hi, everyone. it's 4:00 in new york. and we're looking at the first signs of danger as hurricane florence descends on the carolinas. the outer bands of the storm reaching the coast just in the last few hours. we're already seeing powerful winds and widespread flooding. and this is just the beginning. the category 2 storm is expected to be unusually dangerous. that means sustained winds of up to 110 miles per hour. massive rainfall and storm surges of up to 13 feet. more than 10 million people live in the storm's path. 1.7 million of them have been told to evacuate. state, local and federal responders are mobilizing to stem the damage and the human toll. but from washington, that two-tracked presidency we were warned about in a "new york times" op-ed by anonymous last week was on full display. the agency's charged with the federal response pushing out their warnings. while the president continued his attack on hurricane victims from puerto rico. we'll get to his statements from this morning.

the ones that prompted a bipartisan outcry but we want to start with garrett hake who is standing by nan area already seeing significant flooding. and gadi schwartz who has seen significant conditions all day long. gadi to you in radio island, north carolina. >> yeah, this is radio island. over there that's beaufort, north carolina. the mayor says they're already reporting areas with power outages, small power outages and some flooding across those areas. but this is a place that's been getting hammered by wind. these are tropical storm force winds, not hurricane force winds yet but those are expected to come tonight. and with those winds we're going to also see significant amounts of storm surge. we're talking about a storm surge that is unprecedented for this area. a storm surge at about 7 1/2 feet. that is higher than the hurricane in -- the 1950s.

1954 hurricane hazel came in at about seven feet. this one is expected even higher. and not to mention that we've got high tides that are going to be hitting at around 11:00 tonight. so far, this has been going on for hours. it is only increasing in velocity and strength, and we're going to see this possibly until tomorrow morning. we're talking about winds right now that are pushing out to the ocean. sometimes they let up. sometimes they have those sustained gusts. as you can see, it's temperamental, but the winds are going that way. that's the atlantic. that means they're coming from land. these winds are going to shift. when they do shift, they're going to be pushing the opposite direction. a lot of these trees, a lot of these structures. it's most likely going to be -- in the next 10, 15 hours that we see significant amounts of damage not just from the wind but from the storm surge as well. back to you. >> gadi, that looks like the time it becomes dangerous.

do you have a sense that people have, by and large, heeded the evacuation warnings where you are? >> yeah, so it -- for the most part, these coastal communities have heeded the evacuation order. i want to show you something real fast because my mom might be watching so -- over here. >> take your time. >> right there. there we go. so there are areas that are a little bit safer. this is the wind shear from this building so it offers a little protection. the reason we stand out here where it's really windy is because we want to drive home the fact that people should evacuate in these types of conditions. when you don't heed those warnings you put yourself in danger. we've got a lot of experience with hurricanes so we've. doing this for quite some time. but 50 miles an hour, 60 miles an hour-plus emergency crews can't get to people safely. so even if they are bunkered down in a place where the winds aren't significant or where they

are safe, it still puts a lot of the emergency responders in danger. and again, back out here where the wind is really, really heavy, these are not hurricane-force winds yet. those hurricane-force winds are going to come later on tonight. we're going to be hunkered down when those hurricane-force winds hit. these are just tropical storm-force winds. it gives you an idea of how much -- the strength of this hurricane that we're talking about, but people need to heed the warnings if this hasn't hit them yet, and if they are getting these winds gusting at about 50 miles an hour, 60 miles an hour. it's time to find a safe space and hunker down there. nicolle, back to you. >> i felt better when you came closer to us and not on the water's edge. stay safe out there. thanks for spending some time with us. garrett now in newburn, north carolina. garrett, what are you seeing? what can you tell us about how folks have heeded the evacuation

warni warnings, if there are any, and what is to come there? >> yeah, this area has been under an evacuation order since yesterday afternoon. not a lot of people had chosen to leave. in part because of confusion about the forecast. first, it looked like more of a direct hit here. then turning south. then there were some people who had heard the storm was getting weaker. it was only going to be a 2 instead of a 4. i say only because that distinction is relatively meaningless when still talking about winds over 100 miles an hour. and this is storm surge. we have not had any significant rain here until about 30 minutes ago. really, nothing of what we've experienced here in this community would have looked anything like what you and i think of as a hurricane until about a half hour ago when we started to get into the first band of wind and that first bit of heavy rain. we're on the noos river. it wraps around this town. as the storm has come closer and closer to town it's pushed more water up into the river and then up into these communities. this is 40 feet from the water's

