media. we had a crooked candidate by the way, too. >> lock her up! lock her up! lock her up! lock her up! >> i will say this, folks, everything that's turning out now it's amazing that's come full circle. boy have they committed a lot of atrocities when you look. >> okay. at cpac the prospect of jailing political opponents was cheered while a real discussion on sexual harassment was booed. welcome to "morning joe." it's monday. >> michael steele. >> oh my god, what -- well, that's coming up, too. >> you guys said something racist about me. yeah, but you were critical of donald trump. >> don't look at the negative. okay? >> veteran columnist and analyst msnbc contributor mike barnacle joins us. political writer nick

confessore. republican strategist and political commentator susan dell persio and jim vandehye. you are one nice guy, we've always known that about you, political analyst, michael steele. you are one patient man. >> do you want to tell everybody that doesn't know what we're talking about it. >> we'll get to it. >> we'll get to it. michael, that was surreal. >> quite an experience you had there. >> tweeted over the weekend, known you for a very long time, i've known matt who runs cpac for a very long time and i was -- of course we were all stunned that somebody said it was a mistake to select you as the head of the republican party because you were black, but then matt's non-apology to you and

then just not even a suggestion, basically saying you deserve the criticism because you've been critical of donald trump. >> yeah. and this was -- that moment for me was the final trumpification of the republican party. matt could not see the forest through the trees. he was blinded by an apparent loyalty to whatever the president is saying or doing without thought or consideration. it was a death nail for me. it was a very stunning moment and it was also when you stop and think about it, joe, it's something you and i have talked about not just on this program but privately within this party this sense or lack of appreciation of race and how it plays out publicly, which is why i asked matt, do you know what that sounds like to the american people when you stand up and say, yeah, the black guy we elected, man, was that a mistake. then when i have a luncheon to

applaud black people. >> we don't want to really get in the details, but the republican party while you were chairman racked up record numbers of legislative victories. again, we'll get to all of that later on. >> it's incredible. we want to let it breathe. >> there were a couple of moments, though, where matt said to michael, why are you making this about race? and michael said, what the hell are you talking about? it's your guy that said i'm black and that it was a mistake to pick me. and then also said he should show a little more grace. >> wow. >> wow. okay. so we'll just leave -- that's a tease. good job, joe. you actually were able to bring it in for a landing here. we'll start this morning with new polling. >> only because i'm a red neck. >> that puts president's approval rating at its lowest point yet. according to a poll from cnn, the president's job performance rating stands at 35%.

that's down five points over the last month. and matches the lowest level of his presidency. 58% disapprove. the mare ris poll has similar numbers. a full 6 and 10 disapprove of the job the president is doing according to the new usa today suffolk poll. there's a staggering gap in the intensity of feeling. >> by the way, this is as you go into an off year election and keep those numbers up if you're driving in your car, this is what drives turn out in off year elections. and it's who's highly motivated. the percentage of people who strong strongly approve of donald trump is 16%. more than double that, 39% strongly disapprove. jim, a lot of the ballot tests, the generic ballot tests are starting to get a little

tighter. democrats were way ahead. then it tightened up. now democrats are way ahead in some others. but it's always that intensity, that strong feeling of intensity. we were just talking off the show, something is happening especially with millennials about this gun issue. i don't know if any legislation will be passed or not, but it's one of those moments that just stopped. you saw republican numbers going up. you saw the president's numbers going up over the past week, week and a half since the shooting. they're going down and they're going down in every poll. >> well, listen, what you said is right. and for people who want to make bigot effect on the gun debate, that intensity has to turn into votes. you have a lot of record female turnout and this millennial movement. it's manifesting itself in corporate america. you now see corporations feeling the responsibility in the moment to respond and take a stand on global warming, the muslim ban,

immigration now gun control. >> i was surprised "wall street journal" said had emergency call out and said we want to know any investments in anything related to guns, ammunition. you have 24 hours to get the information back to us. that seems to be happening across the corporate world. >> across the corporate world. i think in some ways donald trump inspired this. you now have millennials both on social media but in the work force demanding that companies take a stand on issues where they sat out in the past. that is a huge difference maker because these companies can speak out on global warming. they can take a stand on immigration. you had companies volunteering, microsoft volunteering to pay for lawyers to fight for dreamers. bank of america over the weekend say they'll look at their relationship with gun manufacturers. black stone doing the same. it's having an effect in the short term. the big effect is if it manifests itself in off year voting. usually younger people don't show up, old white people do.

>> there's always older and whiter and more conservative. we'll see this year if the intensity in alabama is felt from -- especially, mike, this gun debate of course you're going to have a lot of hard core republicans and hard core conservatives will be driven to vote. but again we'll call it the mountain brook problem. you have all these college educated republicans that always voted republican. usually they used to see ronald reagan at cpac. now they saw a former french leader, a younger woman who says that she's carrying on. >> marine le pen's cousin. >> the tradition of her grandfather who praised nazis. you saw what happened with michael steele. again, these are not marginal figures at cpac. these are leaders saying, hey,

you know what, we elected him. he was a black guy. it was a mistake despite the fact that, i mean, the republicans did amazing picking up seats across the nation. and there's so many other things i could talk about what happened this weekend, which is what i warned about on friday. if you're the white house, be very scared of what happened. most offensive thing that happened all weekend was donald trump reading that poem, "the snake." these are all immigrants. immigrants are snake. you'll take them in, they will bite you and they will kill you. >> you have almost a perfect storm in terms of the upcoming elections. it is only february, but you've got an inordinate amount of intensity, energy among various groups who are upset about everything that's going on in this country and within all of that you have in the rear-view mirror the shadow of what was once the republican party. and you have people wondering,

what is wrong with that party? it was a parallel universe last week. >> you saw mona charen getting booed. >> yes, yeah. >> and she was -- i mean, they had to get armed escorts to walk her out of the building because they were so concerned. and mona charen used to be something that liberals would have contempt for because she was so conservative. she was a reagan conservative. she was the sort of person that people like me would look at and go, okay. yeah. >> she's going to join us next hour. >> fight like hell. >> it's as if the republican party has lost its mind. >> and by the way, you know, nick, a hell of a lot of conservatives on twitter this weekend across what i would call the conservative ideological divide from far right to center right to -- well, that's about all you have on the conservative divide. but most were really critical of

what donald trump's conservative party -- at least most of the people that i read this weekend were like what's going on there. you know, when you have eric ericson insufficiently conservative to go speak at this conference, you have a problem. national review, i mean, people were talking about how national review i read in some article attendees were saying it's too liberal. it's crazy. >> look f you look at the straw poll results, trump did so well it could be a dictator in a third world country, right? so he is very popular with actual voters and activists. what you find is the conservative intelligencea the writers, the thinkers, somewhat horrified. look, joe, out there in the country for this party, he is extraordinarily popular. now, on the other hand, he is hated by two thirds or a third of the country, hated and opposed by a second third. what won the 2010 fights for

republicans was not a desire from the tea party to help republicans. it was a reaction to president obama. it was a desire to defeat president obama and give him a black eye. we're seeing now this dislike of president trump could have the same effect of people coming out to vote to hold him accountable and in the process destroying the majority in the house. >> that's what happened to bill clinton in '49. it's what happened to george w. bush in '06 and barack obama in '10. this is just what usually happens. well, back to what joe teased at the top of the show, just hours after president trump spoke on friday, the communications director for the group behind cpac ian walters made a controversial statement about the election of michael steele, as republican national committee chair in 2009. >> we had just elected the first african-american president and that was a big deal. and little bit of cynicism, what did we do? this is a terrible thing. we elected mike steele to be the

rnc chair because he's a black guy. that was the wrong thing to do. >> i just, what? >> walters later apologized to steele. and the chairman of the american conservative union who stood next to walters when he made the remark appeared on the sirius-xm radio show. >> this should be good. >> you've been rather critical of some of the more conservative aspects of the trump phenomenon. >> right. >> i think what ian was getting to the heart of that was there are people who are critics of some of the things you did as you were chairman. >> what the hell does my race have to do with any of that at the end of the day? what does the color of my skin have to do with anything you just said? you mean to tell me as a black conservative put in that context but let alone as a conservative i can't be critical of the president? >> you can be. as you know, there are a lot of people i think take race out of it. if you look at the criticism -- >> but he injected race into it. >> he did.

>> i would agree with you. >> so again -- >> those words that tumbled out of his mouth, i believed were unfortunate words. >> it was stupid. it's not unfortunate. call it what it is. >> don't take the worst out of what he said. you know him. >> i know. >> this is where you need to have some grace. >> wait a minute. what the hell do i have to be graceful for? >> you have not been very grace tofl the republicans and the conservatives in this hall and in this room for a very long period of time. >> oh my god. it is like -- >> michael, we'll turn the floor over to you. i want the viewers to know. i've known matt for a long time and liked matt for a long time and he has been considered very reasonable, one of the good guys. >> yeah. i've known matt a long time, too. we've been, as i said at the beginning of that interview, we've been through a lot of wars together. but that was a moment among many in that interview and those nine minutes in which i saw matt not

just drink the cool aid but take the iv and plunge it into his arm. and it was stunning and disappointing. the fact that he would then twist this back and say, oh well, yeah, this because you were a lousy chairman. well, like i gave a damn about that? i knew people didn't want me to be chairman. i knew people didn't like that i was chairman. i was not their typical chairman. but my goal was to do two things, raise money, win elections. and we did that. and there's never been that level of respect for that. and that was brought out there. but even beyond that, joe, the fact of the matter is that this party will then pivot as it is doing today to have a luncheon to celebrate african-american trail blazers. really? you're going to have that conversation when you say about the first black chairman, well god, that was a mistake. what the hell did we do that for? >> again, if matt was going to

apologize, he should have come on the show and apologize. >> yes. >> but again there were three take aways. one, you deserved it because you've been critical of donald trump. so racist comments were mitigated by the fact that you've been critical of donald trump. >> right. >> and the second thing was, he said you were making it about race when they're the ones that made the whole thing about race. finally, the third thing is, he said you needed to show grace when he was -- >> that was the iv plunging into the arm. >> when he was the one that made the racially insensitive or racist remarks. >> that's right. >> susan, i know you have a question for michael. i do want to say for people watching at home, michael steele ran the republican party from 2009 to 2011 during their most successful run. >> right. >> during a record-setting legislative landslide. they took him out in 2011 and of

course barack obama was re-elected in 2012. so, if you're talking about results, there is no contest between what michael steele did and what others did before him. >> and the other thing that michael did so well, joe, it was also still an inclusive party. yes, it was the tea party movement but there were still room for other republicans to be part of it. he was inclusive. this republican party i don't even recognize. the party of trump i hate to call it the republican party because, michael, as a woman in the republican party, it's always been a little difficult to go to some of the extreme positions that some have had. and i know for any consecutive african-american they've also faced the same challenges from the left and the right you get beat around. >> right. >> but the central challenge now has nothing to do with that. it's the hate that has intruded the party.

