i mean, connect the dots about what he's been doing in this country. he's not tolerating racism he's promoting it. he's inciting racism and violence in this country. you know, i just -- i don't know what kind of question that is. >> that is presidential candidate beto o'rourke yesterday in texas where 20 people were gunned down in a domestic terror attack. a hate crime fueled by a white nationalist. hours later, another mass shooting in ohio. in all, nearly 30 dead, dozens wounded in a nation rife with weapons of war and short on the moral fortitude to do anything about it. welcome to "morning joe." it is monday, august 5th. with we have nbc contributor mike barnicle. white house reporter for the associated press, jonathan lemire. professor at princeton university eddie glaude jr. historian, author of the "soul of america" jon meacham.

former fbi special agent, clint watts. washington bureau chief for "usa today," susan page. so it's come to the point as one person observed on twitter that when you ask about the recent mass shooting in this country the answer is which one? well, we'll get to the dayton, ohio, shooting in just a moment. we'll speak with the city's mayor coming up this hour. a motive in that shooting remains unclear. there are some theories emerging online and we'll report on them if something gets confirmed but we'll start with the el paso massacre, because the motive in that shooting is apparent and it's political. yes, we have a major gun problem in this country. yes, we have a mental health crisis in this country. absolutely. kevin mccarthy, we'll even say that video games can cause some issues, but we clearly have a white supremacy problem in this country and the president is

acting again as an accelerant. it was written, days before the el paso massacre -- >> this was before the massacre. >> that instinct and experience tell me we are headed for trouble in the form of white hate violence stoked by racially divisive president. and that trump empowers hateful and potentially violent individuals with his divisive rhetoric and his unwillingness to unequivocally denounce white supremacy. he has chosen a re-election strategy based on appealing to the kinds of hatred, fear and ignorance that can lead to violence. >> let's go really quickly to jon meacham here. frank fig lucy who said all the alarm bells went off in his mind before 9/11 that something was

coming, four days before el paso he wrote i feel the same thing when it comes to white supremacy. of course, so many people have been offering these warnings. it's dark that it was in "the new york times" four days before el paso he said this is going to keep coming. we can talk about charlottesvil charlottesville, or like beto o'rourke we can talk about the president calling mexicans rapists and murderers. the president calling hispanics breeders. we could talk about the republican members of the u.s. senate tweeting out that nine hispanics' babies born every day for every one white baby being born in the state of texas. we could go through all of that. but it lays as a back drop ag n again. really does act as an accelerant, does it not, for those without guardrails who are white supremists who will pick up a gun and we have had one

example after another example after another example of donald trump promoting violent acts. >> you know, there's -- in this case there's not enough retrospective wisdom. there were people who you say who spoke about it in realtime. when people look at the fall of 1963, they remember adlai stephenson in dallas being jostled by protesters. they remember johnson being jostled and that culminates in the tragedy of november 22, 1963. lyndon johnson's speech to america had several pages about hate to america and it was a poison that went into the blood stream of the nation. and had to be stopped. and there are i think there are two lessons there. one is we have to have the capacity to call it as we see it. facts as john adams said are

stubborn things. this kind of rhetoric unquestionably was going -- you have used the word accelerant. it was going to create a climate in which people did unspeakable things. because of the spoken word people can do unspeakable things and that's essential for the people at the highest levels -- a person at the highest levels to understand that. and the second is that presidents play a role in this country of not just consoling but of setting a tone. and the tone of the last 2 1/2 years is unacceptable. it's tragically not all that un-american in the sense that white supremacy is part of the marbled nature of america. it's the worst part of us and a conscientious citizenship at this point has to be about making perennial forces like white supremacy ebb as opposed

to flow. right now, we have someone in power who has been content to manage and marshal those forces and not make them ebb. >> you know, eddie glaude, anybody that has been following news at all for the past three or four years knows that we could and we have but we could this morning show clips of the president of the united states inciting violence at his rallies. talking about beating the hell out of people. talking about paying anybody that beats the hell out of somebody, talking about assassinating hillary clinton with what he called second amendment solutions to her appointing federal judges. we can go down the long laundry list. we could also go down a long laundry list of what he said about immigrants. again, calling hispanics breeders. calling mexicans rapists.

