just a little bit. you can sign up at axios.com. >> that does it for us on this monday morning. i'm yasmin vossoughian alongside ayman mohyeldin and louis burgdorf. "morning joe" starts right now. >> we have a problem in this country, it's called muslims. you know our current president is one. he's not even an american. but anyway, we have training camps growing where they want to kill us. that's my question. when can we get rid of him? >> we're going to be looking at a lot of things and a lot of people are saying bad things are happening out there. we're going to be looking at that and plenty of other things. >> i can't trust obama. i have read about him and he's not -- he's a -- he's an arab. he is not -- >> no, ma'am. no, ma'am. >> no? >> no, ma'am.

he's a decent family man, citizen that i happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues and that's what this campaign is all about. he's not. >> wow. >> that was donald trump and john mccain, a contrast in leadership and character. the president, it's so interesting, mika, you had with the president of the united states, the current president of the united states actually -- actually playing into the hatred, playing into the ignorance. >> refusing to stand up to it. >> when somebody said muslims are the problem and also that barack obama is a muslim, donald trump knows that's a lie. he has told us privately before that he knew that was a lie. and yet he fueled it. and then there's john mccain, who actually shows character. that's really -- boy, what a revelation of two characters in two short clips and maybe that's

why the president repeatedly attacked john mccain's memory over the weekend. 46 years after that american hero was released from a north vietnamese prison camp. a monument that trump avoided during last week's trip to hanoi. he hates him, mika, because john mccain proved his character every day when he was in that camp, just like donald trump unfortunately proves his character every day and he certainly did this weekend with every vile tweet he pushes out. >> it says everything you need to know. those two clips say it all. we'll be talking about that, all those tweets, what he's trying to deflect from possibly. good morning and welcome to "morning joe." it is monday, march 18th. it's great to be back. with us we have veteran columnist and msnbc contributor

mike barnicle, the preds sident foreign relations and author of "disarr "disarray," bbc kaanchor katty kay, mike barnicle and john meacham. a great group to start out with this morning, joe. >> yes, he is. my son was driving through bell meade yesterday and he looked around and sad there were extraordinary, extraordinary homes in bell meade, a lot of pays live smoking jackets and people rocking in their chairs smoking a pipe. he was very impressed. >> yes. >> so i would tell him to drop by -- knock and drop by but he couldn't get past all the servants i'm sure. but, mike barnicle, jonathan

lemire and i were in for the myers watching the red sox at jet blue field. we didn't see you. you missed a great game. the red sox won. we said to each other, this is a team that we surely can slip ahead of the orioles and maybe finish in fourth this year. we're very excited about the red sox. >> i'm very optimistic they'll beat out the orioles in terms of placement of the american league east, joe. nothing to worry about there. i'm glad you had a good time. fort myers is always fun. jet blue is always fun. have i i have to inject this based upon the opening of the show. i think one. classic tweets of this weekend was from bill crystal who urged members of the republican party to look at all of the president's tweets yesterday. don't avert your eyes, he said.

don't avert your eyes. look at the tweets and then ask yourself is this the man you want representing the republican party? joe, as you pointed out, it was horrendous, horrendous. >> i have always made it, mika, always made it my goal in politics to never take any attacks personally and i rarely do. i forget them. >> you've gotten really good at that. >> as quickly as possible. but there is an exception in my political career where i didn't immediately turn the other cheek and say okay, no problem, let's move forward and that was when a certain powerful person attacked a friend of mine who had rece recently died and attacked that person in such a vile way, besmirching his memory for his own political gain that i did

hold that against his person and saw that as a failure of character and, no, i did not forgive him for 10, 20 years. i sit here reading every one of these tweets and i wonder what type of friend lindsey graham is and wonder what people around lindsey graham think about a guy who would sit and watch a guy, donald trump, who lindsey graham now worships and kowtows to and worships every day, somebody like a father to lindsey graham, attacked and harshly in small -- just small miserable ways and yet lindsey graham does not strike back at the president to defend his old frent. >> it's incredible. >> you talk about character

being something that you do when nobody's looking. well, character is also something you do when everybody's looking. by every standard of character or at least every standard of friendship, lindsey graham has failed this past weekend and he has failed every weekend as soon as john mccain has died. >> we're going to talk about the president's tweets, some 50 of them between saturday morning and sunday night, but i think we ought to start with kellyanne conway's husband's tweet. >> george conway, great constitutional attorney. >> to give an overarching context. what exactly did he say, joe, in his tweet? because it kind of helps you go through these because they're disturbing. >> he just says the president is getting worse. again, if you're a constitutional lawyer who happens to be married to somebody who is one of the president's closest aides, you can -- you wouldn't say that if you hadn't heard that and hadn't seen it. the president is getting worse. and, you know, people don't like

us talking about it on the air but we heard it about it on the air. we heard this from campaign people from the beginning, that he was not right. they were concerned during the campaign, which, yes, we mentioned during the campaign there's something terribly wrong with this president. george conway not only aal schof the president's closest aides. >> the one that lasted the longest. >> the president's latest tweets, 30 new tweets and 20 retweets of himself from recent day. 14 tweets mentioned attacks on the special counsel robert mueller or the russia investigation while five were clips of position nefox news or

business news which he liked. criticized weekend anchors shep smith because he didn't like what they were saying and five tweets defending fox host judge janine pirro, which many think it happened after she made remarks about muslim women covering their heads. >> it is actually somebody who calls herself a judge actually attacking a first amendment protection, which this country was really founded on. this is why the pilgrims came to

america. it is the foundation of this great republic and she was of course attacking freedom of religion. then donald trump has all these tweets to protect jeanine pirro and far more tweets than he put out regarding the slaughter in new zealand. >> religious liberty was called the first freedom because it was, in fact, the driving impetus to get us across -- get many people across the atlantic. george washington in that famous letter to the hebrew congregation in newport in 1790 said the point of the government of the united states is to give to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance and said people should be able to come here and center their own vine and figure tree and none

shall make him april afrafraid. i was stuck bit women of cover because one of the great moments of george w. bush's ten days or so after 9/11, we remember the cathedral, we remember ground zero, but people should go take a look at his remarks at the mosque in washington because he was disturbed by reports that women of cover were being harassed, i think particularly in michigan. he goes and gives a really remarkable, from-the-heart statement about just this. if you want to go to what mike said about bill kristol, you have a president who in the last 48 hours or so has attacked the last president of this party fae party on his anniversary of being released from captivity. i know you get this far more than i do, people say, well, why do you talk about these things, just ignore him. but ultimately you can't ignore

him, right, because then it totally takes hold. and i think that, if anything, if one of my children sent 50 tweets, i'd take the phone away. and i think that's the way most people would view this. i think we have to call it for what it is, which is he is unstable, he's a bad actor in the life of the republic and that's not reflexively partisan. it's not ideological. i think reason and data and experience would lead you to that conclusion. >> well, and he also is a champion of white supremacists. and if you have don't believe me, katty kay, just ask white supremacists across the globe, whether you're talking about david duke, who has praised him consistently for talking about his version of nationalism for, you know, after charlottesville, david duke praised him saying this is good as we could expect

from an american president actually talking about moral equivalency between neonazis and protesters. and then of course you actually have the killer in new zealand saying that donald trump is a champion of white nationalism and an inspiration. >> yeah, we've seen that from the 2016 campaign right up until today when there's been a spike worldwide in attacks and hate incidents inspired by white nationalism, inspired by anti-semitism and in several instances law enforcement agencies have said that they've gone back through the social media posts of these people and they have found specific references to donald trump and how donald trump has given them some sense of sucker. mick mulvaney over the course of the weekend saying how many times do we have to say that the president is not a white nationalist and that the president after charlottesville

having given one speech then give another little impromptu speech in which he said white nationalism should be decried, the kkk should be decried but it would be very easy for the leader to come out and say more in that vein because the white nationalists are hearing the things he saying about invasion, about immigration, about muslims and they're taking their comfort from that. >> and you look at the situation and, richard haas, this is a president who not only responded -- refused to talk about white nationalism after this latest attack, which is inspired by white nationalism and the killer said that donald trump was his inspiration, but you also have a president who refused to say anything after charlottesville, other than preaching moral equivalency, you have a president who refused to talk about problems after the pipe bombing in pittsburgh.

you have a president who refused after the kill list was made of democratic leaders from the coast guard lieutenant and members of the media, the president refused to condemn that coast guard lieutenant. republicans refused to condemn that coast guard lieutenant. now we have 50 muslims slaughtered while worshipping in new zealand. the president again refusing to call white nationalism by its name and tweeted out that we needed to be fearful because he had people on the military and bi bikers for trump who if he wanted to get very ugly, very fast. that's tearing a page straight out of mussolini's play book saying i'm going to use the

military and i'm going to use gangs to go around and beat up people who are my enemies. >> a couple reactions. one, it's not just what a president says and does, joe, it's also what a president doesn't say and doesn't do. you can focus on the tweets but also on the things that he hasn't spoken about. it's a reminder that the president is not just a commander in chief, not just the head of government and the chief policy maker, bunch he's also t -- but he's also the head of state and supposed to represent the country, the society, the nation in the largest sense of the world. he's supposed to speak for our collective character. obviously there's a tremendous disconnect between what this country was founded on, which was a certain idea of openness and possibility and freedom and the way this president interprets his role. and this weekend was extraordinary. you mentioned that one statement about violence. and that to me was actually out of the -- out of everything that

was said this weekend, that was the most worrisome. is suggested under certain circumstances he would be prepared to -- i guess shakespeare would say release the dogs of war. >> didn't you go back to what michael cohen said in the testimony if donald trump loses there will be no peaceful transition. donald trump is trying to send a message to people, disaffected military members and police officers and bikers for trump that if things don't go his way, if he loses an election, if impeachment proceedings start, he's sending a very direct message, which is go out and cause mayhem and start a revolution. >> that to me, again, out of

everything that was said over the last few days, that was the most, if you will, i guess the generous legal phrase would be extra constitutional. let's just being straight, that was by far the most worrisome message that seemed to legitimatize illegitimate action if things didn't go his way or the way his supporters wanted. >> out of so many. president trump also spent the weekend lashing out at republican senator john mccain, who passed away last august after battling an aggressive ba brain tumor. he sweeted "spreading the fake and totally discredited dossier is unfortunately a very dark stain against john mccain, remembering to a dossier that allegedly included information linking trump to the russian government. trump added mccain had far worse stains on this including thumbs down on repeal and replace after

years of campaigning to repeal and replace. the late senator's daughter, megan mccain, tweeted in response, no one will ever love you the way they loved my father. i wish i had been given more saturdays with him. maybe spend your with your family instead of on twitter obsessing over mine. but the president didn't stop there. yesterday he tweeted so it was indeed just proven in court papers, last in his class in papers, john mccain that sent the fake dossier hoping to have it printed before the election. his condition is getting worse. it's something we talked about in the last two years. we're getting to a point, joe, where reason will tell you something is wrong. it may have been too early to be emotionally jumping to those conclusions. i regret that.