to me, that's what i'm most concerned about. we used to fight about policies or be concerned. >> right. >> where does the party go? i'm concerned that we may not come back after four or six years. are we moving into a fractured state? >> yeah. i think that's exactly the point. and it is the fear that a lot of folks have who have watched the disintegration of the party in that space. you know, we talked about building and expanding and growing at the same time recognizing the challenges and the opportunities and saying how do we relate that and translate that to everybody, not just the folks who sound and look like us but everyone. i used to say a lot and joe probably remembers this. i always talked about taking the party outside of its comfort zone. what's happening now it has retrenched into a very comfortable corner. and everything outside of that corner is not good for it in its view.

it wants to attack it. it wants to avoid it. it doesn't want to engage with it in an open way. this trumpification of the party is not just dangerous. it's deadly to its future. people need to be aware of that. this president has given continuenance to what you saw unfold on that stage to myself and mona. and communities of color, women everyone, americans look at that and they are processing it separately and going is that me? does that reflect me? is that how i am? as a republican, i won't stand for it anymore. i just won't. >> a lot of younger people are reacting the same way. >> that's actually -- if you -- >> that's our hope right there. >> if you look at the numbers, it's younger americans are reacting viscerally against this. educated republicans, specially suburban republicans, you just look at the numbers and boy it's a meltdown. in parkland, florida, students at marjory stoneman

douglas high school are expected to return to class as early as wednesday following the deadly shooting that took place less than two weeks ago. governor rick scott ordered an investigation into the law enforcement response to the deadly shooting. the broward county sheriff's office is investigating why three deputies remained outside the school. the news came days after another deputy scott peterson resigned following reports that he, too, had not gone inside to confront the shooter. broward county sheriff scott said the actions of the deputies are under investigation. he also said he would not resign despite the criticism his agency is facing. >> are you really not taking any responsibility for the multiple red flags that were brought to the attention of the broward sheriff's office about this shooter before the incident? >> i can only take responsibility for what i knew about. i exercise as my due diligence. i've given amazing leadership to this agency. >> amazing leadership? >> i've worked -- yes, jake.

>> yeah, mike. i'm glad that rick scott is conducting a private investigation or an independent investigation. not only what happened the day of. >> or before. >> where they're hiding behind the cars and the coral springs cops come up and say what the hell are you doing? there are kids inside that may be bleeding out. i always go back to the picture of the new york city firefighters running back in to the buildings and you saw that iconic picture. those guys knew they weren't coming back. they knew they were going up to save people and they knew they were going straight into the gates of hell and that they were going to die. we had cops sitting outside, gunfire was going on inside. kids were bleeding out inside. they did absolutely nothing. this cop goes on cnn on the town hall meeting, show boats when he should have kept his head down and he should have figured out

what the hell was going on in his department. but as shocking as those events were, what happened in the years leading up to the shooting? even more shocking. >> what you're talking about -- >> not even more shocking but shocking and set the wheels in motion for this tragedy. >> yeah. what you're talking about, the day of the shooting, whether it was one deputy or four deputies outside the school not going into the school, that is actually now the off lead of this story. the lead of this story is just what you referenced, months and months, multiple 911 calls describing what the shooter had in his home, describing the weapons, describing the thought process, describing his mindset and nearly all of it, all of it, ignored. >> because they had a financial -- weren't they rewarded financially for not reporting troubles with high

school students? >> that's a systemic issue. >> that i don't know. >> we're going to get all the answers. i think we should -- >> but it's on tape. >> we should be careful. >> it's on tape he's going to kill people. up next, we'll talk to one of the student survivors leading the push for stricter gun safety laws. michael steele, you're very, very, very graceful and we love having you on. thanks for being on. susan, jim, thank you all. still ahead, we'll show you another moment from cpac when a long-time conservative columnist is booed for challenging republicans to look in the mirror and the people sitting right next to her say nothing. they just go along with the crowd. plus, trump campaign aide rick gates becomes the fifth person to plead guilty in the mueller probe and the democratic response to the devin nunes response is released. >> by the way, the conspiracy grows. those damn democrats and liberals are really after trump. all four of the fisa judges that

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joining us now a senior at florida's marjory stoneman douglas high school david hogg joins us now on set. >> david, thank you for being with us. obviously we're thinking about you and everybody in your class. >> david's sister lost several friends, his little sister. >> yeah. how are you and your sister doing? >> we're doing as good as we could be at this point. we have to continue fighting to save every other child in america because these politicians won't. >> you know, it's so interesting that people called you a crisis actor early on and there was all

this shock and outrage in the media. how dare they. and i just sat here thinking after what you've been through, after what your sister has been through, that's the sort of thing you probably just brush off. >> at this point it's just good advertising. it's bad press on their part but we get attention in the media. they're doing a great job of it. i quadrupled by twitter following. none of it is true. >> what is the goal for not only you and other people that went through hell in their schools and how sustainable is it? is this something that's going to be with us now but sort of fade away? >> no. this is going to continue. this will be a generation long thing. this is just getting started. the millennials are some of the most politically active and some of the most critical individuals i've ever met and people that i've grown up around as i am one. and as such, i think that's really what's going to sustain

this process, realizing what's wrong with america and trying to fix it because the previous generation won't. >> mike. >> david, you and your sister both students at this school. the school is slated to reopen at some point this week, tuesday or wednesday, i guess. you can wash the blood from the floors. you can patch up the holes in the walls. >> you wash away the memories. >> i personally don't want to go back to school until our legislatures pass one bill where they raise the age you can buy any gun in the state to 21 or they have a universal background check system in florida or literally anything. at this point, why should i have to work if my elected officials won't work to save my life and everyone else around me. i want to point something else to you. all the glass being replaced in our school is not being replaced with bullet proof glass. none of the locks are replaced with locks to be locked on the

inside. every school does it because of economies of scale, the price will go down. we have to start that. >> david, condolences on the losses that your family and friends suffered here. i want to ask you right now you're up against an organization that spends half a billion a year within agenda says we should have more guns in the hands of more people to be more safe. and so what's your message to that message and to that idea that the way to be more safe is to have more weapons in the hands of more people? >> well, i think to those people i would say that it's good to have your second amendment rights. it's good to believe you can protect yourself and protect those around you. we have a major gun violence problem in this country, one that's not going away and hasn't gone away and won't go away until we have major reform enacted. by reform, i don't mean to take away people's guns. they will always have guns and have their second amendment. >> that's the argument that these kids are running around and people that support them want to confiscate guns.

want to kick down doors and take guns. >> in the same way there's limitations on the first amendment where you can't yell fire in a crowded theater. you shouldn't get an ar-15 or any weapon that could kill a number of people in you're mentally unstable individual, person with a criminal background or somebody with a history of domestic violation. i don't get what's to hard for these legislatures to understand. this is sensible gun control that both sides can't but they sadly can't because they're bought by the nra. >> how much are you hearing from other kids who want to get involved? when you talk about it becoming a generational thing, how do you organize something like that? is that under way. are you in contact with people who can do that? >> this is grass roots movement. we had some support from celebrities but mainly it's a grass roots movement by getting funding from everybody around the earth. last night i was in livingston, new jersey, at a campaign rally.

sadly that's what this has become. i was meeting amazing individuals and shaking hands with them. it was every single person i met with there i knew that's how change was coming because those people showed up and because those people showed up, they stood up and made their voice heard. and we're going to have to outlive the nra and we will because they certainly aren't going to stop but neither are we. >> david, are you, your family, the community are you starting to hear a rising concern about how the broward sheriff's operated staying outside while the shooting was going on? >> i'm glad you bring that m up. it is raising concern the fact they didn't go up but that brings up two things. one, how can we expect our teachers to step in and take action if trained security guards part of the sheriff's department wouldn't take action. and two, why are these elected officials trying to blame this on the bureaucracy. they're in charge of them. this is their fault. they should have been regulating

them. i'm not going to allow them to pressure these people because at the end of the day it's their fault. these elected officials are the boss of these sheriff personnel and just like the president is the boss of the fbi, governor rick scott is essentially the boss of scott israel the sheriff and as such he should be held accountable and can't blame this on the bureaucracy and expect to get re-elected. >> i think that investigation is starting. but it is shocking that you hear time and again in these types of tragedies teachers and in this case a football coach stepping in front of bullets saving lives, giving their lives while people that are paid by taxpayers in broward county were staying outside hiding bind their cars. >> exactly. i want to point something out, that football coach was a security guard and he was protecting those students. he is one of the people that stepped in unlike those cowardly broward county sheriff's officials honestly. i fully support law enforcement and we always should.

without them i wouldn't be able to speak here today. none of us would. we wouldn't have a functioning democracy where everybody can practice freedom of speech. sadly, these individuals did not conduct their job correctly but i don't think it's right that governor rick scott is blaming this. >> your a.p. history teacher watches this show. >> yes, he does. >> hey, jeff. thank you for watching the show. >> thank you. >> david hogg, thank you very much. >> thank you so much. >> thank you. >> thank you for having me. ahead in our 7:00 a.m. hour, we'll speak with congressman brian mast of florida. he's republican, army veteran now supporting a ban on those powerful types of guns we've been talking about. up next this hour, president trump calls the democrat memo a, quote, total political and legal bust. nbc's carol lee and "the new york times" michael schmidt join us with their latest reporting. "morning joe" is back in a moment.

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special counsel robert mueller's probe has obtained a guilty plea from in the high-ranking trump campaign official. >> this kind of remind me, mika, of somebody who had the tweet last year about this.