calling women of congress who opposed his policies un-american. just saying that they should go back home. that is a nazi sort of chant. it's what the nazis said and thought about jews and gypsies. we saw it spill over into the crowd in north carolina, chanting go back home, send her home. again, this is not -- it doesn't take a great imagination. in fact, it takes a great deal of denial on the part of any donald trump supporter not to hear this continued hateful language, to not hear the continued warnings from people saying this will lead to violence. and then to try to pretend that what happened in el paso wasn't connected directly to the hate speech of donald j. trump. >> you know, you're absolutely right and first of all, my heart goes out to the families in el paso. i'm thinking about the mother

who was murdered as she was trying to shield her child and fell on to a 2-year-old and broke his bones as she was trying to protect him. the carnage is horrible. it's evil. i think it's important for us to understand though that there is a kind of continuum. donald trump didn't pull the trigger, but he embraces along with a whole bunch of others -- he embraces a view of america that some scholars will call inherent democracy. he thinks this is in fact a white nation and he's worried about the demographic shifts, joe. he's making an argument, he's appealing to the darker sides of the country in order to put forward this view that this country must be and must remain a white nation. and over the course of our history, whenever that argument is being made it is being made

in the moment in which the country is experiencing profound shifts. you can look at it, joe, at each historical pivotal moment when we're about to change, there's an escalation in violence. there's an escalation in defense of the way we expect the world -- our world to be. i think jon hit it on the head. instead of us trying to, you know, ebb it, we're allowing it to flow. so we have to be honest with ourselves, joe. we have to tell the truth and our history suggests that we're not very good in those moments. and we finally have to stop it seems to me and be honest with ourselves and tell ourselves the truth about what we make possible. not the folks on the fringe, not the folks on the margins, but what we make possible because this is the soil that allows this stuff to grow and then to explode and lead to the death of

so many people. >> and there's always this attitude among some that you can't talk about politics at a time like this. are you serious? are you stupid? that's stupid, that's devoid of any knowledge of anything. you have republican politicians saying that right now. federal prosecutors are treating the el paso, texas, mass shooting inside of walmart as a case of domestic terrorism. the u.s. attorney there says his office is investigating the 21-year-old white male suspect for hate crime charge and firearm charges, which carry a penalty of death. the el paso district attorney also says his office will seek the death penalty. officials say the suspect drove about ten hours to get to the el paso walmart that was packed with back to school shoppers and opened fire, killing 20 people and wounding 26 more.

the el paso police chief says the suspect surrendered without incident. we're told he's speaking freely and has been forthcoming with information. and about 20 minutes before the shooting in el paso took place, a hate-filled diatribe appeared online believed to be linked to the shooter. it was posted on an extremist website and said the attack was specifically mentioning a hispanic invasion of texas. the post draws direct inspiration from the mass murder of muslims at two mosques in new zealand in march that left 51 people dead. in the attack, he published an essay online promoting a white supremist theory called the great replacement. the theory argues that elites in europe have been working to replace white europeans with immigrants from the middle east

and north african. the diatribe potentially linked to the el paso killings begins in general i support the christchurch shooter and his manifesto. this attack is a response to the hispanic invasion of texas. as "the new york times" points out, if the essay is linked to the el paso gunman it potentially underscores the global spread of white supremist ideology in the age of social media and at a time when immigration in america and elsewhere has become a divisive political topic. >> well, it's important to remember that the christchurch shooter's manifesto took his inspiration in part from the white supremist shootings in south carolina. and you can look at pittsburgh. you can connect the dots. now, there are -- again, we don't know what moves shooters to do certain things. and anybody that takes a gun and

goes in and mows down people in schools or churches or walmarts obviously have diseased minds and there are a lot of different things working on it. here though, in this instance it's not about him saying he's a republican or him saying he's a democrat, he said he doesn't like democrats or republicans. but it's about this guy specifically using words that are similar to donald trump's and also talking about how texas may end up -- or actually he says texas will go democratic in the coming elections to come because more hispanics are quote invading texas which of course has been the president's theme for the past four years. that mexicans and hispanics are invading america and, you know, the president's rhetoric it's raised concerns in realtime about the violence that it could

engender. every time he has ignored one warning after another. and also i think this is even more important. his republican allies on the hill also corporations that are supporting donald trump's re-election also business people who are supporting donald trump's re-election because they might like a tax cut, but they don't care about the racism, they don't care about the white supremacy, they don't care about what the man who they're writing checks for in corporations, who they're writing checks for, ceos of companies, whose pacs are giving to donald trump because they might like a tax cut, they've remained silent as well. they're allowing his rise, they're working hard for his re-election, despite his white