edge. now this street is completely under water up to knee level for me and down the block five or six houses, really into the next block. most of the homes along this street, this is an older community. some of these homes have been here 200 years. they've been through other stor storms. the house that we're using as our shelter right now was built in 1790. the gentleman has owned it for 30 years. he said he's leaving, going to raleigh with his wife. the only thing you can do in your house when the wind speed hits triple digits is die. he's not interested in doing that. so some of these folks who have been through a number of these storms have decided not to take their chances, regard thefls category. before this gets particularly bad tonight and having this come ashore tonight in the dark makes it more dangerous. that's a whole other animal. not something they want to deal with. >> al roker has been telling us, and he's coming up in a moment, that this is going to be a water

event. and it could be a long, a lengthy, sustained water event. are you seeing people just as concerned about flooding as they are about the damage of those winds? >> yeah, absolutely. folks along the river have a good sense of the idea this is a water event. they see different types of storm surge here. the forecast for this particular community calls for maybe six feet of storm surge but in some places as high as nine. that creates a real problem. i mentioned the rain. we'll get more than a foot of rain. we've gotten less than an inch so far. so the rain part of this event has not started for us in any significant way. and i think people here are fairly well attuned to that. the idea that water is what's going to kill people here, not wind. >> garrett, the mother in me can't keep this inside. i'd feel a lot better if you'd step out of that water, but we appreciate the live shot and please stay safe. let's turn to nbc's al rokker who is monitoring the

storm's progression. i heard from gadi and garrett. they're already seeing what you've been predicting all week long. >> if you look at garrett's shot again, one of the things that people don't realize the power of water. it only takes about six to eight inches of water moving at about six miles per hour to knock you off your feet and about a foot of water to actually float a vehicle. so you got to be very -- >> so i'm not being neurotic by saying i'd feel better if garrett got out of that water. >> plus you don't know what's in that water. what hazards are in that water. we've got buoys out just offshore. and you can see the winds, 76-mile-per-hour gusts here. 60 here. beaufort, 50-mile-an-hour wind gusts. starting to grow. on the wide view, this is the latest we've got from the national hurricane center. category 2 storm. and as garrett mentioned, don't pay attention to that number. the category doesn't matter. when superstorm sandy came in,

it was technically a category 1 storm. we saw what that did. it's 105 miles east-southeast of wilmington. 105-mile-per-hour winds. it's slowed its forward motion has slowed. but it's west-northwest at 5 miles per hour. so at that current track, we think it puts it right onshore at about 8:00 a.m. tomorrow morning with 100-mile-per-hour winds. then continues just north of myrtle beach and then hangs a right turn and heads on up into the ohio river valley. this is something we're going to be talking about for days with flooding events. here's what we see as far as the impacts are concerned. look for extreme winds. we're talking late tonight. the entire carolina coast will be feeling those winds increasing. getting up to a gust of 100 miles per hour. that means probably from wilmington down toward myrtle beach we'll see pretty much 100% power losses. up to 3 million people will be without power. here's the -- what we're most worried about. the storm surge.

two to four feet down near charleston. two to four feet north of cape hatteras. central north carolina coast, 9 to 13 feet. then that'sa top of high tide. so as the storm approaches, high tide tonight will be around from 11:47 to 11:08. as it movesshore, it's going to be around noon to 11:30. and the sweet spot if you will is between cape fear and cape lookout. that 9 to 13-foot surge on top of whatever the high tide is. so that means a wall of water that's moving inland can be several miles. and it just doesn't drain out and then that's it. no, it keeps piling in on top of each other. nine feet is really to the ceiling of a first floor building. so that gives you an idea of how much water that is. and we're talking about a flood threat. with anywhere from 10 to 20 inches of rain along the coast. isolated amounts of up to 40 inches and then that moves inland. these numbers you see, these

colors don't reflect this system moving inland yet. so we still have a lot to talk about before this thing is over. it's just getting started tomorrow morning, nicolle. >> were the models sufficiently accurate so that the evacuation orders were designed to protect enough people in your estimation? >> yeah, i think so. i think the fact of the matter is if you look at this. we started talking about this on friday of last week. and the models were very strong and when we look back at them, where we were looking at landfall back on friday or at least the potential for landfall was pretty much where it's come in. so i think, yes. the european model, ironically, looks to be a bit of an outlier and probably it had it coming down along the coast. and it looks like that's not going to happen. now, you know, we have to keep our fingers crossed and hold our brother tomorrow morning and make sure once it makes landfall