it said sometimes when you go on a witch hunt you actually find witches. it wasn't a witch hunt, but if you want to call it that, they now have five. >> but what they really want is the wizard. this time. >> there's a wizard? >> oh, yeah, there's a wizard. >> who is the wizard. they are supposed to be smart. who is the wizard? >> the wizard is not and that's the whole point of the story. >> any way. >> this time from rick gates, the deputy to campaign chairman paul manafort who remained in the campaign and transitioned for months. >> not to interrupt, but this guy, take a look at him. >> yeah. >> not a wizard. here is the deal, if you're proffering to bob mueller and you're saying, okay, dude. i'm going to tell you everything. and then i'm going to get a break. and only thing that ksh the only thing that can get me in trouble here, the only thing is if i lie to you. but i would never do that. and he lied. that dude in his proffer lied to

bob mueller. >> why? what do you think is going to happen? >> you remember what jim says. you don't tug on superman's cape, you don't spit in the wind, you don't pull the mask off the old lone ranger and you don't lie to bob mueller offering your proffer. >> ten days before he has a court appearance. >> come on, man. do we really have to tell you this? >> in federal court gates pleaded guilty to participating in a financial conspiracy to hide money he earned with manafort in ukraine and to lying to federal investigators earlier this month. gates agreed to cooperate with the probe. manafort responded in part, quote, i continue to maintain my innocence and i had hoped and expected my business colleague would have had the strength to continue to battle, to prove our innocence for reasons yet to surface, he chose to do otherwise. >> that statement reads much

tougher. we'll talk about that and more. we have national reporter from nbc news carol lee in washington, new york times reporter michael schmidt. michael, we were trying to figure out exactly what had happened. we heard he had did the whole routine. i remember uz say is saying, wa gates ends up getting a proffer and then he lied. take us through the details of it. >> yeah. this is obviously the biggest mistake a lawyer can make in this entire thing. so when they go in and meet with mueller, there's one rule as you were saying, it's not to lie, to tell the truth. and he made that mistake. i mean, he still gets a very good deal here which leads us to believe what is it that he's really giving up? what is it that he really has? is it simply enough to give up manafort. i find that hard to believe. the documents and indictments that have come out about the evidence against manafort and

gates is strong. >> just so quickly -- let's cut right to the quick here. they've already got manafort dead to center. they can send manafort away. so what you're saying is that this can't just be about gates turning up the pressure on manafort. he is nailed. he's had to give them more to get this kind of deal, right? >> look. we don't know everything that he has given up. we don't have that. and we won't know that for some time. but as you're pointing out, the stuff that they have against manafort and gates are documents. documents don't lie on the witness stand. they're considered the best evidence that you have. so they nailed him with documents and transactions and such. so what else is it that gates had? you have to remember, gates was around for a lot more than manafort was. mana fort came in and ran the campaign for a few months and was gone. gates was there through the transition. he was still continuing to meet

with trump folks at the white house after they got in. so he's someone that knows a lot more about what was going on over a larger period of time. that's what makes this all so significant. >> so, carol, gates and manafort are on the hook for lying about theirwork with an overseas power to influence american elections or policy which may sound familiar. what else, picking up from mike's comment there, so what else could gates be in a position in particular to talk about, what were some important things that happened on this campaign after his boss left but after gates stayed on and kept working for the president? >> well, there are a number of things. first of all, i think this is in two ways very clearly about the russia investigation and going after somebody, a larger target than what we've seen so far, because one if you're able to get paul manafort to flip, then robert mueller can get inside that very critical trump tower

meeting over the summer with the russians that he was part of with jared kushner and donald trump jr. then there's that piece. then there's what you're saying is that gates knows a number of things about the campaign. there were things we know in terms of context that happened with russian officials since -- after paul manafort left while gates was still there. the transition is also something that's a critical time period. he was around for that. so there's a number of different reasons. >> michael, does the events of late last week and rick gates, does it tell you anything or tell us anything about the pace of mueller's investigation? >> well, i always lose track of the ty cobb timelines, but i believe that one of them had things done by now or two or three of them did. >> by thanksgiving, i think. >> yeah. that was the initial one. >> 2019. >> yeah.

and if anything as my colleague peter baker wrote over the weekend, this does look like it's taking on more and more momentum. it doesn't look like it's going anywhere. you still have the big question out there about what is the president going to do about sitting down with mueller. is he going to willingly go in and say, hey, ask me whatever you want for as long as you want? his lawyers are trying to work out something where he would provide -- >> no. the answer to that is no. >> yeah. >> it's a trap. >> but you run into a problem where he could subpoena the president and the president is not going to win that case so the courts are eventually going to tell the president he has to talk. so this is a real problem. people say, just don't let him go in and talk. he's got to talk at some point. so this is going to be a huge issue that will take many months to play out. >> last night "the wall street journal" reporting that trump's lawyers are trying to figure out a way to get the president to be able to talk to robert mueller

without lying so much that he'll be sent to jail for the rest of his life. >> it's tough. >> i added the last part. >> you can submit to written questions. you can put borders around it. behind the scenes the president really does want to testify. he thinks he has nothing to hide. he thinks he can own any conversation. his lawyers, any lawyer, would say you're nuts. even if you were really good at it and didn't have a history of contradicting yourself. >> the problem is, though, you open up that door. you say the president -- we're not going to let the president talk. they're going to go to the supreme court. the supreme court is going to order him to talk. right? >> right. and that sets in motion mueller being able to go to the supreme court. oh, we can't indictment a president, really? i don't know whether mueller will do that or not. >> but he wants to talk. if he will talk, he will talk. >> one of the things for the viewers is that nobody knows what mueller has. he indicted the russians. nobody saw that coming. even the reporters around this

table who are super wired into this table don't know. mueller is not leaking. everyone else who testifies before him leaks like hell. that's why you hear a lot from one side. what the president's lawyers are trying to figure out is what is mueller up to? they don't know if the president himself has been fully transparent with them or everyone they're talking to is fully transparent. >> yeah. that's absolutely right. they're also trying to buy time here. one of the things that they're arguing is that robert mueller hasn't shown compelling enough evidence to have this extraordinary testimony from the president. and i'm among those who think the president is never going to do it. even if they were to subpoena him, i think if you talk to legal experts there's ways in which if you were to sit down that he can invoke various privileges short of invoking the fifth amendment and you could see him doing something like that. anyone who is observing this would say that it's just a terrible idea to try to have this president sit in front of someone like robert mueller as

we've seen. >> everybody laughs because they know. i guess donald trump is scared of bob mueller because they run him around in circles. i think donald trump has to be cowering in his corner. his lawyers are like, no, no, no, you're not smart enough to go in front of bob mueller. bob mueller will trick you. they don't say it quite that way. but just saying, we think our client is too stupid to go in front of bob mueller. >> he tweets just fine. >> he got elected. michael schmidt, follow up on what carol was saying on the slight of hand. one of the things i find most fascinating about what bob mueller has done, he has not shown his hand. he has given you just enough, not you, just given all of us just enough on these indictments so you have no idea, nobody has any idea what he had, where he's doing and it seems like he takes extra care when he puts these indictments out there to make

sure he never tips his hand. >> yeah. certainly he gave a speech after he was appointed at a graduation he was scheduled for. you haven't seen him since then. very few statements out of his office. the rest of it court documents. letting them speak for themselves. as you were pointing out, very interesting to know about ten days ago when he puts out the indictment on the russians, it sort of lays out a case to the average person that says, hey, there is really something there. there is an issue here. even if the republicans will tell you that there's not anything here, i'm bob mueller and you can read this evidence about what the russians were doing. obviously he's not a press-friendly person. but i think he understands the need to have the public on his side. the more information that he gives out and stuff like that against the russians, my guess is we'll never see those russians in american court. it's certainly a way of sending a message. that is sort of the approach that we'll see as he goes forward. >> every indictment, the criticism on the hill is getting

more and more silent because you just can't justify it. and i just -- can i just say, can i just end this. >> yeah, you can end this. >> if i would press, i would be insulted. >> yeah. >> that his lawyers and people that work for him at the white house and people in the press think he is too stupid to go toe to toe with bob mueller. >> yeah. >> and the guy is president of the united states. >> he won and he tweets all the time. >> he won. >> and they're good tweets. please. >> i would be insulted if i were the president. >> carol lee and michael schmidt, thank you. >> they don't have any confidence in him. >> no confidence in him at all. >> thanks very much. ahead in our 7:00 a.m. hour, two members of the house intelligence committee -- >> where do they get off? those lawyers didn't get elected the president of the united states. he had more electoral votes than anybody ever. >> congressman himes and quigley will join us here on set. "morning joe" will be right back. most people come to la with big dreams...

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>> by the way you don't mind if i go off script a little bit? it's sort of boring, it's a little boring. [ cheers and applause ] i had this beautiful speech, everything is wonderful but a little boring. >> wow. coming up on "morning joe," president trump off script and so did conservative columnist mona sharon. she got booed at cpac after challenging the republican party over sexual harassment. she says security guards were so concerned for her safety that she needed to be escorted out of the building. two more packed hours of "morning joe" still ahead. stay with us. so, that goal you've been saving for,

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trouble letting albert einstein in who helped us win the second world war. >> gosh, my dad. don't let him in. >> your father. yeah. >> by the way, let's be more recent. ever use a computer? ever use a laptop? if you do, there's an intel chip in there made by an american immigrant, i don't know if you ever go on google, if you ever go on google, immigrants to america. >> some now gold star parents. >> those syrian immigrants that you hate so much are the reason why steve jobs came to america. it's really hard to find any company on the cutting edge that really has made america the magnet for technology that isn't either run or fuelled by

immigrants to america so -- and donald trump wasn't talking about legal immigrants, he wasn't talking about -- >> i think the word he used was "immigration." >> this is also a president and an organization that invited a member of the national front to come and speak at cpac and the national front, there's nothing conservative about the national front. matt schlapp tried to paint them off as being classic liberals. no, the national front supports big government, they want the government to take over industries, they want the government to completely control health care, they want to cut work hours to 30 hours a week. the only thing that they are that i guess was attractive was they're racist. and you have somebody who said

that she embraced her father's -- she said she embraced her father's ideology and he, of course, an apologist for nazis so, again -- >> painful. >> so this was where conservative giants like ronald reagan and bill buckley and bob novak used to roam. >> joe, the man reading that poem, that allegory is the president of the united states. russia has declared war on the united states of america he says nothing about that. at some point in history, at some point maybe over the weekend you would look at the recitation of that poem by the president of the united states and part of you has to wonder how did this happen. >> you wonder who the snake is. with us we have msnbc contributor --

>> you mean was donald trump actually -- was the woman america and donald trump the snake. we may see. >> that's one way of looking at it. mike has a piece in the daily beast "teachers belong in classrooms teaching." that's a good piece. check that out. also with us, political writer for the "new york times" nick confesso confessore. co-founder and ceo of axios jim vandehei and political reporter for the "washington post," msnbc political analyst and moderator of "washington week" on pbs, robert costa joins us. >> bob your program is washington week, how do you wrap up the weekend? how do you wrap up what we saw at cpac, michael steele, head of the rnc during its most successful run from 2009 to 2011 as far as picking up legislative seats go, somebody from the national front in france, overtly racist organization,

donald trump calling all immigrants snakes and say if you let immigrants in they'll bite you and kill you, etc., etc. i could go on all day. i won't. how do you summarize what happened over the weekend? >> it's quite a transformation, joe. as a reporter who's covered cpac for nearly a decade, when you think back to a decade ago when then donald trump a businessman came to visit that gathering, he was a businessman who was on the fringes of american political life articulating these views on immigration that were not accepted by the reaganites who controlled the conservative political action conference. now he owns cpac, he owns the republican party, the fringe that was there a decade ago is now at the center of american power and we're seeing this transformation not only on the american right where this element of nativism, card core conservatism that is not aligned with traditional free market conservatism is taking over many parties in europe and in an

extent he's taking over the one year here in the united states. >> and what i find so fascinati fascinating, everybody is cantive to the political rheealy at that moment. they can't look ahead. this guy lost the popular vote by over three million votes. he admitted you could have held that election 30 times on 30 different days, that was the only day he would have ever been elected and i got pushback when i said this on friday, he's not going to get elected again. i say that as a matter of course. you look at what happened, you look at what's happening, it won't happen. but let's look at the polls, 35%, cnn new poll out has the president's job approval rating at 35%, disapproval at 55%. the most telling thing about this poll -- his rating can jump

