that does it for us on this monday morning. "morning joe" starts right now. when donald trump success there are parts of london that are no go areas, i think he's betraying a quite stupefying ignorance that makes him, frankly, unfit to hold the office of president of the united states. i would invite him to come and see the whole of london and take him around the city except that i wouldn't want to expose londoners to any unnecessary risk of meeting donald trump. >> well, things have changed since 2015 when then-london mayor boris johnson said those things. increasingly warming now to president trump. and the president is boosting the former mayor as a potential prime minister. good morning. welcome to "morning joe." i'm willie geist. joe and mika continue their honeymoon. we'll see them again on thursday live from normandy. with us today as you can see,

nbc nereporter kasie hunt. we also have rick tyler and richard haass. also with us, david ignatius and anna shay. good morning to you all. richard, let's set the table here a bit if we could. the president is in london. he landed just a few hours ago 4:00 in the morning kicking off a state visit. then he'll be off to normandy for d-day. before leaving, he previewed his trip. let's listen. >> so we'll be going to the uk. i think it'll be very important. it certainly will be very interesting. there's a lot going on in the uk. and i'm sure it's going to work out very well for them. as you know, they want to do trade with the united states.

and i think there's an opportunity for a very big trade deal at some point in the near future. and we'll see how that works out. our country is doing incredibly well. our businesses are doing well. we're going to clog up the border. we're going to stop the border. mexico is making hundreds of billions of dollars for many, many years. and they have to do something about the border. everyone's coming through mexico. including drugs, including human trafficking. >> about an hour from now, president trump will receive a ceremonial welcome at buckingham palace. tonight the president will take part in the first state banquet hosted for an american president at buckingham palace since 2011. this comes on friday. theresa may will step down as head of the conservative party amid a fight over brexit. we'll get into this in a moment. but the president hours before landing in london this morning going after the mayor of london after the mayor criticized the

president. there's a lot in the air. >> like de blasio but shorter? >> yes. >> there's a lot going on. he's going to a part of the world where he's had the worst relationships with the leader of our democratic allies in europe. few have been worse than his relationship with the prime minister of the united kingdom. she is politically a dead woman walking. she'll be out of her job by the end of july. it looks like britain is in the throes of its self-imposed turmoil over brexit. what to do about that. and then the president's added that, overlays his involvement on behalf of boris johnson. one of the would-be prime ministers. so yes, there's lots going on. if timing was aa lot in life, this is about as bad as you get in terms of timing. >> and just a couple of days ago, the president of the united states gave an interview to the sun in the uk where he weighed in on brexit.

they weighed in on who should be the next prime minister and on the royal family. the mayor of london, we mentioned sadiq khan wrote an op-ed saying it is un-british to roll out the carpet for donald trump. he wrote this is a man who tried to exploit londoners' fears. scientific evidence warning of the climate change and is now trying to interfere in the conservative party leadership race by backing boris johnson because he believes it would enable him to gain an ally in number ten for his divisive agenda. before boarding marine one last night, the president responded to the mayor. >> no, i don't think much of him. i think he's -- he's the twin of de blasio except shorter. >> and shortly before landing in london this morning, the president sent these tweets about the mayor of london.

quote, sadiq khan who by all accounts has done a terrible job as mayor of london has been foolishly nasty to the visiting president of the united states. he is a stone cold loser who should focus on crime in london, not me. in a second tweet, president trump goes on to misstep khan's name writing khan reminds me very much of our dumb and incompetent mayor of nyc, de blasio. only half his height. i look forward to being a great friend to the united kingdom and looking forward to my visit. this morning a spokesperson for mayor khan said this is much more serious than childish insults which should be beneath the president of the united states. donald trump is the most egregious example of growing far right threat around the globe which is putting at risk the basic values that have defined our liberal democrats for more than 70 years. let's bring in senior

international correspondent keir simmo simmons. well, that's how the president rolls into town. >> reporter: you said that well. we are waiting for the president to arrive. we expect marine one to land in the gardens there behind me in an hour's time. he will inspect the guards with prince charles. the queen will meet him later. perhaps she is not with him for that introduction because you'll remember that last time, he managed to walk in front of her. and that was one of the faux pas that was during their previous visit. of course the royal family are all about diplomacy. nothing will happen on this trip that they won't be able to handle. the queen has met with leaders around the world. leader of china. president xi. leader of russia. president putin. we're expecting an informal lunch here at buckingham palace included in that lunch. prince harry himself after that

row in the newspapers over what president trump might or might not have said about meghan. the president will go to clarence house to meet with prince charles there. of course, that will be an interesting conversation. prince charles, of course, who has warned about the risks of climate change. who believes in organic food. two men of the same age but very, very different men. prince charles will be the arch diplomat. and then this evening in the ballroom here at buckingham palace, an affair that perhaps only the british are able to put on. a banquet where every place is measured, every setting, every glass is placed -- is exactly the right position. the queen will speak for five minutes. the president will speak for five minutes. if we get through today without any diplomatic incidents, everyone will breathe a sigh of relief. >> we shall see. there's a lot of time left in

the day, keir. david ignatius, just your broad strokes thoughts as we enter the president's first official state visit. everything on the agenda. everything that's happened in the couple of days before leaving in the interview with the sun and then the back and forth with the mayor of london. how different is this from any other president going to the uk? >> we think of the relationship with britain and the united states as being one of trust, ancient ties, the wonderful spectacle that the british royal family can provide. the run-up for this summit has been one insult gaffe after another. i can't remember a president setting the scene like this with as many negative comments. the question we have to ask is when the spectacle is done, it will be beautiful and

impressive. what is the state of the british/american relationship. is there the trust between the two countries? between their security services that there once was? i know many british officials, former officials worry that donald trump represents a tone of break in politics. tells the brits who he favors for the next prime minister, for example. those are unusual things. you know, i think trump needs a win. he's been going from difficulty to difficulty. we'll see if he gets the appearance of one in britain. but i'd be surprised. >> i'm going to pick up right there where david ignatius is leaving off. i mean, is it possible for this president to come away with something that resembles a diplomatic win in this visit? as richard haass pointed out, the timing is a little tricky. >> the timing is very tricky. donald trump couldn't have chosen a better country. right now the brits are in the

midst of a political paralysis and a constitutional crisis that makes america look like and donald trump's controversies look pale in comparison. this is as we were saying earlier, the lamest of the lame duck prime ministers that president trump could have chosen. but even though it's so important to dmoemonstrate that the, quote, special relationship is still intact, there are key policy issues that the countries really disagree with right now with iran, climate change, intelligence sharing over huawei. so there's a lot of things to worry about. and i think honestly, every time the president is overseas, it's only a matter of time before he does something really extremely cringe worthy for all of us. >> i want to ask david ignatius, jeremy corbyn who is not the favorite to secede prime minister may, donald trump has

weighed in here saying he may not share intelligence with the british were he to become the prime minister. how unusual is that? >> extremely unusual. and i just would note that in the area of intelligence sharing over the last few weeks, there have been some extraordinary developments. president has this year repeated his charges that the british communications agency known as gchq might have some way been involved in bugging him during the campaign. devin nunes who is a key ally of the intelligence committee has sent a letter quite specifically raising questions about whether british intelligence was working to subvert or investigate the president's campaign. this is a relationship that is one of historically absolute trust. it's the most important alliance that the u.s. has. and i think this is part of why

the ground underneath this formal visit full of great events, you have to really wonder whether there's something that's beginning to get shaky. we'll see whether the president makes these marks. the brits take them very seriously. every time they hear the president criticize one of their institutions, support or deny one of the politicians, that upsets a lot of the british people. >> to me the most interesting part of this is the context. the conservative party came in fifth in the elections. the labor party came in third. you have the leading parties of britain that have run this country since world war ii are both fundamentally divided over brexit. you have the emergence of all these different parties across the political spectrum. it's quite possible in ten years it will not be united kingdom. i could see areas where he becomes prime minister, you could get a no deal brexit.

i could see scotland going its own way. i could see northern ireland going its own way. it's called the united kingdom. it's on its way in some scenarios to becoming little england. so donald trump is going to be there for a couple of days. he's going to roil the waters. even without donald trump, this is a country facing an exte existential crisis as to its identity. even its basic competition. this is what he's wading into throwing rocks in the pond of the royal family. how is trump contributing to that if at all? when we have a crisis, one of the first -- he picks up the

phone and talks to the prime minister of the uk. that's not so clear anymore. then we no longer have that voice, that leverage. so we have a relationship with europe and we have a relationship with the uk. and therefore we've lost an important form of connection. so this is significant at a time already the u.s./european relations are so troubled. >>heresa may could not solve. it's not going anywhere when she walks away on friday. it'll be there for the next prime minister. >> brexit has been in a sense from out of nowhere who would imagine that britain would be leaving the eu. truly an existential crisis. what's striking to me is in this relationship which is supposed to be the very closest alliance the united states has, britain

would reasonably expect in its time of troubles, help from the united states in terms of steadying the situation, being supportive, not rocking the boat further. and instead what they get from trump is the ultimate boat rocker. a guy who jumps in and declares which candidacy he likes and which one he doesn't. picks a fight with the mayor of london. i think that's the part that's really troubling. this alliance was built on mutual assistance. americans dying on the beaches in part to help liberate britain and europe from tyranny. how far we've come from that situation and one in which the president spends his mornings insulting the mayor of london. >> and then there's this. president trump put the word nasty in quotes about mayor khan. perhaps a nod to this next story. president trump called meghan markle nasty for previous

remarks she made about him. during the campaign, the former actress called trump misogynistic and divisive and said she would consider moving to canada if trump were elected. the sun asked president trump about those comments ahead of his official state visit to the uk. >> she said she'd move to canada if you got elected. it turned out she moved to britain. >> a lot of people moving here. so what could i say? no, i didn't know she was nasty. >> the president said he thought it was nice an american had married into the british royal family. was generally complimentary of her the rest of the way. however, he has repeatedly denied calling her nasty. saying the remark was, quote, made up by the fake news media and they got caught cold. well, you just heard it. the president again denied making the comment just before leaving to meet the royal family including markle's husband prince harry.

>> are you willing to apologize about you comments about meghan markle? >> no. i made no bad comment. thank you. >> you heard it for yourself, keir. how is this playing in the uk? the president did use the word nasty. he did say i didn't realize she had said something nasty about me. but he did use the word. >> reporter: he did use the word. i read that as a classic british tabloid newspaper trap and the president of the united states walked straight into it. interesting that it was a tabloid trap by a newspaper owned by rupert murdoch. interesting he gave that newspaper the interview and they return the favor in that way. on sadiq khan, it's beneath the president to get into an argument with the mayor of london. the mayor is a politician. londoners in particular are not particularly positive about president trump. there will be many who are but

many who are not here. in terms of votes, it works for the mayor of london to be in a fight with the president of the united states. i suspect privately behind closed doors sadiq khan is rather enjoying it all. prince harry will be as i said in my earlier comments, he'll be the arch diplomat. in the end, this royal family are a professional group of diplomats. that's what their job is. in terms of the existential threat for the united kingdom and brexit, it's an interesting moment in which constitutional monarchy is being tested. the question in a visit like this is all about the british royal family. the politics is supposed to come second. the interesting question is, you know, can the constitutional monarchy really hold together the people in this country and pull off a visit that cements the relationship between the united states and britain. no matter what the politics. no matter how rocky it gets. we shall see. but certainly these are royals

who have seen challenges with visitors again and again. look, the dictator of romania, to his entourage was so known for stealing things during his visit they had to remove things from the rooms so they didn't get taken away. so this is nothing new to the royal family to have a politically difficult leader come. and after all, in the end, albeit the president trump, this is the leader of the united states, britain's most important partner. and that's the way that the leaders in the uk will see it. >> well, let's hope the queen leaves out the silverware for the president of the united states. nbc's keir simmons. that meeting about an hour from now, little bit less between the president and queen, ceremonial reception in that beautiful building behind you. keir, thanks so much. still ahead on "morning joe," plenty to cover at home. a protester comes far too close to kamala harris in california.