around wilmington that it keeps going to the west and not down along the coast because that would be the worst case scenario. >> al roker, we know you won't get to sleep until hurricane season is over. we're grateful to have you with us. >> thanks, nicolle. joining me is north carolina lieutenant governor dan forrest. take us through what you'd like people ow viewers in your state, who may still be in harm's way, what you'd like them to do this hour and this evening. >> well, right now it's time to hunker down if you're out there on the coast as was already mentioned. you'll be putting your life probably in danger if you try to get out of there now because of flooded roads and washed out roads, potential of not seeing what's washed out under a road or downed trees. safety is number one. making sure that you are going to protect yourself, protect your family. don't think that you can ride out a storm surge. you may be able to ride out wind and rain but not the storm surge. and most of the deaths that

occur in these hurricanes, they really occur in water, in flooding. in north carolina, the vast majority usually occur when people try to drive through that water. so now is the time to hunker down. if youor the coast, you'll have to try to ride this out because the first responders aren't going to be able to get in there to save you. >> what are you most concerned about? we've seen live reports from the coast, a lot of winds whipping up. a lot of flooding. we've been talking to al about that storm surge combined with high tide. where are your concerns as you head into the early evening hours and the begin afg sustained period of water and damage in your state? >> you are concerned about all of the above. the wind and the rain and the surge all combined. al was saying on top of high tide is the storm surge. high tide is supposed to be about five feet. if you put the 13 feet on top of five feet, that's a -- that's pretty bad circumstance. there's homes all along this

area built over 100 years ago that aren't up on stilts or up in the air. a lot are. a lot of new modern homes but a lot that aren't. concerned about that. right now, over the next day as this storm comes ashore. but then you're concerned about the flooding. this storm is going to linger as you've heard many times. it's going to take its time and dump 45 inches of rain along the coast. but then it's going to start to move to the north carolina mountains. it's going to dump a lot of water in mountains that are already saturated. they'll fill the streams and head back to the coast again. we'll see a flood event, i believe, that could be unprecedented in north carolina. we've had some bad ones before. we'll be riding this out for several days and then maybe even into the week for the flooding. and then it's going to take probably years to recover. >> and you are talking about for folks who have evacuated, you just said they may be looking at a week of -- not just the storm but maybe evaluating the damage. are you prepared to have people in your shelters for a week?

>> well, i think they need to be prepared to be there for more than a week. we've seen power outages in our state for three weeks to a month before. and we can see something like that again, depending on how long it takes for these power crews to get back into these communities because of flooding. that's going to be one of the big issues. i visited one of our shelters in wake county in raleigh. our biggest shelter. i wanted to get a feel for what was going on there. it's full. there's over 300 people in there right now at one of the local high schools. and it is run like a well-oiled machine. and people were getting along quite well. they have health professionals in there. they have all the things that they need to make insusure peop are taken care of for the week, including their pets. >> a lot of people don't evacuate because they don't want to leave their pets behind. i'm glad you mentioned that. i'm sure our viewers and your residents are as well.

lieutenant governor forest, thank you for joining us. when we come back, donald trump, the hurricane truther. the president denies the undeniable claiming democrats inflated the number of lives lost in the hurricane in puerto rico. another potentially deadly storm heads our way. also accepting applications for human guardrails as attorney general jeff sessions is thought to be on his way out after the midterms. word that defense secretary mattis may not be far behind. will the federal government hold? betting on beto. we're joined by a texas reporter for a report on the ground truth in the hotly contested senate race in deep red texas. stay with us. migraine with botox®.

