thank mitch mcconnell for.

>> well, look, this is the president of his own party. they share a philosophical outlook on a policy agenda. mitch mcconnell wants to get things through the senate and congress and to the president's desk and signed. he has members up for reelection and the fighting and feuding isn't productive. he's done everything he can to kind of avoid this public rift that the president seems so intent on fostering with the senate republicans. he's not interested in a fight within the republican party. he said we've nominated people in the past who were revolutionaries and didn't win. and if we follow down that path again, we're going to lose seats and the majority. his first priority is keeping that majority together and one way to keep the majority together is to get things through. the best way to get things through is to be on the same page. >> this week the senate is focusing on tax reform legislation, but yesterday president trump down played

expectations for passing tax reform this year. >> i would like very much to see it be done this year. so we won't go a step further. if we get it done, it's a great achievement. don't forget, it fotook years f the regular administration to get things done. >> while the reagan administration did not pass major tax reform until 1986, he was able to pass a major tax cut within his first seven months in office. in august of 1981 with a congress where democrats controlled the house. i mean, i don't know -- how low can you go? >> again, here we find another president that he is lying about. if you're a conservativconserva and if you know history about reagan, if you know any -- if you know basic history, you know that he worked with graham, and

he worked with kemp, and i think he worked with rudman, but seven months in, rond reagan passed a 25% across the board tax cut. everybody got a 25 % tax cut because of ronald reagan and a democratic congress seven months in. donald trump, again, just makes things up about past presidents. this time it's a republican president he's lying about. >> right. i mean, i'll tip the hat to mike allen who's letter says the following things yesterday. you have trump saying that he and mcconnell are closer than ever before. he says other presidents didn't call the families of soldiers killed in duty. he says obamacare is dead. he said it's been established no

collusion took place with the russians around him. he said he has the support for an obamacare fix. every one of those things is false. i wish the reagan thing was an example of one thing where donald trump got it wrong, but just in one news conference yesterday on all of the matters, i believe i listed six, all of them, there's not even a dispute. they're not areas of gray. they're all just six big things about which he said false things yesterday. >> again, the. >> that's par for the course for ten months but that's the record yesterday. >> those are objectively false statements. you can look in an encyclopedia. you can look -- you can go on google, and if you find real

news sites, you will find that all of those things are false. and casey, and yet, you have republicans that are still kowtowing to donald trump. how much longer does this last? how long do they kowtow? >> what donald trump said about tax reform tells me somebody is telling him behind is scenes this is not something that they can accomplish inside the first year which is telling and starting to be the way people are talking about this on capitol hill. i think for mitch mcconnell, he delivered the line at the press conference as something he said before. winners make policy and losers go home, and i think what is setting up, and this may be the breaking point for congressional republicans with the president. which is to say if you look at everything president trump is doing here, he is setting congress up for a fall. he is setting himself up to be able to explain away all the failures of the republican agenda by pointing his finger at a republican congress. he's doing it on issue after

issue after issue kicking it to them, and the war with steve bannon is going to be, i think, the real test case here. mitch mcconnell's governing problem is not going to be solved by getting chris mcdanielle to primary roger wicker down in mississippi. in steve bannon knocks off jeff flake in and dean heller, t not going to help the republican majority governor. i think you're seeing the president struggle to figure out what is better for him in the long run. i think if he lets bannon continue down this path, he could have to work with chuck schumer. it's an unlikely considering how many democrats are up for the way the map looks. but it's still potentially weakening mitch mcconnell. >> that's tax reform. the president's other big initiative he struggled with through his first term in officer, health care. the president claimed he brought republicans and democrats

together with his executive order to stop funding subsidies to pay for lower income people on obamacare. >> the gravy train ended the day i knocked out the insurance company's money which was last week. hundreds of millions of dollars a month handed to the insurance companies for very little reason. believe me. i want the money to go to the people. i want to money to go to poor people that need it. republicans are meeting with democrats because of what i did with the csr, because i cut off the gravy train. they're having emergency meetings to get a short term fix of health care. bauchl ca b obamacare is gone. there is no such thing as obamacare anymore. >> dwlrks of course. >> wow. >> that's one aspect of obamacare that he's picking at. not clear that will even happen. obamacare going to be what it was when donald trump got in

office at the end of the day? >> no. no. this is all incredibly depressing. i mean, from your referencing mike allen's piece today, six or seven false statements. we do it every day. but peter baker, at some point the depressing things we talk about each and every day, there's a reality out there in the united states of america, and it's going to arrive when the insurance companies and nobody likes insurance companies, when they are denied these subsidies that have r par provided them to help lower income people afford health care. is there pushback against the president during the course of this decision making process about doing things like that? it's going to be the ruining of many people's lives sfwlchlt it does destabilize the markets. he seems to suggest the money should go to the people, but it's going to insurance companies to subsidize coverage

for the people. that's the thing. it's not unconnected. and when he says it's gotten everybody together, they were already together working on this problem. the senators on both sides of the aisle are trying to come up with a bipartisan solution to this to the extent that he has brought them together. it's because both sides are very concerned about this idea the markets are going to collapse. so it's no doubt accelerated some of the talks that were happening. it's possible you'll see a deal this week between democrats and republicans in the senate to restore the subsidies and restore stability to the market, but it's sort of like saying i set the fire and then look how great the firefighters are. he's created a problem that the senate is trying to fix. >> peter baker, thank you. and kasie hunt, thank you as well. still ahead on "morning joe," we'll talk with senator democrat joe manchin who met with jarod

and ivanka. plus the house intel committee's eric swalwell, and we're closing in on our big know your value event at the grand hayat in new york city. it's just under two weeks away on october 30th. join us, our special guests include sara jessica parker, martha stewart, bobby brown, cat can katty kay and joe and willie. ♪ ♪ you nervous? ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