but reason will tell you something is very, very wrong and at the very least this president, knowing his patterns, is desperately trying to deflect from some sort of reality that bothers him butch he does not have the discipline, he doesn't have the ability to hold himself back when he spends an entire weekend where the world should be mourning over the ramifications of hatred, tweeting ridiculous things. >> you know, again -- >> he's not well. >> people that know him say this privately, george conway said it publicly, this is not normal behavior. it's abhorrent. >> we wouldn't accept it from our children. >> it's abhorrent behavior and it's so incredible that the people who still blindly stand by donald trump and say what's wrong with donald trump and say, oh, he's great, no, the media's

just after donald trump. you just look at their children and you look at the example being given to their children and you wonder how is a generation going to grow up. we're already talked about the impact that bill clinton had in '98 and '99 on middle schools across the country. you and i saw that personally. and very concerned about the impact that parents who sit by and continue to raise up a man who lies every day, who besmirches people's character every day, who basically does the opposite of every single thing jesus talked about and look them up in matthethews if want to rk, that they are sendi their kids out in trump costumes

for halloween. mike, let's stay a little more narrowly focused on john mccain. again, we don't have to talk about john mccain's extraordinary legacy. it speaks for itself. but there is no doubt that donald trump is tortured so much so that a man who has now been dead for six months has his grades in college april tacktta man who i guess did so horribly in college and was such a pathetic student that he had to send his lawyer out to stop the worst grades ever seen by donald

trump. >> john mccain's live was almost taken for five years. i've been in that cell. donald trump will never stand up against john mccain. john mccain had the one most valuable thing a human being can have that donald trump will never have, it's called character. and all of us here today thinking of the tweets over the weekend, the volley of madness that owe roarose from the presi fingers as he spent the weekend te texting and tweeting while we had this tragedy in new zealand in christchurch, while the middle east still rages with war, this is what he does, makes comments about fox tv hosts and substitute weekend hosts.

the biggest danger is he has normalized abhorrent behavior that so much of the nation just shrugs its shoulders and moves on in the face of these bold-faced lies emanating from the president of the united states. at some point in this campaign, one of these candidates is going to stand up and ask the question, what kind of country do you want? it's your call, your voice, it's your vote. is this what you want your children to grow up under, this kind of tenor, this kind of language? it's your choice. >> it's their choice. i have talked to quite a few trump supporters who supported him, who said let's take a chance, let's see what he can do who are so repelled by his character that they will never vote for him again.

this man will never be re-elected president. write it done. unless the democrats just make a colossal error in who they choose to be their nominee. but katty kay, really briefly, drawing one last distinction between john mccain and donald trump, donald trump's father gave him $200 billion, which he frittered away. john mccain's debt was so powerful that when he was in vietnam beaten so badly, he couldn't beat hraise his hands his head, they said, hey, because of who you are, we will let you out and because of that, he was not able to raise his

arms above his head. >> one thing that's been consistently written about his biographers is he will find any loophole in the law and push that as wide as he can in order to advantage himself. that's been a consistent pattern of his time in business and of his time in politics, to subvert the laws' normalcy in order to benefit himself. i remember looking at those tweets and thinking, wow, after two years, donald trump still has the capacity to shock us. i think this weekend all of us all had a wake-up call. >> george conway tweeted the president's condition is getting worse. still ahead on "morning joe," from beto o'rourke's rocky rollout to joe biden's campaign slip up, we have a lot to get to. but first, here's bill karins with the check on the forecast.

bill? >> have you seen the pictures out of nebraska? there's been epic flooding, rivaling the 1993 floods. these are towns outside and north of omaha, the missouri river looks like a lake in some places, three people have died and thousands of homes have been flooded. this is now going to move downstream on the missouri river. i can go all the way from the mississippi river back up here to where it meets the ohio river, the rock river has a lot of bad flooding. it was that storm last we're plus rapid snow melt that's caused all the problems. looks like a little rain on tuesday but nothing that will cause additional problems. now we have to wait and see how long will it take the rivers to drain out. apologies to everyone on vacation and on spring break in south florida. we have rain in south florida,

maining t raining the next three days in a row. no bad snowstorms as we swing into spring. we'll watch the southwest and the horrific flooding. looks like clear sailing out of new york city. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. back. ♪ ♪ - [woman] with shark's duo clean, i don't just clean, i deep clean carpets and floors, so i got this. yep, this too, and this, please. even long hair and pet hair are no problem, but the one thing i won't have to clean is this because the shark's self-cleaning brush roll removes the hair wrap while i clean. ♪ - [announcer] shark, the vacuum that deep cleans now cleans itself. nothing can prepare you to hear those words... breast cancer. we thought that we would travel to

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can i find my wifi password? just ask. [ ding ] show me my wifi password. hey now! [ ding ] you can even troubleshoot, learn new voice commands and much more. clean my daughter's room. [ ding ] oh, it won't do that. welp, someone should. just say "teach me more" into your voice remote and see how you can have an even better x1 experience. simple. easy. awesome. recently you drew some criticism for a remark you made about sometimes helping to raise your kids. >> it's absolutely valid criticism. and it's constructive criticism. it has already made me a better candidate and not only will i not say that again, but i'll be much more thoughtful going forward in the way that i talk about our marriage and also the way in which i acknowledge the truth of the criticism that i

have enjoyed white privilege. >> oh, my god. >> now be nice. he was apologizing. >> wait, wait, wait, he's going to apologize about the way he talks about his marriage? >> he's thoughtful. >> it was a accept deprecating joke. by the way, kids, if you one run for anything from dog catcher to congressman, congresswoman, to president of the united states, use self-deprecating humor and say things like, you know what, my wife and i have raised the kids and sometimes i'm there for a couple of minutes, even if you're with them all the time. this is what politicians have been doing for thousands of years, using self-deprecating humor. a couple of blue checkmarks tell him that's a terrible thing you did using accept deprecating jokes and i will do a better job in the future. >> he felt he needed to clean up

the comment. >> i can't use self-deprecating humor in the future, i'm going to go on a trip to kansas and write some posts on media about how this is a mid life crisis for me because i use self-deprecating humor and there were people out there who were just too stupid to figure out it was self-deprecating humor, elevating my wife. and his wife may have said it's a little uncomfortable, you you

talk. sometimes i go up on stage and say, mika, you come up and she says, no, today they want to listen to you. if you're judging beto and his wife because she chose -- she chose to sit there for three minutes and support her husband? hey, first of all, that's something you don't need to worry about. and, secondly, their marriage is good, secondly, beto, do not apologize every time a blue check mark says something mean about you. because i guarantee you the guy that you want to run against is a white supremacist and he doesn't apologize for that so you don't have to apologize for putting out a self-deprecating joke. that -- that, my friends, was intended to actually elevate his wife and praise his wife for

doing so much with their children. i have nothing else to say. >> okay. >> other than ignore the blue check marks, beto and long may you prosper. >> he needs to come to one of my know your value events. >> this guy is wearing me out. he had a mid life crisis. oh, my senate run was too tough, i need to drieve in the wilderness and white media posts. >>and has writings when he was a teen-ager -- >> he was a teen-ager. >> democrats think what happens during teen years is incredibly important. >> pay attention to what donald trump did this week or last year, don't go back. don't apologize what you did as a kid, it was weird, beto, it

was freaky. if i were your friend and read this, i would report you to the principal and you would not be spending the night at my house either. joe biden, are you watching this? ignore the freaks. it's not about what you did in the past. it's what you do in the future. i promise, mika, i got nothing else to say. >> mike barnicle, i know they've taken stories from high school and considered them extremely serious. is beto's story that he wrote, which has a vivid description of himself enjoying running over two children and killing them, i'm serious, this is what his story was about, it is kind of disturbing to read. >> what? >> yes. it is kind of disturbing to read. >> it is weird. >> he wrote this story in high

school, being some sort ofmika, story. one, beto was an incredible dork in high school -- >> such a dork. >> and, two, he was 16! i mean, come on. our charge in the media and it's going to be a tough one to succeed on it completely and successfully, is to cover this campaign as adults. we didn't exactly shine four years ago when we spent six, seven, eight months covering e-mails, lost e-mails. now the nation is in peril. now it's going to be with each of these candidates, what are you going to do for the country? what are you going to say? how are you going to conduct yourself? how are you going to conduct yourself in office, what's your plan, where are we going, not when you're 17, 16 looking back. >> it's the same thing, john

meacham, with elizabeth warren. i don't care what you signed on your application to get into the texas bar and the same thing with brett cavanaugh, senators thought they had unearthed hitler's diaries when they found brett cavanaugh's calendar with squi and swishy and all of his friends, paco, whoever they were. enough of this high school garbage. people don't care. i find it remarkable that beto is apologizing for self-deprecating humor when there's so much to worry about with donald trump this past weekend and moving forward. >> a really interesting question is going to be we know that the presidency has not changed donald trump. what we don't know is whether trump has changed the presidency for any enduring period of time.