up anywhere from 35% to 42% in real polls but the most important thing here is the intensity. the number of people who support him, strongly support him, only 16%. so all the people talking hey, they'll stay with him, his 33% will stay with him if he shoots somebody on fifth avenue, not necessarily, not anymore. strongly disapprove almost at 4 40%. that's an extraordinary gap and the level of intensity is what drives election results in off-year elections so that is a fascinating thing to look at. "usa today" also had a poll they released this weekend along with marist that had donald trump at 38%. that was trump's lowest approval rating since they've been taking the poll, since he's been president of the united states. what's interesting is his numbers have gone up, mika, and i suspect the -- i don't know if it's just the parkland shooting

but his numbers have gone up because tax cuts became more popular obviously they're going back down now. >> the cpac summit was the source of controversy as critics of the trump administration were taken to task. veteran conservative writer and policy advocate mona charen had to be escorted out under the protection of security guards for her comments. take a listen. >> i'm going to twist this around a bit and say that i'm disappointed in people on our side for being hypocrites about sexual harassers and abusers of women who are in our party, who are sitting in the white house, who brag about their extramarital affairs, who brag about mistreating women and because he happens to have an "r" after his name, he look the other way, we don't complain. this is a party that was ready to endorse, the republican party

endorsed roy moore for the senate in the state of alabama even though he was a credibly accused child molester. you cannot claim that you stand for women -- [ audience yelling ] -- and put up with that. there was quite an interesting person -- >> hold on. >> there was quite an interesting person who was on this stage the other day. her name is marine le pen. now why was she here? why was she here? she's a young no longer in office politician from france. i think the only reason she was here is because she's named le pen and the le pen name is a disgrace. her grandfather is a racist and a nazi, she claims that she stands for him. [ boos ] and the fact cpac invited her is a disgrace. >> you know, i will take good

news wherever i can get it. first of all, so many conservatives thrilled by what mona said but also i heard some applause in the audience when she said the truth, which was le pen was a nazi. with us now from capitol hill, syndicated columnist and senior fellow of ethics and public policy center mona charen. >> thank you for being on. >> let me start by saying, mona, that william f. buckley and bob novak and a lot of people are smiling in heaven right now. that was -- thank god. i was going to say it was extraordinary. it took courage but you just told the truth. talk about the reaction and the security guards that came up to hustle you off stage. >> look, so many conservatives feel the way i do about this administration. feel that this -- the association of trumpism with conservatism is a complete

mista mistake. that this is not what conser conservatism stands for. so i wanted to say that simple truth. i know when i hear other people say it it gives me courage, it gives me reassurance so i decided to say it. now, regarding the reaction, as you heard, there was some applause in the room. and -- but when i left the stage i was surrounded by a few security guards and i thought at first that it was a joke. i thought you can't be serious. but they were very serious and i said look -- they said have you made your arrangements for your transportation and i said well, i was just going to uber home and they said well have you called the uber and it was all very intense and i said you know, i left my coat in the green room and they talked into their sleeves and said "she left her coat in the green room. going to the green room." but look nobody approached me who was not friendly. as we were leaving the convention center a couple

people with cpac lanyards around their necks gave me the thumbs up so you never know what will happen when you speak up. >> it has to be not only disconcerting, it has to be depressing when you see people that you have known and i have known for years -- well, like matt schlapp who's worked for george w. bush for years, and michael steele being attacked because he's black, we should never have had our chairman because he's black and matt seems to justify that by saying but michael, you've been critical of donald trump, what do you expect? how do we even respond to that? >> there's a tone of sophomoric clownishness that's creeped into conservatism now. lastvited milo

yiannopoulos to be their speaker then had to withdraw it at the last minute for reasons i won't go into. but there's this mood of trolling the opposition, if you can create liberal tears than anything goes and even to the point of inviting the granddaughter of jean-marie le pen, a nazi, an anti-semite from france and what was the point of inviting her? it was again to create a response, to jab a needle in the eye of liberal. they think it's a game and it's not. it's not a game. >> mona, not only was her grandfather a nazi and she says she embraces her positions, her positions are distinctly liberal with -- i guess you'd say with a big "l." the national front wants to nationalize industry. they want to have national health care. they want to reduce work hour

weeks in france, require only 30 hour work weeks which is like the worst thing in the world for france. >> but, joe, you're assuming that this wing of what is being called conservatism cares about those traditional issues of the size and scope of government. they don't care about that. what gets their blood going is immigration. and that is why it was so contemptible that president trump read that snake poem and said "this applies to all immigrants." i was reflecting that he pointed out that the truck bomber -- the guy who killed people in new york city driving a truck who had been an immigrant and he made him stand in for all immigrants and i thought he no more represents immigrants than the shooter at parkland high school represents all gun owners. >> so i'm just wondering because there seemed to be some

discomfort on the set on stage and you could hear people booing. what has happened? you were speaking some pretty basic truths. i don't understand why this has become so hard. >> well, there are fewer and fewer people who are speaking up. even i was getting depressed and demoralized and feeling what was the point after all. but since i said what i did there's been such an outpouring of support that i feel more than ever that people who are -- who adhere to basic principles of dignity and integrity and belief that we should stand up for honesty, there are a lot of them out there and they just need a little encouragement, i think. >> and what's so interesting, jim, is the real booing started when she brought up roy moore's name. >> that is true. >> if you go back and listen, what really was like -- she

crossed the rubicon when she went after roy moore. >> what brings these stories together, whether it's immigration or c super papac, e for republican viewers, the world is changing, this isn't 1950s america. if you look at it politically, the population of white america is on decline, off rise in the number of hispanic voters each and every election. so if you don't diversify, if you don't become something other than the mostly white party it doesn't work long term. and practically for businesses and this country, if you're not getting immigrants who know technology, who understand artificial intelligence, look what china is doing. china, if they eat our lunch on artificial intelligence and keep expanding their region to latin america, which they're doing, africa, which they're doing, and eastern asia which they're doing, that puts us at a competitive disadvantage so this isn't a short term pound your chest political issue, it has long-term consequences for the economy and the republican

party. >> i remember talking to george w. bush in 1998 and in 1998 george bush, 20 years ago, was saying the hispanic population is growing in a way that demands that we reach out to hispanics more aggressively and we get hispanics voting for us. and what did bush get? in his reelect he got 44%, 45% of the hispanic vote. it seems that donald trump's thinking and everybody else at cpac thinks they're running in 1952 america. >> look, i think it's perfectly fair to have a debate about immigration. i think people who believe that we need to take a pause or who believe that we're not assimilating immigrants as well as we could, they have a good case to make and they deserve to be heard. but to treat it as a matter of crime which is a complete falsehood, immigrants are much less likely to commit crimes than native-born americans.

to treat it as a matter of xenophobia, it's just morally wrong. i don't think it's wrong to have a civilized debate about immigration as long as you don't demonize people. >> well, speaking of demonizing people, i mean what happened at cpac and on the radio with michael steele, again, what decade is this? what planet are we on? >> so matt schlapp's communication director said that the republican party made a big mistake elected michael steele because he was black. this flies in the face of history where republicans in 2009 from 2011 had as good a stretch legislatively. matt schlapp the next day came on michael steele's radio show. thought he was going to apologize but ended up explaining why michael shouldn't have been surprised that he was

criticized because he was black. take a look. >> you have been rather critical of some of the more conservative aspects of the trump phenomenon and this trump agenda. >> right. >> i think what ian was getting to, the heart of that, was there are people who are critics of some of the things you did as you were chairman. >> what the hell does my race have to do with any of that at the end of the day? what does the color of my skin have to do with anything you just said? you mean to tell me as a black conservative putting in that context but as a conservative i can't be critical of the president. >> you can be, but as you know, there are a lot of people -- i think take race out of. >> it yeah. >> if you look at the critici criticisms -- >> but he injected race into it. >> i would agree with you. >> so again -- >> those words that tumbled out of his mouth i believe were unfortunate words. >> they were stupid. it's not unfortunate. call it what it is. >> oh, my gosh --

>> later on he accused michael of using race in the debate and michael's like, wait, you're the one that brought race into this and said he should show more grace attacking michael steele for being graceless when, again, he'd been attacked because of the color of his skin. bob costa, i would say it's a clown show but the stakes are much higher. there have been to be republican members out there running in 2018 horrified by how clips like that play in suburban america and among younger millennial voters. >> it also betrays history, this whole episode with michael steele. michael steele was a lieutenant governor in a blue state in maryland, he comes in, he helps governor christie and governor mcdonnell get elected in 2009, he's seen as a national rising leader in the republican party. this is not someone who is plucked from obscurity to become chairman of the republican party and this whole experience at cpac with him is revealing of

how casual comments about race do not have a cost anymore, at least at the same kind of cost they used to inside of the republican party. >> mona, this entire conversation now for the past 20 minutes including the reception you got over the week end in maryland is a pretty unattractive package, i would think, vidbsibly and audibly fo most people listening. but the fundamentals from conservatism, some of them, even if you're looking at them from the left, are admirable. fiscal responsibility, free trade, growing business. but what happens to the republican party as they walk away from not only those two elements that i just mentioned but so much else that was once not that far -- not that long ago the core of the republican party? what happens to this party? >> you have to bear in mind, i guess, that things can change very rapidly. consider that just two years

ago -- or was it 2015, so i guess three years ago, donald trump was not invited ed td to. now he owns the place. there are huge forces at work here that are pretty ugly and i would argue there are many on the left that are equally unattractive. but if i believe that things can also change very quickly and it is possible that if certain events happen in this country the underlying discontent with donald trump and with the tone that he has brought to our public life can assert itself. i certainly hope so. >> all right, mona, thank you. >> mona charen, thank you very much. >> thank you for everything a and -- i have to say it was

hopeful. what you did has conservatives speaking out. >> robert costa, thank you as well. mona, did you want to say something finally. >> no, thank you so much. >> great to have you on. still ahead on "morning joe," one of the sad realities following a mass shooting is that gun stocks typically go up. cnbc's brian sullivan joins us ahead with a look at who are the people getting rich off gun massacres. up next, a lot of developments over the week end in the russia probe. we'll bring in two members of the house intel committee when "morning joe" comes right back. whatever you're doing to stay healthy... there's something you may be missing. a key part of your wellness that you may be... overlooking. it's your eyes. that's why there's ocuvite, from bausch + lomb. as you age your eyes can lose vital nutrients. ocuvite helps replenish those nutrients. ocuvite has lutein, zeaxanthin, and omega-3. nourish your eyes to help them be their healthy best. ocuvite eye vitamins.