supremacy. despite his violent rhetoric. and despite that violent rhetoric going back to the start of the president's campaign four years ago. we're going to look at though just some of the past two years. here was the president's reaction to a torch rally chanting hate slogans in charlottesville, virginia, the night before an anti-racism protester was murdered and many others were injured in the mass attack. >> i think that's blame on both sides. you look at both sides, i think there's blame on both sides. and i have no doubt about it and you don't have any doubt about it either. they -- you had some very bad people in that group but you also had people that were very fine people on both sides. >> very fine people. now again, very interesting that trump supporters on twitter and on other networks will actually say he wasn't talking about the

neo-nazis. that president right there, he was talking about the white supremacists and neo-nazis carrying torches and chanting neo-nazi chants. so you guys need to stop making fools of yourself and stop enabling a guy who is actually giving the okay -- the presidential good housekeeping sign of approval to white nationalists. don't shame yourselves anymore. i know it's going to be hard because you have spent the last several years lying and covering up for this president and trying to pretend he's not a white supremacist and that goes for you, ceos, to allow your companies to continue to write checks, to support the politicalrise of this white supremacist president. i wonder if your shareholders are really okay with that, because i can't believe they would be. but anyway, after the president

preached moral equivalency between nazis, a professor wrote this. i study violence, killing political disorder for a living. i have a pit in my stomach after today's press conference. total moral collapse. odds of nonstate violence soar when state officials give it cover and legitimacy. dangerous and irresponsible. last fall a deranged man who said he was inspired by what he heard from the president and fox news he sent pipe bombs to george soros and others. here is what mika said as that was unfolding. >> the president didn't pack those mail bombs. he didn't grind up the shards of glass and tended to -- intended to maim and kill. but he did something else. he undermined american values and dehumanized those who dare

to question his conduct. he ginned up a type of feverish hysteria based on race and religion and political party and it has the potential to lead to what we saw happen yesterday and we don't even know if it's over. >> and it continues. what was the president's reaction? it was to mock the people who actually had bombs sent to them. saying cnn had quote gone wild about how he was not presidential. the rnc chair ted cruz and others joined him in criticizing the media and targets of the pipe bombs. while the violence went on. a man bent on punishing a synagogue for assisting refugees, the same refugees that donald trump and stephen miller castigate daily killed 11 people in pittsburgh.

amid an election where the president made repelling, a caravan of migrants and sending troops to the southern border a nightly rallying cry. >> democrats want to invite caravan after caravan of illegal aliens to pour into our country. i don't think so. that's an invasion. i don't care what they say. i don't care what the fake media says, that's an invasion of our country. >> it happens at every rally. the rallies keep getting worse. the nazi chants go up from the crowds, send her back. and they are. they are. you can look at history. they are. and yet that a sort of rhetoric that ceos are funding with their

support of donald trump, leaders of business in america are supporting that sort of white supremacy. they are funding that man and his hate campaign that gives inspiration to white supremacists and that continued to heat up. warning of large-scale crime and disease from immigration. plagues. other networks talked about plagues coming to the united states. and using invasion rhetoric even though he said he had heard the warnings. >> you know a lot of people don't like the word invasion. we have a country that's being invaded by criminals and by drugs. it's an invasion of our country. we have an invasion of drugs, invasion of gangs, invasion of people. we're on track for a million illegal aliens to rush our

borders. people hate the word invasion but that's what it is. >> that last sound bite was from march 15th. and that was the day when a racist gunman killed 50 people at a mosque in new zealand hoping to spread his hatred worldwide. as eddie glaude warned on our show that day, this. >> what's interesting about this is not just simply anti-immigration. there's an ideology driving this. "the new york times" reported he listed in the manifesto his white nationalist heroes. what it reveals is that there's an epidemic of hatred and fear engulfing the world and we need to be mindful in our own rhetoric and in our own actions how we're pushing it. >> but the president never tones down his rhetoric. in fact, for those of you who are funding donald trump's re-election campaign, you may want to take note that because