we also don't know if political campaigns have now become this zone of celebrity smackdown. so that beto, which i guess he's like cher, right, we just call him that, which might be unkind to cher come to think of it -- >> yes. >> but will the power, the personality narrative, the reality show production that our politics has become, is that going to endure -- engulf the democratic party and drive that primary as well. i think it's a really interesting question and up to the voters to say i i want to know what he's going to do about the middle class, about power structure and we should not have immigration policy and posture that says to the rest of the world we don't want you.

those issues i think are the important ones, in my one voter's opinion, but we do have the zone now where there are back stories and cliff hangers and president of the united states has said, the "new york times," peter baker reported it that he wants to treat every day of his presidency as an episode of a tv show in which he vanquishes his rivals. will the penalty of the reality show ultimately predominate again. >> it's the same thing that a lot of these freshmen women who are getting a lot of attention in vanity fair spreads, please, you're getting the attention, don't believe it. stay focused. coming up, the president's anti-muslim rhetoric is back in focus after the new zealand mosque attacks. with the white house chief of

staff insisting, well, this is a terrible job, chief of staff, the president is not a white supremacist. he had to insist that on television that conversation is ahead on "morning joe." everyone's got to listen to mom. when it comes to reducing the sugar in your family's diet, coke, dr pepper and pepsi hear you. we're working together to do just that. bringing you more great tasting beverages with less sugar or no sugar at all. smaller portion sizes, clear calorie labels and reminders to think balance. because we know mom wants what's best. more beverage choices, smaller portions, less sugar. balanceus.org to take care of yourself. but nature's bounty has innovative ways to help you maintain balance and help keep you active and well-rested. because hey, tomorrow's coming up fast. nature's bounty. because you're better off healthy.

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here's the latest on the terrorist attack on two new zealand mosques. officials say 50 people are now confirmed dead and several more remain in critical condition following friday's shooting at the al noor and linwood mosques. thousands paid tribute at makeshift at the scene. additional charges are expected. new zealand prime minister said the suspect had a firearms license and legally purchased the five guns used. she says that the government discussed gun regulation at a meeting earlier today adding, quote, there will be changes to

our gun laws. the suspect streamed parts of the shooting live on facebook, which is a whole different story, and apparently also wrote a racist and rambling anti-immigrant, white supremacist manifesto which referenced the shooting but did not have details in it. the prime minister received copies of an e-mail less than 30 minutes before the attacks and there were less than 30 other recipients as well. mick mulvaney was asked about the president's approach to islam over the weekend. >> the president call for a ban against all islams in the united states. this leads to why isn't the president now direct lily using that mega phone? >> take the words in one

category and the action in another, something the president didn't get hardly any credit for is the work he's done in defense of religious minorities including and up to the middle east. some -- i hear donald trump said this during the campaign. look at what we've done since we've been here. i don't think anybody could say the president is anti-muslim. >> the president is tweeting now about someone who was let go for anti-muslim rhetoric. >> talk about charlottesville, whether it's white assusupremac specific attacks on muslims,

those who worship a religion different than his own. donald trump has without a doubt been a white supremacist, acted like a white supremacist and he's stoked hatred towards m musli muslims. >> what's your response to mick mulvaney trying to back about the concerns people have about the president's attitudes and words? >> mika, it's not every day that i feel bad for mick mulvaney but in situations like this, i actually do. how do you defend a president who we can directly quote? president trump's entirely presidential campaign was run on anti-muslim sentiment, on fear of muslims and we just have to connect the dots from there. look at his administration. he has known anti-muslim bigots

such as steve miller, steve bannon, pompeo. i don't think we have to look at mulvaney -- poor mulvaney trying to clean up after his boss. we just have look at donald trump's own rhetoric. he's for vigorous vetting of muslims. it just goes on and on. and donald trump's own record speaks to his sentiments about muslims. >> richard haas. >> my question at this point is what do you think this president could do that could in any way changes conversation or do you think essentially it's too baked into the cake, that essentially people have drawn their conclusions and it's done? or is there anything -- we talked before, joe talked about george w. bush going to the mosque and making certain statements. in the wake of new zealand and all that, is there anything this president could usefully say or do from your perspective? >> that is such an excellent

question and the answer is yes, interest there is so much he can do. and it's never too late to do the right thing. it's such a polar opposite in new zealand compared to what we're used to with donald trump. up see the prime minister of new zealand leading with empathy, compassion, and images are so powerful. but images like covering her head, showing respect to the muslim community in new zaeland. donald trump just comes out and says i am not the white supremacist guys, we are all americans but he can't say that and he won't say that because more than anyone, donald trump knows his base and his base doesn't want to hear it. >> katty kay, he knows the symbolic things he could be doing to show that he cares. he's choosing not to do them.

>> he could be doing symbolic things and he could be saying things in the way in a ever since 9/11 muslims have felt nervous about their positions here in the united states and in a sense donald trump is building on something that was already existing in the country, isn't he? >>ia, he totally is. can i tell you something, catty, as an american muslim, it's really scary to be a muslim in donald trump's america. we know he doesn't have our back and it's a very insecure feeling when you feel like the president thinks that you're a part of the problem and that's what his rhetoric and his action demonstrates. and i think that it would be a really good time to say that we're going to solve this together. statistics show that the majority of americans who have been killed on american soil in the past decade have been largely due to right-wing extremists. so not domestic muslim

terrorists, even though muslims disp disp disproportiona disproportionately get the blame for being the face of terrorism. >> thank you so much for being on the show this morning. still ahead, democrats got enough support from republicans to block president trump's border emergency once, but can they do it again? that's ahead on "morning joe." that's ahead on "morning joe."

john meacham, just in case people have any question about what a strange time we are living through and what an exception president trump is, looking at his plans today, george w. bush is going to be speaking at a naturalization ceremony in dallas, 45 candidates, more than 20 countries and he'll say

generations have left their mark on america, our willingness to strive and to risk, our sense of life as an adventure dignified by personal freedom and personal responsibility and he goes on and talks about how america's character is defined by men and women of good character daring to dream, coming to america. it sounds an awful lot like ronald reagan and what he said as he was deporting the white house in january of 1989. >> it's a signal that the last two, three republican presidents i'd argue, reagan, both bushes, have been about openness and engagement with the world as opposed to building walls. we don't have to lionize them, don't have to be sentimental about it just to realize they set a different tone. they were a party, they were

people who were about reaching out as oppose to tying ourselves up so that bad things resulted. engagement with the world matters. to use "the wall street journal" phrase, free men, free ideas, the flow of free goods. i think george w. bush in this speech today is laying down an important marker, trying to remind us of what our better angels tell us to do. >> thank you very much. coming up, his condition is getting very worse. the president spent enough weekend rage tweeting. justice and security analyst matthew miller tweeted yesterday, "there has to be something coming, right? trump is incredibly unhinged today, even for him, and with no apparent prompting. we'll break down the president's grievances straight ahead on "morning joe." es straight aheadn "morning joe." fact is, every insurance company hopes you drive safely.

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welcome back to "morning joe." we have with us, mike barnicle, the president of the counsel on foreign relations and author of "the world in disarray," richard haas, news anchor katty kay, yamiche alcindor, robert costa, the moderator on pbs. also joining us, evan thomas. his latest book is entitled "first sandra day o'connor, an intimate portrait of the first woman supreme court justice." we'll get to that in a moment. first, former congressman beto o'rourke's presidential campaign

says it has raised a record breaking $6.1 million in the first 24 hours of him announcing his 2020 bid. the campaign said it received online donations from every state and territory in the u.s. and that it did not receive any money from pacs, corporations or special interest groups. the total o'rourke at the top of the fund-raising totals, topping bernie sanders, who raised almost $6 million in the first 24 hours of his campaign. so fund-raising on a certain level, joe, instead of taking it from those especially interests. >>that's big. to out fundraise bernie sanders.

i know in today's democratic party it is truly offensive of telling a self-deprecating joke. >> he as traction. >> he does. bob costa, these numbers answer a lot of questions regarding fund-raising at least. i don't know what we've been seeing since beto o'rourke has been on the campaign trail. might take him a little while to sharpen up his method and approach. there are a lot of questions whether he could raise money not running without ted cruz, without all of the democratic party and the free world on his side. he's running against a lot of democrats and still brings in a haul like this. that's a pretty remarkable number.

>> his cultural resonance with democrats has raised and he also presents a generational difference, compared to someone senator sanders, who is further to the left of a different generation. but this is early in the process. while it's great for this candidate to have this kind of fund-raising prowess early on, he has to prove his case and see if he can make a long-term commitment to these voters. >> a big generational difference, bernie sanders could have gone to school the same time as elvis presley, that's a big generation an differenal di. >> yamiche, what does it mean?

>> i would agree it's very early notice nominating process. a lot of people are wondering why does beto get the "vanity fair" spread, why does he look like maybe he's a media darling. there is a little bit of the media looking at him anding interested. there's also with these fund-raising numbers, it and something that they won't to donate and add to his campaign funds. i think ply p also think it's interesting because as he puts together his policy positions and starts to define himself among the slate of democratic candidates, we'll have to see if his fund-raising stays up. one of the things happened with bernie sanders is his fund-raising started to go down. >> i don't know if our produce

are dan knorr can get the boxes put up, we have a great panel. there a lot of candidates running for president on the democratic side. some of them have a very clear message. i can name especially a few of the women candidates. who can tell me what is beto's clear message. who's got it for me? i want to know what it is. >> i got it. >> mike went first. >> he's young, he's electric -- >> no, no, what is his message? >> that's what he's got right now. >> yamiche. >> i think other candidates who are talking about climate change, his message is a vague one, we want to heal our nation and get past this time and period and it's a message, not a policy position, which a big

difference. >> i've been listening to his speeches over the last few days. it's clear but i'm the best candidate to present a generational choice to beat donald trump. >> why? what's the message? my god. let's stop. >> we'd like to all thank you, mika, for not going "wrong!" >> i have his message. i roll up my sleeves and the cameras move in. what's he going to do for this country? >> it's not enough to say "i'm with her" or i forget what her other one was. >> it's mine. >> this is mine, it's my turn.