we'll show you that moment. also, axios' jonathan swan had an interview with jared kushner. what was said about his middle east peace plan and more. but first bill karins has a look at the forecast. >> good morning to you. over the weekend, numerous river levees failed on the mississippi and also areas from iowa to missouri. let's show you some of the pictures. you just imagine the amount of water. winfield was at risk with that. they had to do evacuations. burlington iowa, some of the downtown areas got flooded. and we want to show you aerial pictures on the arkansas river. we're watching crests tonight in little rock and in pine bluff. we'll watch the crest on wednesday. still got a couple more days with these rivers extraordinarily high. so let's get into the forecast. we've had a break in the flood zone. here comes the next storm. it's going to spread heavy rain once again in the same areas i

just showed you dealing with the massive flooding. here's the forecast. red up to 2 to 3 inches of rain. a widespread 1 to 3 inches. isolated 4 to 5. i don't think we'll see the rivers going higher than they are now, but we'll see them going down slower than they should be. the longer they stay high, the levees, there's too much pressure on them. every day we'll get some breaks. starting off chilly in northern new england. here comes the rain tuesday and wednesday middle of the country with the flood threat. finally by the time we get to the end of this week, we get rid of that rain where the flood zone is. we take it to the southeast. we've been dry during a hot may. some that rainfall would be welcome for some people as long as you don't have friday plans. new york city saw some crazy weather last night. big thunderstorms rolled through. now we're getting the reward. low humidity, perfect sunshine, highs in the low 70s. that is picturesque. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. atching "mo" we'll be right back. nothing says summer like a beach trip,

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alexandria ocasio-cortez has called president trump a racist. have you seen him do anything racist or bigoted? >> no. all i'll say is when the democrats called the president a racist, they're doing a disservice to people who suffer. >> which birther isn't racist? >> look, i wasn't really involved in that. >> i know you weren't. was it racist? >> like i said, i wasn't involved in that. >> i know you weren't. was it racist? >> look, i know who the president is and i have not seen anything in him that is racist. so again i was not involved in

that. >> do you wish he didn't do that? >> i was not involved in that. that was a long time ago. >> that was a long time ago. jared kushner speaking there with jonathan swan of action owe in an extraordinary interview. and jonathan joins us now. jonathan, good morning. always good to see you. a little backdrop because we were just discussing jared kushner doesn't do a lot of interviews. how did you compel him to sit down? >> just bribery, willie. >> just straight bribery. cash deal. >> under the table stuff. you know? >> fair enough. oh, you're just going with that. okay. we got a lot in this interview we want to ask you about. were you surprised at his inability to say conceptually that birtherism is racist and just say i wasn't there? >> not really. because jared kushner defends

his father-in-law at every turn. and -- i mean, the question i asked was you've heard a loud chorus of democrats alexandria ocasio-cortez probably being the latest to call the president a racist pim and and so i asked h open ended question. and he gave a very passionate defense of the president. and i just thought a logical follow-up would be to ask him about the two incidents which people bring up most prominently when they make that argument about the president. i honestly didn't know how he was going to respond. and i think they're the most interesting questions. when you ask a question and you genuinely don't know what the answer is going to be, it's sort of the opposite of a prosecutor. i didn't know what he was going to say. and so, yeah. i was interested and i guess somewhat surprised. i thought maybe he would be even more forceful and might say no, it wasn't, you know, just out of

pure loyalty. >> even for a loyal son-in-law with that expressless look on his face and not show any emotion or any broad condemnation for birtherism which was plainly racist is extraordinary. >> he said the president hasn't been racist for 66 years. new yorkers know the full page ad donald trump took out on the central park five. that started it. and birtherism was clearly racist. if you got any insights into the middle east peace plan that's supposed to be rolled out in june and what it might look like. it looked like the palestinians are boycotting this economic davos that was supposed to occur in bahrain. did you get a feeling for what was in this plan? >> the summit at the end of this month is an economic summit. that's the economic portion of

the plan. the great mystery in the region is what the political portion of the plan contains. which is the division of territory. will the plins get their own states with a capital in east jerusalem which is a demand? to what extent will military and government be involved in that area? and jared kushner has been incredibly tight lipped about this plan. it's probably one of the best kept secrets in the u.s. government. and he didn't reveal anything to me. but what he did say, you know, those parts of the interview were the least revealing when i tried to press him for answers. the more revealing were the questions do you think the palestinians are capable of governing themselves. he seemed very uncertain to the point of not really, at least not currently. and then he said that they -- he believes they should have self-determination which is quite a flexible term and doesn't preclude the idea of being israeli military or

governmental supervision. >> let's listen to part of that exchange with jared kushner on the middle east peace plan. here it is. >> do you understand why the palestinians don't trust you? >> look, i'm not here to be trusted. i'm here to be -- >> well, you are, frankly. to look at it from your point of view. you're a businessman, you look at things from their view. you've got three orthodox jews on the negotiating table. you've got jewish settlements in the west bank. you've got the actions you've taken so far moving the embassy to jerusalem, you've cut all aid to the palestinians including hospitals, and you shut down the palestinian diplomatic office in washington. can you not see why they might not want to talk to you and that they might not trust you? >> so there's a difference between the palestinian leadership and the palestinian people. okay? >> and you think the palestinian people would be okay with all those things that you've done? >> the actions we've taken were

because america's aid is not an entitlement. if we make decisions to respect the rights of another sovereign nation and we're criticized by that government, the response of this president is not let me give you more aid. that was a result of the palestinian leadership. the palestinian people, i believe they want to have a better life. i do think -- >> never mind the aid being cut. >> they're not going to judge it based on me. they'll judge it based on the facts and make a determination. will this allow them to have a pathway to a better life or not. >> what do you think of what you heard? >> jared did a sensational job. the palestinians aren't perfect here. they are not a viable partner in many ways. historically they've blown many opportunities. but they have been cut out from the get go of this process. the idea that in economics only or economics first package can entice the palestinians is simply a nonstarter. the idea that the saudis or

anybody else can deliver the palestinians is a second nonstarter. so the premises of what jared kushner is doing are flawed. you're not going to have an imposed agreement. economics is not going to win the day here. and then it's garbled. self-determination. think about the phrase. self-determination means the palestinians get to choose their own future. that's not going to happen. there's not a palestinian state on the table here. there's something ill defined that's less. you don't have an israeli partner, either, by the way, until november and depending on the nature of the government you won't have a partner then. so i really think this plan is still born. >> david ignatius, can i just ask you. is there any reason we should take jared kushner's peace plan seriously at all? >> well, he's put a lot of work into it and spent a lot of time traveling talking to people about it. so the simple is that the united

states has abandoned the role that richard haass, so many others helped us to play. which we described as being the honest broker in this very difficult problem. it's been there since 1967 about the palestinian territories, how they should be administered. i look at what jared kushner, the business guy is trying to do. i think of this being a leveraged buyout of the palestinian problem. the bahrain economic summit, basically the idea. let's hose this area as much as we can with investment. let's try to create jobs, a sense of economic dynamism so people will forget about some of the other harder issues. there will be what we call an outside in effort to take saudi arabia, the uae, other major countries and embody the ideas that those countries just accept israel. i think that's going to be powerful. nobody should minimize the importance of that. but in terms of getting to the heart of this problem, i've seen

nothing from this administration that really engages it in the ways that we've learned since '67 have to be done. >> jonathan swan, so thorough was your interview that we have to take a quick break. we'll talk about it on the other side including your questioning about his friendship with the crown prince of saudi arabia and the infamous 2016 trump tower meeting. all that when we come back on "morning joe." meeting. all that when we come back on "morning joe." ♪ i want it that way... i can't believe it. that karl brought his karaoke machine? ♪ ain't nothing but a heartache... ♪ no, i can't believe how easy it was to save hundreds of dollars on my car insurance with geico. ♪ i never wanna hear you say... ♪ no, kevin... no, kevin!

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we're back on "morning joe" speaking with jonathan swan of action owe talking about his interview with jared kushner. here is kushner defending his close relationship with saudi crown prince mohammed bin salman as one between the u.s. and a long-term ally. >> how many conversations have you had with mohammed bin salman about the murder of jamal khashoggi? >> the people who need to know about those conversations in our government that's related to the jobs they're doing, they know about those discussions. >> but specifically said bin salman ordered it. the cia briefed members of the senate who voted that way. i don't know what the administration is waiting for in

terms of accountability. >> i believe there's a report they're working on. they've been doing an investigation. when they have the facts of the investigation, it'll be up to the president to make a determination on what he wants to do. >> are you willing to say that mbs is responsible for khashoggi's death? >> when did this come up again? what are you -- are you back four months ago? no. >> nope. just a couple of minutes ago. jared kushner talking to jonathan swan is what the question was about. jared kushner, does he place any blame on the crown prince for the death of jamal khashoggi? >> if he does, he won't say it publicly. and he defend -- defend is probably the wrong word. he deflected. i really tried to push him back. we've heard him say that before in interviews he's done before.

explaining the strategic justification of the relationship with saudi arabia. i think everyone understands that. what i tried to do was to narrow it to mohammed bin salman. this leader that this white house has invested a lot in. that they've promoted as a reformer. with the things he's done whether it be ordering the murder of khashoggi or the way they conducted the war in yemen. again, i try to get him to rock con with that. he very much punted on the khashoggi situation. he said that the state department is still investigating and when they come to conclusions, they'll have more to say. >> you know, david ignatius, time and again the trump white house not just jared kushner has down played the crown prince's role in the murder of jamal

khashoggi. this contradicts the cia. the cia has concluded that mbs was behind the death of khashoggi. how can kushner sit there and shrug his shoulders and not at least confirm what the intelligence agencies have told him and told this white house? >> it's shocking to me. khashoggi was my colleague and friend as you know. and i watched kushner in that cold-blooded way dismiss it, pretend it doesn't matter. i don't like to watch that. i'll note one interesting thing. kushner may ignore this. president trump may wave away a question shouted from a reporter, but i'm told mike pompeo has said repeatedly to mohammed bin salman, you have to make changes. you have to get rid of the people who counseled you to get rid of this murder. and mbs to this day hasn't done it.

there's a key senior official who i'm told has not been in any effective way arrested for his alleged role in this. and he -- mbs just keeps blowing off among others secretary of state mike pompeo. that's how confident, maybe arrogant he seems to feel. >> just building on what david said. the problem goes beyond the murder of khashoggi even though that's bad enough. the premise of the administration's policy is that mbs and saudi arabia are our -- one of our two principle partners in a critical part of the world. and i would just think this murder and the aftermath, what they've done in yemen. the isolation of qatar. it's a long list. it raises questions about our future middle east policy whether essentially by giving unconditional support to this country. whether we've put an awful lot of our fate in the hands of someone who simply hasn't

demonstrated anything like the decision making skills and maturity that we would want. and so i wonder as much about that as i do about this unwillingness to face up to this crime. >> what i wonder about and i'll speculate and maybe you'll agree or not. based on the behavior of kushner's relationship with mbs, it seems as though something else is going there. kushner has business dealings. the saudis are involved in business dealings. and i wonder as many americans do, is jared kushner conducting the business of the united states or conducting the business of kushner. >> i don't know the answer to that. that's not just about him. there's any number of people. there's one about whether she's commingling business with her job. a all i know is they are a flawed

vessel in which to put so much of our hopes for part of the world that still matters. >> he seemed to initiate this contact because he -- the first presidential visit was to saudi arabia. >> exactly. from the get go they have been at the center of things. i think a lot of it wuss to normalize relations with israel and transform the region. and it just isn't going well. when i meet with middle east analysts which is something i do for a living, a lot of them have fundamental doubts about the long-term stability of saudi arabia. >> anyshay, we need to nail this down and be clear about what jared kushner is dismissing here. the cia reached the conclusion mbs was behind this. in fact, a group of united states was briefed. lindsey graham who supported the president on everything called the evidence he saw that day, quote, a smoking saw. there was no doubt in his mind or of anybody who's seen the intelligence who was behind the

murder of jamal khashoggi. >> well, i think it says -- the relationship between this administration and u.s. intelligence agencies unfortunately isn't as strong as it has been in the past with past white house administrations. but i also think it's important what this says about the u.s. dance of press freedom around the world. i was born and raced in bangladesh. when i was growing up, the u.s. regularly sent election monitors. they monitored our press freedoms and that was something we were rebuked on. if they thought that, you know, press freedom wasn't big honored. what does this say the fact this administration can't properly rebuke saudi arabia but even come out with a clear statement? i mean, we're waiting for this report that the saudis are supposed to give on khashoggi's murder that's being overseen by mbs and his own people. it's all very really unsettling. it's going to leave a terrible legacy for america and america's protection of press freedoms

around the world. >> as we said, jonathan swan covered a lot of ground with jared kushner. here's their exchange about the 2016 trump tower meeting that's got son much attention. >> on june 8th, 2016, you were sent an email with an offer of help for the trump campaign from the russian government. >> i'm sorry? which email are you talking about? >> the email from ron goldstone. >> look, jonathan -- >> no, no, no. my question to you is why didn't you pick up the phone and call the fbi? it was an email that said the russian government was trying to help. why didn't you cothat? >> we're in a place now where people are being so self-righteous. let me put you in my shoes at that time. i'm running three companies. i'm helping run the campaign. i got the email about a meeting saying show up earlier. i stay for 15 minutes.