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you know what's not awesome? gig-speed internet. when only certain people can get it. let's fix that. let's give this guy gig- really? and these kids, and these guys, him, ah. oh hello. that lady, these houses! yes, yes and yes. and don't forget about them. uh huh, sure. still yes! xfinity delivers gig speed to more homes than anyone. now you can get it, too. welcome to the party. on saturday, congress released a ten-page memo from democrats on the house intelligence committee to refute a republican memo that warrants to spy on republican campaign adviser carter page were tainted by politically motivated materials, namely, christopher steele's unverified dossier on trump ties to russia.

the response memo argues that the application made "narrow use of the information paid for by democrats" and that the work had been committed by people, quote, likely looking for information that could be used to discredit the trump campaign. the memo also claims that the surveillance of page allowed the fbi to collect valuable intelligence and that all of the four fisa court judges who approved the warrants were appointed by republicans. in a statement page said the memo is the latest smear campaign by dnc loyalists. president trump said it was a bust and demanded an investigation of, quote, illegal activity alleged in the republican memo. >> a lot of bad things happened on the other side, not on this side, but on the other side. and somebody should look into it, because what they did is really fraudulent and somebody should be looking into that and by somebody i'm talking about

you know who. >> i have a feeling i know who it is, mr. president. >> joining us here on set, democratic members -- >> sorry. >> shocking. this is it idiocracy. >> say what needs to be said. >> we need to play idiocracy and invite mike judge on and say mike, this part where they water the lawn with gatorade, how do you know? >> this part where they elect this guy. >> how do you know? >> let's get them on. >> that was painful. congressman jim himes of connecticut joins us and congressman mike quigley of illinois joins us. also with us former u.s. attorney for the northern district of alabama joyce vance. joyce, let's start with you. you've read it. is it a bust? why gatorade on the lawn? >> you there, joyce?

>> i am. so the memo is really a stark rebuttal to everything that we saw in the nunes memo. the takeaway after you finish reading it is that the republicans when they put together their memo left out so many important details -- >> what's the most important? >> probably the fact that the steele dossier was not the basis for the fisa warrant that the fbi sought. >> joyce, can you clear something up? there's people that i respect that are attorneys that are republicans that are just dumbing down this process so much and one of the things that insults me the most is that when they say oh, well, these judges didn't know the nature of opposition research. this professors a complete ignorance in the process and suggests these fisa judges aren't -- don't have clerks that haven't read this all this a thousand times that don't find

the weaknesses in the petitioners' memo and the judge is like "okay, i see here this could be oppo research? tell me about it." i mean they're acting as if a judge just reads a memo and that's it. talk about what a misrepresentation of the process that is. >> so that's such an important point to understand in all of this. these judges are used to this process where the government seeks warrants and when you're trying to get information about -- let's just call them bad guys. usually the information you have about them doesn't come with their best friends, it comes from their opponents, from people are against them, whether they're political opponents or not. so the judges know how to read a fisa warrant but in this case the warrant itself we've now learned from the democratic response actually indicated that the -- what we call the steele dossier was oppo research, that it was political oppo research, that fact was in front of the

judge who granted the original fisa warrant, it was in front of the judge who granted the follow-on warrants and so this whole idea that this was somehow a process where the fbi deceived the fisa court has been completely blown out of the water. >> whoever is suggesting that has never been in front of federal judges before because, again their clerks are going to read it through, going to know all the weaknesses of the argument and they're going read it through and then they're going hammer it. that happens in federal court everyday, especially in this process. >> the implication here is that oh, it was hillary clinton that was the opponent, i'll never approve this fisa warrant. that's ridiculous. congressman himes, one question for you, i feel like this focus on carter page is a bit of a rabbit hole but just for a

viewer, contextualize how important is carter page and its dispute over the wiretap of carter page to the overall investigation by -- in interrussia and interference and collusion and all that. >> he's obviously important to the overall investigation because carter page like papadopoulos, who pleaded guilty, had years of contacts with the russians, wasn't honest about the nature of those with our committee, but while he was working on the trump campaign had these contacts so the fbi did what they should have done given the nature of the overall investigation and they checked the guy out. so where that turns out to go we won't know until mueller finishes his investigation, but this guy had a long history with the russians of talking to russians, he himself claimed to be an adviser to the kremlin so the fbi is doing what the fbi should do in this instance. >> multiple reactions in this,

congressman quickly, including portions of the carter page story i would assume and everything like that. were you unhappy with the reductions. would you get clearance from the department of justice to release this memo but were you upset with anything that was not allowed to be unredacted. >> no the department of justice signed off on this. our intention was to work with the fbi and the department of justice to make sure they were happy with this. we didn't want to repeat the same sins. just understand the president said their memo exonerates him completely and with almost no review by justice or fbi, called reckless by the justice department, that i released their memo. we went through this process with fbi and justice to make sure they were clears. >> so joyce, what do you make of the indictments that continue to come from bob mueller. where are we right now? >> well, mueller certainly had a busy month fleshing the story

out from all angles. we've seen now the russian angle, the beginning of our understanding of how russia interfered with our elections by manipulating folks on the internet and we're seeing a more refined version of the manafort and gates part of the investigation. but joe the most important development here is gates' new cooperation with special counsel's office. gates is in the position to have personally observed an awful lot of conduct involving people in the trump inner circle and the key to watch will be to see if manafort is the next card to fall. if manafort cooperates that has potential in this investigation. >> joyce, this guy was dumb enough to lie to bob mueller during his proffer. >> what is that? how does that happen? >> explain to our viewers how incredible that is. >> you know, the hubris is unbelievable.

you have to -- for those of us who have never gone in for an interview when we're a defendant in the criminal case and sat down with the fbi with a couple of agents and a prosecutor in the room and they go through a litany telling you this is your opportunity to tell the truth, your one opportunity to cooperate but you must tell us the truth, everything good that happens to you in the future -- reduction in sentence, a plea agreement -- is contingent upon you telling the truth so to gates to be in that position and to prepare to lie, really tells you about the mentality that these people operated over time. >> they're saying that across the board. >> quickly switching to another subject, something you've obviously been following close closely, gun safety legislation since newtown, we both live pretty close to newtown.

what can we -- what deals can we see congress make with republicans running the house, republicans running the senate and a republican in the white house. are there any deals that can be done? >> the one piece of this, joe, that is different and interesting is the fact that apparently the president is pushing this hard and apparently he spent the weekend talking to republicans in the congress saying i want to do something here. now i've been through this before after sandy hook we thought for sure something was going to change and nothing changed so the resistance of people like mitch mcconnell and paul ryan can still stop things from happening but it's interesting to see a republican president apparently working the phones to get something done so we'll see this week whether anything happens. >> i think you'll see the republicans spring into action and have a moment of silence and give their thoughts and prayers. i've been here nine years in congress. we have not had a committee meeting talking about gun violence and no votes on the

floor. >> joyce vance, thank you very much, members of the select committee on intelligence congressman jim himes and mike quigley, thank you both as well. coming up in our 8:00 a.m. hour, senator dick durbin joins the table. up next, he's a republican congressman from florida who is now calling for a ban on assault weapons. congressman brian mass joins us next to explain his bold stance against the nra, plus cnbc's brian sullivan with new reporting on who's making money off mass shootings. we'll be right back. crohn's disease. you're more than just a bathroom disease. you're a life of unpredictable symptoms. crohn's, you've tried to own us. but now it's our turn to take control with stelara® stelara® works differently for adults with moderately to severely active crohn's disease. studies showed relief and remission,

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joining us now, cnbc's brian sullivan who is out with new reporting on the business angle of gun sales. also with us, republican congressman brian mast of florida. congressman mast is out with a new op-ed for the "new york times" entitled "i'm republican, appreciate assault weapons and i support a ban." and he writes in part this, the most important and unregrettable time of my life was the 12 years i spent in the army. i became a bomb technician because i wanted to save lives. i nearly gave my own life for that, i lost both my legs and a finger when a roadside bomb detonated beneath me and i have known more heroes than i can

count who died defending others. when i was with others on the battlefield and we saw a chance to save a life, we didn't have a meeting about it we acted immediately. i never worried about becoming a casualty myself. now as a republican congressman from florida, i don't fear becoming a political casualty, either. if we act now by changing laws surrounding firearms and mental illness, we, too, can save lives. >> congressman, thank you so much for being with us. what's the reaction been to your op-ed? >> i think it's been what you could expect. i've had people come up to me and maybe more so whisper in my ear they're proud of me for saying it and they back me. some people that starkly disagree with me and some people that are just beside themselves, never expected me to say something like this. pretty mixed bag across the board. >> there is a part of what you wrote that echoes what james fallows wrote in the "the atlantic" in 1981 when he said

that the pentagon concluded that an ar-15 would have been more lethal than the weapons our soldiers used in vietnam because it was lighter, less of a kickback, they could carry more ammo. you also talked about the weapons that you use that were like the ar-15 and you use them because they were the most lethal and they were made to kill people. explain that to our viewers. >> i carried an m-4 carbine on the battlefield. the setup of mine was a 14 and a half inch barrel. i had something for close quarters combat, carried 10 magazines, 20 rounds apiece, extended charging handle, and all that is what makes it difficult to actually define what a tactical weapon or an assault weapon is because is it the length of the barrel, the color, the magazine capacity?

there's not a great definition out there but what i can say is that the army put this weapon in my hands because it was the best weapon to go out there and kill on the battlefield in the most dangerous country on earth. that's why they put it in my hands. they didn't say, hey, take this, we hope you'll be okay with it. they put in the my hands with confidence knowing that i could go out there and do that job and that's been my take is that my country not safer with this unfettered access of anybody that's 18 years or older having access to this platform. >> it doesn't make sense. >> which is the weapon you carried basically like the ar-15, right? >> very similar, there's some differences. mine had a three-round burst and a few other things but very similar weapon. >> i have a question. there are a lot of americans who buy the ar-15 for fun because they like it and want to shoot it and how do you talk to those people in america and say it's

time for that fun to end, you can't have these weapons anymore. what's the case you should make to them for why they should not have these weapons? >> i'd say i'm not a proponent for going into anybody's home and confiscating things out of people's homes. we're not russia under stalin or cuba under castro. we're talking about future sales here. but i tell them i'm almost a life long nra member, i know the pride of shooting with family and friends but we have to look at keeping our community safe and protecting our children and our schools and i heard your last segment about is there common ground, can republicans and democrats get together? this is one of the most important points that i could make to you, i haven't heard one republican say that they have confidence in stopping the next nikolas cruz from getting a firearm.

i haven't heard one democrat say they have confidence in stopping the next omar mattin, i've not heard anyone say they have confidence in screening out the next stephen paddock. there's common ground here and the president agrees as well. he agrees there's not confidence at the federal level with the fbi or the state level with the various agencies so we need to look at that. we need to take that as a jumping-off point to come together and not retreat to our own corners but say let's move forward, let's look at this in a common sense way at who has access, what they have access to, what are the screening procedures and how do we keep people safe in places like schools especially but also at a movie theater or park where we play with our children or any other public gathering place. that has to be the approach to this. >> in the midst of this trauma and tragedy, there's big money. >> big money. but i think we here in the middle of a very important

inflection point here. we're seeing companies take a social stand. companies are frustrated by the inaction of congress not just on this issue, on a lot of issues. i think this is a very important point in our time because those are companies that have cut their ties, discount programs, partnerships with the nra. we're seeing corporate america fill that gap where they're saying okay, we can't make do anything but at least we're going to make a stand on this issue, this is a multibillion dollar industry. there are three publicly traded companies that make ar-15 style weapons. remember, that's a style of gun, not a specific gun but there are hundreds of smaller privately held companies. i visited -- one of the biggest shooting ranges is five or six miles west of where the congressman was just sitting. >> you look at blackrock there. we heard that blackrock was going to start seeing what they held. it appears that blackrock actually is more invested in these companies than anybody.