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today marks 343 days since the 2016 presidential election. but president trump's former opponent hillary clinton is still on his mind. tweeting yesterday morning i was recently asked if crooked hillary clinton is going to run in 2020. my answer was, i hope so. in the rose garden yesterday

trump was eager to discuss clinton. >> i hope hillary runs. is she going to run? i hope. hillary, please run again. go ahead. >> meanwhile a wave of democratic candidates are hoping to reverse a disturbing trend for dems who didn't just lose the white house but state houses across the country. senior national correspondent for msnbc chris jansing is here. it's the banging. i'm sorry. what the heck. >> constructing a new set for you. i don't know. >> there's a large construction project taking place right behind do you. >> vchris jansing is here -- >> it's sound affects because a lot of people are knocking on doors. you may not know it. >> she's good. >> we're three weeks away from election day and folks in virginia where they're going to vote for the house of delegates in new jersey, both the house and senate. many of them still reeling from

hillary clinton's election loss. there was a wave of enthusiasm, unbelievable number of first-time candidates and the question for them is what are they going to see? because generally whoever holds the white house, then, loses seats in legislatures. will that hold this time? we found many of these new candidates are running as democrats. but at the same time in some ways, running away from the party. take a look. >> not far from donald trump's winery in virginia in a district where he crushed hillary clinton, kelen squire is the first democrat to even run for the state legislature since 2009. motivated by trump's election. >> i just wasn't content to sit at home and belly ache about how bad things were on facebook. i figured run for the house of delegates. >> a father of three and emergency room nurse, it was trial by fighter when someone said he couldn't back any democrat because of nancy

pelosi. >> you to separate yourself from the big d democrats? >> that's true a lot of places in the country. maybe outside of new york and california. >> i'm calling because i heard you're undecided. >> reporter: jennifer was also new to politics, pregnant with twins and a public defender when she decided to run for the house too. >> what was it that motivated you? >> i think it was pissed off. >> last night i congratulated donald trump and offered to work with him on behalf of our country. >> reporter: angry that hillary clinton lost but also at a democratic party she says isn't run by the diverse mix of people it's asking for votes. >> we need a seat at the table. if your interests are protected and ideals are promoted, we have to be a part of that conversation. that's not happening. >> reporter: that's where amanda litman comes in. >> in the past they look for people who can raise money, that means older male rich white dudes. >> reporter: on the day donald

trump became president, she decided it was time to stop being mad and get even. co-founding a group called run for something. to encourage diverse, first-time candidates under 35. >> we thought it would be small. we would get maybe 100 people who want to run. in the first nine months, we've had more than 11,000 young people sign up. >> reporter: it's only a start of grass roots organizations. and many running in places democratic leadership long ago abandoned as unwinnable. >> what does it say to them in. >> reporter: don't get complacent and assume the only people that will run are the ones you choose. >> reporter: no one recruited kelen squire, but he's talking to any voter who will listen and says national democrats would do well to listen too. >> people don't want somebody who agrees with them 100%. they want somebody to who is going to listen and appreciate their concerns at heart. >> reporter: if there's one

theme i heard over and over again in virginia, and i was in wisconsin last week. it's that they believe that the party regulars look at l.a., washington, and new york city. they don't understand what's going on on the ground. so, for example, kelen squire, you go to his website, it says i'm a hard working middle class christian. she emphasizes that she went to the virginia military academy, one of the first women. they know who is in their district, their knocking on doors and talking to people. even though this past weekend kelen squire had somebody slam the door in his face saying he thought hillary clinton was a crook, he went to the next door and kept knocking. >> that's how it works. let's bring into the conversation eric swalwell. a lot of investigations to ask you about. first, to chris's piece that she worked on there, what else is it going to take for the democratic party to rebuild? there's a lot of talk about

resisting trump. what's the step beyond that? >> new energy, new ideas. i chair a group called future form. we've gone to about 50 cities across the country including in wisconsin, home home ha, dallas. 60 of the 80 seats we're targeting have people 40 or under are running. being run is an attribute, but being young and experienced. >> but being representative of the community. >> you have to talk to the people and understand they're conscious of the fact while barack obama was president, 970 legislative seats were lost, and they know that's where it starts. you can't talk about where is our next woman candidate for president? where is our next minority candidate for president unless you build that bench, they want to be the bench. >> it's well documented why hillary clinton lost in the belt of states through pennsylvania,

ohio, wisconsin, and michigan by a relatively small group of people, many of whom voted for president obama the previous election voted for donald trump. what's your message to those voters who feel like the democratic has turned its back to them? >> we hear you. we're for you, and we need your back. those are the ones we need to get first. i think understanding that it's really about growing their paychecks, growing their opportunities, and making sure they can dream bigger dreams for their kids than they dreamed for themselves. that's the party we've always been. i think too many folks felt like we had lost that. and we didn't go to enough of those places. i want to wisconsin. they're mad we didn't go there enough when i was there. >> do you think the democratic matter has gotten too mired in identity politics? >> when we grow the pie for everybody, it lifts everybody up. people aren't worried about who is taking their piece. they're not as fearful of an immigrant or muslim. i think if we're talking act

expanding it for everyobody. every kid has a chance to go to college, every person who loses their job as a community that looks out for them and makes sure they have new opportunities. i think that's where we do best. >> on top of everything else, the president weighed in on the russia investigation yesterday venting his clear frustration with the probe. >> the whole russia thing was an excuse for the democrats losing the election, and it's just one excuse. today hillary blamed someone else. that was just an excuse for the democrats losing an election that frankly, they have a big advantage in the electoral college. they should always be able to win in the electoral college, but they were unable to do it. there has been no collusion. it's been stated that they have no collusion. they ought to get to the end of it. think the american public is sick of it. >> congressman? is the american public sick of it? >> no. in fact, what i've seen, an anecdote and research is people are concerned about what russia did in our election. they want to know the next

election is going to be more secure. they don't want to relitigate what happened in 2016. donald trump is the president. unfortunately that's something we all have to live with every day, but they want to know that we're not going to look the other way and allow another country or russia to do this again. i'm calling for an independent commission to do this. after september 11th, it took us over a year to set up an independent commission. when you look at what's going on in the house intelligence committee with a recused chairman issuing subpoenas and running a separate investigation, that's the only insurance policy against an investigation right now that as an asterisk on it. >> i think for a lot of people there's a question of the time for you guys? you've been beset by difficu difficulties in your committee. when you look down the road given where you are today, do