it's a clown show. one second. let me finish this. i text and say can you give me a call and get me the hell out of here. i leave. i never would have thought about that meeting again. had there been something nefarious at that meeting that would have come up, i would have done something different. but the meeting was a total waste of time. >> would you call the fbi if it happened again? >> i don't know. it's hard to do the hypotheticals. but we were not given anything salacious. >> wow. jonathan swan, i have two questions for you. one, did they learn nothing from the mueller situation, this investigation as to the substance of his answer there saying he's not sure if he would call the fbi. secondly, i'm not sure what order we played the sound bites in. he sounded very testy in that answer. is that how you kind of wrapped up the interview? it was a tough ride for him. >> so with the -- with that question, obviously there was a lot of speculation before the

mueller report came out that jared kushner was going to be indicted and he wasn't indicted. ultimately i think when the report came out, he felt -- my understanding is he felt pretty good about it. i only had that one question because he was on that email trail for that meeting. and it did explicitly say it had russia in the subject line. so i wanted to know whether he grasped the seriousness of it. and whether he would call the fbi if it happened again. i'll admit. i was surprised by the answer. look. that section got a little bit testy. that wasn't how the interview ended. it ended with me -- if you watch the full episode with me asking him about donald trump's legacy. and he sort of lays out the two big things that he thinks the president will be remembered for. changing the people come to washington and america's place in the world. look. we went through a lot of -- we covered a lot of ground in that interview. we covered israeli/palestinian

peace deal, his family history of refugees, we covered russia, some of the controversies that have occurred during his time in the white house and some other big picture things. lot of grou that interview. >> by the way, fbi director christopher wray offered helpful advice in recent congressional testimony when he said in the future if a foreign government calls you or if a foreign entity reaches out to help you, call the fbi. national political reporter for axios, jonathan swan, remarkable interview with jared kushner. thanks so much, good to see you. >> thank you. coming up, last week president trump said it was fake news that the white house requested the uss john mccain be moved out of sight during his recent trip to japan, but his acting chief of staff, mick mulvaney, is not denying that it happened. he said the request was, quote, not an unreasonable thing to ask. we'll show you mulvaney's new comments ahead on "morning joe."

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are you confident that it was nobody in the white house or a white house advance person that made the request to the navy to cover up the uss john mccain. >> no, i absolutely believe it was somebody on the advance team. >> it was on your team? is there any consequences for this? >> i'll answer your question. an advance team is hundreds of people. you know this better -- you've been overseas with the president of the united states. the fact that some 23 or 24-year-old person on the advance team went to that site and said oh, my goodness, there's the john mccain. we all know how the president feels about the former senator, maybe that's not the best backdrop, that's not an unreasonable thing to ask. you're the third or fourth journalist who asked me is someone going to get fired for this? no! >> no, no one will be fired. a navy spokesman confirmed that a request was made to the u.s. navy to minimize the visibility of the uss john mccain. however, all ships remained in their normal configuration

during the president's visit. that's the statement from the united states navy. david ignatius what you have is the acting chief of staff suggesting some 23 or 24-year-old advance team staffer reached out to the seventh fleet with a request to move a warship. >> you know, willie, it's just -- it's grossly improper. it's offended every person i've talked to from the military and from the pentagon leadership. the fact that mick mulvaney doesn't seem to get it is troubling. he's the white house chief of staff. the one positive thing that has emerged from this is that the pentagon leadership, including acting secretary pat shanahan, seemed to get it. and according to "the washington post" last night, shanahan has told his chief of staff to make clear to the military and to the white house that mixing the military into politics is not appropriate and that as acting secretary of defense, he won't

tolerate it. you've had similar support for this idea of the independence, apolitical nature of the military from pacific command, where this attempt to conceal the mccain began. the seventh fleet commander learned about it and he said, no, wait a minute, that's not right. he reported it up the chain of command. admiral richardson made a statement saying the same thing. so throughout the navy, the military, the pentagon, i think there's been a realization this is too much. we're not going to tolerate this kind of use of our soldiers, sailors, marines and our ships and other military equipment as in effect props to be moved around at the whim of the president. >> i want to underline one thing mulvaney said to chuck todd, richard haass, which is the idea of moving or concealing the uss

john mccain, quote, that's not an unreasonable thing. >> that is, shall we say, revealing and telling, the fact that he would say that and think that. it reminds me when i worked in the pentagon, i once went to my boss, who was a four-star admiral and i said the white house instructed us to do something. he said richard, sit down. the white house is a building. the white house doesn't get on the phone. who was it. the pentagon spread that message around, the white house is just a building. see that any request or order comes from a person that's authorized to give it, what standing they have and whether the order makes sense. >> this president is the commander in chief of those soldiers on the uss john mccain. that's the reality of it. >> mick mulvaney blaming some 23, 24-year-old person on the advance team. coming up this morning, world leaders were gathered this week to mark the 75th anniversary of d-day, expected to be a solemn tribute, but has some veterans about president

trump being there. the ap's jonathan lemire will join us. and we are just moments away from president trump meeting with queen elizabeth at buckingham palace. "morning joe" is back in two minutes. bk acin two minutes. with bcancer, i went straight to ctca. after my mastectomy, i felt like part of my identity was being taken away. my team made me feel whole again. cancer treatment centers of america. appointments available now. cancer treatment centers of america. you should be mad at tech that makes things worse. but you're not, because you have e*trade whose tech makes life easier by automatically adding technical patterns on charts and helping you understand what they mean. don't get mad, get e*trade. i didn't have to call 911. and i didn't have to come get you. because you didn't have another heart attack. not today. you took our conversation about your chronic coronary artery

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>> where do you think she's going? >> lord knows. >> mrs. kennedy -- >> i feel like that went wrong in about 10,000 different ways. >> i've seen worse. though not sure when. >> the risk of a protocol faux pas when presidents meet with the queen, as depicted there in netflix' series "the crown." this morning president trump is in england, in london. in a few moments he will meet with queen elizabeth at buckingham palace. welcome back to "morning joe." it's monday, june 3rd. i'm willie geist alongside kasie hunt. also with us, an msnbc political contributor rick tyler. the president of the council on foreign relations, richard haass, columnist for "the washington post" david ignatius. and joining us now an msnbc political analyst this morning

celebrating a cards sweep of the cubs, claire mccaskill. and columnist for "the washington post" who specifically asked we don't mention his baseball team, george will. he's the author of the new book "the conservative sensibility." we will dig into that book in just a moment. joe and mika have the morning off. president trump lacknded in thek about 4:00 this morning kicking off a four-day visit. any moment now president trump is set to receive a ceremonial welcome at buckingham palace, which will include a greeting from kwequeen elizabeth. tonight he will take part in the first state banquet hosted for an american president at buckingham palace since 2011. just before leaving for the uk, president trump weighed in on brexit in an interview with the british "sunday times" and the sun" trump said theresa may ahead of her resignation botched

the brexit talks, saying she left them, quote, all the cards. >> what do you think went wrong for her? >> i think that uk allowed the european union to have all the cards. i had mentioned to theresa that you gotta build up your, your ammunition. they didn't give the european union anything to lose. i'm sure that you could have built up a big advantage for your side and negotiated from strength. >> she said mr. president that you suggested she sue the eu. how would that work, do you think? >> what i would do is for those mistakes made by the eu that cost the uk a lot of money and a lot of harm, i would have put that on the table. whether it's in the form of litigation or in the form of a

request. well, if i were them i wouldn't pay $50 billion. that's a big number. if they don't get what they want, i would walk away, yes. i would walk away. if you don't get the deal you want, if you don't get a fair deal, then you walk away. >> richard haass, there's so much in the air as the president arrives at buckingham palace in just a few minutes. unconventional isn't quite the word for an interview given before you land on soil and criticize the prime minister, the dutchess of sussex and the mayor of london. >> a diplomatic trifecta. it's not what we studied when we prepared for that career. he's walking in against the backdrop where he's had a terrible relationship with the soon-to-be departed prime minister. he's advocated already who should succeed her. he's already said who he thinks ought to be the next ambassador to the united states, the person that's pro brexit. he's called the european union

aa foe of the united states. all this at a time britain faces maybe its greatest internal crisis since the suez affair. the future of the country is at stake. this is what the president is wading into and shall we say he hasn't calmed things down and all this before he got there. now we'll see what happens. >> willie, do you remember when mitt romney went to the uk when he was running for president? >> yes, we were just discussing the quaintness of the mitt romney row of 2012 when he criticized london and said there were few things that were disconcerting about their security preparations and that was an international incident. >> boris johnson made that an international incident. claire mccaskill, how far we've come. >> how far we've come. i had the opportunity to visit with some foreign leaders and those from the conservative party and labor party, conversations where you need to

look at what happened in the european parliament elections. what happened is the traditional parties did very poorly. in the uk, the ones that did the best were the ones that had clear messages about brexit. the one party who said we should walk away and the other party who said we should fight to stay in. and there's really a vacuum of leadership within the labor party that is causing them to equivocate. my sense is there will be another referendum. my sense is that the british people will vote to not leave the eu. and so the president doing this is really flying in the face -- i'm not saying that it would be a runaway, i think it would be close. but to think that there isn't huge political forces behind the notion of staying within the eu is ignoring the reality on the ground that was reflected in just the elections that occurred a few weeks ago. >> george, president trump is often graded on a curve, but what about relative to past presidents as you look at the scope of history, this visit by

president trump to the uk, how different it is. >> well, first of all, there's no business that he has with the uk at this point that i can understand. i think he went there to get the state dinner. >> he wants the falderal. >> of course. he has, of course, no principled objection to nation a intervening in nation b's public life. we've seen that already. so the fact that he would go and say boris johnson ought to be the next prime minister is not surprising. >> and do you believe that -- is there something strategic that the president hopes to get out of this? he's going to be dealing with a prime minister who's leaving in a matter of days. he has put his thumb on the scale a bit for boris johnson. do you believe he's got any method to his madness as he heads there? >> i don't think he does plans. i don't think that's part of his repertoire. whether or not they should have a second referendum, the

question is the first referendum was, i think, a big mistake. and if they have another one, they might just for demographic reasons vote to stay because the remain vote to stay in the european union was young, they're rising. the leaves, the brexit people are definitionally dying off. so 2 million people have changed since june, 1963 -- 20, 63. >> mr. will, where is the conservative movement? does the conservative movement have a future? where does its party reside? >> it doesn't have a party right now. but you don't need a party in order to thrive, you need the right ideas. margaret thatcher rightly said european nations were made by history. the united states was made by philosophy. and my argument is that the philosophy is still valid, that the american people are

understandably and rightly unhappy about the direction the government has taken for the last 50 years, during which the prestige of government has plummeted as the pretensions of government have risen. and i think they will be receptive to an argument that the progressive overthrow of the founders' vision, which was remark fully forthright and amazingly successful since woodrow wilson became the first american president to criticize the american founding, that we've made a wrong turn and this is a way of going back to look at it. do we want to perhaps retrace our steps. >> the state of conservatism, george, in the trump years, this is something that joe says all the time. i know he'd say it if he were here. but i thought it was captured in a town hall last week with congressman justin amash of michigan. of course he's called for an impeachment inquiry into the president, the lone republican in that. he was asked by a trump supporter how can you not be

with us? you used to be a conservative. you used to be one of us. to which he said i haven't changed, you have changed. >> that was always ronald reagan's position. he said i didn't leave the democratic party, the democratic party left me. you may notice that in my book the name donald trump doesn't appear. neither does the name of doris day or humphrey bogart. none of them have anything to do with conservatism. >> i looked in the index for doris day. >> and she has as much to do with conservatism as the 45th president. >> what has he done to it, though? people who are conservatives that have latched on to donald trump. what does it say about conservatism? >> it says they have adopted the fundamental progressive premise, which is that all power should be in the executive. the executive should be untrammelled and unleashed and unfetterred and rampant. the best example i can give is protectionism, which is the

obverse of everything conservatives stand for, it's the bossiest possible government telling the american people what they can buy, at what quantities and at what prices. if that doesn't offend people. it's not that protectionism gives rise to cronyism, it is from the outset inherently crony capitalism. >> we'll dig into this book in just a moment, but what you're seeing right there is the president of the united states landing at buckingham palace. any moment he will receive a ceremonial welcome from the queen of england, queen elizabeth and the royal family there to greet him as he begins a three-day trip to the uk, his first official state visit. his last trip last year was classified as a working meeting. he will then head later this week to the beaches of norm andy, france, to commemorate the anniversary of d-day. david ignatius, what do you expect from this day and from this visit? >> well, it's a beautiful scene,

as always in britain at buckingham palace. i've been in that garden myself. it's just so striking. what i expect is a symbolic affirmation of this relationship. the symbolism, as always, with the british royal family will be superb, i think we can count on that. i think all of the kind of noise that trump has been making the last few days will fall away to some extent today as we go through the ceremonies. the question that we'll be left with is where does this relationship stand, how solid is britain, how solid is his friendship with the united states. but today i think we'll be focusing on what is securing, which is the relationship between our country, the head of state of britain, the queen and our head of state who is always the president. >> joining us now is the chairwoman of the editorial board of "the financial times."