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miles off cape fear, north carolina, an image that's become a symbol of this storm. an american flag shredded as hurricane florence closes in. we once started this show pie saying the bottom was calling saying it wanted to know if we were there yet. we abandoned that practice but have to wonder if today, today represented a notable mile mark or our way to the bottom of our political discourse. in a series of tweets, donald trump revealed a callousness and a degree of delusion that could have more administration officials seeking to change their names to anonymous with a life-threatening hurricane. trump apparently triggered by a new george washington university study that puts the official death toll at nearly 3,000 but

the president tweeted 3,000 people did not die in the two hurricanes that hit puerto rico. when i left the island after the storm had hit, they had anywhere from 6 to 18 deaths. as time went by, it did not go up much. then a long time later they started to report really large numbers, like 3,000. this was done by the democrats in order to make me look as bad as possible. when i was successfully raising billions of dollars to help rebuild puerto rico. if a person died for any reason, like old age, just add them on to the list. bad politics, i love puerto rico, end tweet. wow. is this where we are? it should go without saying that tweet was full of lies and san juan mayor cruz's says, your lack of respect is appalling adding, quote, mr. trump, you can try and bully us with your tweets but we know our lives matter. you will never take away our self-respect. shame on you.

this is not about politics. this was always about saving lives. phil rucker, "washington post" white house bureau chief joins us. and rick stengel and former managing editor of "time" magazine. nick confisore. republican strategist mike murphy and careen jean-pierre, a former aide in the obama white house. sometimes the news is harder to read than other days. what is wrong with the president, and truly, what is wrong with the white house staff that lets him deny the deaths of the people of puerto rico from hurricane maria? that seems to me to be a whole new level of horror from this west wing. >> it is a new level. and as you know, it's a tweet that he sends on his own. it surprised his staff. it surprised fema officials and caught them off guard. and it's not only not true what he said in the tweet but it's telling that he's unwilling to

take any personal responsibility for the failings of this government in responding to hurricane maria in puerto rico. that's one of the core obligations of the federal government. responding to natural disasters, helping save lives. there was a botched response to maria. he knows that. he doesn't like the criticism that he has seen on television the last few days about his response to the storm in puerto rico. and so he's reaching for a conspiracy theory. this is part of his pattern. seeing a hidden hand. seeing some criminality. seeing people trying to sabotage him. today's version is somehow the democrats cooked these numbers to make him look bad. >> there's no discernible difference to the thought process of alex jones and donald trump if you can deny lives lost. that's what alex jones did with newtown and now an american president denying the lives that were lost, american lives in a hurricane. how do they correct that? how do you walk back from that? >> well, the explanation from some of his aides in the white

house seems right now seems to be that the 3,000 number is based on lives that were lost in the weeks and months that followed the hurricane. of course, the study methodology explains that a lot of those deaths are in excess of what would have been a normal mortality pattern. and can be attributed to all sorts of problems on the ground, including the lack of electricity, including the lack of water. including the lack of food and medical care. but they're not deaths that occurred in the immediate day or two or three of the storm. and so that's why trump is trying to claim they're not deaths from the storm but that's just a flawed interpretation of this data. >> and it's in part a flawed interpretation of the data because a lot of those people died from the storm because of the response to the storm was so anemic. >> correct. >> mike murphy? >> that's exactly right. >> we're all used to normalcy. it's not the job the american president to get into public debates over how many people died and quibble over it. you take responsibility. you have a role as the american

president. you're not only head of the government, elected, you're head of state. and therefore, you have a greater responsibility of the country. but none of this means anything. >> are you also not a human being? >> look, i think he's a narcissist to the extent that he's highly dysfunctional. we've known for a long time he has all these problems. in my view, and i'm no expert in any of this stuff, he clearly lacks any real empathy but his narcissism rules him and because there is no traditional staff process, like you and i and everybody here is familiar with, there's no controlling him. it's all this rage therapy. when he's poked he has to go scream back and has this wonderful digital device of twitter where he can be a toddlermillions of people. all they have to do is roll their eyes, yes, and call bob woodward. >> he's really not been much of a profile in courage but he said absolutely that figure of 3,000

is the official death toll from hurricane maria. that is the official death toll in puerto rico. embraced by the federal government. so paul ryan, as an employee of the federal government, whose salary is paid by the taxpayer said he accepts that figure. where are we that it's really barely a blip that the american president this morning came out and denied american lives were lost in a hurricane a year ago. how do we head into a new one with any confidence we'll get credible information? >> we can't. and the point of having this conversation is accountability. hurricanes are one of those moments when people's ideology is set to the side and they all expect a coherent response from the government. the responder of first resort. and as a test for all of us and for our government. it's not about him. but the problem is that he always takes these things personally. his ego first. his sense of offense first. and his first instinct is to defend that and for this president, the buck always seems