>> this is important. a lot of viewers throughout who own stocks would say i never own a gun stock. they probably do. probably all of us in some ways own gun stocks indirectly. the reason blackrock is the biggest holders, they're buying stocks in an index so if a gun stock is there, teachers of california, florida, kentucky, texas, new york, they own gun stocks in their pension plans, blackrock came out kind of a mealy mouthed comment saying we're going to engage the gun companies and talk about them. >> talk about the movement of stocks. donald trump gets elected gun stocks go down because gun owners feel we're okay now. tragedies happen, gun stocks go up. >> they used to. this is again an important point you're bringing up, mike, which is this. when we've had these things in the past, there have been far too many, as a virginia tech graduate, trust me, it hurts still. we saw gun stocks go up. the idea that people would go

out -- wherever we hear calls for bans, people rush out, buy more guns -- this didn't happen this time, guys. the gun stocks fell and i wonder if we're reaching the social moment where the -- just the sick of it nature of america, corporate america coming out, the gun stocks have fallen. it's one of the first times that's happened. it should be noted that 20 years ago smith & wesson tried to come out with a smart gun, they got a $3 million grant. they said we'll help develop this technology where only the owner of the gun with fire it, it has a fingerprint sensor. smith & wesson stock fell 85%, they canceled the program. the industry itself went after smith & wesson which is now called american outdoor brands. >> and congressman mast, finally, with great respect to your piece in the "new york times," what was it now that was different for you? >> i always have to look at the

opportunity to save a life. that's what my life has been about. that's what it was about in the military. i've never regretted a moment when i had an opportunity to save a life and nobody will regret a moment in this. if they say in this. if they say they're doing everything they can to protect their country, to protect their community, to protect the kids in their area. let's do that. let's not retreat to our corners in the way that so often happens. let's come together to have the conversation. i think that will make all americans proud if we can do that. that doesn't mean we all get on the same page. you and i are not on the same page as it comes to this conversation. but we come together and we get the to solutions that will make americans proud. >> it's so important. again, congressman, your entire background as far as guns go, but that's the thing. we have to start talking in shades of gray instead of black and white. my views on guns are far more conservative than most of my viewers' views on guns.

there are a couple of areas i disagree with with the nra. you're the same way. we have to be able, though, to have these conversations and talk in shades of gray. and if we're going to move the debate forward. do you think the debate moves forward? >> i think the debate does move forward. i'm a firm believer. there aren't evil weapons. the firearm is going to be used in the way that that person does it. that's the truth about it. i'm a die hard second amendment supporter. but i look at it and say we can't go out there and purchase the squad automatic weapon that some of the people would carry, you know, a fully automatic weapon. we can't go out there and purchase hand grenades. we can't go out there and purchase an at-4 rocket. there are limits. and we need to evaluate those limits and look at what they are. that's a real conversation that we can have that doesn't infringe upon the second amendment. it's looking at what are those boundaries? what are the left and right limits of that? that's a conversation we should have. >> congressman, thank you very much and thank you for your

service and sacrifice for this country. brian sullivan, thank you, as well. still ahead, an interview with a student who survived the parkland school shooting about what he hopes lawmakers like congressman mast will do to protect students moving forward. "morning joe" will be right back. bp's natural gas teams use smart app technology to share data from any well instantly. so they can analyze trends and stop potential problems in their tracks. because safety is never being satisfied and always working to be better.

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still ahead, an uglier side of trump has been revealed at cp the ac. former rnc chair michael steele joins the conversation after one cpac official made a controversial comment about why he was elected. >> said it was because he was black and it was a mistake. >> who does that? >> but the most incredible part of the story is -- >> no, that's pretty incredible. >> the cpac director tried to justify it. >> oh, yeah. that's good stuff. that's all straight ahead on "morning joe." plus

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while a real discussion on sexual harassment was booed. >> morning. >> welcome in to "morning joe." it's monday. >> and michael steele. >> oh, my god. what -- well, that's coming up, too. >> you guys said something racist about me. >> yeah, but you were critical of donald trump. >> don't look at the negative, okay? >> mike barnacle joins us, political writer for the "new york times" and msnbc nick confosori, susan delpersi, jim van did he hye and in washington, former chair of the republican national committee, still smiling, you are one nice guy. we've always known that about you, political analyst michael steele. you are one patient man. >> well, do you want to tell everybody what we're talking about. >> we'll get to it. >> michael, that was surreal. >> quite an experience you saha

there. >> i've known you for a very lock time. i've known matt for a very long time. and i was -- not only was i -- of course we were all stunned that somebody said it was a mistake to select you as the head of the republican party because you were black, but then matt's nonapology to you and then just -- not even a suggestion, basically saying, well, you deserve the criticism because you've been critical of donald trump. >> yeah. and this was -- that moment for me was the final trumpfication of the republican party. it was in that moment where matt could not see the forest for the trees. he was blinded by an apparent loyalty to whatever the president is, you know, saying or doing without thought or consideration. it was a deathnell for me.

it was a very stunning moment. and it was also, i think, when you stop and think about it, joe, it's something you and i have talked about not just on this program, but privately. within this party, this sense or lack of appreciation of race and how it plays out publicly, which is why i asked matt, do you know what that sounds like to the american people when you stand up and say, yeah, the black guy we elected, man, was that a mistake. >> which by the way -- >> and then want to have a lunch to applaud black people. >> we don't want to really get in the details, but the republican party, while you were chairman, racked up record numbers of legislative victories. and, again, we'll get to all of that later on. >> it's incredible. >> there were a couple of moments, though, where matt said to michael, why are you making this about race? and michael said, what the hell are you talking about?

it's your guy that said i'm black and that's that it was a mistake to pick me and also said he should show a little more grace. >> wow. >> okay. >> we'll get to that. >> that's a tease. good job, joe. you actuallier were able to bring it in for a landing here. we're going to start this morning with new polling -- >> only because i'm a redneck. >> that puts the president's approval rating at its lowest point yet. according to a poll from cnn, the president's job performance rating stands at 35%. that's down five points over the last month and matches the lowest level of his presidency. 58% disapprove. the meric sv poll has similar numbers, approved, 38%. disapprove, 54%. and a full six in ten disapprove of the job the president is doing according to the new usa today suffolk poll, 38% approve. and there is a staggering gap in the intensity of feeling. >> so this is, by the way, as you go into and off your

election and keep those numbers up. if you're driving in your car, this is what drives turnout in off year elections. and it's who's highly motivated. and the percentage of people who strongly approve of donald trump has now dropped to just 16%. well, more than double that, 39% strongly disapprove. and, jim, you know, a lot of the ballot tests, the generic ballot tests are starting to get a little tighter. democrats were way ahead, then it tightened up, now democrats are way ahead in some others. but it's always that intensity, that strong feeling of intensity. and we were just talking off the show, something is happening, especially with millennials about this gun issue. i don't know if any lae legislation will be passed or not. but it's one of those moments that just stopped. and you saw republican numbers going up. you saw the president's numbers going up. over the past week, week and a half since the shooting. they're going down and they're going down in every poll. >> well, that's -- i know, what

you said is right. and for people who want to make a big effect on the gun debate, there are lots of signs that you have record female turnout in a lot of these off year elections and now you have this millennial movement. it's starting to manifest itself in corporate america where you now see corporations feeling a responsibility in the moment to respond and take a stand on global warming, the muslim band, immigration, now gun control. and if that -- >> i was surprised when the "wall street journal" said blackrock basically had an emergency kalout and said we want to know any investments in anything related to guns, ammunition, anything, you have 24 hours to get the information back to us. that seems to be happening across the corporate world. >> across the corporate world. in some ways, donald trump inspired this. you now have millennials both in social media and in the workforce demanding that companies take a stand on issues

where they sat out in the past. that is a huge differencemaker. these companies can take a stand on immigration. is microsoft volunteering to pay for lawyers to fight for dreamers. you have bank of america saying they're going to look at their clients, their relationship with manufacturers. the big effect would be if it manifests itself in off year reporting. usually younger people don't show up. >> they're always older and wider and more conservative. we'll see the if the intensity is felt from -- especially, mike, this gun debate, of course, you're going to have a lot of hard core republicans, a lot of hard core conservatives that will be driven to vote on single issue voters. but, again, we'll call it the empty brook problem you have all these college educated republicans that have always

voted republican. they used to see ronald reagan at cpac. now they saw a former french leader, a younger woman who says that she's carrying on the -- >> marine le penn's cousin. >> the tradition of her grandmother who praised nazis. you saw what happened with michael steele. again, these are not marginal figures at cpac. these are leaders saying, hey, you know what? we elected him. he was a black guy. it was a mistake despite the fact that -- i mean, the republicans did amazing picking up seats across the nation. and there's so many other things. i could talk about what happened this weekend which is what i warned about on friday. if you're in the white house, be very skafl cared of what happen. and the most offensive thing that happened all weekend was donald trump reading that poem "the snake" saying basically

these are all immigrants. you take them in, they will bite you and they will kill you. >> so you have almost a perfect storm in terms of the upcoming elections. it is almost february. you have intensity, energy among various groups who are upset about everything going on in this country. within all of that, you have in the rearview mirror the shadow of what was once the republican party. and you have people wondering, what is wrong with that party? it was a parallel universe last week. >> they had to get armeds cores to walk share out of building. she was a buckly conservative. >> the republican party has lost

its mind. >> hell of a lot of conservatives on twitter this weekend across the idea logical divide from far right to center right to, you know -- well, that's about all you have on the conservative divide. but most were critical of what donald trump's conservative party. you know, when you have eric eriksson insufficiently conservative to go speak at this conference, you have a problem. people were talking about national review, attendees saying it's too liberal. it was crazy. what you find is the

conservative intelligencia, the poll writers, but out there in the country for this party, he is extraordinarily popular. what won the 2010 fights for republicans was not a desire from the tea party to help republicans. it was a reaction from president obama. it was a desire to defeat president obama and give him a black eye. we're seeing now this dislike of president trump could have the same effect with people coming out to vote to hold him accountable and in the process destroying the majority in the house. still ahead on "morning joe," senator dick durbin joins us here on set. plus, former obama campaign manager jim messina. but first, bill karins with a check on the forecast. >> bill, give us some sun, bill. >> it's been a little ugly out there in the eastern half of the country. very web february.

we had over a dozen tornado these weekend and two fatalities. this is video from tennessee. that home was smashed. there was nothing left of that home there in tennessee. this was our first tornado fatalities in our country since last may. this was the longest stretch we had ever gone in our country since we kept these records between tornado fatalities. hopefully now we'll have a good stretch after this one. so today, that storm system from the weekends, just about gone. it's exiting the northeast, it's leaving the mid-atlantic. a lot of rain and dizziely weather out there this morning. it's not cold. it's pretty mild all the way up the east coast. we're chilly in the northern plains. it snowed pretty good over the weekend in minneapolis. i know you have about 5 to 8 inches of snow on the ground. so the great weather today, san antonio to minneapolis, still that rain in the southeast. here is the buzz. the next storm is on its way, right behind this one. this is wednesday and thursday, more rain in the area that already has horrible river flooding, including the ohio valley. the ohio river of near

louisville is extraordinarily high this weekend, highest in the last 20 years. so this storm then dives for the east coast. it looks like a coastal storm/nor'easter type storm. you hear that and you think, oh, no, big snowstorm. but only the mountainous areas will be cold enough for snow. a lot of cities will be rain. we have a full moon and we'll be watching high aft troustronomic tides. those will be your big weather highlights. no severe storms, thankfully, as we go throughout the week. new york city, still cloudy. we're hoping for sun this afternoon. temperatures should be enjoyable in the next three days and rain towards the weekend. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. whatever you're doing to stay healthy... there's something you may be missing. a key part of your wellness that you may be... overlooking.