jillian, as the president is just about to touch down on the lawn there at buckingham palace, the president makes quite an entrance but with that comes the interview where he criticized the mayor of london. tweets he set out just this morning before he touched down criticizing the mayor of london, putting his thumb on the scale for boris johnson in the race to become the next prime minister and some swipes at meghan markle to go with it. >> that is quite one entrance. when doesn't the president make an entrance. but i mean politics in the uk was already on fire even before the president weighed in, and he essentially chucked gasoline on it because you have this incredibly divisive brexit issue, which is literally tearing the country apart. and president trump has indeed come down very strongly on the side of the strong brexiteers and so it's going to be very interesting to see how they try to finesse it this week because a lot of people in the uk are pretty angry. >> i think it's actually going to be -- the pageantry will be

there, but it's going to be hollow. it's going to be hollow for two reasons. what's going on inside the united kingdom, it is now the disunited kingdom and brexit has exposed fundamental divisions within the country and they're not going away and they'll be there powerfully after donald trump leaves. and the special relationship, it's not a reality anymore. this relationship is a lot less special. it began to become less special years ago, for lots of reasons given what's happened in the uk, what's happening here, and it's accelerated under donald trump's presidency. so you'll hear all this stuff about special relationship and u.s./uk and it's the 75th anniversary of d-day. we've come a long way since churchill and roosevelt. may and trump is not exactly 75 years on. >> the one thing i know that will happen in this visit, he will have thrown in -- donald trump wants to be king. he wants to come out of this meeting saying i just don't

understand why i can't be king. he kind of acts as if he is. george referred to this unfettered executive power. i don't think the conservatives who were just pounding the podium about barack obama's use of executive orders, the height of hypocrisy with how this president has gone in unchartered territory. i mean from selling arms to saudi to unilaterally saying, okay, more tariffs for everyone, more tariffs for mexico, sending the military to the border. he is totally given the back of his hand to congress, and congress is putting up with it. >> george, before you hop in i just want to point out for our viewers, we're seeing prince charles and the dutchess of cornwall emerging outside now, stepping out to the lawn to greet the president of the united states as he steps off his helicopter shortly. >> congress for more than half a century has been delegating powers they've no right to delegate. i do wish the supreme court

would revive the anti-delegation doctrine. trump is doing exactly what woodrow wilson wanted. woodrow wilson was the first president to criticize the american founding, which he did not do preripheralperipherally. he was the problem is the separation of powers. not so good now. what we need now is a nimble, unfettered executive such as the one stepping off the helicopter. >> and there is the president of the united states saluting the marine guard and the first lady of the united states, melania trump, shaking hands now with prince charles. camilla bowles will step in and offer her greeting as well as the president begins his three-day state visit to the united kingdom. >> senator, the last time the president was most recently abroad before this visit and we saw him, so far he's criticized the mayor of london. the tweets during the japan trip focused on joe biden, who is the front-runner for the democratic nomination.

biden waited until trump was back on american soil before he responded to that in kind of a typical deference to the fact that we're supposed to leave politics at the water's edge. do you think those rules still apply? >> well, i think joe biden and the other candidates have a very difficult decision to make. there's one thing that's very clear. this president thinks controversy amplifies his message. he not only welcomes it, he seeks it. he tries in every way he can to stir the pot and to be controversial. he actually believes that it's helping him with his base. now, it remains to be seen if he will actually have the ability in a campaign to have discipline and talk about the few positive things that have occurred during his administration. i actually do not believe that he will -- it wouldn't surprise me if at one of these visits he begins doing politics. i mean think about when he was standing there with abe. here an existential threat to japan is north korea and he starts --

>> let me interrupt you for one second. there's the queen of england greeting president donald trump and first lady melania as they enter buckingham palace where they will have lunch. presence harry and other members of the royal family expected to be there as well. >> you know, he was praising kim jong-un at a press conference with abe. i mean this is -- you talk about off the charts. i mean i know, richard, this is something with abe standing there, he has to be saying really? really? you're doing this right in front of me at my podium? and this guy doesn't even -- he thinks it helps him, the controversy helps him, clearly. >> it is a singular approach to democracy and foreign policy. it's a tough time to be an american ally, as we'll see in britain. abe is actually the one foreign leader who is in some ways navigated the perils of donald trump and he's studiously avoided rising to the bait. >> it's not clear that he was awarded for it, though, in that

press conference with the president. >> no, the president's disregard of missiles that could reach japan but not the united states raised concerns, shall we say. we'll see how the u.s./japanese trade talks go. but abe does get a degree of credit. he is better than any, say, democratic leader in europe. >> fair enough. >> and most leaders in latin america. he has somehow finessed the tremendo travails of working with donald trump. >> few governments do better pageantry than does the royal family of the uk. i think they win that race. but it does paper over quite a bit that's happening right now in the relationship between the united states and the uk. what are the true feelings on the ground in england about this president and about this relationship? >> well, i think a lot of people in america regard britain these days as one gigantic film set and that's essentially what's going on today. but certainly there are very

mixed feelings, because you have brexiteers who are desperate for some kind of trade deal or something positive to wave to the population about the future of the uk outside the european union. then you have the remain camp who regards trump's visit as a sign of everything they don't want in the future of the uk and they want to essentially remain inside the european union. there's an important point to stress which came out earlier. the president's visit to europe is not just stirring up passions with the brexiteers and the remainers in the uk. it's actually part of a trend towards populism right across europe right now. i was in spain the weekend with pedro sanchez, the spanish prime minister, and the concern in spain that spanish paolitics is going italian, you have extremists on the right and the left coming to the fore, and there's a real concern that the type of vision that steve bannon had for the trump presidency has very explicitly been exported or

at least is being inflamed in europe too. so it's going to be very interesting to see what the president does not just in the uk but in france and the continent as well. >> i'll ask you to play odds maker for a moment, jillian. do you believe there will be another referendum? that's my first bet on the board. the second one is where is the smart money now for the successor to prime minister theresa may? >> well, personally i wish there was a second referendum. i think there's a 30% to 40% chance of that right now. the bookies would definitely put boris johnson top of the list right now in terms of the likely successor. but that's a very, very controversial vision. and what many people are saying is that if boris johnson does come in as the next prime minister, the person after him could be jeremy corbyn and that's the vision that concerns many business people even more than all the dramas around brexit. >> i think that's right. that's really a complicated process also on the conservative side. first you have multiple votes in

parliament in winnow down the field and get down to two candidates and then it's put to a vote before those that are formerly members of the conservative party and there's only about 125,000 of them. so this is a strange political process, shall we say. but odds are it will be boris johnson, unless the opposition to johnson clearly coalesces. and if the choice is ultimately an election between boris johnson and jeremy corbyn, you're in the end zones of british politics. it would be the equivalent of donald trump versus bernie sanders here. that would be the nature of it. >> but in the last general election, jeremy corbyn led the labor party and got 40% of the vote. so 40% of the people voted for someone who regrets the way the cold war ended. >> that's one of the questions i have. why can't the labor party dislodge jeremy corbyn? he enclosurely is not the right guy. >> because of the way the labor party chooses its candidates.

>> exactly. we think we've got problems here. i look at that. if we had someone like jeremy corbyn, for example, as the speaker of the house, something would happen. we would change that as a democratic party. the fact that they are unable to dislodge jeremy corbyn is probably the biggest threat to the labor party that exists right now. >> as we look at these live pictures, ceremony about to begin. we're told the queen and president trump will step back outside buckingham palace for a more formal photo opportunity. meanwhile peter alexander is not far away in london. peter, how's the day going to go? >> reporter: willie, it is a big day, a full plate for the president. most of today is a series of items that he's going to enjoy. a lot of celebrations. this is only the third american president to enjoy one of these official state visits of this kind, hosted by the queen. the president, after having this private luncheon with the queen, prince charles and camilla will

be in attendance and will lay a wreath at west minimumtminster . he'll have formal tea with charles and camilla and this evening is the big state banquet at buckingham palace. we're told this is going to be white ties and tiaras. both president trump and the queen will be delivering toasts as well today. so this is sort of the ceremonial, of course. as you guys have been talking about, the backdrop is all the inflamed tensions that the president has really thrown fuel on what's already been just a tinder box in terms of the political environment here. of course theresa may will be leaving at the endi of this wee. the president is expected to be holding a news conference tomorrow, expected to be side by side with may tomorrow. the last time he was here he shredded her, rimmed into her just in advance of his visit, even had some criticizing comments while he stood with her during the news conference. the president trading insults

with london's mayor, sadiq khan, saying that he is a stone cold loser after khan, who's been a fierce trump critic said among that the president sort of represented, you know, the most egregious example of these global, as he described it, threats from the far right to liberal democracy. the president was fuming about that even as he got off air force one today. we heard from britain's foreign minister, jeremy hunting, those moments where you always wanting to know what they're talking about when they're shaking hands, hunt says the president was still complaining about london's mayor even as he arrived, even as jeremy hunting said the president should expect a very big show to help celebrate the uk's closest ally. >> peter, we've seen ivanka and jared out on the patelbalcony,

seen steve mnuchin and woody johnson waiting for the president and the queen to come out. peter, as you talk to people in the white house, there is any strategic objective to this visit or are we looking at it right now, is this the objective? >> reporter: well, i think this is certainly one of the primary objectives here, right? you saw how much the president enjoyed being there for that giant parade in france alongside emmanuel macron. he loved that so much he wanted to do his own back here in the united states. so the brits figured they would give him their own show at some point. the president will enjoy that. but there really is these strained tensions, there really are these strained tensions in this special relationship between the two sides. the president, you know, waded in again to british politics effectively giving an endorsement to boris johnson as a potential successor to theresa may here. given his unpopularity in this country, it's unclear whether that would help or hurt johnson's chances of succeeding theresa may. but for the president's purposes, you know, it's

remarkable. you watch on one moment how he enjoys these moments. he'll walk in, you'll see him being celebrated or welcomed alongside the british royal family. his own family will be in attendance, ivanka and jared as you saw, donald trump jr. is going to be there, the rest of the family, tiffany is in town and eric as well. and then the flip to it is tomorrow he has some of these tougher meetings behind closed doors in theresa may's waning days before she departs. obviously when he goes to ireland later in this trip, there was a hope they could have a nice formal sitdown with him there. the president had indicated he wanted to go to his golf course up there. the irish were looking for something that would be a little more ceremonial for a visit. they ended up agreeing they'll meet in the vip lounge at the airport in ireland so there are real tensions with the backdrop brexit, the president pushing for a much harder line stance in terms of britain's departure from the eu which is why he's been leaning in in support of

boris johnson and nigel fa rauj as ever. >> it might be the first meeting at the ambassadors club at an airport. we see sarah sanders there as well. david ignatius, it's a funny thing to have a meeting with a prime minister who's four days away from no longer being the prime minister. as richard haass pointed out, theresa may planned this state visit because she thought donald trump might help her by being there. >> willie, watching these images of the beautiful lawn of buckingham palace, i have to remind myself that for trump, at least, it's the politics, stupid. this is about the kind of pomp that he loves and this is a man we have to remember who's getting ready to run for re-election. and i think increasingly we should see his foreign travels, whether to japan or to buckingham palace today or soon he'll be going back to japan for the g-20 summit in terms of his

positioning himself for the 2020 election. this is a president who loves a marching band, he loves the ceremony. he just thinks that's adornment to his presidency. in a sense, that is the substance of this visit. what effect, if any, it will have on british politics, the mess of british politics to be h honest, i don't see much, except for something that was mentioned earlier and i want to ask peter alexander about this. president trump in some ways sees himself as the leader of a world movement that's an insurgency against the elites, against things like the european union. do you think that he imagines on this trip that he's going to be leading that insurgency? we'll hear more comments like the criticism of mayor sadiq khan? >> david, that's a good question. i think the president sort of used this as a massive

megaphone. he's being fetted in effect by the queen here but what's making headlines in the course in anticipation of his arrival is the president's sort of brash behavior. the way he's been pushing back at the traditions and the norms. the fact that he's been wading into the politics of this region, but not just of this region, of much of europe obviously as it relates to the eu. the great disrupter as he effectively views himself here. so, you know, that is -- that is certainly something on the president's mind, and this opportunity gives him more ammunition, a chance to showcase that brand of politics to the world right now. remarkably when he was pressed on this when he departed for air force one on the south lawn last night, the president was asked why are you wading in? why are you commenting on things like this? past presidents don't normally engage in foreign political fights. the president obviously has. take what went on recently in israel. he commented again about that. the president said, hey, if you

don't want me to comment, don't ask me about it. these are my opinions. the president is trying to spread those opinions and that world view around the planet. >> peter alexander, we'll turn you loose. we know you've got some work to do. hope to talk to you later in the show. thanks so much. >> richard, i can't help but watching these pictures thinking about something that you said earlier where we could conceivably talking about the breakup of the united kingdom. the queen has met with every president since lbj so we've seen this pomp and circumstance. i can't help but feel as though we are almost witnessing the -- maybe it's not the end, maybe that's too dramatic, but certainly a crumbling of our post world war ii era, basically the world that the united states built in the wake -- is that your sense of what's going on? >> some might say the world is in disarray. >> some might say that. >> and indeed we are. this is 75 years -- here we are celebrating d-day.

