uh... huh. in business, there are a lot of ways to say no. thank you so much. thank you. so we're doing it. yes. start saying yes to your company's best ideas. we help all types of businesses with money, tools and know-how to get business done. american express open. ♪ welcome to "politicsnation." another week, another terrible shooting massacre. 17 people, students and administrators at a high school in florida murdered by a former student. the weapon of choice -- a high powered assault rifle. president trump called it quote, a scene of terrible violence, hatred and evil.

he promised to quote, tackle the difficult issue of mental health. and he said we must help secure our schools. late last night he tweeted -- very sad that the fbi missed all of the many signals sent out by the florida school shooter. this is not acceptable. they are spending too much time trying to prove russian collusion with the trump campaign. there is no collusion. get back to the basics and make us all proud. but notice anything substantive missing, like any mention of the word guns? well, while this president might be hopelessly co-oped by the gun lobby, let me tell you what i think about the so-called gun debate. yes, there is a mental health issue. yes, anyone whether it is in las

vegas or newtown or what happened this week in florida that kills many, many people or any people has a mental health problem. that is not the problem alone. it is part of the problem. the other part is that they have access to legally get automatic military style weapons. the fact that all over the world you have people that have health problems, mental health problems. but they don't have access to military style weapons. and that is what we're going to have to confront. not only have we not adequately dealt with the mental health issue. we have made it whereas in the case of the florida shooter, where people with mental health issues or without them can legally buy weapons that are only to be used for military war

operations. and that in itself is sick to me. and that's where we start today. joining me now is gina log don, a member of trump's media advisory board. the president of the vote latina and a former white house adviser to president obama. let me start with you, heather. when president obama was faced with the mass killing, first of all, he responded immediately. we see this president took a day to say anything. but then he also responded to the issue at hand in terms of fun -- in terms of guns and weapons and this president has gone away from that. many of us say he's been supported by the nra.

that according to all data we can find, they spent at least $21 million -- the nra, on his campaign. so whether it is he's really pro having assault weapons or whether he's someone that has to defer to his supporters in the nra, he will not deal with this issue which contrasts with the obama administration that you were part of. >> well, yes, reverend al. we have seen across this week that president trump had opportunity to come out. all right, and really talk strongly about gun violence in this country. but we didn't quite see that. we did see him address what happened, and we did hear that he went to florida to meet with families. but i think it's very clear that you won't see a lot of discussion around the gun vote. >> now, why do you think, gina, that he will not come forthright? he met with a couple of families

at the hospital, survivors, but he didn't meet with all of them. some were out telling the press he needs to deal with guns. why won't he deal with the issue even if it's one that will disagree with their position and how does he get into this craziness of trying to connect it to the russian investigation? >> well, i think the craziness is a condition of an fbi that does not follow up, reverend, on the multiple warnings they had that this person was a killer. and i think when we look at that sort of corruption and disarray in our government agencies, that is one of the very first things that i believe the president will deal with and i think he'll deal with it creatively and effectively like he has the economy and so many other things. >> so you're saying -- so you're saying there's some corruption in the fbi and there might not -- they're not dealing with the signals they had on the

shooter and that the president -- >> absolutely. >> -- will deal with that and that -- >> i think he'll deal with that. >> whoa whoa whoa. let me finish asking the question before you try to answer a question you haven't heard. you do not think that the fun issue that's what i asked you is something that's fundamental to to -- fundamental to this, fundamental to the families of the victims that are raising this that the president has a responsibility to answer that directly and forthrightly? >> you and i agree on the fact that this needs to be addressed and i believe the president absolutely will address it, along with the problems where the fbi fell down, along with the problems that ever with turned our schools essentially into homicidal safe harbors where someone knows they can go with a gun, because it's a gun free zone. and they know that they won't be confronted with death. so there are lots of things that

need to be fixed about this. you know, we look at -- you know, it's hard to answer the questions, reverend. because you and i agree there's a spiritual aspect here. you and i agree there's something that needs to be done to fix the brokenness, because a killer can go into the school and do this. but look at where the toughest gun control laws are in the country, that would be chicago, and we see the death rates there. we're confounded again about -- >> but chicago, you're right, has tough gun laws but chicago can't deal with the fact right across the border in indiana they can sell the assault weapons and easily get them into chicago. maria, last night, the president had he not only linked this to the russian investigation, something i want to get back to. i don't want to ignore in my opinion how bizarre that. but he linked it to immigration policy. and the gun policy, tweeting,