you keep writing checks to this president it's on you. it really is. it's all on you because you're funding this white supremacist campaign, ceos. you really are. business people. millionaires and billionaires it's your money that's funding this white supremacy because you won't tell him to stop. you won't tell him talk about the economy and i'll write you a check. keep up the white supremacist attacks i'll ask for a refund. why won't you do that? does your company support white supremacy, does the company you run support white supremacy because the attacks continue. remember, the hit list from the domestic terrorist in the coast guard case and the president's pitiful period of silence when federal authorities were investigating we told you in

realtime how dangerous this was. not a word from trump, not a word from mitch mcconnell. not a word from kevin mccarthy. not a word from the justice department. that is pathetic. and by the way, donny, you know trump. does he know what he's doing? does he know what he's doing here? what he's encouraging by remaining silent? >> is he hoping for a deflection? >> he knows exactly what he's doing and by the way, there were media members that were on the target list. we took it a little personally. but more importantly, that target list you actually had nancy pelosi and guess what, here we go, ceos, that fund donald trump's campaign. do you know who else was on that kill list? people that were running against donald trump for president. the democratic field that was

running against donald trump for president of the united states, he's encouraging his supporters around his supporters are listening to that encouragement. and so he's actually putting donald trump's political opponents on a kill list. and donald trump, he doesn't criticize that, does he? do you ever hear trump really go out and criticize a man who put his political opponents on a kill list while he was collecting guns and had a list of people that he was going to gun down. donald trump. just republicans, republicans said nothing about it. how interesting. just in the last month we have witnessed the hatred that the president has directed at minority members of congress after trashing elijah cummings for the last week. on friday, trump tweeted quote, really bad news. the baltimore house of elijah

cummings was robbed. too bad. the president even mocking a robbery of a member of congress. you know, the president sees a break at a congressional member's house as something to laugh about. something to mock. but this is a man who laughs off the prospects of deadly violence against those he does not want in this country. here's donald trump last may. >> this is an invasion. when you see these caravans starting out with 20,000 people, that's an invasion. i was badly criticized for using the word invasion. it's an invasion. but how do you stop these people? you can't. there's not -- that's only in the panhandle you can get away with that stuff. only in the panhandle. so it's a tough situation.

>> so he says invasion repeatedly. he said what can we do to stop them? somebody says shoot them. much like what happened this past weekend. what is donald trump's response? a response like john mccain when somebody said that barack obama was a muslim -- not there's anything wrong with that. no, he laughs. tells a joke. the whole crowd laughs at a person saying, shoot them. and then he goes on and starts talking about the invasion again. mike barnicle, the people in the crowd are complicit. republicans are complicit. and i will say again businesses, ceos, the pacs they run, they

give money to donald trump for this white supremacy that he's now running on. they're complicit as well. >> joe, his language of license lingers in the air like the smell of cordite around mass shootings. that's a fact. and unfortunately we will today and we always -- we have already heard yesterday one public person after another saying this is not who we are in speaking of the shootings. the sad fact is this is who we are. this is actually who we are and who we have become. and the facts of this case, we have these one man armies of white nationalists. we live in a nation awash with guns. more than 290 million weapons

but that's just part of it. and i think joe referenced it several times and quite accurately when the president gives the state of the union address -- any president but this president in particular it's devoid about talking about the moral state of america. there is something deeply, deeply wrong in this country. >> we have talked about it on this show at least a half dozen times that i have been on here about violent rhetoric leads to violence. this isn't a coincidence. we have seen this after 9/11 that's all we focused on. what is the violent rhetoric, what's the violent ideology that's driving this violence, al qaeda and look at what we're talking about today. that violent violence is coming from our elected officials and leaders. what has changed in the last three years? they have given license to people to perpetrate violence and look at the targets. look at the targets. we have a muslim ban, we see mosques shot up. we have synagogues shot up.

black churches. hispanic shopping areas. what is common with all of those? we have rhetoric that's -- that is directly correlated with each of these themes that continue on. then we look at the frequency. look at the frequencies of the attacks. yes, have we had extremist attacks before, yes. but not at this pace. look at the level of violence. how much violence are they having? in that manifesto in el paso he said he specifically chose that location so he can maximize killing. what did he choose? he chose a place with hispanics, he chose a place where he knew there was a lodger response time. he went to great lengths about don't hit a hardened target. remember what the solution is from republicans on all this. we need to harden targets, we'll harden every walmart in america. put out massive security sweeps no. he picked it because he knew he would have a longer time and he