in some days we are marking the erosion or crumbling or dismantling -- actually it's more than just erosion. this administration has actually set out to dismantle, to disrupt their inheritance. it's almost the foreign policy equivalent of health care. they know what they didn't like. they didn't know what they wanted to put in its place. 30 seconds on ireland. you mentioned the bizarre meeting in the airport lounge. >> yeah. >> one of the reasons for that is the irish are extremely unhappy with this president. why? a hard brexit. if you have a hard -- >> richard, let me stop you for one second. the president of the united states, the queen of england coming out of buckingham palace. you see the first lady, prince charles trailing behind them. president trump will now inspect the guard of honor. he's already received royal gun salutes. this has been a tricky bit of business in the past. it was last year, you remember when the president perhaps stepped on some of the royal etiquette. now taking a photograph with the

queen. let's watch. [ playing national anthem ] [ playing national anthem ]

♪ >> so here's the president of the united states who appears to be speaking with and inspecting that royal guard. he and prince charles have broken away for the moment anyway from queen elizabeth. richard, we were sitting watching these pictures.

it looks and feels like state visits of the past. but the word that you kept using was hollow. >> you've got the form but in many ways the substance is gone both within the uk as well as in what used to be a special relationship. we were just talking a little before about this odd meeting at the airport in dublin, i think it is, in the lounge. one of the reasons is the president is a big advocate of brexit. he's been advocating a hard or no-deal brexit. if that happens, obviously britain leaves the eu, it reopens the border between ireland, which is in the eu, and northern ireland which would not be. the principal accomplishment of the good friday agreement that the united states, george mitchell, played such a role in negotiating was to erase the hard border between britain and ireland. so there's a real concern that the troubles when over 3,000 people died and so forth, there's a chance because of brexit, it could reopen the possibility of return to

problems in northern ireland. no enthusiasm for a hard brexit in dublin. >> in fact, george, ireland has been the big problem in parliament in getting theresa may's proposal through. that has been the sticking point. but talk about what this means for scotland. if there is not another referendum and if the brexit vote is not reversed, what do you see in terms of how scotland behaves going forward? because i think that's not talked about enough and i think it's key. >> brexit has been oxygen for the scottish nationalist party because they voted overwhelmingly to stay in the european union. they now have a choice, do you want to stay and be loyal to westminster, such it is, or do you want to open yourself to the wider europe? if you're a scottish nationalist, who's a scotland brave, should bravely leave. leave that is the united kingdom, not the eu. >> if you're just waking up with us, it's 7:38 on the east coast

in the morning, 12:38 afternoon in london. gillian, what do you take away from these pictures? >> this is precisely that the president was so keen to have on the television screens of american viewers. but there's going to be another picture that emerges in the next 24 hours which is the blimp. call it the battle between buck kham palace and the blimp. there's an inflatable baby trump, which is exactly not the kind of picture the president wants to see right now. and we're talking a lot about a new world disorder. the old geopolitical order breaking down. it's not just about the geopolitics breaking down, it's also about the traditional party structures. we're seeing populism across the uk and europe, and many of the old parties like the conservative and labor party are losing out dramatically right now. that's going to be something which haunts europe for a long time to come. >> and the flight of that rather

unflattering blimp was approved, by the way, by mayor sadiq khan of london, with whom the president has been fighting the last few hours. the a.p.'s jonathan lemire is with us covering the white house and the state visit. jonathan, what are you picking up on the ground so far? >> reporter: well, first off, you see the baby blimp over my shoulder. please give me a head's up on that. to this point the white house is happy in terms of this is what they want. they're less into the protests, which are also coming to this president's visit. this accomplishes two things. first and foremost, yes, the president himself, we know he likes to be celebrated. we remember what happened on his first foreign trip to riyadh, saudi arabia, and how the saudis set the template there for really flattering him and going above and beyond to show their respect for him. he wanted that here as well. he didn't get that when we were here last summer. he is getting it now.

also people around the white house, though, it's not a coincidence that there are four foreign trips in a couple of months, two to japan, two to europe. that is a deliberate attempt to show him, as david was saying in the last segment, looking presidential, accomplishing america's business on the world stage, while juxtaposing that with the democratic candidates back home playing politics. that's sort of the idea of trying to put the president above that. of course this is donald trump. so he often undermines those very efforts. we saw that today just in the few minutes before air force one touches down here in great britain, he unleashes these tweets against the mayor of london. he hasn't let up since he touched down on the ground. >> richard haass, you have called this pageantry sort of the backdrop is hollow. let me put you on the spot for a second. let's suppose this were a different president or the same president, what might be the missed opportunities? what would you advise that could be accomplished given the circumstances on this visit?

>> this comes at a time of real uncertainty about the future of nato and how to deal with russia, so that would be one thing. can you reach common cause on strengthening nato and a joint approach towards russia. and china, how are we going to deal with technology, a second big issue. the middle east, what to do about iran. right now the united states and iran at loggerheads. i could go around the world. venezuela. europe ought to be the principal geopolitical partner of the united states. what's important with the u.s./uk relationship is not about the united states and the uk, it's about essentially the rest of the world and that ought to be the agenda. >> let's listen in here. ♪

>> the president of the united states landed in london just under four hours ago to the u.s.

ambassador's residence and made his way via helicopter to the garden there of buckingham palace where he now stands with queen elizabeth, coronated in 1952. she has met with 11 sitting presidents and actually met with harry truman when she was princess elizabeth as well. jonathan lemire, let me go back to you and ask the question that has stumped some foreign policy minds and other white house reporters this morning, and that is the question of any strategic objective on this visit, or is this the objective right here, this kind of pageantry you were talking about earlier? >> reporter: from what we've picked up in our reporting, most of it is this, the pageantry. certainly donald trump is showing no reluctance to meddle in other country's politics. we saw him weigh in on the eve of this visit talking about boris johnson and nigel farage, about how he would support both of them. which is akin to what he did a year ago.

just hours before theresa may threw a dinner in his honor, the president gave an interview in which he bashed her handling of brexit. now we're seeing him, though he's sparing her some criticism, but really advocating for if needed a no-deal brexit plan. a lot of it is him trying to put his finger on the scale in british politics. now, whether or not donald trump's support helps boris johnson or someone like that remains to be seen. more than that, it is largely the ceremonial affair. it's the kind of visit that if it were any other president would be a relatively routine matter. a few days here in london. you then make your first visit to ireland and participate in the d-day ceremonies. that's something that people on both sides of the atlantic are actually worried about. this is not a normal president. i think there's real concern in particular, the two days in which he marks the 70th anniversary of d-day, one of

course in england, the other in normandy, france, could that be a moment where he enter jekinte politics into a solemn military ceremony. we've seen that with the uss john mccain and with gold star families. there are some veteran groups out there that are concerned that even in the sacred space of normandy the president might make a comment about his political enemies or someone like robert mueller. >> the president has now ducked back inside to buckingham palace where he and the queen will have lunch with other members of the royal family, the first lady. they'll have lunch there. a wreath-laying ceremony. jonathan lemire, thanks so much as always for your reporting there. george will, three-day visit that is punctuated with a visit to the beaches of normandy. jonathan lemire is reporting that some members of the veteran community are concerned about donald trump's presence there.

>> it's odd that he would go to normandy where ronald reagan set the gold standard of how to commemorate d-day. we won't hear anything like these are the boys and all the rest. it's a very strange thing. this is hardly nixon to china in an election year like 1972, because there's no opening to our oldest ally. as richard has said, there's no agenda here other than the ceremony. claire said earlier in the program that controversy elaborates his message. controversy is his message, and he will not be able to stay on his good behavior the whole time through here. >> he's already violated that before air force one touched the ground. >> i understand. >> with his tweets about the mayor of london. >> he's like a pressure cooker. he's apt to explode before this is over. >> so what's the best hope, richard haass, that comes out of this. he meets with theresa may

tomorrow. what would you hope as a foreign policy mind, a foreign policy leader could possibly come out of it? let's go best case scenario. >> as i'm sure somebody once said, less is more. what you're hoping in a funny sort of way is this is ho-hum and normal, because the only things that would come out of this would be presidential support for brexit. i think that's the -- that is the substantive part of this. beyond the pageantry, i think the president likes the idea that he disrupts another institution, in this case the eu, and that the uk goes on an independent path. he'll exaggerate the potential for a u.s./uk trade agreement and economic relationship, but i think this does from his point of view reinforce the momentum of what he sees as a movement in some way that he was one of the early participants in. we're seeing it around europe, we're seeing it reviving in latin america and from brazil to argentina, even in its own

perverse way in mexico. so i think that's what he would hope, is that he looks presidential, but in some ways he contributes to the momentum of disruption around the because he's the first president to take the office who doesn't value the inheritance. he sees the inher -- let's listen to jared kushner over the weekend. when jared kushner talked about 75 years of american foreign policy, he didn't talk about it as a success. never mentioned peace, never mentioned prosperity, never mentioned freedom. he talked about that we were taken advantage of for 75 years. and that will be donald trump's legacy that he has changed the legacy of america being simply taken advantage of in the world. if you understand that is their mentality, that what they inherited was bad allies and others were free riders and hurting us on trade, then the purpose of this is to offer another approach. >> president trump has said that since the beginning of his campaign, we're being ripped off

around the world and it's time to get it back. >> he actually believes that. his view of alliances and trade, that's not cynical, it's not opportunistic on his part, he actually believes that stuff. and kushner echoed it yesterday. that's the value of this. is that he is basically disrupting 75 years -- remember his whole thing with mattis also. when mattis said in that fateful meeting in the tank, in the pentagon, we want to support the liberal world order and all of these institutions and trump said, no, we don't. that's why we got elected, was to disrupt everything. >> this is what goetz me the most about republicans senate in the senate. this is a world order they've been incredibly deeply invested in. is there a breaking point on this question, on the foreign policy questions with this president? >> not until the yrepublicans i the senate have a political price to pay and they do not belief they do right now. and that's really disappointing. it breaks my heart, especially for some of them who i know well and i respect.

that they -- i think this is a moment in history where you can really distinguish yourself as a republican member of the united states senate, to speak the word "debt," to speak the word "deficit," to speak the word, the norms of our institution of free press and an independent judiciary. i think there is an opportunity for a republican senator to rise above and be probably the next star of the republican party, but right now, they all believe there's too high a political price for them to pay. and it's terribly depressing to me, but i believe that's the reality. and i would be interested to get georgia's take on that. >> well, the reason they believe that, named corker and flake and congressman sanford, the republican party today is hi mon homogenous for the first time it split in 1912 over roosevelt and william harry taft.