you think you're going to be done with your work in some form or fashion in a few months? is it a couple years? if i'm a voter, when do i get an answer from you? >> ideally before the first ballot is mailed out for the 2018 midterm election. we need unity right now as a shield against future attacks, and i think this disunity only allows the russians to sharpen their swords and be emboldened to come at us again. that's the x-factor. christen talked about -- chris talked about having all the factors in our favor going into 2018. it's a unified fwofied governme. trump is unpopular, but i don't know what another interference campaign would do and the russians are sitting pretty knowing we're not unified and we've done nothing. we have a commander in chief who won't acknowledge the attack. we're pretty vulnerable. >> eric swalwell, thank you for coming on the show this morning. chris jansing, thank you as well. we're getting new granite in the

kitchen. >> countertops. >> what color? >> i have no idea. i don't know anything about granite but probably black granite. >> taupe. >> taupe. >> oh, the black splash is going to be amazing. coming up a bill a former dea official says helped fuel the opioid crisis sail through congress last year with unanimous consent and now lawmakers who are calling for it to be repealed are explaining how it passed in the first place. >> they made it and camouflaged it so well that all of us, all of us were fooled. nobody knew. there's no oversight now. that bill has to be retracted. >> we'll ask senator joe man chn about the next steps and about his dinner last night with ivanka and jared. "morning joe" is coming right back.

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president trump back in august said he would be declaring the opioid epidemic a national emergency, and yesterday they plan to make it official by sending it to congress next week. that comes as president trump says he'll take another look at his nominee for drug czar after

this bomb shell report on opioids we told you about yesterday on the show. the investigation from "the washington post" and 60 minutes found that tom marino champions a bill that made it harder for federal agents to stop big pharma from flooding the nation with addictive opioids. >> as far as tom marino, he was a very early supporter of mine, the great state of pennsylvania. he's a great guy. i did see the report. we're going to look into the report. we're going to take it very seriously. >> joining us now joe manchin of west virginia. it was such a stunning report, senator. thank you so much for being on the show this morning. explain how it happened in the first place. because a lot of people don't understand how so many people can just push something like

this through. >> well, as you can imagine, i have never been more outraged at anything in my life. i read "the washington post." i want to thank "the washington post" and also 60 minutes for the in depth research they've done. and it opened all of our eyes up. when a bill like this or someone introduces a bill, it goes through the committee process, which it did in the process. it works through the committee process. if it comes out with no dissenting democrats or republicans both thinking or feeling and their staffs have researched it and said, hey, we talked to the doj and dea, they said it was not impeding their ability to do their job. now, why they were so misled and if you looked into it in more depth as the report has showed, mi mika, you had most out people that have left the agencies and went to work for the companies they were responsible for investigating before. it was -- you talk about the

swamp? that's quick sand. you jump from the swamp to quick sand there, and that's what happened, and then when it came to the floor, it comes from the committees, it goes to the majority leader. he doesn't see any objection on anybody. the democrats didn't bring it up. we didn't know about it. it wasn't something we voted on. they just agreed to unanimous consent and moved the process forward. that's exactly what happened. now that we find out everyone should be outraged. that bill needs to be repealed and we will. i'm on that bill, and we're going to repeal it and we need to, go back to where they have the ability to oversight and not only that but investigate and litigate against the people from doing it and hold them responsible, these -- all these agencies as far as the middleman and then on top of that, you have a situation where tom marino who is a proponent and basically a champion of this bill, with marsha blackburn, and

he's brought before us now to be considered as the drug czar? not one person in west virginia would believe that congressman marino would do his job effectively. no. i'm asking the president to please, please, find somebody else. how about joe and the gentleman who is passionate about it and worked in the dea who basically brought all this forward, and has more knowledge that be anybody else. find somebody passionate that has a real, real reason to be able to fight this thing and help us and be believable if you really want a war on drugs, find a general that can fight the war. >> senator, it's willie. good to see you this morning. this bill passed the senate by anonymo unanimous consent last year. as you've looked at this thing and figured out what was underneath, you said it was camouflaged. for people who didn't see the

pieces. in as concise terms as you can, what happened here and what was the congressman up to? >> first, the person who wrote the bill as i understand it, no one has disputed the facts is this mr. barber who was the head person at dea enforcement. then he went over to the other side, working for the companies, and the drug distributors, if you will. and wrote the bill and continued to massage it. no one had any concern whatsoever that it would impede their ability to do their job. he was basically brighter and understood it better and was able to navigate it more sthan the people that should have been catching it. i asked my staff how could it happen. they said we called the agencies to find out if it's something they agree or disagree. when i first knew we did not have vicodin or lor jtab has a

scheduled two drug. that means you only get 30 days. they were schedule 3 giving out 90 day prescriptions like m&ms and didn't have to go back to the doctor. we got that changed and fought for three years. that should have been a three-week process. it took three years. this is how bad the system is. this has been a business plan. i have said this from day one. in west virginia, i know criminal west virginia. when you have less than 400 people and send more than 9 million pills down there, you have to be stuffing pills down people's throat. it's criminal. it's uncalled for. >> it really is, and thank you for your hard work, senator. because you've been a real champion in this area that really has impacted all of us. i want to change subjects for a

minute here. you went to dinner last night to talk about tax reform. you had a fancy dinner. willie and i had our own fancy dinner. we had crystal hamburgers with our bookies, but let's talk about your dinner instead. you were talking act tax reform with jared and ivanka last night, and i was wondering what was the outcome of the dinner, and do you believe that tax reform has a chance of passing in 2017? >> first, i wanted to thank jared and ivanka for opening up their home. it was a great venue. joe, you've been around here long enough yk and you've cover third down place long enough knowing we don't have that many opportunities as democrat and republicans to sit down and have a meal. it was a nice dinner. we were able to talk for about two hours. it was a great conversation. steve mnuchin there, mark short from the white house, able to go back and forth, trying to find a