picked out the weapon that would inflict the most damage. what is that? ar-15. ak-37 shows up. in dayton he had a hundred round magazine. last time i saw a hundred round magazine i was in the u.s. army. i was an infantry officer. it is made for killing people. that's it. people don't go hunt with 100 round magazines. why do we have those on the streets in this country? we could take a series of measures today. in fact, how would we know how to do it? we know how to do it after 9/11. and they can disrupt these based on extremely limited resources. director wray a hundred disruptions imagine how many would have been shootings like we saw this week. at least five. maybe ten. they have been proactive in this and they don't have enough resources and they don't have the authorities to go at them like al qaeda or isis because we

don't call it by its name. when do we hear from donald trump, it's got to be militant islamic terrorism but this is white terrorism and we need to face it head on. >> well, we need to face it head on and clint, director wray, you're exactly right. he warned about the rise of white supremacy. i was reading david french last night, and i'm sure you'll agree with david french, from the national review. he said that we have to put the same focus now on white supremacy that we put on radical islam several years ago. that it is as much of a threat and you have a conservative like david french saying it. and here you have the republican appointed fbi director chris wray saying it last week in congress. take a look. >> through the third quarter of

this fiscal year had about give or take a hundred arrests on the international terrorism side which includes the home grown terrorism. >> this year. >> this year. but we had the same number -- again, don't quote me to the exact digit on the domestic terrorism side. majority of the domestic terrorism cases that we have investigated are motivated by some version of what you might call white supremacists. >> so there you have jonathan lemire, the president's selected fbi director sounding off the alarm on white supremacy in the united states. and many others have for quite some time. but you wrote of the president's tepid response this weekend and really almost his carefree

weekend. if you just look at the schedule. >> that's right. part of the job description for the president of the united states is to be there as the healer. we saw president bush do it after 9/11 and visiting ground zero and visiting a mosque saying that islam is a peaceful religion. and president obama spoke so movingly. we remember him tossing balls like basketballs after the hurricane there in puerto rico. the president was at his golf course in new jersey all weekend. on saturday after the el paso shooting he tweeted briefly that first respond -- the federal government would coordinate with local authorities and 14 minutes later he tweeted about a ufc fight. he tweeted about getting african-american support in the election and later on he was at a wedding at bedminster.

the public did not see him until sunday afternoon, hours after the dayton shooting as well. we'll hear from him today at 10:00. there will be scrutiny on him, particularly because not just about whatever sort of gun control measures democrats are going to want him to support and of course to this point he's proven extremely reluctant to do that. but also because the manifesto linked to this el paso shooter has anti-immigration rhetoric that so obviously mirrors what the president himself has been saying. time and time again. as we have been relaying on this show here. i would point out, he has been so reluctant time and again to criticize white supremacists and violence carried out in the name of the white domestic terrorism. i was with the president on the tarmac as we're preparing to fly

back to washington. he took one question. about whether he takes any responsibility for his rhetoric, he ignored us and walked away. >> so susan page it brings us back to beto o'rourke and his frustration that you could hear in his voice at the top of the show. i really think he touched a chord in a way he never had in this campaign because you could feel the pain and this is an issue that resonates with voters. this is an issue that resonates with young people who have grown up in the age of mass shootings afraid they may come to their school because it's a way of life. it seems to me this political issue could be something that the democrats could get some traction on. >> you know, we have seen in the past after these terrible mass shootings that there's a -- an immediate response and it doesn't translate into electoral politics but i wonder now that

we have had 250 mass shootings in this country so far this year about the ripple effect. about the increasing number of americans who either know someone who is shot or someone who's at place of a mass shooting or who knows someone in their family or their workplace who has been touched by these shootings and whether that begins to have a more serious political effect. one reason they haven't had a political effect in a big way in the past is that people who support gun rights for instance feel more about it and maybe that starts to shift with the number and the intensity and the screeds associated with some of these shootings this year. >> well, still ahead on "morning joe" back in may, 14 tornadoes tore through dayton, ohio. then on sunday morning, a mass shooting took nine innocent

lives. the mayor of dayton says that the city has suffered two terrible tragedies this year but one of them was avoidable. we'll talk to mayor nan whaley ahead. we'll show you what the democrats running for president have to say about these mass shootings. the growing pressure for mitch mcconnell to cancel the senate's recess and hold a vote on gun legislation. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. >> these members of the united states congress who enjoy all of the things that come with the job, all of these lapel pins, all of the people running around and running after them as they walk through the halls of congress, all their staff members, oh, can i get you this or that, but then when it comes to an issue like this, failing to have the courage to act, they need to pull it together. urage y need to pull it together