500-day point in reagan's term, he had the support of 77% of americans. 500-day mark in the trump presidency, he had the support of 85% och republicans. the argument is over and will be over. it will be his party until he leaves. >> so is there anything that changes that dynamic, claire, until the day he leaves, whether it's in 18 months or five and a half years? >> no, i don't think so. there is worry, i think, especially about the suburbs, when you see what happened in the congressional elections. i won todd eakins' congressional district last fall. think about that. it is a suburban district, it was drawn for a republican. i actually defeated my opponent within the boundaries of that congressional district. i never thought that would happen. but there is something going on out there and i think those voters are likely to vote for the democratic nominee for president, as long as we don't

go. you know, we've got to absolutely pull in the populism in our party. we have to pull in the people that are very excited about aoc. we have to get them united in this idea that donald trump is a threat to all of the values that we all share. and if we can do that -- >> but he could not have been elected in the first place without the indispensable help of the democratic party. >> there's no question about it. and the other thing i want to mention about meghan markle, he did something very interesting about going after that princess. in that this is a woman who is symbolic to a lot of americans and a lot of people in the uk. she's popular, she's smart, she represents a change in many ways, a modernization of the royalty. the idea that he would go after her on audio and then deny he said it and have that juxtaposition. and by the way, it's everywhere in europe, that he called her "nasty," and then denied that he

called her nasty. and even newspapers are embedding the audio and everyone is listening to the audio, where this guy actually says she's "nasty." and then says, i never said that, fake news. that is not good for him. because he picked the wrong person to pick on. >> except he disagrees with you. he thinks it is good for him. when he wrote the word "nasty" in quotes in his tweet this morning about sadiq khan, the mayor of london, it was a callback to the controversy over meghan markle. he doesn't see any scandal as bad for him. >> i agree with you, but i think he's right. >> i think there's part of him that realizes that going after meghan markle might be a bad idea. when have we seen trump back down from an attack he's made on somebody? she is a bigger celebrity than he is. >> and that bugs him. >> right! but she has risen above all of it in so many ways. i just -- i see this as a loser for the president and i was a little surprised -- >> well, he did try to correct

himself in that very interview. he reversed himself immediately. >> exactly. i think -- i think he gets that going after her is not a very good idea. >> and she's an american. >> except he made a callback to it just this morning when he quoted "nasty," quoting himself talking about meghan markle. so before we let you go, the prime minister will be gone on friday, where will the uk be left on monday morning? >> that is anyone's guess right now. it's been like predicting who's going to win the democratic nomination. we asked earlier, what are two things that could come out of this positive visit? one, i would very much like to see the president to reaffirm the importance of nato. and two, wouldn't it be nice if he also reaffirmed the importance of the united kingdom staying united. we were discussing earlier about the risk of the brexit process for the irish peace process. also scotland is very opposed to brexit. there is a real danger that

actually the irony of brexit was supposed to make the united kingdom great again, if i can borrow the idea. in fact, it may end up making it more disunited and fragmenting into just the uk and wales. anything the president says suggests reaffirm the importance of a better unity will be wonderful. >> great to have you in our conversation this morning. thanks so much. we'll be back in just one minute, live on "morning joe."

hey allergy muddlers... achoo! ...do your sneezes turn heads? try zyrtec... ...it starts working hard at hour one... and works twice as hard when you take it again the next day. zyrtec muddle no more. in the short time you've been here in london, do they look ready to your experienced eye? >> you know, it's hard to know just how well it will turn out. there were a few things that were disconcerting. >> mitt romney has turned on the charm during his visit to britain by questioning the country's ability to host the olympic games. >> the message he wanted to get out from this trip has been obscured. >> if he's here to make friends, he's got a funny way of showing it. >> "the telegraph" fired off

this commentary, mitt romney is perhaps the only politician who could start a trip that was supposed to be a charm offensive by being utterly devoid of charm and mildly offensive. >> there's a guy called mitt romney who wants to know whether we're ready. he wants to know whether we're ready. are we ready?! are we ready?! yes, we are! >> simpler times. >> excellent production. >> a look back at all it took for then presidential candidate mitt romney to create an international uproar. that was during the olympics of 2012, the lead up to those games. welcome back the "morning joe." it's monday, june 3rd, 8:00 on the east coast. i'm willie geist alongside kasie hunt. republican communications strategist and the msnbc political contributor, rick tyler, president of the council on foreign relations, richard haas, former united states senator, now an nbc news and msnbc political analyst. claire mccaskill and columnist

for "the washington post," george will. he's the author of the new book, the conservative sensibility, which we're going to dig into momentarily. also with us, columnist and associative editor for "the washington post," david ignatius. joe and mika have the morning off. david, that clip originated. we were talking in one of the commercial breaks. we said, remember what mitt romney said and how quaint that feels right now when you look at all the things that president trump has said, leading up to this official state visit to the uk. >> if the brits were offended by mitt romney, they had no idea what was coming. >> he is so polite. >> it's out of a time capsule. thinking of the footage we've watched over the last hour, i was struck among other things by the brilliance of the queen, this tiny little woman, 93 years old, in managing the brand that is the royal family through -- they've had some roller coaster bumps over the last 20, 30

years. the reason donald trump is there is because he wants to attach the luster of that brand to trump inc. it's not all that complicated. and the little queen standing there on her green lawn at the palace, there's something marvelous about it. >> the quote from mitt romney to brian williams in nose quaint times was, there are few things that were disconcerting. >> about the security of the olympics. this morning, the president in a tweet called the mayor of london a stone-cold loser. >> and that's before he landed, to be clear. >> right before he landed. meanwhile, president trump is criticizing conservative columnist peggy noonan after her most recent op-ed suggested congress censure trump for attempting to obstruct the russia probe rather than impeach him. peggy's latest peace is called an impeachment alternative.

peggy writes. progressive democrats likely won't be as hot for impeachment in the fall when the 2020 contenders are taking full flight and party energy goes to helping them. mrs. pelosi is a practical woman. she is always underestimated as republicans as the shaky lady. she doesn't seem shaky to me. she's running rings around mr. trump and her own conference. mr. trump is obsessed with looking competent and in control. she actually is competent and in control. while president trump hit back on twitter yesterday, writing, peggy noonan, the simplistic writer for trump haters all, is stuck in the past glory of roadwaygan and has no idea what is happening with the radical left democrats or how vicious and ridiculous they are. mueller had to correct his ridiculous statement. peggy never understood it. among the lines that stuck out to me is "stuck in the past glory of ronald reagan," which is a place some conservatives would like to return. >> to get rid of the crybaby conservatism of this president.

nato's picking on us, the press is picking on us, meghan markle is picking on us. it's always a complaint about someone being mean to him. shortly before abe came to the united states, as the first head of government to visit the united states, i had lunch with two japanese diplomats. and they said, should mr. abe praise trump? and i burst out laughing and said, that's not just necessary, it's sufficient. and indeed, he did, and it was sufficient. >> and play golf. >> the saudis understood that on the president's first visit of his presidency when they projected his likeness on the side of the building they were staying. >> and rose petals. >> let's talk about the book, "the conservative sensibility." why for you, george, was this the right time or even an important time to put this argument down on the page? >> first, to say what conservatism is. because we have on display in our living rooms constantly what it is not.

in 1964, barry goldwater runs for president, i cast my first presidential vote for him. 70% of the american people said they trusted the federal government to do the right thing all the time or almost all the time. today, it's under 20%. again as the pretensions of government have risen, the prestige of government has collapsed. i'm just thinking watching all this stuff about britain, best thing we could do for them, the best gift would be to send them the collective writings of james madison, in which they will find a wonderful phrase, mitigated democracy. madison said, majorities will and should rule, but they must be majorities filtered and refined and enlarged by a slow maturation of public opinion through representative institutions. the progressive overthrow of the founder's vision was that we need more direct democracy, more passive courts, deferential towards legislative branch and all the rest, and an emancipated

president who can act with the firmness and dispatch that a complicated modern world wants. well, we've got that. is everybody happy? i don't think so. but i think it's time for people to say, something's gone wrong, maybe we should revisit the american premises from which we have strayed far. >> as you said earlier in the show, donald trump's name does not appear anywhere in this book, but you can't ignore him when you talk about modern conservatism. i think you would agree and perhaps what he has done to people who have been conservatives for most of their lives. lindsay gram comes to mind, talking about mexican tariffs, where he was against them and now suddenly he supports the idea of a tariff on mexico. what has donald trump done to conservatism in our modern times? >> ignored it? >> walked away from it. and he said, here's your choice. you can be a conservative or you can get re-elected. and we know where they stand. one of the reasons i'm for term limits, i don't know if you are? >> can i argue both sides.

>> i used to be opposed to them and in '94 i changed my mind and wrote a book in favor of them. term limits would change the motives for entering politics and the motives for behaving while you're in politics, if you can haven't a life-long career. if people were facing statutory, mandatory, constitutional, it has to be the supreme court who says, term limits. you would see more resistance to this. >> mr. will, if destruction can be described as a movement, do you believe that donald trump is leading this movement or do you think he's an outgrowth of this movement? and in the context of brexit, what is the larger movement going on? and if the republican, who i read was 96% united for trump which leaves me in the 4%, what happens to the party when he leaves? say if benjamin netanyahu were to move from the stage, the likud party, i believe, would evaporate. it's based on one personality. is that the republican party today? what happens to the republican

party in the future? >> well, there's the assumption that there'll be a great snapping back to something like the old times. i don't think so. you can't unring these bells. you can't say these things and say, this is acceptable to talk this way in public life and expect to emerge unscathed. i wrote a column recently in which i said, in the long-term, what he is doing aesthetically to america is more lasting and more damaging than what nixon's surreptitious burglaries did. he did them in private, they were exposed, they went away. you cannot get over the changes we've made to the way we talk to and about one another. >> is conservatism dead? not at all. no, these are ideas. and ideas don't die because they get imperfect vessels such as mr. trump. >> but is there anybody that's willing to carry these ideas on their shoulders and actually be supported by a large enough group of people in the united

states? >> not yet. but the hope is, just as when george wallace was shot and wallacism disappeared, ross perot embodied something, he disappeared and his movement disappeared. his hope is, looking on the bright side, which i'm disinclined to do, is that when mr. trump disappears, that will go away. i don't think so. i think what we need is a -- i'll use the afraid, the conservativive sensibility. a way of looking at the world and understanding complexity. a way of welcoming a certain out of controlness that is what a free society is. the fact is, what mr. trump represents is a pandemic, indiscriminate revolt against elites. ignoring the following fact. the question is never will elites rule? of course they will, by definition. the question is, which elites? and the problem of democracy is to get public consent to worthy

elites. and the kind of constant harping about elites, again, the crybaby conservatism. people are picking on us, people are manipulating us. we don't have real moral agency. we're just passive -- it's victimology, now embraced by conservatives. >> do you think, let's assume interest rates go up let's assume interest rates go up, you know, significantly over the next three or four or five years. we then have a fiscal crisis in this country, as it relates to the debt. and will conservatism, on a fiscal front, revive itself when the reality of higher interest rates pushed up against the debt that the republicans are joyfully adding to, everybody day. i mean, not even -- there is no even, like, slowdown for a school zone in terms of spending in the republican party. >> for all the talk of discord in america, i'm much more

concerned about the consensus. it's as broad as the public, as deep as the grand canyon, goes from left to right and it is this. we should have a large, generous, omnipresent welfare state. the entire political class is invested in the process of giving the american people a dollar's worth of government and charge can go them 80 cents for it. and the public says, that's terrific! keep it up! so the idea that there's fundamental disagreement, i think the political class is more united by self-interest than it is divided by ideology. >> makes the tea party quaint, huh, rick? >> why should progressives read your book? what would they find in it. >> because they're going to find that they brought us the capability to have this kind of president. they brought us the capability to have a congress that would willy-nilly, over time, give away so much power that a president can raise our taxes unilaterally. that's what a tariff is. now, a country that started out

by saying, representative institutions should be carefully in control of the pursestrings now has a president who can at his own whim raise taxes on americans by charging how much they can pay. of course, this president sincerely believes it's the sincerity that's terrifying. he sincerely believes that the chinese and the mexicans are paying these tariffs. it's astonishing. >> so stupid. >> david ignatius has a question for you, george. >> george, i want to ask you to come back to what to me remains the central mystery about trump, which is why his insurgency cut through the republican party so quickly and devastatingly? i still don't get it. >> well, first of all, he benefited from -- claire, take note -- the fact that there were 18 seems quaint at that time. there were only 18 people on stage and when you have that many people on stage, the most lurid stands out. the most lurid did stand out. but conservatives, by their

careless rhetoric, paved the way for this. because conservatives were constantly whining about the press and about academia and about hollywood and all the rest, granted they have complaints. granted that the conservatism has been without a kind of constituency in many of the opinion-shaping institutions of the country. but complaining about it all the time turn eed conservatism into kind of whine. a kind of screechy, sad victimology. and it's time for conservatism to begin its revival by backing proud and confident and saying, we have on our side jefferson and madison and hamilton and lincoln, particularly. note a bad intellectual pedigree. >> there are some voices trying to get that message through, but it's hard in this climate with the man at the top drowni ining all the news.

the book is "conservative sensibility." richard haas and david ignatius, thank you for joining us this morning. still ahead on "morning joe," amid a new tariff fight, president trump calls mexico an abuser of the united states. we'll talk to congressman sean duffy who has proposed a bill that he says will level the playing field on trade. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. watching "" we'll be right back. is yet. what is that? that's a blazer? that's a chevy blazer? aww, this is dope. this thing is beautiful. i love the lights. oh man, it's got a mean face on it. it looks like a piece of candy. look at the interior. this is nice. this is my sexy mom car. i would feel like a cool dad. it's just really chic. i love this thing. it's gorgeous. i would pull up in this in a heartbeat. i want one of these. that is sharp. the all-new chevy blazer. speaks for itself. i don't know who they got to design this but give them a cookie and a star. woman: (on phone) discover. hi. do you have a travel card? yep. our miles card. earn unlimited 1.5 miles and we'll match it at the end of your first year. nice! i'm thinking about a scuba diving trip. woman: ooh!