>> i'm born to run. >> the thing is he doesn't have a message right now. >> i want one. >> it's all goop. and but i will say this, one thing that people running beto's campaign know and they're all obama's people because in december obama decided this was going to be his candidate and he's thrown everything he has at beto, god help me, i don't understand why. he doesn't have a message, though. i will say this about that much money, the thing i was told at the beginning of my first campaign is, y, you want the thousand dollars, you want the 2,000. but somebody gives you $25, that person give you -- that person

is invested in you. >> joe, we all know that this is basically the second inning of this presidential campaign. it's going to go on for quite some time. >> i would suggest the first but go ahead. >> the $25 contributors, they are not only going to give you the $25 now, they're going to be repeat contributors. those are the ads. >> yes, they are. >> and they're going to give you their vote at the end. the question is going to be for all of these candidates, for beto o'rourke and all of the others, everybody in the field, it's going to be do you understand how trump as changed the presidency and perhaps has altered the nation to such an extent that can we rid ourselves of this infection? what are you going to do about it, candidate a, b, c, d, what are you going to do about it? >> and, evan thomas, things have changed so much. it used to be in the ice age back in 2008, the ice age in

2012, the political ice age, that the person who could get the most donors, you could say three years ahead of time that person is going to win. you could see george w. bush and al gore coming, you could see john carrie and but here this is a new democratic party, these first ovations he got to rise, it's a totally different world, isn't it? >> it's a whole new ball game. just the sheer number involved is new. we got to get used to it. >> can i just make one other point, joe. the candidate on the democrat being side who has talked most about policy is elizabeth

warren. that has not catapulted her into the league. the first or second category is probably a pace here for rhythm, to emphasize personality but drft is donald trump is a good example that you can get a long way toward the office without having position papers. >> we had quite a big debate on this show in 2008 when i would say that barack obama was markets marketed like a bag of potato chips. always the question what really did he stand for? he stood for and maybe that's why barack obama's thrown everything that he has at supporting beto, which leaves open the question.

>> that is a great question. and you have to wonder what's going on there. because they're really good friends, let alone the fact that -- >> not that good of friends obviously. >> one could argue that joe biden has more experience than be in on the democratic side so far in foreign policy, in making policy, in -- >> can we talk about that for a second? >> yeah. i mean, i find that to be -- that's rough. >> mike barnicle, barack obama obviously decided not to support his vice president and decided to throw everything he had at beto o'rourke, sending plouffe and other people there to help him out. but, joe biden, let's talk about joe because i guess joe's going to be jumping in the race maybe over the next week or so. you can have hour specials on

joe biden and people will talk about what a strong candidate he'll he'd most of those campaigns ended badly. i remember mika and i commenting after every debate that joe bide it wasn't even close. it's a britt hume statement about you can make the dog food, market the dog food but in the end the dog has toy the the dog food. >> joe biden doesn't have that

connection. >> no, he certainly doesn't. he dropped out in '88. he was in it for about six seconds in 2008 and didn't do well. but bob costa, if the former vice president gets in this race and i assume that he will eventually, his campaign i would think would basically be, hey, i'm the guy who can really drive the car what is the thinking according to your reporting, your insight, analysis on a potential biden candidate right now? >> it wouldn't just be about the steadion and and bide i don't know supporters are making the argument to supporters privately, to democratic donors, that he's the only candidate who is seasoned enough but could win a state like wisconsin, come back in ohio and win back those states that flipped to president trump in 2016. republicans are anxious about

vice president biden. they like to poke fun at him on twitter,but they would much rather prefer when you talk to them at this stage to run against a congressman o'roarke or a senator sanders who think they think will pull the party to the lest. hogan's saying to his own party, be careful, let's be a traditional republican party, the democrats have a formidable nominee. >> i've heard from a lot of democrats that they want a candidate who can beat trump. you look at each choice and you wonder how nimble, how aggressive they could be to handle what is really a strange challenge that how many republicans did trump beat in

the proimaries, joe? it was like 16. >> he did but at the same time, donald trump only has one pathway to reelection and it's narrowed since 2016. >> but it's not impossible. >> democrats need to find something who can win wisconsin. donald trump almost won in minnesota but they've got to win minnesota, they've got to win wisconsin, they've got to win michigan, pennsylvania and do pretty well in florida. katty kay, you look at a poll out. i was surprised to see just how badly some like elizabeth warren were doing. i do not get that but we'll upside down, and he had 49 state

approval in the state of florida and only 39% disapproval. that doesn't matter for muff now but that's a pretty darn good place to start. >> and the venezuela stuff in florida is making the state lean more republican. biden will say pennsylvania, ohio, wisconsin, michigan, those are all good states that biden can play in. if you're looking for a candidate who can tack -- take on donald trump and not be ruffled by him. he takes jabs and he almost seeps to look like he's having fun doing it. donald trump is a really hard candidate to debate. they've got to be able to go one-on-one against him and biden does have some of that. >> i agree completely. >> i'd said all along sometimes

too harshly marco rubio wasn't ready to one for president in 2016. i'm sure if marco runs again, he'll be a better can't, he'll be better prepared and if he let's gebd, we aren't looking at beto being in -- i do know donald trump would, oh my god, love to debate beto o'rourke as opposed to joe biden. >> we want to turn now to evan's great book, first "sandra day o'connor, an intimate portrait of the first woman's supreme court justice." >> thank you. the supreme court was the tough place to the first woman at.

they didn't well her with open arms but she is tough. she is a tough woman. she knew who to make people work together. they didn't go to lunch back in those days. they didn't trust each other. amazingly they didn't trust each other another to have lunch together. o'connor made them have lunch together. she would say, hey, you're coming to lunch. clarence thomas told me she was the glue that held the court to the. ginsburg is a great activist but the person who got things done was sandra day o'connor. she was the decisive vote in more than 325 cases, she kept affirmative action alive, she kept abortion alive. she had tremendous power, maybe more than any woman has ever had. >> and her relationship with the

chief justice rehnquist, going back all the way to the time they dated may have helped a little bit. explain that relationship. >> amazingly justice rehnquist when he was just out of law school add san dray day to marry him back in 1952. they never told anybody. they didn't tell their families. >> why? >> my wife and i, who researched this book with me, we found love letters in justice o'connor's box of correspondent, 14 love letters to bill rehnquist to justice od o'day. harry blackman leaned over to rehnquist and say, "now no fooling around." >> we're not talking a hundred

years ago. the collegiality or lack thereof it they didn't go to lunch together? >> they can't by memo. they're not hanging around talking to each other. even their top secret conference when they're all together, they just give their vote and their reasoning. there's no debate. they debate by memo. they're stuck there together. they're there for life. some of them get along really well. sandra day had great relationships with powell and later with drier. they're stuck with each other but that doesn't mean they have to like each other. >> what's your bottom lien in ter -- line in term of her legacy? >> she kept abortion alive. the key to o'connor was

compromise, unlike washington today. she was someone who knew how to make a deal. >> all right, the new book, "first, sandra tay day o'connor" >> and still ahead on "morning joe," many of the president's tweets can be ignored, but his repeated attacks on the late senator john mccain are among those that cannot slide. the question, with is the republican party in all of this? where are you guys? "morning joe" will be right back. us as people.

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i've long thought his personal attacks on senator mccain is one of his most contemptible things. i frankly think the president's continued attacks on now late senator john mccain is something that's regrettable and something for which he should apologize. >> delaware senator chris coons calling on president trump to apologize, following a weekend of disparaging the late john mccain. joining us tom nichols and senior fellow at the ethics and public policy center, pete wayner. joe, i find these tweets -- i mean, i know we're desensitized to everything this president does, to his daily lies and to tweets that are just -- i mean,

these are gruesome, in my opinion. if someone at the naval war college did this, we're talking about this cheating scandal, if anybody did this, they would be kicked out and yet this president just with wild abandon says the nastiest things about an american hero, and i don't understand the people around him and the republicans supporting him. >> let's take it a step further. they're lies, what he's saying in his tweets about john mccain, they're lies of course. but he did this during the campaign. my concern is not so much donald trump because he revealed his character a long time ago, i'm concerned that when people attack john mccain, a great war hero and a man who gave his entire life to the united states of america, that people that were in that "star wars" bar

scene at cpac raised to their feet and gave a standing ovation to an american war hero. what does this say about people who go to cpac and they're trump supporters. what does it say about them? >> to me it says people who call themselves conservatives or republicans have completely lost their moral bearings. at this point it's about tribalism and making other people angry. they judge their success politically about how angry other people are no matter what it takes to get there, which is really not a political movement so much as it a kind of childish reflection that doesn't really have any of ideology or political content to it. it's mostly an oppositional defines disord

defines -- defiance disorder. honor, decency, pride, that's all gone now. >> all gone now. pete, you're going to be releasing a book soon called "the death of politics." i would think constant attacks against a dead war hero would fit very neatly inside your thesis. >> it sure does. politics is an important profession, can be a noble profession and we have to take care of it and donald trump is ruining it. it's a compulsion of his, his manifestation of many others. i also think in a deeper sense, it's probably a loss or lack of courage, something that john

mccain had in spades, but his former party does not. i think a lot of these people in you talked to them privately and individually, they would be repelled by what is going on but they're not able to gather the courage to speak publicly but they instead remain silent. mika said desensation, i understand that, we can't react to outrage with everything that trump does. on the other hand, it's important that we not complete will and that constant all-out assault on those things, as well as the truth, is deeply damaging to the country. last thing i'll say is this is a window -- these tweets shunting ignored because i think they are an insight into a disordered

personality. these things speak to something deeply worrisome about this man. it's not just the nas sircissis it's the callousness, it's the lack of decency, the shame. >> to that point kellyanne conway's husband is tweeting the president's condition is getting worse. tom nichol, you brought up oppositional defines behavior. richard haas, if it's not that, what would be the goal of the tweets that the president put out this weekend about john mccain? what's the political goal? what's the goal of that type of behavior if it's not what i just read?