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white supremacists have celebrated his wave of recent language. the president has flip-flopped on the send her back chants that broke out at his rally in north carolina last month. basically supporting them. the chants were aimed at congresswoman ilhan omar which mirrored comments trump made himself before hand. as the anti-defamation league points out, the founder of the neo-nazi website the daily stormer praised the president after that rally and wrote on the site quote, telling those women to go back to their countries is by far the most racist thing he has ever said. and by refusing to apologize, he has effectively normalized the opinion among the masses that you can believe that america is a white country for white people and that brown people are our guests and if they don't like being guests, then they have to go home. end quote. >> that's a neo-nazi. >> that's from a neo-nazi.

but this is nothing new in 2017, former ku klux klan leader david duke appear at the unite the right rally in charlottesville, virginia, ahead of deadly clashes there. he said it represented fulfilling the promises of donald trump, that's why we voted for donald trump, because he said he's going to take our country back. and that's what we've got to do. and during the president's rally in cincinnati last week, the online personality brandon straka warmed up the crowd by spouting a popular phrase, qanon. the fbi warned of possible dangers stemming from fringe online conspiracy theories, specifically naming qanon as a source of concern. meanwhile, leaders of the far right group the proud boys reportedly say their members will beef up their presence at president trump's campaign

rallies. these will be your friends at the rallies. heading in to the 2020 election. the southern poverty law center has previously designated the proud boys as a hate group. with leaders regularly spouting white nationalist rhetoric and maintaining affiliations with known extremists. >> well, eddie, there are historical parallels. none of them good. >> no. >> none of them good. in fact, some of them just horrifying that we in america find ourselves where we are right now. with extremist right groups, neo-nazis, david duke, former grand wizards of the klan and a group of thugs running around pushing around trying to intimidate anybody who is not white and not a supporter of donald j. trump. and again, you talked about the responsibility that everybody has. again, i want to go back and

focus on who are the ceos that are still funding donald trump as this white supremacy is endorsed and promoted? who are the business leaders and -- in the business community. who are the bankers, right? who are the ceos? who are the business leaders that continue to endorse this white supremacy because they can't talk about a tax cut. i mean, this is not about a tax cut. this is about something much, much bigger. >> joe, you're absolutely right. i mean, what we have been seeing over the course of this experience with trumpism is the kind of intersection of ugly racism of white supremacy and greed and selfishness. there are people who are more interested in their bottom lines, more interested in their pocketbooks and their pockets than the moral state of the country so they're willing to stomach whatever donald trump does. i was thinking about these

moments, these historical moments. you know, the kkk was designated as a terrorist organization and in the height of reconstruction a subcommittee was convened by the republican congressman to kind of delin nate the horror, the terror of the kkk and the insurrectionary states and it produced 13 volumes, joe, 13 volumes of violence committed by the kkk on black people, on white people who supported the black people. the federal government decided to name them as a terrorist group and decided to bring the muscle of the federal government to crush the klan. but we turned our backs on it, such by 1915, by the 1920s, the klan was back in full thrust, in full bloom. and woodrow wilson was previewing the birth of the nation in the white house. we have a history, joe, of experiencing and confronting this ugliness. and we have a history of betraying, of being spineless in

the face of it. why don't we finally for once get rid of this because i'm going to tell you, people are not going to cower in the face of these people. folks aren't going to just simply run and hide in the face of these people. we have been talking about a cold civil war. if folks continue to threaten folk's families, if people feel their lives are under threat, we're going to see this stuff escalate in a way that the country might not be able to survive. we have to understand the stakes. we have been here before and we have betrayed ourselves. let's do it differently. >> which is i would say exactly what donald trump wants to happen. >> yeah. >> there's nothing donald trump would love more than for race skirmishes to break out. and for there to be back and forth. he loves the fighting. it justifies everything that