to stop somewhere over there in the far distance. every year this country takes a day on 9/11 to think about the thousands of americans who were lost in that attack. thousands of americans were lost after this hurricane. and we don't pay the same amount of respect. >> and you're right. the numbers were haunting on tuesday to read those numbers. it is almost the same number of americans. you look what we do on 9/11. there was nothing that i was aware of at the white house to honor the lives lost in hurricane maria. >> can i make a public service announcement based on what nick was saying. >> sure. then i want to read some jennifer rubin. >> the thing is people -- look at over the last 40 years people's distrust in government has been growing even before donald trump. people don't know what government does. this is one of those instances where people can see what government does. and this is another instance which is not always the case where government and the press work hand in hand. you have -- our correspondents are out there risking their lives to help people save their lives. this is when the government and

the fifth estate actually work together. and yet people entities and do is damaging it even more. in future hurricanes or future natural disasters, people don't trust the government. they feel the government is deceiving them and the press is deceiving them. donald trump is part of the reason for that. >> and i believe in past hurricane seasons famous conservatives like rush limbaugh in the path of storms doubted some of the forecasts and if that's stretched out to a point where lives are in question -- >> they doubt the moon landing. why wouldn't they -- >> i don't have any information about this hurricane season. what we learn when trump says crazy stuff which seems like a good segue here. when trump makes palpably false statements, all the insider accounts -- michael wolf's book, bob woodward's book. whether he's lying or a victim of his own self-delusion that he's incapable of error is

beside the point. he's not functioning as a president or any other office holder should. he cannot comprehend facts, process them and take appropriate action. he's nonfunctional. that seems to be a description of how he can't process what is now the official death toll of 3,000 -- close to 3,000 lives from the deadly hurricane last year in puerto rico. >> yeah, i don't even know how to say it in a scientific or psychological way, but we're all in a very basic level feel like you perceive something and then perceive a reaction to it. it feels like he is not even perceiving the basic things other people perceive. because he has so much denial that he is not able to see the things everybody else does which is incredibly dangerous for the president of the united states. and dangerous for all of us. >> it's insecurity. he's such a case there. people joke about a time machine. i'm no longer worried about going back to germany in the '30s. i'll go back and tell fred trump to be a lot nicer to your kid. he's damaged and we're dealing with it every day because we have him in the white house.

i have the same view about the damage of institutions. there's a little bit of hope. people are starting to cook in that we have the crazy uncle temporarily in office. i'm hoping that -- >> you are buy -- >> i absolutely hope you're right. >> it's the only shred of hope i've got. >> let me ask you about the fact that it's a woman that has particularly enraged this president one year after the original feud with said woman with whom he fought with while she was trying to protect the lives of her citizens. >> that gets under his skin even more, right? because he has issues with women. i don't know, going back to fred trump, i have no idea. but it's clear that as we saw last year, earlier in the year, they were going back and forth. and every time she said something, he would go back and attack her in such an awful, vile way. but it goes back to what you were saying earlier. we are seeing the inner workings of this president. it is dangerous. it lacks empathy. it lacks care. and he will never grow into the

office he holds. he debases the office he holds. so there is no rock bottom. it's not just the awful statements that are horrific and the tweets. it's also the policy. $10 million was taken out of fema to put into the detention and the separating of families at the border. so there is -- so there's the lies, the statements and the policy. and it all comes together. and i appreciate both sides coming out. paul ryan speaking against what he said. >> he didn't -- let me not give the republicans more credit than they deserve. he did not stand flanked by dozens and dozens of republicans. by and large republicans gave the president a pass. i want to understand why they do that. >> well -- >> yeah, mike. as a republican. >> as a republican. as the anti-trump republican to have somebody start my car every day from the mail i get. >> i'm sorry. i didn't mean to send it to you.

>> i thought that handwriting looked a little suspect. so the equation we've got, and i think this is somewhat true of both parties is people are terrified of their primary voters. and in the one place that donald trump has a grip in the republican primary is the primary voters. if he leads the party to disaster in 60 days or 55 days at the elections, i think that grip is going to start to loosen. we could have an interesting 2019. right now, i have this argument with him all the time because i've been around this a lot. this is ridiculous. and elected senator, governor, congressman, yeah, the guy is a monster. i can't stand him. he's an embarrassment. but, mike, okay, i'm going to do a mike murphy routine tomorrow and i'll criticize him. i'll lose my seat in the primary and trump won't change at all. that's their argument, not mine. that's what i hear all the time. >> you just made a comment that it's happening on both sides. there are no democrats denying that 3,000 people died in the