pathway forward that we as democrats could work with our colleagues and friends on the republican side and find tax reform, a tax overhaul that really works for the middle class working people. that really works for those people that have families and children, get up every day, trying to make this life for themselves, if you will, and make this country be as great as we are. that's what we talked about. ivanka is passionate about child tax credits. we talked about that. and really the challenge families have because of the high cost of nursery and babysitting cares, and child caring. all these things we're passionate, but also we met with the president about four weeks ago. he was adamant, this is not going to be a tax cut for the rich. the plan that came out seems to be a tax cut for the rich. >> i was going to ask you that question, because you're talking about helping the people of west virginia, and i think the demographics in west virginia are probably somewhat similar to the democrats in my old

district. i've seen nothing in the tax bill that will help working class people whether you're talking about pensacola florida or omaha, nebraska. what we've seen when a lot of business and corporations make money, they buy back stock. they don't hire more people. they don't help working class people of west virginia. so what's wrong with this tax bill, and how can you make it better for the people of pensacola and west virginia? >> well, first of all, what we have seen so far has come from the legislature. it's come from the house side. and i'm hoping that now the white house once we get something in front of us, will weigh in and say that's not our intent or what we want and start making ajustments. because adjustments need to be made. at first blush you're reducing the first rate to 35 raising the

bottom rate from 10 to 12. the optics are very bad about this. we have to have good dialogue, understanding what's trying to be accomplished here, and making sure that we don't have loopholes and tax credits that only the wealthy can take advantage of. that's what we have to close down. democrats, me, especially, i think a 25%, i said this before, a 25% corporate rate from 35 to 25 territorial, these all work very well. 10% repatriation, back to capital expenditures to distribute for dividends. these things can work. but also on the top end, you've got to give a break not just to the top end but to the middle class. that middle class basically has been stagnant for all these years. we've talked about that. the pass through. you know, all these rates, the capital gains, everyone is concerned about that. deduction of interest. there's so many things that the

average person is never able to benefit from. and those things got to be cut out. no one is talking, joe, about $20 trillion of debt. don't you think we ought to be concerned about the debt that we have and the growth that's going to come to this debt? and you can't just go up to the wheel or go up to the table and say today is my day, we're going to hit it big. >> right. i mean, that's what willie and i do, but we do it at the dog track. john, breaking news from the bbc. interesting just on the a side note, u.s.-backed alliance of syrian kurdish have taken full control of the so-called islamic capital of raqqa. just some news to push out there. what a difference six months to a year makes. >> yes. >> again, let's be very clear. this started under barack obama. donald trump will take full credit for it. they certainly upped the operations and certainly had an

intense focus on it. we take nothing away from anybody this administration that's done this, but the gains start, i will say under barack obama when he finally started paying the attention to the rise of isis that he did. >> right. it's a big moment. we've been talking about for years about the status of raqqa. the right thing to do is ask senator manchin, hearing that news, what do you think that means for the prospects for stability this that region? >> we're very hopeful for that. i'm really concerned about the cur kurds right now, and i think john mccain hit it on the head. i'm watching that close. we're concerned about all of this. but basically it shows the iraqi forces under our leadership and basically our training has been very helpful and allowed them to be aggressive and be able to have wins on the battle field. that's very promising. >> can i ask you, senator, really quickly, what are you

doing? what can you do to get the message out to our allies, our kurdish allies that we're going to stand by them? because they were always our those of us who understand that, those of us who are extremely appreciative and also very supportive of the kurds are going to make sure we continue to speak out. john mccain from the armed services committee, those of us. i was on the armed services for six years with john. all the good people there on the committee. we will continue to support the kurds. we will continue to make sure they know the senate and legislature is supportive of them. i would think the president and this administration is supportive. they have been tremendous allies. we have not had to worry about

the kurds. they stepped up. they were always behind. we're going to stick with them. >> senator joe, thank you for being with us. still ahead this morning from the new film lbj, director rob ryaner and actor woody join us onset. "morning joe" is coming right back.

helen: fand every year,, we get a giwe split it equally. except for one of us. i write them a poem instead. and one for each of you too. and one for each of you too. helen: cool. that actually yours... that one. yeah. regardless, we're stuck with the bill. to many, words are the most valuable currency. last i checked, stores don't take words. man: some do. oh. (alert beeps) not everyone can be the poetic voice of a generation. i know, right? such a burden. pay back a friend day is october 17th. get the bank of america mobile banking app today.

. we got this from our friends over at the social media data company, social flow. it's really a jump on some of the stories that will be the most discussed this morning. based on their algorithm. social flow the able to provide a snapshot of the future and tell us which stories.

>> is baseball, is the dodgers cubs game, is that going to be the top story. >> no. are you going to bore me again. >> no, but the two of you could talk for 20 minutes about nothing. >> easily. >> these are the stories going to be the most consumed. from huff post, the more women in the operating room, the better for doctors and patients. c net. privacy concerns. last but not least there's this from the miami herald, miami politician says aliens took her on a spaceship, now she's running for congress. >> hold on, willie. she stole my store. that's what i used. >> we're going to follow up. >> it's like catnip for the voters. they can't resist it because they're like well, he might be telling the truth.

if he's hung out with aliens, maybe he'll fit in in washington. >> the president says he and mitch mcconnell are closer than ever before. is that show of unity or just a show. we'll get a live report ahead on morning joe. you totaled your brand new car. nobody's hurt, but there will still be pain. it comes when your insurance company says they'll only pay three-quarters of what it takes to replace it. what are you supposed to do? drive three-quarters of a car? now if you had liberty mutual new car replacement™, you'd get your whole car back. i guess they don't want you driving around on three wheels. smart. with liberty mutual new car replacement™, we'll replace the full value of your car. liberty stands with you™. liberty mutual insurance. dear dauwith our used to mother-daughter matches. but i've been taking osteo bi-flex ease. it's 80% smaller but just as effective. which means, i'll run you off the court. hugs and kisses, mom. osteo bi-flex ease. made to move.