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you're gonna want to get in on this. i know how to those guys in here. let's pause the internet on their devices. wohhh? huhhhh? [ grumbling ] all: sausages! mmm, mmmm. bon appetite. make time for what matters. pause your wifi with xfinity xfi and see the secret life of pets 2 in theaters. mick, how seriously should we take the president's threat to raise these tariffs? is this basically a negotiating ploy to get mexico's attention? or does he really mean it, that if mexico doesn't stop the flow of migrants across our southern border, that he will start imposing these tariffs on june 10th? >> thank you for starting with such an easy question. he's absolutely deadly serious. in fact, i fully expect these tariffs to go on to at least the 5% level on june 10th. the president is deadly serious about fixing the situation at the southern border.

>> it's acting white house chief of staff mick mulvaney on fox news. over the weekend, president trump did not back down from his threat of imposing new tariffs on mexico. yesterday morning, he tweeted, people have been saying for years, we should talk to mexico. the problem is, mexico is an abuser of the united states, taking, but never giving. it has been this way for decades. either they stop the invasion of our country by drug dealers, cartels, human traffickers, coyotes and illegal immigrants, which they can do very easily, or our many companies and jobs that have been foolishly allowed to move south of the border will be brought back into the united states through taxuatiation, tariffs. america has had enough. sean duffy joins us now. >> good to be here. >> so do you believe that the president will start with 5% tariffs on mexico? you think it's going to happen? >> i think he will. the bottom line is, mexico is a great friend of ours. the problem is that they're allowing caravans of people to come from central america in and

across our country to our border, where they come in and they don't show up for their hearings. and i think we're in a place now where the president sees that the congress isn't going to act. democrats have basically embraced an open border policy. this week in the house, we're going to vote on giving green cards to those who come here illegally, which is going to incentivize more people to come illegally. so i think what the mexicans will have to do is say, listen, do we care more about our lawful economy and our trade with the u.s., or maybe we care more about the cartels who make a ton of money shuttling and bringing people across our southern border. and just, we know that the cartels pay off -- pay bribes to mexican officials. and so you have to balance that out on what's more important to them. >> so what do you think a 5% tariff will do to mexico in terms of limiting immigration north of the border? how does that put pressure on them to stop that? >> i think it will affect their economy. we can sit and have a cup of coffee with mexico and say,

please help this out with people who come from central america through our country to your border. that hasn't worked. and the president's using tariffs and economic pressure through those tariffs to say, sit down with us and let's figure this out together. >> but congressman, if we hurt their economy, we're going to go back to the days where illegal mexicans are trying to come across the border to get work. the reason that the vast majority of the apprehended people at the border are for central america is because the mexican economy is doing better and families are not trying to get to the united states in order to keep their families from starving in mexico. the other thing i've got to ask you, the thing that is just startling to me. he finally admitted in a tweet that these were taxes. there's no question that the american people pay the cost of additional consumer goods being put on them by tariffs in their countries. should the president of the united states be able to unilaterally raise tariffs without a peep from congress? >> so, first off, do we agree we have a crisis at the border?

because -- >> that's not my question. >> i'm going to answer your question, but democrats in the senate refuse to acknowledge that there's a problem at the border. has anyone been to the border? >> i have been many times. when you look at the humanitarian crisis that's taking place where we incentivize people to come into our country in-law unlawfully. >> that's not my question. should the president be allowed to unilaterally raise taxes on american people by the way of using tariffs. >> have prices gone up? look at inflation. president trump has been using tariffs as a tool to get people to negotiate with us and prices haven't risen. >> have you talked to farmers? >> that's not inflation. >> wisconsin milk farmers face extincti extinction. and i realize this is related to canada and not the mexican problem, but tariffs problem. >> i'll feed into your argument, but do you think this is smart politics, claire, do you think this is smart politics to say, i'm going to use tariffs to make

sure we have fair and freer trade in the world. smart politics? >> no. >> it's not, right. because donald trump doesn't care about the next election. he cares about making sure workers -- >> do you think donald trump understands tariffs? >> absolutely. absolutely. he is working to make sure we can right the ship. so right now, the white house did a study. 60% of our trading partners charge us tariffs when we send our goods overseas. we charge 20% of those products coming to the u.s., we charge tariffs on those products. >> here's the problem, congressman -- >> let me get to the point. what's happening here, my farmers still support president trump. we have a supply and demand issue with milk, but we have the premiere ginseng in wisconsin. we're the napa valley of ginseng. we sell most of it to asia. china has slapped tariffs on ginseng. we sell 30% of our cranberries to china. these are huge problems for us, but we have to pucfix the imbale on trade.

our workers, if somebody beats us on -- >> i just need you to say that it's okay for him to do it without congress saying it's okay. i need you to sign off saying, the president of the united states is okay putting tariffs on any country in any amount without the congress. >> we need the congress to act. >> you won't answer the question. >> congressman, there are -- you put enormous amount of faith in the president's negotiating skills, as do many of your farmers, obviously, that you talk to. here's the problem. donald trump has successfully completed one trade deal. one. and that's the coarse trade deal with south korea and the great confidence there was americans can't buy korean pickup trucks until 2020. we do not have a replacement because of nafta. >> why not? >> because of congress. >> but either way -- >> democrats won't take it up in congress. >> but someone will suffer the results from this. >> don't blame it on trump. >> the market is not confident that donald trump -- i'm just saying, you have put an enormous

amount of confidence in the president's negotiating skills. and he has no deals on trade. none! not with china, not with europe? >> if you want to blame trump for the u.s.smca that he negotiated -- >> which is the paperback version of nafta. >> he negotiated one with usmca, which is mexico and canada. but with china, listen, you know what he said? he said, here's what i want. i want you guys to stop stealing our stuff -- >> i take that point, but is it smart politics? >> it's not politics -- it's is it smart politics to say, you can still steal our stuff and force our companies to transfer their technology when they do business in china, still sell fentanyl in america -- >> how do our foreign trading partners, including canada, including mexico in particular, how can they trust th president when we go into the usmca and all of a sudden he says, i'm

going to slap a 5% tariff. it's auto parts, because a huge percentage of auto parts come from mexico. and then they go to mexico and come back. >> this is not the best solution to the border problem. >> no, it isn't. >> i would agree with you on that. >> progress! >> the easy solution is that congress act, recognize it's a crisis and have democrats join us to secure ore bordu our bord. that's not happening. >> we should incentivize more people to come legally. someone will have to pay your social security and my social security. >> i agree with you. there's wide agreement with republicans and democrats on lawful immigration. i have a bill, actually, it's called a reciprocal trade act. so we have a lot of dairy in wisconsin, as you mentioned, kacey, which then goes and makes butter. so if europe else sells us butte charge us 2.5%. if we sell our butter, it's a 68% tariff. our bill said we would give the president the authority to raise

our tariffs on products other countries charge us. and when they lower those tariffs, we'll lower ours as well. i'm a free trader. let's give the president the authority with congressional oversight to get people to lower their tariffs on american-made goods. >> so you're a free trader, congressman. before i let you go, fundamentally, do tariffs represent a tax on american consumers. >> they haven't yet. >> you don't believe that tariffs -- >> have prices gone up in the grocery store? >> sure, they have! >> on what? >> they're going up scl. >> avocados are five bucks a piece. >> larry kudlow said that tariffs were a tax. >> larry was going to rise that back. >> you don't believe that a tariff forces prices to raise. >> it's going to resupply -- >> so tariffs don't rise prices on consumers? >> they haven't yet. >> you don't believe that fundamentally. >> as a rule of economics, you

don't believe that? >> what is the inflation rate right now? >> i don't have that on me. >> they can't sustain it. >> to consumers will pay it. >> in no case is mexico or china paying for these tariffs. >> but do you have an american future, if you have a company that invests $50 million in research and development, was going to bring to market a new product. chinese has a hacker in the basement in their pajamas and we can fix it -- >> and we can steal that. >> no, you can't. they steal our stuff, they lie, they cheat, they steal. >> but do those companies go to china -- >> and if we didn't have donald trump, you would hope that 15 years from now you would have donald trump. >> but nose companithose company go to china. >> so congressman, walmart said they'll have to raise prices because of the tariffs. are they lying? >> we'll see. they haven't yet, have they? >> they said publicly that they'll have to raise prices. >> but they haven't yet. we've engaged in this back and

forth -- >> a lot of confidence in china -- >> you're putting a confidence in a communist regime that has global -- >> no, with as you knas you kno has been a world winner for not just for the united states, but for the world. and so was nafta and so was ttp would have been. >> the old model of saying, free trade doesn't have to be fair. you have gutted the middle class. the people where i come from lost their jobs, manufacturing has left, and they have gone to other places in the world. and donald trump has fought for them saying, let's try to make it fair for you. so let's bring the old jobs back. >> so the old jobs, but not the jobs of the future. >> what jobs did barack obama bring back? he said manufacturing was gone. my people love their manufacturing jobs. >> did they not like their farming issue? >> that's a supply issue, that's not -- >> but these pharmacy aren't going to reopen, are they? >> there's consolidation in dairy. >> you still believe that president trump's promise from the campaign, that coal jobs, auto jobs, steel jobs will come

back. not that they'll be modernized, but they will be coming back. >> they have been coming back. we have more manufacturing in my state -- >> you guys don't actually report -- come to the snow from wisconsin. we have more jobs available than we have to fill those jobs. >> in those old industries? >> well, the new industries? what else are you bringing? >> tech. >> in rural wisconsin. >> in ohio, sure. >> it's not coming to wisconsin. >> small businesses. >> ai. >> so they didn't come. these jobs are coming back. people can go to work. we have employers competing for their labor, which means their salaries are rising. and that's why president trump, i think, is going to win wisconsin and michigan and he's going to win ohio and very well has a great shot at pennsylvania. so you're missing the boat on how well he's doing. >> we've got a million more questions for you, but not enough time to ask them. we'll have you back very soon. congressman sean duffy. coming up next, emmy award-winning actor jeff daniels joins our conversation. we'll speak with him about his

broadway play "to kill a mo mockingbird" and i think he might have a few things to say about politics, as well. we'll be right back. out politic. we'll be right back. we call it the mother standard of care. it's how we care for our patients- like job. his team at ctca treated his cancer and side effects. so job can stay strong for his family.