>> look, the john mccain tweets have been relentless. they've been over the last couple of years and clearly the president when he compares himself to john mccain, there's all sort of issues. i think the larger question for the weekend is if you tack all four dozen tweets, when what is going on, mike and i were talking about it, whether there's something here with -- whether there's a mueller report or the president got a briefing about it, we're into speculation land. but what's coming down the pike. this is such a blizzard, both the quantity and quality so to speak of these tweets. you have to think that the president was confronted with some of what might be coming at him and this again is not just a distraction but i think it's a way of preparing the political realm, this idea about desensitizing. sooner or later it's a question

of when a critical report is going to come out and none of us know what's in if not dismiss it, tos did count it. so rather it seems to me it's actually a concerted political and it's almost to prepare the battlefield so and there's a desensation of what's going to come here. >> it's like you're scorching the whole concept of what is true, scorching our core values, trying to set the scene in case one would wonder, tom neck ols, that perhaps he's concerned bad news is coming his way. i cannot fathom what would cause behavior like this. and again, i have to say it's

confusing to all of us why republican wouldn't step up just as a democrat or any other human being and say this is unacceptable, let alone people inside the white house, they may have their own issues, but in general if someone at a great institution in this country did this, they would probably be suspended or kicked out so what is going on? >> the image that came to my mind is exactly the same that richard haas just used. this is a continuing artillery shelling of the battlefield in order to demoralize and desensitize the opposing side, mika, you asked what the kel was. i think it's to make people completely i right from wrong

torque leave people so disoriented and so shell robbed that no and they'll say, well, pete's absolutely right. politics, we need to have people in public life to take their jobs seriously and treat their job with honor. the president has said there's no principle involved, it's purely honor in every direction as long as it serves one man. >> thank you. still ahead, thousands paid tribute over the weekend to the victims who lost their lives in last week's new zealand

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joining us a member of the house energy and commerce committee, a democratic senior whip, congresswoman debbie dingell of, michigan. your hometown of dearborn has the largest mosque in north america, large muslim population. what are you hearing from your consistents constituents in light of tnew zealand? >> people are scared. this commune has been targeted for a long time. i think it's time to stand up. i think some of the younger people are tired of feeling targeted, but we need to take what happened in new zealand and not forget that it happened in a temple in october here in this country. the rabbis were with us friday night, saturday night and sunday

and people want to stand up to this hate. they want people to know who they are. they want to be able to go to a mosque or temple or catholic church and not be afraid. >> yamiche. >> organizations have said over and over again that hate crime is on the rise. what do you think the federal government and more precisely the trump administration can do to tackle that issue? >> what do i think? i think the trump respiration, every member of congress, every house member and senator and every person needs to start to stand up to this hatefulness. i think social media, which was initially a tool to unite us has become a tool of absolutely vitriolic rhetoric, which is feeding into this hate and fear is okay. yes, i think that the white house and leaders in the congress have a responsibility to stand up and say enough's enough, but i think every human being has got to start to take

responsibility for standing up to this because that's what's happening, our hearts are hard i don't knowing -- hardening. our young people are growing up thinking this is okay. >> so debbie, your late husband, john dingell, over the course of a long and historic career in congress stood for equity, for fairness, for helping those who need help the most. and now you just addressed partially the language of our time coming from the white house. but as you move around the district now, the same district that your husband represented, what do you hear from people? has the language of the president, this language of intolerance, of division, do they talk about it? has it sunk in? what's their reaction to it. >> i'm going to answer this honestly. i told you two years ago donald trump could become president

trump and nobody believed me. there are parts of the district that i believe we have to find a way to talk to each other. john always used to say we have two ears and one mouth for a reason. there are people who are scared and worried about their jobs. let's be honest. you have union workers who don't think that anybody cares about them and they still think he cares about them. democrats did a terrible job of talking about trade, but you also see the same people disturbed. they work in the factories with their muslim brothers and sisters, they know them, they don't like this -- what they're seeing. so i think there's almost schizophrenia some days about -- people just want somebody to care about them. they want to have a safe and secure job that pays they enough to live in a decent neighborhood. that's what i'm hearing. >> congresswoman, it's katty kay here. a couple of weeks ago the house passed a resolution condemning

hate. some of your republican colleagues voted against that. i'm wondering whether within the democrat beiic party all the discussion around that meant it resolved the parties or did it highlight further splits in the heart. and unfortunately a newsis sal about we are all united against hate. just like with the republican party, we have a lot of different positions, but up next two, veterans groups from different sides of the i'll are joining forces to end endless

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what started out as a potentially heated political panel on c-span last year has morphed into a budding working relationship between two veterans rights groups historically on two opposite ends of the political spectrum. joining us director of concerned veterans for america dan caldwell and charm at vote fest, john sults. john, i'll start with you. first set the stage for our viewers. what set you both apart and what issue brought you both together? >> you have all these veteran groups of the united states that claim they're nonpartisan. dan's and my organizations are very political. we spend millions in political campaigns across the country. last cycle probably traded artillery of $5 million in the senate wisconsin race. very much against and fought

each other on privatization, dan calls a choice, we call it privatization, really went to battle on those issues, we're very progressive, they're conservative. but we found unity on this issue of forever wars, working to the on the yemen campaign, things like allowing felons to vote and got to talking about working together to end a repeal of a very big target for a lot of organizations out there. >> how does this work, dan? >> well, you know, again we are two organizations, as john pointed out, who have traded a lot of fire over the years on the policy front and political front. as a result of that, we've built up a lot of credibility with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. over the next couple of years we're going to leverage those relationships to build a shared

vision and understand why we are in this place and -- >> we had endless american troop deployments world war ii in europe and korea. seems to me there's nothing wrong with open ended troop deployments. what your against? if the united states stay in afghanistan or stay in syria open endedly, small numbers and achieves a goal that can be seen as a forever war. on the other hand, we've been in korea for 70 years. we've been in germany for 70 years. what is it you're against here? >> we're against the abuse of the constitution of the u.n. 90% of the u.p.s. has not voted on the 2001 amendment. you're going see a kid killed in afghanistan that was born after the towers came down in new york city. we're for the constitution of the united states. not only did president obama but president trump also has used that 2001 law to use

organizations in afghanistan that did not exist. our military is spread out all over the world and time for congress to do their job and have a conversation. if congress wants to to vote reauthorize certain operations throughout the world we can have that conversation. >> so is your concern procedural, if congress votes and say we ought to have an open ended commitment in afghanistan of 5,000 troops are you against that on policy grounds once congress makes such a vote? >> yes. absolutely. but the first phase of this is to have the conversation. the second phase is to have the debate which, obviously -- look, president obama put 120,000 troops in afghanistan. there was no payoff. i'm not sure what 5,000 more will do. in the end people have to figure out where you sit is where you stand. >> john just referenced the amendment. hasn't been voted on in nearly 20 years now.

let me ask you, the both of you, actually but you first. in looking at this issue and opening up our military engagements around the world you would have to get into the fact that we have special forces, special operation troops in latin america, south america, africa, all over the world. are you prepared to put everything on the table in terms of what we're trying to achieve here? >> well, most of those forces are actually not operating under the 2001 amendment. some are operating one title x or working with the cia, operating under title 50. if you have this debate in public doesn't mean you have to expose confidential or secret operations and endanger those operations over time. what we're focused on are these large scale deployments in place like afghanistan and syria which going back to the earlier point richard made about deployments in germany and south korea which should be examined, these are fundamentally different and these are combat deployments.

in many cases especially in afghanistan there's not a clear end state. not a clear goal. we're muddling along. it's fundamentally wrong to ask american troops, american marines, sailors, soldiers to put their lives on the line without a clear end state. >> so dan brought up syria. i'm curious what your thoughts are when it comes to syria. obviously, the goal in taking 2,500 to 4,000 troops over there was to stop the spread of russia's influence, iran's influence, assad's influence through parts of that region. does your organization oppose troops in syria with those stated goals? >> you don't have to go to a fancy university in the u.n. ni states. all you have to do is go to syria. i was an embedded adviser on the

border in 2011. no surprise syrian insurgents are coming over and killing the iraqi army. two wars are being waged simultaneously. war against the west and jihadism we see every day. then the war against each other. the saudi uae backed states fighting the iranian backed states. these folks are fighting together. we have opposed u.s. intervention in syria and could support the president if he would do it in a fundamentally correct way that don't abandon the kurds to get out. this is not a congressionally mandated operation in syria. so no, we don't support it. >> let me just say really quickly, there's many people in the pentagon and some people that fought there that said america's withdrawal from iraq in 2011 actually created conditions and a power vacuum that actually led to the

suffering in syria. >> well, joe, i just would like to go back and address a point you made about iranian and russian influence in syria. the russians and iranian have been the dominant powers in iran's case since 1979. the russians since 1950. wouldn't alter the balance of power in the region if the russians and iranians remained the dominant power in syria. in regards to, you know, the withdrawal from iraq in 2011, leading the situation in syria you need to go back to the point john. made. youly we wouldn't have these problems if we didn't make that original intervention. i one we have to take the world as it is right now but the reality is syria now is much different than iraq in 2011. again you have the russians there, the iranians there, a lot of regional powers that have an interest in ensuring what happened in iraq in 2011 doesn't happen in syria. ate fundamentally different situation. i don't think it's an accurate

comparison. >> thank you both for being on the show this morning. this is something that richard haass and the entire table could have a discussion about for an hour, actually. and david ignatius who actually has been over reporting in syria. >> we should do it. >> so many people fear america completely abandoning syria could lead to really some of the same crisis that we saw after we left iraq. still ahead -- >> but there's no doubt no easy chois and i agree with both gentlemen constitutionally congress needs to start authorizing. if theft to be constitutionally consistent they need to start constitutionally authorizing these military wars. still ahead, among the president's twitter targets over the weekend, a rerun of snl, so-called fake news media.