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tax cuts. we will continue to work hard to get the health care completed. i'm going to be surprising people with economic development bill later on. i haven't told mitch. i want to focus on tax cuts and some other things right now. >> that short clip pretty much sums up yesterday and the last nine months of the administration. touts relationship with mitch mcconnell and very next breath reveals he's operating completely independent of them. hammers the senate for not getting things done hours later stands said by side with leaders. he attacks hillary clinton nearly a year after the election and he adds welfare reform to congress's to do list where immigration, health care, and tox policy already languish on capitol hill. good morning, it's tuesday, october 17. with us we have vern columnist.

editor at large at the weekly standard bill crystal and nbc news capitol hill correspondent and the host of kk d.cdc are yo getting the shirt done. >> i am. >> good. >> i want one of those trans am eagles. come on. willie geist, this may be the greatest show ever. this may be the greatest name for a show. kcdc.

>> also with us former white house press secretary to president obama. now nbc and political news analyst, josh earnest. good to have you. >> good morning guys. >> it's a little harder to do something with a lightning bolt with your last name being earnest. >> i don't know. he can be a guest on kcdc. just ask me. i hope he'll do it. >> we figure with the political whiplash yesterday from the president. in events within two hours of each other, trump first passed

blame to senate republicans for a stalled agenda in the cabinet room. then hours later, standing in the rose garden with the senate majority leader mitch mcconnell claimed to be closer than ever before and promised big developments. >> despite what the press writes, i have great relationships with actually many senators, but in particular with most republican senators, but we're not getting the job done. >> my relationship with this gentleman is outstanding. has been outstanding. we are working hard though get the tax cuts. we will continue to work hard to get the health care completed. >> we also saw that split personality when it came to addressing the, quote, war that his former strategic steve bannon has declared on the republican establishment. plotting primary challenges to republican incumbents and

targets raises around the country next year. here's the president responding to similar questions about bannon first in the cabinet room and then stay with us in the rose garden alongside mitch mcconnell. >> mr. president, do you approve of steve bannon's war on the republican establishment. >> we've had health care aide parol eviden approved and surprise vote by john mccain. we've had other things happen and they're not getting the job done. i can understand where steve bannon is coming from. i can understand where a lot of people are coming from. i'm not happy about it. a lot of people aren't happy about it. >> do you support the plan by people who previously served in your administration such as steve bannon primary republican candidate do not support your agenda. >> we'll have a very good relationship as you know with steve bannon. steve has been a friend of mine

for a long time. i like steve a lot. steve is doing what steve thinks is the right thing. some of the people he may be looking at i'm going so tsee if we talk him out of that. frankly they're great people. >> kind of brings home the point whatever he says will be refuted moments later possibly. how do you work with him. >> you don't. and that picture i'm not looking at donald trump. i'm not saying what is donald trump doing there. i'm not trying to figure donald trump out. we've figured donald trump out. willie geist, i'm looking at mitch mcconnell and saying why the hell are you there. i don't care what you're doing. i don't care who you are. when the president goes after

you as much as the president has gone after mitch mcconnell. when steve bannon says i'm going to destroy mitch mcconnell. i don't want to give mitch mcconnell any advice, but it's pretty simple, you tell the president, mr. president, if you standby mitch mcconnell's side, you can't standby my side. if you support a man and say you understand what he's doing and a guy is your friend and said his life's work is destroy me and everybody around me, i'm not coming over. i'm not working with you. i'm going to do my own agenda. and yet, he's in there sitting there talking. there's really no excuse for it. you can have people say all they want. well, he's a majority leader. yeah, he is a majority leader, but the president is trying to destroy him and destroy people who work for him. don't standby him and smile and act like nothing has happened. >> at the same time the president says he wants to get deals done, he goes out and says all the things he saying

publicly about mitch mcconnell. mitch mcconnell is not fooled by any of the niceties he dropped on the rose garden saying we're very close and good friends. as mika showed a couple of hours earlier, he was on board with the steve bannon plan. very specifically saying we have to get rid of mitch mcconnell at the top and the develop bl establishme establishment. why, bill crystal, mitch mcconnell would believe anything that donald trump says when he stands at his side is beyond me. i actually don't think he does believe it. >> i don't think he does believe it, but he's willing to be humiliated by donald trump. >> they want the get tax cuts. they want tax cuts huge shiny bubble that justifies humiliating yourself. senate majority leader. you have a distinguished career

in the senate. thi three decades. you have to say nice things about donald trump. we've been friends for a long time. it's pathetic. he should have more self respect. doesn't have to go attacking donald trump every day. don't go out on a lunch. trump loves it. he likes humidity ualiating peo what do they need now most? what does the senator in the states need. they need trump to save them from insurgency that he himself is sort of fostering and aiding. so from trump's point of view, he's got everyone depending on him. everyone sucking up to him. it's not healthy. john mccain showed you what a serious grownup human being does when confronted by donald trump

and mitch mcconnell didn't. said into a microphone. i love paul ryan as long as he does what i want. if he doesn't, well, maybe i'll find somebody to run against him. while paul ryan was standing there with a packers shirt. i would say mr. president, i'm going to keep this packers shirt because you don't deserve it. i'll tell you something else i'm going to do. when you send your first budgets over, i'm going to put it in the drawer. maybe i don't say that in front of him, but i'd let the president know what tip o'neill even let democratic presidents know, hey, you going to treat us with respect here or you're going to get nothing done.

if for some reason all the collective reason, mitch mcconnell and paul ryan have never understood that they are a separate and equal part of the legislative branch. >> you know, joe, i really don't know why so many people seem so surprised by events that occurred yesterday in the white house rose garden with mitch mcconnell smiling standing next to the president of the united states. who has assaulted him repeatedly on twitter, verbally. >> repeatedly. >> i don't know why people are surprised at this. this is an institution now, right now, the united states senate and many members of the senate and presidency right now, that have been built on duplicity and fraudulence. this week, the president signed a proclamation yesterday national character counts week. go find character in any of the scenes that bev shown this morning. i tell you where you found character and bill crystal referenced it.

last night in philadelphia every american ought to read the speech that john mccain gave in philadelphia to get a sense of what being a leader and having character is all about. >> it is a joke. people will look back and wonder what the hell happened. what fever gripped conservatives. what fever gripped republican party. what fever gripped my own people. the people i grew up with. the people who helped me get elected. these angel cals that go to value voter summits or whatever they call it. and give steve bannon standing ovation. so drowned in information that some things cannot be debated.

you look at matthew and go through the bee attitudes, every single one, you go through jesus's teaching. what he says he wants people to be, donald trump is the antithesis of just about every single thing that jesus christ said on the sermon. none of us are perfect, but he goes out of his way, it seems, to thumb his nose at all conventions including the basics of the bee attitudes. still ahead, how tough it is when american troops are killed in action. talk about that moment yesterday a new low next on morning joe. can anyone help me? magic is pretty amazing. it can transform a frog into a prince.