hurricane -- it's not a -- >> i agree with that. >> one is looking at the sky and calling it the ground and -- >> the abolition of facts, the crazy of it. i don't accuse the dems of any of that. if the dems had their primary taken over and the country elected a crazy democratic president, and who was rabidly popular in their base, i'm not sure they'd be acting much braver than the republicans. >> let me bring phil rucker back in. he's covering this building that we're -- showing no mercy to for the president's appalling tweets this morning. anybody try to walk any of that back? anybody call you after he sent those tweets and say, hey, that's really not the official message of the day. the president is not thinking about a fight or is it just a lost cause? >> it's a bit of a lost cause but there is a little bit of an effort. i did talk to a senior white house official this morning who pushed back on the tweet a little bit and said, look, he's engaged on hurricane florence.

he's callings the governors, senators, briefings from fema and it's really the media's fault for playing so much coverage of hurricane maria and puerto rico in puerto rico and in particular what's gotten under his skin is him throwing the paper towels to the crowd. he's been bothered seeing that on tv again and again. >> there it is. we'll play it a few more times before we go today. thank you for your reporting. the adults may be leaving the room. a new report imagines life after attorney general jeff sessions and secretary of defense jim mattis depart the trump administration. california phones offers free specialized phones... like cordless phones,

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along the southeast coast as hurricane florence makes its way along the coast of the carolinas. we're already seeing rapidly rising water and strong wind gusts. more than a million people are under evacuation orders. we're expecting an update from the national hurricane center at the much to this hour. we'll bring that to you. in the meantime, while donald trump's grievances with his attorney general are no secret, it looks like finding his replacement may not be so easy. new reporting by politico out today finds, quote, senate republicans are in a jam when it comes to jeff sessions. while resigned to president donald trump firing the attorney general after the midterms, they suspect that praerhaps only a sitting senator could win session' seat as his successor. no one from their ranks seems to want the job. the piece goes on saying sessions may not be the only one being shown the door. defense secretary mattis is also expected to be dismissed or resign after the midterms. politico reporting, quote, once

enamored of the retired general and his nickname mad dog, the president bragged to donors, quote, the guy never loses a battle. never loses. but trump has slowly come to realize that mattis' political views are more moderate than he suggests, and the president has taken to referring to him behind closed doors as moderate dog. the panel is still here. the idea that even democrats are worried about what they're going to do without jeff sessions. i don't remember if we were on the air in a break when you were talking about being a right wing nut. jeff sessions is scarey to right wing nuts. but you've got some democrats afraid of what will happen if he leaves. >> look, his depart sure is the breaking point for senate republicans which is why they send signals out like this saying please do not fire this guy. we're not going to replace him. it's their safety valve. they'll not come out and be tough on the president and they won't come out and be tough on interference at protecting the

investigation but they're sending smoke signals saying, look, do not get rid of this guy, please. >> they're not sending smoke signals at all in their private conversations with the president. people close to him, people from legal and prosecutorial secrets have said if you fire sessions and rosenstein, you will be impeached. >> i read the politico article. a number of republican senators saying we're not going to vote to confirm sessions' replacement. but why don't they criticize the president for how he treats sessions? >> pence did last week. last week pence departed, after trump sent out that wackadoo labor day tweet about my justice department shouldn't be prosecutes republicans so close to an election. pence was asked about it and criticized the president and sided with sessions. they do. it's just -- >> but all these senators who are saying you'll have trouble getting us to vote for anybody who you nominate if you get sessions out of there. doesn't talk about the president violating the rule of law.

>> that's true. and they don't stand up for the fbi when the fbi director goes up to capitol hill and begs paul ryan and devin nunes not to release classified information. >> they don't do it publicly because there's no percentage in it for them and it won't change trump. >> why are they so lame? why doesn't one republican say they'd rather lose than watch this president decimate the justice department? >> you get a federal check and no one is asking you to land on the beach but it's a tough, cynical business and don't think it would move the needle. sessions has been playing this smart. for all his tough guy persona, firing gilbert godfried on a tv show where he's pretended to work for you is a different kind of tough guy and eyeball to eyeball with sessions, sessions has just ignored him. trump has sent every dog whistle in the world you ought to resign. sessions is like, yeah, that's interest, and on he goes. mattis will probably do the same. i'd bet money that general mattis, ex-marine, has a much