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we have to heal this wound or we will never stop bleeding.

we have to make good this crime. we have to show tom robertson justice in this courtroom. now, we can start gathering the animals 2 x 2, because we'll be shown god's justice in a hurry. we can't go on like this, we know that. so let's hasten the change. >> a scene from the broadway play "to kill a mockingbird," adapted from haarrper lee' debu novel. joining us now, the man who brings atticus finch to the stage, jeff daniels. also with us for this conversation, pulitzer prize-winning editorial writer for "the washington post" and an msnbc contributor, jonathan capehart. gentlemen, good morning. welcome, jeff, congratulations. nine tony nominations, including one for you for best actor. aaron sorkin adapted this from the novel, wrote it in the aaron sorkin way.

what does that mean, exactly? that you're going to passion, that you're going to get -- you're going to say lines that no one else has ever said. and it's going to resonate with an audience. there are lines like a mob is where people go to take a break from their conscience. and if all you have to do is just lay it out there and 1,400 people go, oh, you can hear it. it's stuff like that. plus, the jokes tend to be -- they tend to go on for four lines and there's the laugh, got to get to that. just things like that. but he's a wonderful writer. and it's a joy to do his -- act his words. >> and when he brings the idea to you, what do you think, at first? is this a challenge that i don't know if i'm up to or can i bring something new to this beloved, iconic character that so many people feel they know so well? >> i didn't even blink. he asked, we got the rights, do you want to play atticus finch on broadway?

yes. >> what else would you say? >> yeah. it was a chance to work with aaron again. we had done "newsroom" and 'steve jobs" and he was asking me. and having been on broadway a few times, it was -- i knew the challenge of it. and that's, you know, i've been doing this a long time, 42 years. and if you're not going to get challenged, then get out. no matter what you're doing. and this was a challenge to go up against, you know, the memory and the legend of gregory pec and what aaron was going to do with the play and regarding to the book and some of the other things we were going to do. can we reach an audience. can we make an audience feel the play? and in a theater, you can do that. and we were able to pull that off. >> i've seen the play, it's absolutely extraordinary. you're extraordinary in it. what do you think it says, jeff -- what does it have to say about this moment we're in? the show now. are we asking too much of it to

be some kind of a commentary on where we are? >> no. and i think that's what art should do. i think the american theater should have a voice and should use it wherever possible. "to kill a mockingbird" is the american theater using that voice. and what it says is that here's a guy, atticus finch, who is everything that is right about america. and he is our national conscience. fictional, but still, he could be our national conscience. he believes in goodness in everyone. he believes in decency, respect for others, civility, truth. what a concept. and i throw that at the audience every night. and you can feel this audience just want to be reminded that those things still matter. that those things aren't getting bulldozed over by our present times. and i think it's a time when we need an atticus finch more than ever. and at least on a stage for

eight shows a week, we've got one. >> is there anyone in public life who is living out atticus finch or not? >> top of my hat, it's hard to say. i do know that there are people that are struggling to -- i think it's bigger than that. i think it's trying to hang on to whether it's going to be authoritarianism or whether it's going to be a democracy. i think there's a big, big question going on there. i think the jury's still out on that. you know, i keep saying, who the hero's going to be. and it may be an atticus finch that doesn't have a name, that isn't famous, that isn't in congress or in the white house. and i think it might be somebody we haven't seen yet, popping up going, i'm going to stand for something and take a stand. we've got some people starting to do that in their own way. we need more than that. >> there are a lot of lawyers in america.

tha became lawyers in part because of atticus finch. >> yeah, i've talked to them. >> and i'm one of thoese. i adored perry mason, i thought he was cool, but atticus finch was a whole another level. >> yeah. and part of that was this -- the book exuded and so does the play. it was remarkable. it exuded the value of the rule of law. and it's not perfect, as we say in the book and as i witnessed in the play, but the respectful for the rule of law that atticus finch exudes is so much a foundation of what we are as a country, talk about the rule of law and maybe compare atticus finch to robert mueller. >> it's a really good comparison, because it's not enough to respect the rule of law. atticus finch views the rule of law as sacred. you do not alter that belief in any way. and mueller seems to be that same, boom, this is what the law

says i can do and this is what it says i can't do. atticus is the same way. tom robinson is found guilty when he shouldn't be at all, atticus folds up his briefcase and says, that's when the case ends and i go home. and i have to live with the verdict. and the respect and the sacredness of the rule of law is everything to atticus finch, and should be everything to us. >> and should be everything to the president, which it clearly is not. >> jeff, jonathan capehart has a question for you. >> jeff, unlike willie, i have not seen the play, but of course i've read the book and know the story. and on issues of race, i would love to know from your perspective after doing this play and the message that comes from this play on race, what's the one impediment do you think is keeping us from moving this play into truly being an historic play, as opposed to the

message and the words remaining painfully relevant today? >> well, i think what the play does is it makes you feel the injustice. different from the movie for some reason. maybe it's the fact that it's 58 years later or the book, which you can put down and be moved by, but now it takes you two weeks to read it, whatever. the play is 2 1/2 hours of, when tom robinson is found guilty and he is walked across that stage, the broadway white liberal audience sits there and watches it and feels it and -- >> cries. >> yeah, you're in the room. now, that is as close -- this play, what it does to white america is punches them right in the face. >> i agree. >> that's what it does. and it does it in the first act and we're kind of by intermission, people are going, we're crying already, we're moved already and we think it's set up for the second act.

this impacts people so that regardless of how they feel, they've kind of got to deal with it and leave the theater and go, am i for this or am i against this? because that seems to be where we are, when it comes to racism and decency and civility and respect for others and the rule of law, are you for it or are you against it? you can't just want your tax es lowered and be okay with it and not be bothered by it. >> that brings us to an important question about the place where you live, michigan. you live in your hometown in michigan. a congressman there, justin amash, a republican has called for an impeachment inquiry, standing alone, a lonely voice among republicans in congress. got a standing ovation last week at an event there. and you've talked about your dad, a moderate republican, who is the kind of person who, you know, there are many, many like him in this country who might have taken a flyer in the state

of michigan on donald trump. what are they thinking today? >> it's a great question and it's one i keep posing to them. it's time. it's time, i think. now, some of them may be able to avoid it, but i think -- a lot of people who didn't want to vote for hillary just because they can't take the clintons, okay, well, i'll vote for one of the jill stein or gary johnson or whoever the hell. that's the vote. now trump's in and they're going, well, gee -- or they voted for him. they -- here it is! it's two years later. here it is. you still with him? still believe this is america? you really do that? really? and i think a lot of them are -- i know my dad would be -- my dad would be spitting, he'd be so mad, at what has happened to the republican party. and that he is offended by it. and he would probably vote democrat just to clean it out. and them come back, hoping that republican moderates would come back into the political scene in four years, but apparently,

they've been trampled and it's going to take -- i keep looking at the 15 republicans in the senate to open their mouths and do something. and i keep looking at the republican moderates in the country going, when does that start to shift? and you guys know better than i do, when the polls move. suddenly, we'll have legislative action, or we'll have more republican senators and congresspeople coming out and going, well, i'm against it now, because i just saw the polls back in my district. why don't you go back to the district and tell these people they were conned? why don't you have the courage to do that? and i keep waiting for that. >> claire, you were talking about this earlier this morning. there isn't a moment, there hasn't been a moment, certainly, was there's nothing even on the horizon that would change a congressional republican to do exactly what jeff is talking about here, because they want to protect their jobs. >> i wish every one of my republican republicans in the senate would go to see "to kill a mockingbird" on broadway. because what the play is also about and the book and the source material is about

courage. you know, it is hard to take a position -- i know, i'm from a tough state. i took positions that i knew were not popular at home. it's not easy, but what's the point of having one of those jobs if you don't respond to the moment where you can rise above the political winds and actually do something courageous. and i -- i still hope that there will be more republicans. i know they believe it, because they tell me, privately, that they are just absolutely offended at the lying day after day after day, this guy lies and lies and lies. >> these are not stupid people. >> they're not stupid people. they know it's really bad. >> the public/private dissidence just stunning. >> and you know it, kacey, because you're on the hill. you know what these guys and women say when the camera's not on. you know how disgusted they are with the president's behavior.

and i just hope, and maybe coming to see you on stage with the wonderful actors you perform with in that play might be the spark that some of them would find their courage, because we desperate need it. >> amen to that. "to kill a mockingbird" is playing now on broadway at the shubert theater. it's nominated for nine tonys, including one for jeff daniels for best actor. jeff, always great to see you. >> thanks, willie. >> fumpif you haven't seen the , go see it. up next, live to wall street for details on the new comments coming out of china rattling investors. "morning joe" is coming right back. investors. "morning joe" is coming right back nothing says summer like a beach trip,

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center for an evangelical service. let's turn to get business before the bell with sara eisen. futures in the red this morning, i understand. and china has something to do with that. >> absolutely. it's just the trade war escalation continuing to rock wall street. willie, we're coming off the first losing months of the year. may was brutal. many people happy to say good-bye to the month. stock markets off 6%. we haven't seen that lins sent 2 since 2011. and saying the breakdown is the talks between u.s. and china. when you give them an inch, they want a yard. that's the chinese investigation of the story. there are no new trade talks between the u.s. and china. we are expecting president xi and president trump to be

meeting at the g20 at the end of the month. month word on whether they can come to a trade truce. in the meantime, more tariffs back and forth. the u.s. took up the tariff rate to 25% to $25 billion worth in this country. china retaliated this past weekend. what's making matters worse, willie, there's also a big threat of tariffs, 5%, on mexican imports. so trade wars heat up with two out top three trading partners in the u.s. even though they're here to discuss it. >> and saying the tariff will go into effect a week from today. c cnbc's sara eisen. june is pride month. tackling the issue with the same urgency as 50 years ago. >> with the protests.

the world is ever changing. the world is ever evolving. >> as long as lgbtq people are facing any form of discrimination, pride is still relevant. >> people have been doing this for a long time. we owe it to our elders that we get to be here today. >> a lot of this here today. >> happy pride, everybody. joining us now is raymond braun, the host of "state of pride" which is out on youtube. raymond, great to have you. >> thank you for having me. happy pride. >> happy pride to you, too. tell me what you set out to do with this film. what did you want to say on this 50th anniversary? >> on the 50th anniversary of stonewall, we wanted to reflect on what pride means to the lgbtq people. with specifics to the generation

who night not have bemight been stonewall. we went together with the award winning actors and went to salt lake city, to various small towns like tuesdscaloosatuscalo. >> you talked about the scope of the towns. san francisco, associated with pride, but not as much as tuscaloosa, alabama. why did you pick that town? >> i thought that small towns are great to highlight as well. myself, i've grown up in a smalltown in ohio. i didn't see anyone out visible, comfortable being themselves. i remember how valuable it would have been for me to have a pride in my own community. so, as we look towards the future of pride, i think it's important that we have more pride events more festivals that meet people where they are. that they don't have to move to a big city for acceptance. that they can find it in any town in any country. tuscaloosa showed that to us.

it's in its third year, but we saw a lot of heart there and saw how meaningful for the community. >> 50 years after stonewall. a historical landmark. to visit it, it's a part of our stories of our lives and new york. just remind us for people maybe who young what happened at stonewall. >> first of all, stonewall burst pride which a lot of people don't realize. we have rebellion and activism in pride. what happened at stonewall, lgbtq people were fed up with being harassed and humiliated by police. at that time, gay bars were one of the few places that lgbtq people could come together and feel a part of the community. on that particular evening, 1969, lgbtq communities pushed back and the riot lasted for a

couple days. a lot of people think stonewall was the beginning of the modern day gay rights movement. what was significant about it, there was massive media coverage. when lgbtq people saw images from stonewall, it emboldened emto sit taller and share their stories. and to commemorate stonewall, the first march that evolved into pride occurred. >> jonathan, i'll let you take it. what is the state of pride in 2019, especially understand this administration? >> well, compared to what pride was when i was probably raymond's age. but we've made incredible gains. probably the freest moment for the lgbtq community was june 26th, 2015, when the supreme court that morning handed down

its decision that marriage equality was protected under the constitution. and then that night, for the first time ever, the white house was ablazened in the rainbow colors. so what we've seen since the inauguration of president trump is a steady erosion of the gam s gains that were made, particularly under the obama administration, with some of its rule changes, particularly facing the transgender community. i believe it was a tweet i saw from i believe it was box or s buzzfeed, as a result of that trump administration, every single advancement put in place by the obama administration had been stripped away. so, my question for raymond, in your travels around the country, talking to people about pride in towns big and small, did any of them talk about any of these

issues and sort of the pushback that they are facing, the res t resistance that they're facing in their communities to the advancements that we have seen over the last 50 years? >> absolutely. that was really important. and i think it's important to remind people that pride again has its roots in acta vifl and protests and politics. all every state talks about a person's journey of overcoming discrimination. and you mentioned the persecution and the violence that transgender americans are facing today, being written out of protections. being actively undermined in their rights. we saw in a lot of stories and the state of pride in transgender in particular how much work needs to be done. transgender women of color had always been to the forefront of activism and protests that has given us the rights that we have

today. so it was important for to us highlight that and make sure we correct the historical record for contributions and that all members have made throughout the past 50 years. >> raymond, congratulations on this important documentary called "state of pride" available on youtube originals. thank you for being here. >> jonathan capehart, thank you as well. we wanted to mention that jonathan's recent dock with pete buttigieg is available online and ready to watch. final thoughts for the morning as the president continues his day in the uk? >> well, i think as we watch the president, i really like -- we were discussing this, this morning, that we're coming to a close of an era, that the uk is falling apart. and it's not the relationship that we used to have. >> claire. >> i was struck by the fact that the congressman, the republican congressman could not admit that if a democrat imocemocratic pre

establishing tariffs unilaterally, they'd be losing. >> kasey, final word. >> do we get the president who is trying to match the grace of queen or the baby trump flying over. >> we'll see. as he commemorates d-day on thursday. that does it, stephanie ruhle picks up the coverage. good morning, everyone, i'm stephanie ruhle. it is 9:00 a.m. on the east coast and we have a lot to get to here and abroad. our team of extraordinary reporters is here with me with details on the stories impacting your life today. starting with president trump arriving in the uk today under a self-created cloud of controversy after firing a torrent of twitter attacks rallying against the mayor of london, mexico and even a major u.s. public compan