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it's been nearly two weeks since members of the special forces were killed during an isis ambush. yesterday, president donald trump was asked about not having mentioned their deaths. >> why haven't we heard anything from you so far about the soldiers that were killed? >> i've written them personal letters. they have been sent or they're going out tonight, but they were during the weekend. i will at some point during the period of time call the parents and the families because i have done that traditionally. i always feel bad about that. the toughest calls i have to make are the calls where this happens, soldiers are killed. it's very difficult thing. now fetes to a point where you know you make four or five of them in one day. it's a very tough day. for me that's by far the

toughest. the traditional way if you look at president obama and other presidents, most of them didn't make calls. a lot of them didn't make calls. i like to call when it's appropriate. when i think i'm able to do it. >> i really can't. i'm so sorry. i cannot help myself. really. it's tough. it's tough for you. it's tough for him. it's tough for him. i wonder if it's tough -- as tough as the parents who lost their sons and daughters or brothers and sisters and wives ask kids who lost someone. can he make a moment just perhaps one not about himself. it's really hard to watch. >> that's offensive enough. >> it's offensive. >> it's offensive enough. what is double bli offensive is that in that moment when he mike barnicle when he had refused to even mention these heros,y offe that in that moment when he mike barnicle when he had refused to even mention these heros, he

makes it about himself. say it's really tough. >> for him. >> and for him. yeah. and then he brings up his petty long running insecure pathetic sad weak dispute withing with the 44th president of the united states. donald trump makes their death, their sacrifice about himself. boy, that sure is tough to call a phone and pick up the phone and call a parent who will never see their son or daughter again. then he finds a way to try to attack barack obama. which just shows again -- you talked about character before. i talked about the bee attitudes. this man is such a terrible role model. atitudes. this man is such a terrible role model.

for all of our children, all of our grandchildren. i don't know where to start. that clip lays it out. this is so sad. this is the presidency of the united states we're talking about. that is is the president of the united states you just saw on television lowering the office every day. >> this is rock bottom. when he speaks like this about our heros. i know personally a family that barack obama called who had lost their son in afghanistan. is josh still with us. josh, you know too, you lived it. you saw what an emotional wrenching experience it is for a president of the united states, a man, to call the families of the fallen and it was done repeatedly not only by barack obama, but by george w. bush and

past presidents as well. for that to occur yesterday, for this sitting president of the united states to so demean the office and by implication try to demean his predecessors is really a new low. i did see president obama in a variety of circumstances show enormous respect for those who paid the ultimate respect for our country. also revealed the enormous burden that is carried by the commander in chief in terms of making the kinds of life and death decision death decisions. it's going to have an impact on people signing up. looks for ways to actually devolve that decision making down the food chain so he doesn't have to bear that responsibility. i remember vividly that president obama on veterans day, as previous presidents have done.

traveled to arlington national security. given an address to pay tributes to those who paid the ultimate sacrifice for the country. gone to the tomb of the unknown soldier to lay a wreath there. before he would leave the cemetery would go to section 60. part of the cemetery that's dedicated to preserving the remains of those in our military who have given lives in conflict in iraq and afghanistan. he did that because he felt these were the decisions he was making as commander in chief, he also did that in private. we didn't get press reporters a heads-up in advance that he was going to that part of the cemetery. i even got reporters coming into my office saying please tell us when president obama is going to go to section 60. we would like to photograph him there. and president obama's preference was always to not seek that attention. i'm not seeking to martyr president obama here.

what i'm seeking to illustrate is that presidents in both parties understood that when we're talking about the sacrifice that america's men and women are paying for our country, that it's not about them personally. it's not about the president. it's not about their personal feelings. it's not about an effort to convince the country somehow they are showing the same kind of bravery those men and women in uniform are showing. we need to honor and pay tribute to their sacrifice. that is what president obama and other presidents have done. and unfortunately president trump seems incapable of doing that. >> coming up on morning joe. >> putin is a strong politician. we know that. he's more experienced than trump. if they were to face off, i wouldn't bet on trump. >> he was once the richest man in russia until he criticized vladimir putin and wound up in

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what was seen as the kremlins payback for his political opposition. >> could i have been murdered? certainly. was i afraid of him? continues to receive criticism from vladimir putin of exile. also where the senior national security analyst and chairman and co-founder of national integrity network. good to have you.

>> tell us more. >> this is an individual who was one of these oligarchs we hear so much about. russia's richest man. a billionaire. insider at public and private meetings with putin. he made a fatal mistake to his corruption. led to two trials. serve ten years now as exile. asked him, an attempt to metal in the election, but does he think from very personal knowledge of vladimir putin that he would specifically also try to get collusion from the trump campaign. here's what he told me. >> i would say nine out of ten that he personally and his inner circle attempted to cooperate. whether or not that proposal was accepted, i would let the people responsible for investigating the matter answer that question.