and certain thoughts news anchors that didn't completely go his way. we'll discuss this unprecedented attack on the free press. >> now attacking fox. >> unprecedented behavior. his condition is getting worse. be sure to catch "hardball" tonight at 7:00 p.m. eastern time right here on msnbc. chris matthews will have an exclusive interview with senator and 2020 cane cory booker. "morning joe" will be right back. t back ♪ ♪ ahhh, ha. ♪ ♪ oh yeah, baby. ♪ ♪ like a fool i went and stayed too long. ♪ ♪ now i'm wondering if your loves still strong. ♪ ♪ ooo baby, here i am, signed, sealed, delivered, i'm yours ♪

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the problem in this country is called muslim. we know our current president is one. >> right. >> you know he's not even american. but anyway, we have training camps growing where they want to kill us. that's my question. >> we'll be looking at a lot of different things. lot of people are saying that. a lot of people are saying bad things are happening out there. we'll be looking at that and plenty of other things. >> i can't trust obama. i've read about him. he's not, he's an arab. he's not -- >> nope. >> nope >> no, ma'am. no, ma'am. he's a decent family man citizen

that i just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues and that's what this campaign is all about. he's not. thank you. >> wow. >> that was donald trump and john mccain. contrast in leadership and character. the president, you know, it's so interesting, mika. you had with the president of the united states, the current president of the united states actually, actually playing into the hatred. >> yeah. >> playing into the ignorance. >refusing to stand up to it. >> in saying muslims are the problem and saying barack obama is a muslim. donald trump knows that a lie. he told us privately it's a lie. then there's john mccain who shows character. that's really -- mika, boy what a revelation of two characters in two short clips and again

maybe that's why the president repeatedly attacked john mccain's memory over the weekend. 46 years after that american hero was released from a north vietnamese prison camp. you know he hates him, mika and he hates him because john mccain proved his character every day. >> yep. >> when he was in that camp. just like donald trump, unfortunately, proves his character every day and he certainly did this weekend with every vile tweet that he pushes out. >> it says everything you need know. those two clips say it all. we'll be talking about that, all those tweets, what he's trying to deflect from, possibly. good morning and welcome to "morning joe". it is monday, march 18th. it's great to be back with us. we have veteran columnist and msnbc contributor mike barnicle. author of the book "a world in

disarray" richard haass. marvin kayme. and historian and author of "the soul of america" and rogers professor of the presidency at vanderbilt university john meacham. great group to start out with this morning. >> yes, he is. my son was driving through, by the way, belmeade yesterday. >> did you see meacham. >> said they were extraordinary, extraordinary homes in belmeade. a lot of paisley smoking jackets and people rocking in their chairs with pipes. very impressed. >> yes. >> so, i would tell him to drop by, not drop by but he couldn't get past all the servants, i'm sure. but mike barnicle, jonathan o'marry ao

o'mere were in ft. myers this weekend. you missed a great game. the red sox came back. they won. as i left we thought about the great new talent we saw. we said to each other this is a team we surely can slip ahead of the orioles and maybe finish in fourth this year. we're excited about the red sox. >> i'm very optimistic they will outbeat the orioles for a place in the american league east. nothing to worry about there. i'm glad you had a good time. ft. myers is always fun. jetblue park is always fun. i have to interject this based on the opening of the show. i think one of the classic tweets of this weekend was from bill krystol who urged the republican party, members of the republican party to look at all of the president's tweets yesterday. don't avert your eyes he said. don't avert your eyes. look at the tweets. and then ask yourself is this the man you want representing

the republican party? joe, as you pointed out it was horrendous. horrendous. >> yeah. you know, i have always made it, mika, always made it my goal in politics to never take any attacks personally and i rarely do. i forget them. >> you've gotten really good at that. >> as quickly as possible. but there is an exception in my political career where i didn't immediately turn the other cheek and say, okay, no problem, let's move forward. that was when a certain powerful person attacked a friend of mine who had recently died. and attacked that person in such a vile way, besmirching his memory for his own political gain that i did hold that against this person and saw this as a failure of character. no, i did not forgive him for

ten, 20 years. i sit here reading every one of these tweets and i just -- i won what type of friend lindsey graham is and wonder what people around lindsey graham think about a guy who would sit and watch donald trump, a man that lindsey graham now worships, and now kowtows to, bows to every single day it seems that somebody that was like a father to lindsey graham is attacked as harshly and in small, just small miserable ways and yet lindsey graham does not strike back at the president to defend his old friend. >> it's incredible. >> you talked about character being something that you do when nobody is looking. well, character is also something that you do when everybody is looking.

and by every standard of character, or at least every standard of friendship, lindsey graham has failed this past weekend and he has failed every weekend since john mccain died. >> we'll talk about the president's tweets, some 50 of them between saturday morning and sunday night. i think we ought to start out with kellyanne conway's husband's tweet. >> george conway. >> to get an overarching context. what did he say in thinks tweet? it helps you go through these. >> very simple. >> it's disturbing. >> he said the president is getting worse. again, if you're a constitutional lawyer who happens to be married to somebody who is one of the president's closest aides, you can -- you wouldn't say that if you hadn't heard that and hadn't seen it. the president is getting worse. you know, people don't like you talking about it on the air so we'll talk about it on the air.

we heard this from campaign people from the beginning, which was that -- >> something is up with them. >> he was not right and they were concerned. during the campaign which, yes, we mentioned during the campaign there's something terribly wrong with this president. george conway not only a great constitutional scholar but also the spouse of one of the president's closest aides, mika, saying the president is getting worse. >> so president trump's 50 tweets. they are between saturday and sunday night. 30 new tweets and 20 retweets of himself. and others from recent days. 14 tweets mentioned attacks on the special counsel robert mueller. or the russia investigation. while five were clips of fox news and fox business segments that he liked. if anyone is wondering whether or not he's running the network, two more criticized fox weekend anchors and shep smith because he didn't like what they were saying.

five tweets defending, get this, fox host judge jeanine pirro whose show did not air this weekend. many think she was suspended after the network condemned her attack on muslim women covering their heads, saying it was an - ant antanti anti-thetical to the united states. >> john meacham, good for fox news not having jeanine pirro on after a racist attack. really, unamerican attack suggesting somebody -- i mean it's actually somebody who calls herself a judge actually attacking a first amendment protection, which this country was really founded on. this is why the pilgrims came to america. it is the foundation of this

great republic and she was, of course, attacking freedom of religion. but donald trump has all these tweets for, to protect jeanine pirro and far more tweets than he put out regarding the slaughter in new zealand. >> well, really liberty is called the first freedom because it was, in fact, the driving impetus to get us across, many people across the atlantic. george washington in that letter famous letter to the hebrew congregation in 1790 said the point of the government of the united states is to give bigotry no sanction, to persecution to assistance. he quoted mick jai saying people should be able to come here and none shall make him afraid. i was struck by the women of cover question because one of the great moments of george w.

bush's ten days or so after 9/11, we remember the cathedral, we remember ground zero, but people should go take a look at his remarks at the mosque in washington. because he was disturbed by reports that women of cover were being harassed. i think particularly in michigan. he goes and gives a really remarkable from the heart statement about just this. and if you want to go to what mike said about bill krystol you, therefore, have a president in the last 48 hours or so has attacked the last president of this party in de facto way, a nominee of this party in senator mccain, on the anniversary of his being released from captivity. and, you know, i know that -- i know you get this far more than i do. people say why do you talk about these things? just ignore him. ultimately you can't ignore him, right? because then it totally takes, takes hold. and i think that if anything, if

one of my children sent 50 tweets i would take the phone away. and i think that's the way most people would view this. i think we have to call it for what it is, which is he is unstable. he's a bad actor in the life of the republic. and that's not reflexively partisan. it's not ideological. at this point reason and data and experience would lead to you that conclusion. >> well, he also is a champion of white supremacists and if you don't believe me, katty kay ask white supremacists whether it's david duke who praised him for talking about his version of a nationalism. then, of course, you actually have the killer in new zealand saying that donald trump is a champion of white nationalism

and an inspiration. >> yeah. we've seen that from the 2016 campaign right up until today when there's been a spike worldwide in attacks and hate incidents inspired by white nationalism, inspired by anti-semitism and in several instances law enforcement agencies have said they've gone back through the social media posts of these people and they found specific references to donald trump and donald trump has given them some sense of sucker. mick mulvaney over the course of the weekend said how many times do we have to say the president is not a white nationalist and the president after charlottesville having given one speech, then gave another limit impromptu speech in which he said white nationalism should be decried, the kkk should be decried. it's very ease i for this president as leader of the free world to come out and say more on that. what white nationists are saying they are hearing about invasion,

hearing what he says about immigration and muslims and they are taking their comfort from that. >> still ahead on "morning joe" we discussed at the top of the show the late senator john mccain among the president's weekend twitter targets. we'll discuss that ahead. but first bill karins with a check on forecast. >> the sun was out, a beautiful weekend in so many spots. flooding continued in areas of nebraska and along areas such as missouri river, mississippi river, rock river, illinois river and pictures out of region so devastating. three fatalities in the region and many farm fields and small communities are still swamped and people still can't get back in their homes. this map shows where the flood warnings are. it goes up to the mississippi river. this goes into illinois. take the missouri river all the way back up here and this is the worst spot by far. number rose levees broke. in red flash flood warnings. look how the snow melted.

it melted and retreated. one to three inches of rain that led to this huge disaster. one piece of small good news in the flood zone not a lot of rain in the forecast. quiet weather week for much of the country. on tuesday maybe light rain showers but no significant problems. let's get into this forecast. today, it's chilly out there. northern half of the country, a chilly middle of march. warmer towards the end of the month. south florida is the worst weather over the next two or three days. miami off and on rain. new storm comes in wednesday to the west. more active towards the end of the week. fine in the east. on friday more rain in the middle of the country and new storm move into areas of west. the cleanup will be one of those deals that will take a long time because those rivers are slow to discharge their water. coming up 2020 presidential candidate andrew yang will discuss his campaign.