better nickname for donald trump than moderate dog. >> they're not doing their constitutional duty. we were just talking about puerto rico and how 3,000 people we know died. and they haven't had oversight hearings. so they are just not doing their jobs. that's just number one on that. and, you know, i don't even understand who would want to work in the trump administration. it's career suicide because you are one tweet away from being fired. >> let me try to answer that. i know some of the people. they are there as, oddly, anthony scaramucci said to protect the country from trump. >> i have a plan for house and senate republicans. they should pass a bill saying the president can only fire someone if he does it in person to their face. and that will protect most of these people. >> that's true. >> that's right. even don mcgahn. >> that was going to be in the constitution but it didn't get in there. >> the national security people say, and i have friends in that,

too. they say we get it but we're here to protect a machine. that's why mattis is so important. people think there's a red button on the desk and rocket goes up. you push the red button and it's a conference call and mattis and the joint chiefsor the line. matt sis the guy i want on the line or a mattis equivalent. the sessions strategy which this is -- by the way, i want to clean up something i'm going to get a million tweets on. there is no such thing as an ex-marine. he's a marine. i think he'll stand this post as long as he possibly can and trump will need a crow bar to get him out of there, and that's a good thing. >> he has no quit in him or you're saying that because you think trump would never fire him? because i've heard that, one, he would like to move on to the two-year mark and consistent with politico's reporting that the president is tired of him. >> i think the president wants to get rid of him. i don't think the president -- the president has the power to, but he'd have to actually tell him. i'm guessing here, but i think that matt sis is working for th

flag. >> yes, sometimes attorney generals are, but barack obama kept george bush's defense secretary. >> gates. >> so what i worry about, and i agree, i feel -- i sleep better at night that mattis is defense secretary. who would donald trump find who fit -- who was ideologically loyal to donald trump to be defense secretary? is there even such a thing that exists? a marine or an ex-marine? >> no. >> judge judy. >> the president actually is entitled to have officers in his cabinet who support his policies. so some of the things that were in the book, that -- that they are taking things off his desk or ignoring his orders. look, either resign and explain why publicly or carry out your orders. it's a democracy -- >> let me press you because the order was to assassinate assad. the national security orders were beyond any sort of mainstream norm of foreign policy. >> tell the world is the better

choice -- >> tried to brief him and that's where rex tillerson famously called him an idiot and kelly called him a moron. they're dealing with someone who mattis described has a fifth or sixth grade understanding. >> now he's more paranoid because of the book and the op-ed. it doesn't stop the madness. it makes it even worse. so -- >> so here we are. all right. up next, beto fever is spreading and republicans in texas are sweating. we'll talk to a reporter on the ground there. stay with us. juggling all the things we do is a challenge.

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to success, to safety. >> do you want -- do you want to see -- do you want to see the dreamers protected? >> absolutely. >> chuck schumer was willing to trade president trump, the wall, for the dream act. would you take that deal? >> no, i wouldn't. >> from texas town halls to late night talk shows, the democratic candidate for senate, beto o'rourke is spreading his message. his opponent ted cruz is worried as polls show a narrowing margin. a point stephen colbert made last night before interviewing the democratic candidate. >> in order to save the cruz campaign, texas lieutenant governor dan patrick showed up in washington to deliver an urgent plea to white house officials. send president donald trump. you know it's bad when you need backup from a man with a 36% approval rating. here's how scared ted cruz is of beto o'rourke.

he bought ads on my show tonight to counter his interview. >> joining us now is patrick, political reporter for the "texas tribune." we've been talking about the moments that have gone viral, have certainly captured our imaginations. we thought it was time for some ground truth. what is happening on the ground in what is thought to be deep red texas? >> yeah, we're obviously seeing a lot of enthusiasm surrounding his campaign. it's been sustained and growing enthusiasm which has been somewhat impressive considering that he has been campaigning now for well over a year, traveling across the state, pretty much nonstop since march or april of 2017. and i think that what's resonating is kind of this sense of authenticity that you see with him whether it's these town halls, these cunanan one come all town halls he's having across the is it state, whether it's live streaming every moment from the campaign trail. and, you no he, that certainly provides something of a contrast with cruz who certainly is --