>> it's striking there to hear him lay that out from putin as his view of it. we also talked about of the power in russia. how exactly did this criticize putin. what charges was he brought into the trial later charged. no public evidence offered and so he's exiled right before the time as best we can tell vladimir putin cared more about international human rights opinion than he does today. and he told me as well that if he returned to the country, he would be immediately put in prison for life. >> seems like if you criticize putin, you are either dead or in prison. >> that's one way to put it, at least if yo do it in a prominent

way. not a country the u.s. has free and fair elections that opposition leaders are openly attacked. >> you know, the tentacles of putin's reach given his assumed wealth and everybody in the intelligence community says he's one of the wealthiest people in the world, is it possible that we under play those tentacles that broad reach into not just our elections, but elections in germany and just the cult that he has. >> absolutely right. he has that cloud of power within russia and part of what happens to his opponents is they also are bankrupted. he bankruptcy those that oppose him. because money is power in russia. he's wielded in incredibly well. he has used money as influence to affect politics, campaigns,

buy influence and, certainly, as we saw in 2016 the cyber info to try to then influence the public mood if not the result of the election. >> weird to say i think he would have been more of a risk to putin martyred and dead. he is according to many people the most trusted opposition figure to putin known to russia. of course he has been defanged. most of his billions taken. he's been kicked out of the country. i think putin feels he has sufficiently blunted the attack to do more would not be in putin's self interest. >> i think he was incredibly prominent oligarch. it would have brought a ton of attention. you saw what happened with the killing of the lawyer.

it led to the act. he wasn't that prominent. imagine if something happened to him, it would have been major. in addition, putin has to be careful. he has to keep the oligarchs on side. he has enormous amount of power, but they have power as well. he has to be careful in terms of the balance of power within russia and the russian economy. >> as for the russia probe and mueller investigation, you're hearing michael flynn's name come up again. tell us what is the latest. trying to get information about what was happening at key moments. what was behind the e-mail and, certainly, with the firing of director comey. what was intended. it's also question for mueller and mika you and i have talked

about this, trying to determine what type of influence the russians had in terms of decision making. that is where general flynn comes in. so much suspicion and concern about his ties to russia as well as what was happening to white house. someone who worked in the bush administration and national security apparatus for many years. what's your reaction to the president's comments yesterday. >> i was saddened and disappointed. to be honest, i expect more of the commander in chief. i watch president bush agonize over those kinds of calls and interactions. frankly those were interactions that were taken in private. often with family members and i saw a president that agonized every moment about the sensibility around his role as commander in chief. the consequences and loss of

american lives abroad and, certainly, the consequences on family members. and the fact is the focus should be on the families and on the courage and heroism of the four who have fallen fighting terrorism and we completely lost focus precisely because of the way this was tramd by the president. i was disappointed. framed by t president. i was disappointed. we'll see the full interview at 6:00 eastern time on the beat on msnbc. up next, director rob reiner and actor woody harrelson join us to discuss the latest project about president linden johnson. we'll be right back.

let me ask you something, when was the last time you had a meal with her? >> she's an employee, but if you think that i would have any objection to breaking bred with her, then you are a fool. >> so you're telling me she's your equal. >> that woman spends more time in this house than anyone else. she is family. >> i don't know how i missed the resemblance. i'm not talking about freedom. i'm talking about the preservation of the way of life

you and i both grew up with. there's nothing wrong with that. >> then why are we whispering. >> wow, that was an exclusive look at a scene from the new film lbj. which chronicles linden johnson sometimes contentious relationship with the candidacy. joining us now the film's director, oscar nominated film director rob reiner and the man who plays lbj, oscar nominated actor, woody harrelson. this looks incredible. >> it's him. this guy, so many people have come up to me and said woody harrelson, and wait until you see. wait until you see what he does. it's off the charts amazing. >> joe, jump in. >> yes. rob, you know what's so fascinating about lbj and always fascinating, we've had good men who have been ineffective

presidents. president now terribly flawed personally and terribly flawed president. with lbj you have a man of personal extraordinary flaws. at times he's just a beast. as a president, he passed remarkable legislation. landmark legislation that john kennedy couldn't come close to passing. anybody who becomes president is flawed. there's something about you that needs to have that kind of attention, that kind offagelation. that kind of love from strangers as they say. with that you have to have the ability to understand the con influence of government, policy and politics and how those things intertwine. lbj new that to his bones. whatever character flaws he had,

he was able to bring his skills to beer and as you say, pass more domestic legislation than anybody except maybe fdr and had it not been for vietnam, he would have gone down as one of the great presidents of all time. >> what were your preconceived notions about lbj. what did you think about the president from what you knew. how did it change over the course of researching and playing the character. >> i definitely had a problem with him because of vietnam. most people do. i got to say, the more i looked into him and read about him, he is a fascinating guy. in some ways the jury is still out on lbj. the more i got to know him, the more i liked him. from people that i talked to who didn't know him, he was one of the most charismatic lek if iing guys.

if he was here right now, you would just be riveted to -- he's a great story teller and fascinating guy. and i do think he did a lot of great stuff. >> so beyond the physical trance medication, nightly news transformation. an interesting thing is brian played lbj and their production started a little before ours and i actually talked to him to get, you know, notes on it. i figured nobody is going to know better than him. and he gave me a lot of great ideas and just physicality that he was so generous. i was like i'm not sure i would be so generous the way you are. if it's someone else playing at the same time. he said well, it's a big tent. let's fill it. he didn't look at it competitively. >> he also every morning two

hours in that makeup chair there's plenty of tapes on lbj. woody would listen during that two hours to get himself in that mind set. >> joe, mike barnicle, i want to go to you. also, announce some breaking news that we're going be covering, we're going to go to kristen welker to talk about donald trump tweeting that representative tom marino withdrawing his name from consideration of drug czar. that of course breaking news after great deal of pressure i believe started with "the washington post" investigative piece yesterday, mike. >> absolutely. that's progress at least how that bill got passed is sort of a mystery. in any event, we are where we are with that. woody and rob, that scene, that clip we showed coming in, richard syjenkins and you the w

you captured linden johnson. you were talking about reference from vietnam and you indicated you had a problem with vietnam as so many people did and do and yet that's part of the greatest story, the nature, the embarrassment, the humiliation, the lack of confidence that linden johnson had in himself that motivated him towards vietnam. the richness of this character. i don't know who wrote the screen play. i don't know how the idea devolved off of it, but it's just an incredible human story. linden banes johnson. >> it was written by joey hea heartstone. brilliant screen writer. we tried to do the books. in a goodwin buying if i i read, there were a couple of things i took out personal.