just like they don't want to solve the daca problem, why didn't the democrats pass gun control legislation when they had both the house and the senate when they had the obama administration? because they didn't want to and now they just talk. so he's looping daca and he's looping everything in. blaming the democrats. i mean, does this man have any sensitivity at all to what he's doing in terms of people are burying their dead 17 people as a result of assault weapon attack in florida, as well as you have dreamers living on the edge now. i mean, where is the respect and regard for people that have lost human beings and the others living on the verge of uncertainty here. >> let's be clear. the only two things that the daca recipients are suffering through and individuals are suffering through in florida are

two actions that the president made. one, that daca was something that he decided to end on his own, arbitrariry back in september. we're now -- we're now over 122 folks sadly are facing the lack of daca. then number two, he overturned a law that was -- an executive action by obama you could not get an assault weapon if you had a question of mental health in your back ground. so he's directly responsible for the fact that this young man received a gun. did the fbi fail, absolutely. but the fact that this presid t president, reverend, is constantly making it about himself instead of about the issues that the country is trying to grapple with it's unconscionable. that's not leadership. furthermore if we want to figure out how to end these killings we actually do need -- we know what we need to do. it's not this hand wringing of

adding security guards or arming the teachers. we have to take a playbook of what australia did. they had a mass shooting and they said, we're going to ban these laws. the fastest way to do that is ensure we're not getting money from the nra. we have to pass a ban on assault weapons, then we have to do campaign finance reform. because it's the dirty money, special interests that are basically dictating our politics. >> now, had the -- as maria just stated, president obama had an executive order that you could not have people with mental health issues dealing with these areas in terms of buying these guns. which was one of the first things that president trump revoked. now, we have a shooting here and as we just heard gina say i'm going back to, they're kill zones in the schools. but even if you had armed guards

in the schools if you got somebody with an assault weapon, then we'd -- they would be killed. the issue is beginning and ending with people having the right to have a military weapon that they can shoot with these magazines and just spray and kill people. it doesn't matter how many armed guards you had there. they can outarm them. >> exactly. you can have armed guards in school, but these are weapons designed to kill and they're used in military combat. they are ones we should not have here on the streets. so it's clear to see that we need to really look at the laws. we need to see how young people are accessing these weapons of mass destruction, basically. i mean, i think it's really sad to see that you're able to get an ar-17 and the background checks are not universal across the country. so these are really key things that we have to look at if we want to see some change. >> now, minutes ago president

trump tweeted, quote, i never said russia did not meddle in the election. i said it may be russia or china or another country or group or it may be a 400 pound genius sitting in bed and playing with his computer. the russian hoax was that the trump campaign colluded with russia. it never did. joining our panel to explain this is msnbc legal analyst danny savalos. he did say many times there was no russia interference, that it was a hoax. now he's trying to have it both ways and going back to his analogy of the 400 pounder playing with his computer. but clearly, he still will not confront and say, i'm going after russia. i'm coming with the sanctions that the congress has already

voted. you can't interfere with american democracy. the principles of the country was built on the vote, no taxation without representation. when does he stand up and defend that, danny? >> well, the one thing that we can look back earlier in your question to what the indictment does establish is it accomplishes that the mueller team believes that i can prove beyond a reasonable doubt and that a citizen grand jury concluded there was probable cause that there was russian involvement. there was russian interference with the election. the one thing that this establishes is that the russian activity was not a hoax. president trump is correct that the indictment does not reference any specific intentional american involvement. he is right that it does not establish any collusion or allegations of collusion or charges of collusion. in fact, the indictment leaves out a lot of things that raise a lot of questions.