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and two-hour appointment windows. click, call or visit a store today. president trump also spent the weekend lashing out at republican senator john mccain who passed away last august after battling an aggressive brain tumor. on saturday the president tweeted a quote from former independent counsel ken starr saying spreading the fake and totally discredited dossier is unfortunately a very dark stain against john mccain. referring to a dossier that allegedly included information linking trump to the russian government. trump added mccain had far worse stains than this, including thumbs down on repeal and replace after years of campaigning to repeal and replace. the late senator's daughter megan mccain tweeted in response no one will ever love you the way they loved my father.

i wish i had been given more saturdays with him. maybe spend yours with your family instead of on twitter obsessing over mine. but the president didn't stop there. yesterday he tweeted so it was indeed just proven in. court papers last in his class annapolis john mccain had sent the fake dossier to fbi and media hoping to have it printed before election. anyhow, going back to george conway's tweet, his condition is getting worse. it's something we've talked about in the past two years, and now we're getting to a point, joe, where reason will tell you something is wrong. >> yeah. >> it may have been too early to be emotionally jumping to those conclusions, i regret that. but reason will tell you something is very, very wrong. and at the very least this president, knowing his patterns is desperately trying to deflect from some sort of reality that

bothers him but he does not have the discipline, he doesn't have the ability to hold himself back when he spends an entire weekend where the world should be mourning over the ramifications of hatred, tweeting ridiculous things. >> you know, again, people -- >> he's not well. >> people who know him say this privately. george conway said it publicly. this is not -- this is not normal behavior. >> wouldn't accept it from our children. >> it's abhorrent behavior. again, so incredible the people that still blindly stand by donald trump and say what's wrong with donald trump and oh, he's great, know the media is after donald trump. you just look at their children you wonder. this is an example that their children are being given from their parents and you wonder how those kids are going to grow up. how will a generation grow up.

we already talked about the impact that bill clinton had in '98 and '99 on middle schools and high schools across america. you and i saw that personally. and very concerned about the impact that parents who sit by and continue to raise up a man who lies every day, who besmirches people's character every day. who does basically -- he basically does the opposite of every single thing jesus talked about in the beautitudes. look them up. they are holding that man up and sending their kids out in trump uniforms for halloween out of admiration. it's a thousand questions will be asked about that in years to come. but, mike, let's stay a little more narrowly focused on john mccain. again, we don't have to talk

about john mccain's extraordinary legacy. it speaks for itself. but there is no doubt that donald trump is tortured so much so that a man who has been dead in six grades has his grades in college attacked by a man who did so horribly in college and was such a pathetic student that he had to send his lawyer out to threaten the schools not to release what we can only assume are the worse grades that wharton has ever given out. >> joe, donald trump's life was gifted to him by his father. john mccain's life was almost taken from him by the north vietnamese for over five years in a small cell no larger than a closet. i stood in that cell. donald trump knows that he will never ever be able to measure up to john mccain. you would have to figure that's

part of the reason for the constant and continuing vendetta he has against john mccain. john mccain had the one most valuable thing a human being can have that donald trump will never have. it's called character. >> still ahead, how bad is it when the white house chief of staff has to insist on national television that the president is not a white supremacist? we'll discuss that ahead on "morning joe". [zara larsson - "wow"] ♪ ♪ make you're jaw drop drop say oh my drop drop drop ♪ ♪ make u say oh my god my drop drop ♪ ♪ make you're jaw drop make u say oh my god ♪

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here's the latest on the terrorist attack on two new zealand mosques. officials say that 50 people are now confirmed dead. several more remain in critical condition following friday's shooting at the masjid al noor and linwood mosques in christchurch. sits deadliest shooting in the country's modern history. thousands of people paid tribute to the victims at makeshift memorials around new zealand leaving candles, flowers and notes of unity. authorities say the suspect a 28-year-old australian national whom we're not naming likely acted alone has been charged with murder.

additional charges are expected. new zealand prime minister jacinda ardern said the suspect had a firearms license and legally purchased the five guns used. she says that the government discussed gun regulation at a meeting earlier today adding quote there will be changes to our gun laws. the suspect streamed parts of the shooting live on facebook which is a whole different story and apparently also wrote a racist and rambling anti-immigrant white supremacist manifesto which was posted online prior to the shooting but apparently did not appear to include specific details about it. the prime minister has confirmed her office also received a copy via e-mail less than ten minutes before the attacks and that there were more than 30 other recipients as well. acting white house chief of staff mick mulvaney was asked about the president's approach to islam over the weekend. >> as a candidate the president called for a ban on all muslims

entering the united states. he said islam hates us. this kind of language in the past leads to these questions of why isn't the president now directly using that mega phone to condemn it? >> take the words and put them in one category and take the actions and put them in another. something the president doesn't get any credit to or attention to in work he's done in defense of religious minorities around the world up to and including muslims in the middle east. some of the religious minorities that are worst oppressed in the middle east is something this administration is going to great lengths to protect. i hear what folks say. donald trump said this during the campaign. look what we've done while we've been here. nobody can say the president is anti-muslim. >> the president is tweeting about a tv host who was suspended over anti-muslim rhetoric. i think it's fair to ask you about that. >> a muslim ban. >> muslim ban. muslim registry. you can talk about

charlottesville. you can go down the list of things. and whether it's white supremacy or whether it's specific attacks on muslims and those who worship a religion different than his own, donald trump has without a doubt, he's been a white supremacist. he's acted like a white supremacist in the white house and he stoked hatred towards muslim. >> it's pretty basic. joining us now a writer and commentator. what's your response to mick mulvaney trying to push back against the concerns that people have about the president's attitudes and words? >> you know, mika, it's not every day i feel bad for mick mulvaney, but in situations like this i actually do. i mean how do you defend a president who we can directly quote. i mean donald trump's entire presidential campaign was run on

anti-muslim sentiment. on fear of muslims. and we just have to follow the, connect the dots from there. look at i had administration. he has known anti-muslim bigots such as steve bannon and the list goes on and on, pompeo. so i don't think we have to look at mulvaney, poor mulvaney trying to clean up after his boss. we have to look at donald trump's own rhetoric, a complete shutdown on muslims entering america. he's for vigorous vetting of muslims. just goes on and on. donald trump's own record speaks to the sentiments about muslims. >> richard haass. >> my question at this point is what do you think this president could do that in any way change the conversation or do you think essentially it's too baked into the cake? >> it's such a polar opposite leadership that we've been seeing in new zealand in

comparison to what we're used to with donald trump. you see the prime minister of new zealand leading with elm pa -- empathy, compassion, embracing the muslim community. images are so powerful. images such as covering her head, showing so much respect to the muslim community in new zealand. making them very much feel like they are a part. if donald trump just comes out and says, you know what, i am not the white supremacist guy. i support muslims. we're all-american. but he can say and won't say that because more than anyone donald trump knows his base. >> coming up on "morning joe" the president gives fox news a pep talk while lashing out at the fake news media. we'll talk about the president's attack on the free press and our next guest is at the center of the fight. "morning joe" is back in a moment. a moment choosing my car insurance was the easiest decision ever.

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in a renewed effort by the president to discredit his critics trump lashed out on twitter yesterday morning following a rerun of "saturday night live". suggesting federal regulators may need to look into the comedy show. he questioned and criticized fox news which did not air host jeanine pirro's weekly program after she questioned the patriotism of ilhan omar. joining us now deputy general counsel at the "new york times," the author of the new book entitled "truth in our times."

bike-- mike barnicle and katty kay are still with us. what is this a fight between now because it seems in many ways the collective "we" have let so much slide with this president. >> i think that's right. when i think about donald trump and the president and the press, really it's looking at a cocktail of bad ideas and bad policies and we can talk about his constant ranting about how there should be easier laws in libel so that rich people can sue. can talk about turning the press conferences into reality tv and who gets voted off the island. the thing i would focus on is the constant attack on the press' fake news, stain on society. and there was a poll last year, 26% of the people said that the president should be allowed to shut down news organizations if

they misbehave. when you see a number like that you know we've run off course. fake news is one of those things that is evil genius in the way it plays as a political slogan. it looks like the search for the truth. it's the opposite. it's an opportunity for people not to think. >> so what is the correct way to fight this war on the media? because i guess i personally think it's being lost that this president has been able to lie on a daily basis. he's taken what the truth is, something that we value in this country as a fundamental. and torn it to shreds right before our eyes. >> mika, i think it depends on where you are in the system. i think the most important thing journalists can do is just keep reporting, keep telling the truth, keep going. don't get distracted. i think for the rest of us we

need to go out there and be encouraging people to stand up for a free press. not to agree with it. not to like everything that the "new york times" or fox or "the washington post" happens to do, but to stand up for it. i grew up in a small town in illinois. very conservative place. when i was growing up there was one thing we knew about government. and that was the governor goes to jail. the secretary of state died with shoe boxes full of money. the lesson was you don't trust government. that was part of the conservative charter and they need to fine it again. he took cash, not credit cards. eliminate the middle man. >> first of all your book, david, "truth in our times" no legally scholarly manuscript. highly readable. you just mentioned the word