she worked with linden johnson and wrote the biography. he was very insecure. at times he had this dream, reoccurring nightmare of being paralyzed. we kind of took those ideas and woody did it brilliantly. that's why i wanted woody. he had so much humanity. it shows the three dimensional list of this guy. he was also very, very insecure and flightened of people not loving him. we try to bring that in as well. >> history played steve schmit in game change. think of two political roles. one a guy alive. not different. he's living in the world. johnson huge larger than life figure. kind of deceased and part of the history book. when you think about how you go about approaching two guys like that. what are the different kind of pressures that you face. someone who is actually living

and you can talk to, but you have to be fair to. on the other hand someone larger than life character, but enshrined in history. it really did help to be able to sit down and be able to hang out with steve submitchmit. i couldn't do be lbj. i did feel i got a little self conscious about his voice. he's from the hill country. very different way of speaking. i would get caught up in it and he would be like don't worry about it. when you see it you don't think about it. you know, i do hope people who did know him or people who were very familiar with lbj don't say that's not lbj. >> the perfect thing is we showed this at the lbj library and lucy baines was there. before we do, i got to hear what she said.

she's sitting there in the front row and she stood up and very formerly said, the man i saw in the screen tonight is the man i knew. and that was it. whatever you want to say, you did. >> who needs an you know. >> she needs an oscar. rob, for both of you this is a study of a presidency or several presidencies. i have to ask your take on donald trump, especially as it stands right now. do we have an hour? rob reiner, trump. go. >> just look at my twitter account. that's all you need to know. no, no, we're in the strangest time in american history. this is a man who is supremely unqualified, who has no business being there except for the fact that he got elected, you know, by not the majority but by the electoral college. and it's like a nightmare that

you wake up every morning and you can't get out of it. most times you wake up from a nightmare and you're done. you can't escape this nightmare that we're in. every day is something horrible. >> and speaking of horrible, sorry to take the conversation and drop it like a rock, but i have to ask you about harvey weinstein. not about him, but everything we're reading and the stuff that is backed up, and for sure it seems so pervasive. it seems so supported. is this how the industry operates, and could we have -- >> no. >> are you sure? >> here's the thing. harvey weinstein is disgusting. let's just say that. but fox news had that. clarence thomas -- >> but are we sort of taking the veil off -- >> no, i think it's lifted this thing and put it front and center in a big way. this to me is the biggest problem. women have a hard time.

they're either not believed, they say they asked for it or their punished. how can they go up against the world that they're in when they vote for a person who actually admitted to sexually harassing women who becomes president of the united states. how do you fight that? we elected this man who actually said he abused women. >> we actually asked you -- we actually asked you about harvey weinstein, and a lot of women are saying -- >> i am saying about harvey weinstein. >> we agree with you on donald trump, we always agreed with you on donald trump. i don't agree with you on clarence thomas. telling inappropriate jokes and raping women are two completely different things. there is a false equivalency there, but the republican party has been pathetic in what they have -- the evangelical community has been pathetic in

turning their blind eye to donald trump. my question has to do not with donald trump or the evangelicals or republicans. i'll attack them. what about you and hollywood? has hollywood been pathetic about turning a blind eye to this behavior? >> that's what i was getting to. this has nothing to do with donald trump. what this has to do with is women having the inability to break through. what it's going to take is the men to come forward and say, when they see something like this, to do something. whether it's in hollywood with harvey weinstein or whether it's fox news. it takes a long time for these things to come through. look what bill cosby did. it took years before women were able to come forward and they're only coming out now because the floodgates have opened. let's use this opportunity to have a real conversation and talk about what men need to do, because women cannot fight this battle by themselves. >> the tlfilm "lbj" is out in

theaters nationwide on november 3rd. thank you so much, rob reiner and woody harrelson. it was a busy day at the white house yesterday. it's looking like today may be the same today. we'll go to the white house with how drugs are in drawing his name. we'll be right back. and cutting-edge transportation development to connect those ideas to the world. along with urban redevelopment projects worthy of the world's top talent. all across new york state, we're building the new new york. to grow your business with us in new york state visit esd.ny.gov.

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joining us now, msnbc correspondent kristen welker. kristen, good morning. r he said his drugs war would be withdrawing. this is a man who has been in the "washington post" stories for the last couple days. >> reporter: good morning. that's absolutely right. let me read you the tweet and do some analysis on the other side. president trump said, representative tom marino has informed me that he's withdrawing his name from consideration as drug czar. tom is a great man. and a great congressman. this comes after a report that found that thomas marino founded legislation that effectively made it a whole lot more difficult for the dea to crack down on suspicious narcotics shipments, stripping it of its authority.

highly controversial revelations that came to pass at the beginning of this week. i actually asked the president about it in the impromptu news conference in the rose garden yesterday, asked him if he had confidence about marino, and he said he was taking a hard look at marino. but all signs were point ing in this direction. look, marino was an early supporter of president trump. they are looking to repeal that legislation that marino passed. >> the bill passed through the senate with unanimous consent and then it was signed by president obama. kristen welker at the white house, thanks. final thoughts this morning? >> i just have a question, willie. have i ever eaten at that restaurant? what was the restaurant that harvey weinstein owned? >> i don't know. >> i don't think it's around anymore. >> after the show is over, mike

and i are going to make some waffles. >> god! >> i think we're at a new low with the president who makes the death of american heroes about himself. and i don't really think there is anything more to say. if you're still with him and you stand by him, that's what you're standing by. that does it for us this morning. stephanie ruhle picks up the coverage right now. >> thanks so much, mika. i'm stephanie ruhle. this morning the president says his pick to be the next drug czar withdraws his name. nsenator mccain slamming th president and his world view in a blistering speech last night. >> some half-baked spiritual nationalism cooked up by people who would rather have scapegoats than solve problems. >> boom. this as the president tries to thread the needle with