specifically, why wasn't the russian government named? why have this underlying theme of an election interference if you're not doing to charge that specific federal crime? my belief it's a simple answer they didn't need to using conspiracy and other charges and it's easier for them to prove. but what does this mean doing forward? i mean, it does raise the question that if there were no mueller investigation, would this ever have been discovered by the regular fbi or the regular doj investigations? did it require a mueller investigation? i mean, in that sense, is trump partially correct when he says, for now, there is no -- there is no russia collusion. but what we have seen from the mueller team is that they have no problem with successive indictments spread out over a long period of time. what the president sees as the chief executive and the unitary executive if you believe in that

theory that he as the unitary executive, the head of the doj what are his next steps as to russia, that remains to be seen. but as the head of the doj there is a lawful obligation there to investigate crime. >> yeah. i think there's also one unsaid thing that it does say and that is clearly the russians wanted to see trump win. and you can only ask the question why? whether there was collusion proven so far or not, why did they want to go out of their way to help donald trump become president? enquiring minds want to know. thank you to my panel. we'll talk more about gun control later in the show. meanwhile, the president continues to tweet about the russian investigation. quote, if it was the goal of russia to create discord, disruption and chaos within the u.s. then with all of the committee hearings and

investigations and party hatred, they have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. they are laughing their asses off in moscow. get smart, america. yeah, i think america is going to get smart, mr. president. up next, the stock market is up and unemployment is down. it's all thanks to trump or is it? we'll be right back. te autoglass we know that when you're spending time with the grandkids... ♪ music >> tech: ...every minute counts. and you don't have time for a cracked windshield. that's why at safelite, we'll show you exactly when we'll be there. with a replacement you can trust. all done sir. >> grandpa: looks great! >> tech: thanks for choosing safelite. >> grandpa: thank you! >> child: bye! >> tech: bye! saving you time... so you can keep saving the world. >> kids: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace ♪ ♪

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welcome back.

much like donald trump the brand, donald trump the president likes to take credit for a lot of things not of his own making. especially the economy. but no honest critic can deny that his agenda is one that rigs the economy in favor of the millionaires and billionaires while working people, his beloved base, get a raw deal. here to discuss, lee, this is the president's weekend. most presidents try to profess whether they did or not but they would profess to really try to help the working people and the working class in america in the time of their tenure. this president has claimed

popularism, but has his policy and his legislative initiatives in any corresponded with a quest to help working people in this country? >> well, it's had the opposite effect, al. he is hurting working people, working families all over the country. you look at the tax bill that was just passed. that benefits the very wealthy, corporations, but it doesn't help working people. it doesn't help working families. you look at the attacks on labor unions where they don't want working people to have a seat at the table, to negotiate wages and working conditions. and improve benefits and create health and safety measures which benefit workers, so working people are under attack and it's a rigged system. it's a rigged economy right now. >> now, the fact is that as we look at the unemployment numbers very low he's taking credit for that. why don't we see the labor

community led by you celebrating, well, unemployment numbers are down. thanks to president trump. >> well, first of all, president trump is taking credit for something he really didn't have anything to do with. those numbers started decreasing because of the policies that were put forth by president obama. but secondly, you still have a lot of workers suffering. up employment -- unemployment is still high especially in communities of color. wages are stagnant. if you look at the wages of black families in this country, the -- a lot of black families earn less than $15 an hour. that's associated with the rigged system. that's associated with the unfairness of what's doing on right now and that's something that we have to speak to. we have to organize and mobilize and educate our communities to come pack and -- to come pack and say that's not enough. that's not good for the communities across the country.

that's what we're trying to do in state after state, city after city. >> part of what i have seen around the country is that afscme is talking about a day to day, door to door operation. i know that all of us will be working with you all around the 50th assassination of martin luther king in memphis and that was a afscme boycott or strike that he was there for. and using that to galvanize and mobilize. but to do it on the grass roots basis. 50 years after dr. king's assassination, 50 years after the sanitation strikers there in memphis which was the reason he came, we are confronted with the same issues under donald trump that we had 50 years ago when dr. king was assassinated fighting for workers in memphis. >> well, you're exactly right. it is important for all of us to commemorate the weekend of april