"trust." i imagine in my mine it's linked with the word "truth" in terms of newspapers, the press. i'll ask you how much, how worried are you that the impact of this president's constant assault on the media has taken hold? >> i am worried about it. it's one of the reasons i wrote the book. in fact you're pointing out i'm not an intellectual. the book is intended for a general audience. i don't think my lawyer friend will love it but i hope people read it and understand how the first amendment plays on the ground. i was speaking at a conference of college students and college professors the other day and somebody stood up and said well i'm concerned about an anonymous source. how do i know it's not the janitor. i'm here to tell you it's never the janitor. but it's concerning to me that journalists think that may be something people do. it's not something reporters do. >> how do you handle -- you must get constant questions when you

do these appearances on the book tour about the quotes from anonymous sources, people who refuse to be quoted because it would interfere with their job or whatever. a lot of people look at that, more and more people say oh, sure they are talking to each other. >> from a legal standpoint, and from a journalism standard standpoint we should be as transparent as possible. sometimes that's not possible. the big problem is not that americans are going to have too much information. it's that they are going to have only the information the government wants the home have. that was the lesson of the pentagon papers. it's the lesson today. i write in the book about anonymous, the op-ed writer, inside government talked about what was going on. to me that showed how much this concern about leaks is a charade, to have the president say doj should investigate, find out who it was who was saying look i disagree with the president, i work in government. that's not an event that should be the subject of criminal prosecution. that's an event that should get

our attention and make us take a close look at how government is being operated today. >> so, dan, let's zoom out 20,000 feet. we're not just seeing this here in the united states but decline in trust in media is happening in other democracies as well. to what degree is donald trump and the thing he says about fake news and to what degree is the advent of social media where people can go into their own silos and i call them view sites. look at places where they have their own opinions reinforced irrespective of where the facts are. >> i don't think it's something that can be quantified. both of those things are important. the thing i point out in the book and the thing that i would like to focus on, though, is the way the president's rhetoric is being picked up by the worst governments in the worst places around the world. we're under investigation in egypt, we're banned from going into pakistan, the chinese block our website. it used to be the state department would speak out

loudly for democracy, for free press, that that was part of spreading the gospel of freedom. i fear now that bad governments around the world think that by talking about fake news, oppressing their own press, making it hard for the international press, they think that's the way to curry favor with washington. that is not a good development for the american people. >> so, let me ask you about historical precedence. obviously you could name a series of regimes throughout the 20th century that used -- you're smiling. i see you'll take the bait. >> i'm waiting. >> telling a big lie, one after another. you could actually read things that were written in 1939 and 1940 by a certain regime that would say the leaders of that regime lied so much that the goal was and eventually the result was people could not tell

a truth from a lie and go. >> i'm not going to take the bait. barnicle already sucked me into a discussion with the yankees. i'm not going there. let me say this. let's go back. richard knicks on hated the press. the press and richard knicks on were at war. but richard knicks on and the prebo press both under stood there were norms. in the public they talked about them. that's a model that works when you have a contentious system. i wish everybody got along better but that's not going to happen. we need to go back to those norms. >> david, what with mussolini. >> i'm a one issue talker and that's about what's happening today. >> david, is this a tactic that the soviet union used, that george orwell described in

"1984" that tyrants and autocrats across the world use today? >> i will admit, joe, i was writing a brief over the weekend and used the word orwellian and it did involve the president's tweeting. >> okay. >> you know what? i'll take that. >> that's as far as i'm going. >> i'll take that. thank you so much. the book is "truth in our times." such an important read and it's out now. >> up next while beto o'rourke is being criticized for lack of policy specifics the opposite is true for our next guest, democratic presidential candidate andrew yang has offered positions on more than six dozen issues. we'll ask him about the most pressing next on "morning joe". ] ♪

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i'm getting excited for joe biden. officially. like i'm hoping he jumps in and deep. that was former vice president joe biden who almost entered the presidential race over the weekend. joining us now, someone who actually did. presidential contender, andrew yang. yang's campaign has just announced that he has met the threshold to enter the first democratic debate by receiving 65,000 individual donations with at least 200 donors from 20 states each. okay. >> andrew, thank you. >> i want to hear more. >> yeah, thank you so much for being with us. you have talked about the issues that are important to you. what's at the top of that list? >> well, you have to look at what got donald trump elected in the first place in 2016. and if you look at the numbers there's a direct correlation between the adoption of industrial robots in an area and the movement towards trump. to me, the main driving force was that we automated away 4 million manufacturing jobs in michigan, ohio, pennsylvania, wisconsin, missouri and iowa all

the swing states he needed to win and did win. now unfortunately my friends in silicon valley know that we'll do the same thing to millions of retail workers, call center workers, fast food workers and eventually truck drivers. so i'm running for president to wake up america to the fact it's not immigrants causing the problems but pushing the americans to struggle to get by. >> are you suggesting you're going to reverse the trend of history and get those jobs back? stop other sectors from being automated? >> well, that would be the trump approach and that's impossible. what i'm suggesting is that we move forward and we start spreading the bounty from all of this innovation, more broadly and quickly to the american people. so i'm provising the -- proposing the dividend, that every american receives $1,000 a month to do whatever they want. they would enable millions of americans to make more transitions as we're in the

midst of the greatest technological transformation in our country. we're calling it the fourth industrial revolution. it will be three to four times more vicious than the industrial revolution of the 20th century. >> what is your reaction to the way that the president is dealing with immigration and specifically pertaining to muslim-americans? >> i'm the opposite of donald trump in many respects. the opposite is an asian man who likes numbers and on the immigrants it is very much the same thing where i want to give immigrants a hug. i'm the son of immigrants. i think it's terrible and tragic what's happening to muslim communities around the world and i would go straight to the muslim community here in america and say, look, you're american, you're as welcome as anyone else and our country was founded on the ideas of the freedom of religion. >> i applaud that. what is the price tag, you're a numbers guy. what's the price tag of giving

every american $1,000 a month? >> well, we're spending $1.5 trillion to americans around the country, but you have to look around us. who are going to be the big winners from ai and new technologies? the big winners are going to be amazon, google, facebook, uber. >> right. but i'm just -- i'm curious because i actually entered politics because i was concerned about the national debt. do you know actually what the price tag would be paying every american $1,000 a month? >> it's $1.8 trillion past current expenses, but the way you get there, joe, we all know this, how much did amazon pay in taxes last year? zero. meanwhile, amazon is sucking up $20 billion in business every year putting 30% of american malls out of business so what we need to do is pass the value added tax that would get the american people a slice of every amazon transaction, every google search, every robot truck mile. because our economy is now so massive at $20 trillion, a value added tax at even half the

european level generates $800 billion in new revenue which combined with current spending, economic growth and putting all this money into american's hands because we know they're going to spend it in their communities the cost savings on things like incarceration and homelessness services and emergency room health care and then the value gains of having a stronger, more educated, more productive population would be enough to pay for the freedom dividend. this is the trickle up economy. not the trickle down economy. >> i want to turn it over to everybody else at the table, but i got to ask the question. so doesn't that leave a lot of corporations to say we're not going to pay these oppressive taxes, we're going to go to another country? >> well, that's the reason why this is so needed is that every other advanced economy already has a value added tax. there's really -- and they figured out what we need to figure out. is it amazon's fault they paid zero in taxes, no it's our fault. so other countries already have a value added tax that's higher than what i'm suggesting joe. and we're the number one market. if they sell to us, they have to

pay their fair share. >> andrew, you're a smart guy. you clearly thought about a million issues and are talking about them right now. let me ask you about one specific issue that i very rarely hear candidates talking about and that's we're in the no contact nation. what do you do? >> well, we have to look at the effect that social media is having on teenage girls and other people. we are seeing a surge in agety and depression. so i would establish a department of the intention economy and work with the people in silicon valley to say the market incentives are to turn the smartphones into slot machines and addict teenagers. we have to try to rein that in and make sure it serves our people. because if it doesn't then what's the point? >> so andrew you have interesting proposals here.

i guess the question is how can you do it? some of the things will require congress. some may require a constitutional amendment. can you actually get them enacted? >> well, if you look at the history of the freedom dividend there's one state that already has a dividend in place and it's alaska. the deep red conservative state. and the dividend is wildly popular. when i'm president, democrats and progressives will be thrilled to get more money into the hands of children and families. and republicans and conservatives around the country will know that the money is going to go to rural areas. red states in the interior. and all we need to do is get a consensus around the fact that putting money into american's hands will help the american people. we can get that done and then show the american people that the government can actually accomplish big things that will improve their lives. >> andrew yang, thank you very much for being on the show this morning. and joe, you know, one of the things that donald trump did during the campaign was show up. >> right. >> what i'm hoping that what we can show as the democrats pull together a candidate is that a

lot of the candidates come on and talk for a long time and often. >> here's the deal. >> i'm excited. we had elizabeth warren last week. >> here's the thing. andrew was on today because we had said if you're running for president -- >> come on down. >> come on the show. you're welcome any time to be on the show. call in. it's what we did in 2016. it's what we did in 2012 and 2008 as well. people remember that trump was on a lot. well guess what, so was mike huckabee in 2008. if andrew or pete want to call in -- >> you're welcome. >> we'll have mayor peete on the set. >> that does it for us. stephanie ruhle picks up the coverage. thank you. betting on beto, the o'rourke campaign raises a record breaking $6.1 million within the first 24 hours of his announcement. this as the field grows even bigger with senator kirsten gillibrand officially jumping in