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just hours after president trump spoke on friday, the communications director for the group behind cp the ac ian walters made a controversial statement about the election of michael steele as republican national committee chair in 2009. >> we had just elected the first avenue cafrican-american president and that was a big deal. in a little cynicism, what did we do? we elected mike steele to be republican chair because he was a black guy. that was the wrong thing to do. >> what? >> walters later apologized to steele. and the chairman of the american conservative union, matt schlapp, who stood next to walters when he made the remark appeared on steele's xm sirius radio show. >> you have been rather critical of some of the more conservative aspects of the trump if a no one nom non.

phenomenon. there are people who are critics of some of the things that you did while you were chairman. >> what the hell does my race have to do with any of that at the end of the day? what does the color of my skin have to do with anything you just said. you mean to tell me as a black conservative, i can't be critical of the president? >> you can be. but you know -- i think take race out of it. if you look at the criticisms. >> but he injected race into it. >> he would agree with you. >> again -- those words that tumbled out of his mouth i believed were unfortunate words. >> they were stupid. it's not unfortunate. call it what it is. >> don't take the worst out of what he said. you know him. >> i know, but -- >> this is where you need to have some grace. >> wait a minute. what the hell do i have to be graceful for? >> you have not been very he graceful to the republicans and the conservatives in this hall and in this room for a very long period of time. >> oh, my god. it is like -- my goal -- we'll just turn the floor over to you.

i've known matt for a long time. i've liked matt for a long time. and matt, for a long time, has been considered very reasonable, one of the good guys. >> i've known matt for a long time, too. as i said at the beginning of that interview, we've had through a lot of wars together. but that was a moment among many in that interview, in those nine minutes, in which i saw matt not just drink the kool-aid, but take the iv and plunge it into his arm. and it is -- it was stunning. and disappointing. the fact that he would then the twist this back and say oh, yeah, this because you were a lousy chairman. like i game a -- about that. i knew people didn't want me to be chairman. i knew people didn't like that i was chairman. i was not their typical chairman. but my goal was to do two things. raise money and win elections. we did that. and there's never been that level of respect for that and that was brought out there. but even beyond that, joe, the

fact of the matter is that this party will then pivot as it is doing today to have a luncheon to celebrate african-american trail blazers. >> really? you're going to have the that conversation when you say about the first black chairman, well, that was a mistake. what did we do that for? >> if matt was going to apologize, he should have come on this show and apologized. but, again, there were three takeaways the one, you deserved it because you've been critical of on donald trump. so racist comments were mitigated by the fact that you've been critical of donald trump. and then the second thing was you said you were making it about race when they're the ones that made the whole thing about race. thirdly, he said you needed to show grace when -- >> that was the iv plunging into the arm. >> when he was the one that made it racially insensitive remarks.

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joining us now, a is ssenio marjory stoneman douglas high school. >> we're talking about you and everybody in your class. >> david's little sister lost several friends. >> how are you and your sister doing? >> we're doing as good as we could be at this point. we just have to continue fighting to save every other child in america because these politicians won't. >>. >> you know, it's so interesting that people called you a crisis actor early on. there is all this shock and zout rage in t outrage in the media. and i think after what you and your sister have been through, that's the sort of thing you probably brush off, right? >> at this point, it's good

advertising. i've quadrupled my twitter following. none of it is true, so -- >> so what is the goal, for not only you and other people that went through this hell in their schools, but -- and how sustainable is it? is it going to fade away? >> millennials are some of the most politically active and some of the most critical individuals i've ever met and people that i've grown up around as i am one. as such, i think that's going to sustain this process, realizing what's wrong with america and trying to fix it because the previous generation won't. >> mike. >> david, you and your sister are both students at this school. the school is slated to reopen at some point the this week, tuesday or wednesday, i guess. you can wash the blood from the

floors, you can patch up the holes in the doors -- >> you can't wash away those memories. >> how do you deal with it? do you know yet? >> i don't. personally, i don't want to go back to school until our legislators in florida pass one bill where either they raise the gun law to 21 to buy a gun or they have a universal background check system in florida. and i want to point something out to you. all of the glad being replaced in our school is being replaced with the old glass that the shooter shot through. none of the locks being replaced are being replaced with locks that can be locked from the united states. >> david, condolences on the losses that your family and friends have suffered here. i want to ask you, right now, you are up against an organize that spends $500 million a year with an agenda that says that we

should have more guns in the hands of more people to be the more safe. so what's your message to that message and to that idea that the way to be more safe is to have more weapons in the hands of more people. >> i think in the hands of those people, it's good to have second hand rights and protect those around you, but i want people to acknowledge the fact that we have a major gun violence problem in this country, one that's not going away and won't go away until we have major reform enacted. and by major reform, i don't mean taking away people's guns. people will always have their guns. >> that's the argument that these kids are running around and people that support them want to confiscate guns, want to kick down doors and take guns. >> it's like this. >> is that what you're talking about? >> in the same way there's limitations where you can't yell crowded in the fire theater, you shouldn't be able to get an ar-15 or any weapon that can kill multiple people if you have

a history of domestic violence or you have a criminal background. this is sensible gun control that both sides can support, but they sad can't because they're bought by the nra. >> how much are you hearing from other kids outside of florida and when you talk about it being a generational thing, how do you organize that? >> what has to be is a grassroots movement. that's what we've created here. we have had some support from celebrities, but mainly it's a grassroots movement. last night, i was in livingston, new jersey, at a campaign rally because sadly this is what it's become. i was there giving a speech explaining our agenda and everything like that. every single person i met with there, that's how change was coming. those people showed up and they stood up and made their voice heard. we're going to have to outlive the nra and we will because they

certainly aren't going to stop, but neither are we. >> david hawk, thank you very much. >> thank you. coming up on "morning joe," the democratic whip in the senate, dick durbin is standing by. he joins the table next on "morning joe."

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i had a couple of these characters in the back say, oh, he really doesn't want the wall. he just used that for campaigning. i said, are you -- can you believe it? i say, every time i hear that, the wall gets 10 feet higher, right? everybody. >> except for one senator, who came into a room at 3:00 in the morning and went like that, we would have had health care, too. we would have had health care, too. remember, one person walked into a room when he was supposed to go this way and he said he was going this way and he walked in and he went this way and everyone said, what happened?

what was that all about? boy, oh, boy. who was that? i don't know. i don't know. i don't want to be controversial, so i won't use his name, okay? >> our -- >> you don't want the class list. >> so john mccain, as everybody knows, is an american war hero. he has given his entire life to the people of this country. he was a navy pilot. he was shot down in vietnam. he was beaten, he was battered, he was tortured. he refused to leave. his father was well connected, a top admiral. he refused to leave and said i won't go until all of the men with me go. kept getting beaten up. he's never been able to lift his arm. s. >> that would be the opposite.

>> five deferments. bone spurs, everything else. john mccain was a hero. he came back, he worked with reagan. he was a conservative congressman and for the most part has -- but even beyond that, mike, the inhumanity of not only the the president of the united states, we expect that from him by now. but the people in the audience to be booing a man who is fighting for his life, whose family is going through the sort of suffering that only families who have watched their loved one die of cancer, fight through cancer, can understand. and the inhumanity, the unkindness, not only of the

president -- we expect that from him now -- but the people in the audience. that leads me to ask the question who are these people? i grew up in the conservative movement. i grew up in southern baptist churches across the deep south. i grew up with people that went to cpac. i'm at a complete loss as to the lack of character in people whose souls are so darkened by hate that they would boo a man who gave his all, who walked through life with physical ailments because he gave his all to this country in uniform and then came back home and gave his all in service to this country. >> well, joe, i think many of us, many americans have grown

used to seeing the president of the united states exhibiting, once again, examples of lack of empathy, humility, but i don't think we're used to the president of the united states speaking to an audience that basically one would think belongs to a parallel universe. and another question, you raised one that you want to ask. i would like to ask the people in that audience who booed john mccain and cheered the idea of a snake poem indicting and implicating every immigrant as being a poisonous snake among us. i'd like to ask each one of you, how were you raised? >> and what is your vision of conservativism. what's your vision of america? you applaud roy moore. you applaud a member of the

national front says her life's mission is to fulfill her life's work and you boo john mccain who gave his all in service to his country while he and his family are watching him fight for his very life. >> not to mention what was said about michael steele. this is a different planet. here on set, we have dick durbin of illinois, mike bar in this cle and nick comisorri is with us, as well. i still can't believe it on so many levels. what was your response to the president's words at cpac about immigration? >> we thought the president's main goal was to build a wall from sea to shining sea. 19th century answer to a 21st century problem. it turns out his goal is the

deportation of experience. he wants to see the young people who have been raised in america and want to be part of my future to leave and their parents with them. >> i believe his wife is an immigrant. >> two of them, of course. >> two of the three. >> two of his wives have been immigrants. as i said, it would be a paperweight but for immigrants that came to this country and went to silicone valley. >> joe, hypocrisy is no excuse. the american people get it. what we have gone through, what it's meant to us to have the diversity of this great country. in new york and chicago, you pick it. springfield, illinois, immigration is a critical part of our past and our future. and yet this president is reviving sentiments we have not seen for 90 years plus in

america. anti-immigration sentiments. they are no longer making arguments about security, no longer making arguments about employment. it is about the kind of people who come in. as the president said in my presence, we want more europeans and norwegians to come in. try to figure that out. it takes about a split second to understand what he's saying. >> the president's decision to end the daca protection for dreamers goes into effect officially next monday on march 5th. as of that date, absence on court decision, continuing court protection, 1,000 of these young people a day will be subject to deportation. will be unable to continue to legally work in america. they include 900 of them who have volunteered to serve in our military, risk their lives for our country. they will lose their status and be forced out of the military. 20,000 of them are teachers