3rd, april 4th, this year, 50 years since that sanitation workers strike. 1,300 african-american sanitation workers of afscme local 33 going on strike. remember they carried those placards that said i am a man. dr. king decided to travel to memphis on numerous occasions because he understood the connection between civil rights and economic and labor rights and human rights. he ultimately gave his life in support of those sanitation workers. we have got to remember that day. we've got to commemorate the importance of that strike and dr. king giving his life for those rights. but we have -- we also have to have a call to action. we can't have one or two days of commemoration and then forget about it. what we're trying to do is

develop an urgency based upon 50 years ago to say what you said. that we have come a long way. but we still got a long way to do. economic rights are under attack, voting rights under attack. immigrant rights under attack. so we have developed a program we call an i am 2013. we have partners across the country to take it back to basics. to go -- to develop the grass roots mechanism necessary to fight back and make our voices heard like never before. we're toing to have a -- we're doing to have a working people's call to action on february 24th. in cities across the country where labor and our allies will once again start organizing and mobilizing. we'll be demonstrating, making our voices heard. we'll be saying that this rigged economic system does not benefit our communities and what we have

got to do is speak up and speak out in a very loud voice. >> february 24th, call to action. i'm there as we also ahead to memphis and beyond. thank you so much. lee saunders. up next, from food stamps to food delivery the president's infuriating proposal to have box food delivered to those turning to the government for help. be right back. needles. essential for vinyl, but maybe not for people with rheumatoid arthritis. because there are options. like an "unjection™". xeljanz xr. a once daily pill for adults with moderate to severe ra for whom methotrexate did not work well. xeljanz xr can reduce pain, swelling and further joint damage, even without methotrexate. xeljanz xr can lower your ability to fight infections,

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now for this week's got cha. this one comes close to home. mine and millions of poor americans that according to president trump's proposal budget -- proposed budget for the year 2019, would see half their food assistance benefits formerly known as food stamps come to them as a box of food delivered straight to the doors. before you get the idea that this is any approximatation of the high end delivery services that have sprouted in recent years, like blue apron, which white house budget director

mulvaney referenced this week, understand that the menu is defined by canned everything. and the return of that ghetto staple of government cheese. a dietary horror for most black and brown digestive systems and it's particularly insidious when you consider that many of those same folks living in urban areas where there is little to no access to fresh, nutritionist food will have now even fewer options, leaving them even more reliant on a box of processed, preservative laden junk. it probably seems like heaven to president big mac, but as i said, this hits close to home because i myself grew up on food assistance and i remember vividly the psychological

distress, living off of stale government cheese is in a child. i watched for eight years as congressional republicans dragged first lady michelle obama for daring to save schoolchildren already struggling with record levels of obesity from school lunches that hurt their bodies and minds. president trump, director mulvaney, when you're done telling poor people what to eat i've got a box of something for you. a rev al specialty called i gotcha. there are two types of people in the world. those who fear the future... and those who embrace it. the future is for the unafraid. ♪ ♪

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welcome back. president trump met in florida first with first responders and

victims of wednesday's school shooting which killed 17 people. but during that visit he ignored questions on new gun control legislation. i want to bring in gun advocate paul berry, host of "show me politics" tv and a former congressional candidate in missouri. paul, does this latest massacre in any way change your views on assault weapons? >> well, good morning to you and happy sunday to you, reverend sharpton. i will say this. i think that this is a consistent problem that nothing ever gets addressed. and once it blames all people, media and lobbyists for no not allowing any change to happen. >> well, again, what change? i'm not asking for a view of who should be doing what.

i'm asking you what if anything has changed in your view about the continued legalizing of military style assault weapons? have you changed your view? >> do i change my view whether americans should open an ar-15, i think they should have an ability to own an ar-15. >> well, why? >> see, if you get rid of the ar-15 here in st. louis most murders are committed with ak-47s and revolvers. you and i are both people that have the vested interest in the killing of minorities in cities and every time we focus all of our energy on the ar-15 we're ignoring the fact that most people including the african americans in st. louis and chicago and baltimore are being killed with handguns. so can i ask a question. when i see my congressional leaders laying on the floor and if this was my show i'd pull the picture up, each one are from areas have the highest death

rates in america but they only want to get involved when it's a school. >> because there's a high rate of handgun deaths in our community therefore we should allow people to have military style weapons that are designed so they can kill multiple people all over the place randomly. the reason -- wait a minute. wait a minute. so that's your justification for having military style weapon, whether it be any kind, ar-15 or anything. well, handguns are being used, therefore, just let the whole thing fly. that's literally what you're saying, paul. >> no, i'm not. the ak-47 made 2500 miles away from st. louis, missouri, it's the gun of choice for those in the military assault rifle so this idea of banning bob's gun that has never committed a crime when we can't stop heroin from