can be a relentless campaigner, but did can also have this image of being politically calculating or just kind of overly scripted. so you do see kind of the stylistic contrast there. >> stylistic. ted cruz, i say this with a d.c. ept amount of authority, is not well liked with a lot of republicans. does beto have a chance of winning over independents and centrist republicans who swing election s? >> i think it remains to be seen how big it is, but whether it was before ted cruz ran for president, after ted cruz ran for president after the kind of 2016 trump endorsement controversy, there's always been some republicans in texas who have not been a huge fan of him either personally or because of his kind of brand of politics. you know, he is kind of this conservative fire brand and he's, you know, clearly made some enemies in washington and certainly enwithin his own

party. >> one of the ways that i thought after the election that i should have known that donald trump was going to win was that costco, there were lots of trump/pence bumper stickers. i drove around the rural parts of connecticut, there were more yard signs. it is not scientific, sometimes after the fact you look at those anecdotal proof points i saw this coming. what does texas look like now? are there beto signs in places where there usually aren't democratic yard signs? are there people talking about this race where they usually aren't talking politics for a midterm? what's going on in the state? >> yard signs are actually a huge tour in the state right now. cruz supporters have expressed alarm about seeing beto yard signs in their traditionally republican neighborhoods or moderate neighborhoods. the cruz campaign talked about our yard signs, don't vote, there hasn't been a huge investment on their part. psychologically stuff like that

that has worried some cruz supporters and given hope and optimism to o'rourke supporters however anecdotal it may be. >> murphy, what do you make of this race? >> i remember wendy davis and the red tennis shoes. >> is she ever within three or four points? >> i think in an early poll five or something. >> six happens within three points. >> here are three things that need to happen in a perfect form storm for him in the republican state. raise a lot of money, he's doing that on the internet. make sure the race is ideological. it had as been described as sitcom vampire. so if it's a personality contest that's better for beto. finally, you need a blue storm surge, not 5%. you need 10% because it's still texas. it is getting more purple, but he'll have tout a lot of stuff together. do i think it's possible? yes. would i bet heavy money, i'd

take cruz. >> one of the dangers seems to me when you make too many parallels to national figures, a lot of people talking about how he has that "it" factor president then state senator obama had. people comparing his communication skills to other national figures. that seems double edge. >> he's definitely a rock star in the democrat drak party. we talk about him, we're excite ed about him. we can't believe what he's able to do in a deep red, as you said, texas state. he's grassroots activism. he's a progressive -- >> he said he's going to impeach the president. part of the shimmer he would have done on dreamers. >> polls have shown building a wall is very unpopular in texas. trade war is unpopular. the gop tax cut is unpopular. so there are things there that really is helping him in many ways that is hurting ted cruz. >> yeah, he's sort of late-stage

bobby kennedy, very appealing, very progressive, very human. the thing as mike said, and i haven't looked at these demographic numbers in a while. texas is getting more purple, it is getting more diverse. until it crosses that threshold 20/40, it's not the time and place for a democrat to win. what i would say, though, is in this age of social media where we know everybody -- everything about everybody, abraham lincoln ran for president after losing a race for congress. beto is now a national figure and could actually run for national office just based on what we know about him and from seeing that viral video of him defending the nfl players and the right to protest. >> two things here. first of all, texas is a red state. it is not the most pro trump of the red states. trump under performed in texas. so i think -- >> ten points. >> something going on there -- >> the thing going on there is his crassness and debasement of the office is not appreciated in a state like texas. >> i would say o'rourke is going

around to almost every county. he is out there asking for votes. he is doing what barack obama did in a place like iowa. he went to places where democrats are never seen. he's planting the flag, this is where i am, he's not doing the thing where he's a fake democrat. i'm a democrat, a progressive. >> they're going to drop the ideological hammer on him. if he wins, straight to the president shal primary he'll be formidable. >> patrick, tau for joining oust conversation. we have to talk to you again before our mid terms. we'll take our last break and have another check on the storm when we come back. when we come .

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that's nbc's gadi schwartz monitoring the winds in radio island, north carolina. coming up at the top of the hour north carolina governor will be briefing on the storm and my friend and colleague chuck todd is going to be speaking to the governor of puerto rico responding to donald trump's tweets this morning denying the death toll in that deadly storm one year ago this week. my thanks to rick stengel, nick, and corrine. that does it for my hour. mtp daily starts now. hi, chuck. >> nicolle, i appreciate the plug. >> i go sit in front of my tv, i never get home in time. >> that's what i like to hear. welcome to mtp daily. as the storm batters the carolina coast, the commander in kmeef is claiming without evidence that the death poll in puerto rico was doctored by democrats to undermine him.