across america. will be leaving the classrooms and many of them in struggling school districts because of this president's decision. and we kaint came to them with a bipartisan bill, lindsey graham, myself, jefr flake, corey gardner, we put together a bill and said here it is, mr. president, we're giving a lot more than we ever thought we would. it's a compromise. he rejected it. >> senator, is there a deal on daca or daca plus a wall? that could win the votes of the majority of republicans in the house and in the senate and get enough support from democrats to be worthwhile for your party to back? >> i don't think -- if we're speaking of the house and the so-called hastert rule -- i don't know if they still use that term. but the idea of the majority of the majority, i can't say. as you can tell from the cpac speech, the snake speech, it's raw meat to the right wing. within the senate, let's look at what happened. when the president's plan was called in the senate with 51

republicans, 50 present, 39 voted for it. when our plan was called been 54 of the democrats or democrats voted for it, including 7 republicans. and of the three democrats who vote onned against it, i think two were gettable on one slight change when it came to the wall. >> well, you also heard the president using the entire power of the executive branch. doing everything to try to kill that bill, fear mongering, absolutely outrageous comments coming out from the department of homeland security talking about how dangerous this bill would be. >> steve miller was in overdrive. as soon as we produced the bill and started to call out for a vote, they put out a four-page memo on this bill that we proposed that was the most ineffective in many respects and ridiculous armies. and they opened it up and said we are going to flood this

country with illegal immigrants with this bill which, of course, did not pass. >> how -- i know you've never seen it before where the president of the united states is constantly being vetoed by a 30 something-year-old staffer. but everybody close to the president says he wants a deal on dreamers, he wants to do a deal on daca. we actually heard it before, from him and prosecufrom people him. he wanted to do the deal. every time he tries to do the deal, he allows a 30 something-year-old staffer to roll him. >> just remember that steve miller played the role not only of the speech writer and inspiration for jeff sessions on his positions on immigration. he then took it on the road. he was the opening act for candidate trump at rallies. he was the one with who would rile up the crowd with his speeches about immigration. so he has a special place in

that white house, unfortunately. i've seen the president. i sat next to him, joe. we're not exactly the closest of friends. >> right. >> he asked me to sit next to him on kind of an open camera meeting with 26 members of congress in which he said you send me a bill and i'll sign it. >> leave it to you guys. >> leave it to you guys. and 48 hours later, completely reversed himself. he, as chuck schumer often says, is like negotiating with jello. >> demonstrates a lack of something. >> we've been on the air for two hours and 45 minutes and we have yet, not because of any intent, failed to get to the story about the president of mexico hanging up the phone on the president of the united states and announcing he was not going to come to the united states for a state visit because of the wall and trump's insistence that mexico pay for the wall. so it leads to a larger question, maybe one that cannot be answered right now, how do we undo the damage that's being done to the presidency?

>> mike, i think about that a lot. and i reminded -- and barack obama reminds people around him all the time, come on now, don't jump off a cliff. many of these things can be reversed. and understand the body of work in this great nation that was put together by democrats, republicans and others over the years established a reputation that no one person can bring down, period. will it hurt us? of course. will we need to reconstruct when it's over and rebuild? of course. but this is a great nation with a great founding document and a wonderful history behind it. we will survive. >> amen. >> senator dick durbin, thank you very, very much. >> great to be with you. up next, the latest shine of china's growing influence in the trump era. the country's president is poised to become its leader for life. keep it right here on "morning joe." s we share. and the ones we love. who never stop wondering what we'll do

or where we'll go next. we the people who are better together than we are alone... are unstoppable. welcome to the entirely new expedition. want us to do about what woulthis president?fathers i'm tom steyer, and when those patriots wrote the constitution here in philadelphia, they had just repelled an invading foreign power. so they created the commander in chief to protect us from enemy attack. the justice department just indicted 13 russians for sabotaging our elections. an electronic attack on america that the chief investigator called "warfare". so what did this president do? nothing. and is he doing anything to prevent a future attack? the head of the fbi says no. this president has failed his most important responsibility- protecting our country. the first question is: why? what is in his and his family's business dealings

with russia that he is so determined to hide, that he'd betray our country? and the second question is: why is he still president? join us today. we have to do something.

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to grow more delicious coffee. that erupts with even more flavor. which helps provide for win's family. and adi the goat's family too. because his kids eat a lot. all, for a smoother tasting cup of coffee. green mountain coffee roasters. packed with goodness. china's ruling communist party has proposed eliminating presidential term limits, paving the way for president and party leader she zing ping to stay in power indefinitely past the end of his second term in 2023. the communist party constitution has limits of two consecutive terms. the change is expected to be ratified by china's parliament during its annual session next month. the move is also seen as another step by beijing to exert its influence at home and overseas as the trump administration pulls back from the world stage. and in politics back here, in a

new ad, the democrat in next month's special election for a republican-held seat in pennsylvania is putting his break with democratic minority leader nancy pelosi front and center. >> my opponent wants you to believe the biggest issue in this campaign is nancy pelosi. it's all a big lie. i've already said on the front page of the newspaper that i don't support nancy pelosi. the real issues are the ones that affect your lives. i'll protect medicare and social security. my opponent will cut them. i'll protect health care and education. my opponent won't. my opponent will work for the special interests that are spending millions to elect him. i'll work for you. i'm connor lamb and i approve this message. >> joining us now, the president and ceo of the mecina group and former deputy white house chief of staff and campaign manager for president barack obama's 2012 re-election campaign, jim mecina. and professor and director of the center for sustainable development at columbia

university, economist dr. jeffrey sachs. >> start with the massive power in communist china or pennsylvan pennsylvania '18. why don't we start with china? donald trump absolutely worships oug auto autocrats. he sends congratulations when they consolidate more power. tell us about china. >> the big deal is china is filling an enormous void that the u.s. is leaving under trump and more generally. the u.s. is nowhere to be seen diplomatically. >> by the way, you told me this, even during the obama era. >> it was true. >> you were flying across the world and every meeting you'd go into, people would say, where's america. so yes, it's gotten much worse under donald trump. >> it's fallen off the cliff. >> but you and so many other people were saying the same thing was happening during the obama years. >> we're in a huge geopolitical

change. china's also looking forward. it's investing. it's investing in its neighborhood, in infrastructure. it's building things. we don't build anything. we bomb. but we're trapped in these ridiculous wars we've talked about for years. we've squandered trillions of dollars. china is investing. it's investing in technology, in infrastructure, in influence in geopolit geopolitics. this is a very big deal. of course, our country's completely lost right now under trump. >> yes. >> and our reputation is utterly collapsed everywhere. >> jim, some polls came out this past weekend. there have been talk, republicans have gotten a bump from the tax bill. they're selling it extraordinarily well. people are seeing some money coming into their pockets. but a temporary rise, but now it dips. a couple of polls came out this weekend. the cnn poll, donald trump down at 35%. more importantly, for an off-year election, the intensity. the intensity of support which

really matters, as you know, better than anybody in off-year elections. 16% strongly approve of donald trump. so much of being able to shoot somebody on fifth everybody and everybody still with you. almost 4 out of 10 strongly disapprove. what should republicans be reading out of that? >> look, do not look at the president's approval ratings right now. just to your point, joe, look at the intensity numbers. democrats are historically intense -- we've never seen that, even in the salad days of 2006, 2007, we didn't have these kind of majorities. you look at special elections, we've now had 17 consecutive state legislative races flip from "r" to "d." last week in kentucky, a seat where donald trump won by 45 points, democrats win the seat in a landslide because of unbelievable turnout. >> really is unbelievable. we saw it in alabama. how shocking those numbers in alabama block voters going out at record levels.

even the same level or even higher than voting for barack obama. an off-year special election. where about 14,000 -- >> not even that, right? what you really care about in off. year elections is turnout. these local elections are waves and are little small waves. here comes a tidal wave right behind it. if democrats continue this enthusiasm, lead with republicans, if i'm republicans looking at this, i'm in panic. >> what's the enthusiasm driven by though? >> donald trump. >> right. so who's the leader of the democratic party? who's going to take that and unify the party on a higher level? >> well, in the midterm election, mika, no one. because people cannot vote against donald trump so they're going to vote against his party. that's been true when become obama was president. the average of 334 legislative seats in the off-year elections. people want to vote against them so they vote against the party.

what we're seeing in these local elections is just unprecedented turnout by people who don't usually turn out. if the young folks in florida can make guns a national movement and really move a turnout among millennial, that will turn the numbers more. >> nancy pelosi, she's a fantastic fund-raiser, a good leader on the floor, is there any evidence that her image or positions have any meaningful effect on down-ballot races in the house? if it wasn't her, you know, would a different democratic be the one being sandbagged or hit or being the top democrat? >> yes, two years ago, you were seeing ads about evil harry reid. now it's nancy poelosi. people vote on local issues. all politics is local. the ad you just showed was smart. the guy saying let's not focus on national elections, let's focus on the local race and these are local issues. >> jeffrey, let's talk about the

future now. what is it and what are its goals? >> the idea is to somehow get us to look ahead once again. all we're doing is either looking behind, arguing right now, not saving for the future. so future now says let's look at where america should be in 2030. why are we so far behind so many other countries? why is the gap widening? why are some states doing well and others badly? how can young candidates get in there and say these are the goals for the future? and that's what we're trying to promote. which is a way to think ahead in our country once again. >> and what is -- what is -- what's the best way you believe? >> we've identified seven goals that -- across the political spectrum. people support. whether it's ending poverty, affordable health care, decent jobs for all. safe environment and so forth. and we've measured what's

happening state by state. and we can show where states are behind. where they're ahead. local candidates all across the country and state legislators are now adopting these goals and saying vote for me. when i'm in power, i'm going to do something. i'm going to work to move our states towards what we really want. this is the kind of politics we used to have and we have to get it back again. not just fighting but where are we going. and when you think about it, the only thing the president offers right now is having pushed the budget deficit above $1 trillion. cut taxes, increase spending, break the future, is that our politics? >> it's a disturbing time. >> we've seen that before. >> we're doing it again. >> thank you both very much for being on the show today. final thought? you have ten seconds. go. >> our thoughts and our prayers are with senator mccain and his family. we know you're going through a terrible struggle.

all of us who have been with loved ones who have fought this battle. we know what you're going through. and we're thinking about you. and certainly thinking about senator john mccain. a man who gave his all in war time and is giving his all in peace. we are lucky as americans. we are blessed as americans to have men such as senator john mccain fighting for this country at war and in peace. >> that does it for us this morning. stephanie ruhle picks up the coverage right now. >> thanks so much, mika. thank you, joe. good morning. i'm stephanie ruhle with a lot to cover today. starting with those parkland students preparing to return to school just two weeks after the massacre that left 17 people dead. now there is mounting pressure on the broward county sheriff to possibly resign after reports that warnings were missed and multiple deputies took defensive positions outside the school building. >> i don't think