coming across the border, we can't stop -- >> what does that have to do with where it's manufactured? >> it has o -- >> we are seeing consistent massacres do you understand that? >> if you banned ar-15s today, do you believe that all americans that own an ar-15 are going to turn them in? >> that's what we should keep it legal because if we change the law they will not abide by the law? >> no, what we should do is put our legislative and media focus on real solutions. >> a real solution would be to make it illegal. >> first and foremost, we should get a school resource officer in every school and we need to focus on if a person believes a relative is not doing well, they don't have a place to take them to. we don't have the mental health resources. >> i agree we should have that, but we should make that people with mental health issues are not -- should not be able to do multiple killing like they were

at a war zone. thank you, paul. we'll have you back. thank you. joining me now is texas democratic congressman al green who took part in a day long sit in on the house floor after the pulse nightclub shooting in orlando two years ago. congressman, you were on my radio show with me this week and you said y'all should have sat in longer and done more and you have said that we have got to draw the line in the sand and just stop this stuff. >> absolutely. reverend, i thank you so much. you have been on target this morning with the manufacture of the guns. the tobacco companies settled for $200 million and that caused the manufacturers of the guns to come to congress and ask for immunity from prosecution. they want to avoid the lethality

legislation, they can sell guns to citizens without concern to how they can get sued. i think we have to end that immunity that we have. they shouldn't be able to sell the weapons with immunity and punty. they would be subject for selling combat style weapons to members of the public knowing they can create the kind of carnage that we have seen across the length and breadth of this nation. >> how do you respond to the president having dealt with everything but the gun issue here? he has talked about mental health. he's tried to even make a connection by attacking the fbi. obviously, dropping the ball on the signals of the shooter and saying they should have been focused on that more than trying to prove collusion between his campaign and russia. i mean, how do you respond to the president's response or lack

of response to the gun issue here? >> well, with the president twitter has become a weapon of mass distraction and he uses it efficaciously to distract us and call attention to other things when the true representation he should be talking about is what's happening to the young people in schools. people ought to be able to send their children to school and know they'll come home safely. the president is not addressing that. he wants us to believe that this -- these indictments now are all about people associated with things other than his campaign. therefore, he has been vindicated. the president is still on the hot seat. he knows that manafort has been indicted. he knows that flynn, his national security person has been indicted. and he also knows that papadopoulos who was his foreign intelligence adviser has been indicted. he's not off the hot seat but he wants to distract us. >> now, you have been leading

the call for his impeachment. has that intensified or lessened this week with these indictments of russian nationals that clearly now have been accused by the special counsel of having interfered with the american election. >> i think it has intensified greatly, reverend. i was at an event just recently and there's a great hue and cry for us to continue with this effort. there are parallel tracks doing on. we have the investigation by mr. mueller and i appreciate what he's doing. he's looking at litigation, he's looking at the judicial aspect of it. but the political aspect of it is for the house of representatives and we're taking note of all of these things that are happening. and i assure you that that track will continue as well the people want it. the polls are showing that democrats overwhelmingly support it and republicans support it to a lesser extent but they support it as well.

>> the gun control issue, will that become a dominant issue in the 2018 midterm elections? >> i hope that it will. it's an issue for me. i just believe that we ought not allow people who have these issues in their lives to have these guns. and you have been imminently correct. we've got to address them getting the guns. and the way to do that is to deal with the manufacturers, the immunity that they have. and i'm looking at election currently to require -- legislation currently to require anyone getting a combat style weapon to have some sort of certification that he or she is capable of managing that weapon. i think that's very important. i would also add this. we have a right to bear arms. but we don't have the right to have a predator drone with hellfire missiles. we can regulate guns and i think having persons who are going to have combat weapons get some

additional certification is something that we ought to look at and i'm currently doing that. >> thank you, congressman green. >> thank you. with this being black history month i wanted to highlight an unveiling this past week that received a lot of attention. it's the official national portraits of barack obama and the first lady, michelle obama. the president's was painted by ka hindi wily and amy shaw. i hope that the paintings will ensure the obamas will be appreciated and remembered for hundreds of years. up next, how the superhero movie "black panther" can help us push back against president trump's remarks on race and ethnicity. g, "what if?" i let go of all those feelings.

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film's full box office returns for this weekend, we do know that its record breaking global release had exceeded even the expectations set its historic a sales. much have been written about the film's impact on the black -- with some calling it nothing short of revolutionary. in watching the film and its success, i find myself more curious about its potential effect on another audience because as we saw in the "new york times" this week, the black in black panther hazms mattered less to white children in heroism and most importantly his place in marvel's block buster firm universe. could the embrace by children in

alabama help push back against the social repression of the trump era? joining me now is film and television critic, rebecca theodore vo shawn and op-ed columnist kwame o pxopum. he wrote the article about the many meanings of the black pan then area mask. let me start with you, kwame, when i read your piece, it really hit me, i think more than -- it was like you know how you have something in mind but you kind of crystallized it, that we're looking at the fact that young white kids in alabama or georgia are actually going to dress up in panther outfits and have no problem with a black super hero in africa at a time that we have a president who started his political career on

birtherism and reference in africa as s-hole countries, the cultural impact could be far reaching. >> i should say first, i'm not a political reporter but what was striking to me in my reporting, some parents felt it was important to frame the race of this character and its history and particularly with the character how we came about in the civil rights era. for others considering the popularity of superman and spider-man this character can be consumed any any way by children black or white or anything in between. the power of this moment affected them but their relationship to race and if they talk about it was ranged in different ways and how they think about those things can be a hard conversation. >> so rebecca, you have then one that is better than most looked at the scene tv and films, are

you surprised at how this movie has taken off? i mean, not only do you have kids already buying costumes and we've got these little baubles here on the set and people are actually -- got all kinds of stuff. this has launched in a major way. has it surprised you? and how do you explain it? >> i'm not surprised at all. i mean, we have the black panther character that was introduced in the comics in 1966. and then it was introduced in the marvel shared universe with the civil war movie in 2016 and i mean, he was one of the most popular characters that people talked about. and the mcu, as far as marvel, grossed $13 billion in combined properties. to have the "black panther" franchise, they are already predicting a $200 million opening on president's day weekend. they are doing great. overseas on thursday, between the uk and irish box office, it

was $25 million -- >> usually they say they don't invest in black films because they don't do well overseas. >> and that's been the myth in hollywood but i think "balack panther" is breaking those excuses. >> kwame, i know you're not a political reporter or political writer, but if we get more towards the normalizing people of all races looking at people as heroes despite whatever the racial anti-paththy of the hour may be. doesn't that in effect change the politics of any given era we we begin normalizing things that were considered different before? >> sure, so one thing about super hero films and fiction is that there simply aren't that many black super heros and haven't been that many black super hero movie. we can talk about blade, but no

film like "black panther" has come forward this this way. this movie is expected to make $200 million this weekend. so the strength of black people seeing this movie and all people seeing it and getting excited about it. this is the possibility it will cross over in a really significant way. >> let me thank both of you, rebecca and quakwame, later at 0 p.m., my colleague will continue the conversations with one of the stars of "black panther", angela bassett. up next, my final thoughts. me. the thought of my symptoms returning was keeping me from being there for the people and things i love most. so, i talked to my doctor and learned humira can help get, and keep,uc under control when other medications haven't worked well enough. and it helps people achieve control that lasts so you could experience few or no symptoms. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis.

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one of the most humiliating and insulting aspects of the race problem in america has been when people would expect us of color to stay in our place. you have an assigned role, stay there. and that was exemplified this week when laura ingram had the audacity to say that mega basketball star lebron james should just shut up and dribble, about social and criminal justice issues, which was a way of saying stay in your place, just dribble, bounce the ball. we pay you to bounce the ball. we don't pay you to think. but we do think.

and we do have opinions and we can slam dunk a thought just like we can a basketball. part of the struggle for human and civil rights in this country no matter whether you're black or asian or latino or lgbtq or woman, is to be able to do what any other person can do. and that's express yourself. keep speaking up, lebron, and also, continue to dribble while you speak. that does it for me. thanks for watching. i'll see you back here next sunday. now to my colleague alex witt. >> see, you're always preaching when you're speaking, and i love you about you. >> love you about you taking it that way. >> i'm alex witt, it's 9:00 a.m. in the east, 6:00 a.m. out west. president trump's twitter