he's talking about. jon meacham, let's talk about historical parallels and for those who are offended by comparisons to what's happening now and what happened to germany in the early 1930s, change the channel, go watch sponge bob square pants. there were german businessmen, you can read memoirs from the time, realtime memoirs and newspaper accounts of german businessmen at the time who continued contributing to the rise of the nazis and to adolph hitler because they thought he was a buffoon. they thought they could control him. and more importantly, more importantly, they were afraid of the socialists and the communists that they thought might take over their country in the 1930s and might get to their

bottom line. i sit and i look and i do wonder, how does the ceo of a major corporation in america, how does a business leader of a major corporation, a publicly held corporation in america support someone who is spouting white supremacist rhetoric, who is being praised by the klan, who is being praised by the leader of a neo-nazi group, who is being praised by the most hateful, racist people in america? and is actually his words are being lifted up in manifestos from new zealand to el paso. >> well, the -- one of the lessons of germany in the 1930s is that how quickly seemingly civilized nations can descend into chaos and hate and the seemingly unimaginable. and we're always a thin veneer

in civilization from a state of nature. that's just -- that's the reason we have these terms. and so this hobsyian idea, thomas hobsy who wrote that the state of war is against all and that civilization and particularly liberal democracy, liberal in the 19th century sense of freedom, we were born with a capacity to determine our own destinies, we weren't deriving rights from the hands of the king or the church and we had the individual agency, that idea is a fragile one because we tend to be by nature more tribal. we tend to -- most of the history of the world is about tribal hatred and constant

conflict. america is a journey toward a more perfect union based on an idea, not on a reflexive identity. that's who we are at our best. we are going to have moments where we are at our worst. but by god, the history of this country -- this is not an ideological point, this is not a partisan point, this is a historically based observation. this country has grown stronger the more widely it has opened its arms. >> well, just hours after the mass shooting in el paso another gunman opened fire outside of a popular bar in dayton, ohio. nine people were killed and 27 others injured when a gunman wearing body armor began shooting around 1:00 a.m. in dayton's historic oregon district. surveillance video shows people running four their lives when shots began to ring out. according to dayton's police chief, the shooter, a 24-year-old white male, was

killed by police within 30 seconds of the first shots being fired. dayton police have not released any information on a possible motive at this point. authorities say there's nothing in his history that would have prevented him from legally obtaining firearms. one of the victims of the shooting has been identified as the gunman's younger sister. the victims range from age from 22 to 57. >> let's bring in the mayor of dayton, ohio, nan whaley. mayor, thank you so much for being with us. we are so, so sorry for another challenge to your great city. what can you tell us this morning about what you know? >> well, thank you for having me on this morning. i think for us in dayton, we're in the work of healing our community. last night around 8:00 we had thousands of people that came to the oregon district as one of the most popular places in the entire region to really mourn and mourn for those that have

died to really pray and think for their family and to bring this community together. this summer has been a typical -- actually a pretty tough summer for the city. we had 14 tornadoes ravage our community in may. and then to have this, which i believe is the completely preventible act really tears across our community with more questions than answers. >> well, this also -- you said it was a completely preventible act. this unlike the el paso shooting, there were warning signs. i guess this man had been expelled from his school, wrote very graphic things about the people he wanted to kill and to do terrible things with. tell us why do you think it was preventable?

>> i think frankly that seeing what this young man could do to our community in 24 seconds, to kill nine people and injure 26 in the course of 24 seconds with a gun that he received legally with magazines that he received legally, i mean, as you see the footage which is pretty heroic of our police officers running toward a gunman with this kind of weapon, i just can't understand why we would need anything like this on our streets. which he obtained legally and i think that's the real question for us is -- and for our police department is why is this necessary? we live in southern ohio. our community has rifles to hunt with, they have handguns, of course. but, you know, when a police department -- you know, is just

lucky, frankly, to get to this person in 24 seconds. if he would have gotten into that bar which is where he was going, hundreds would have been dead yesterday morning. >> how -- tell us more about that remarkable police response which i know, yes, lucky. but also a lot of bravery involved there. and how the community at this point is keeping together. >> yeah, i mean, incredible bravery by the dayton police department. the reason i say it was lucky was it was about 1:00 in the morning and the oregon district is one of the most popular places for folks to be out. it was a nice evening so we have a police presence in the oregon district and so there were six officers that responded in that very short time period. most of these officers, five of them, had only been on duty as police officers in dayton for three years.

so just imagine you know they have been working in dayton for three years and this is what they walk into. and that they're able to save so many lives. i mean, we're devastated for the lives that are lost and, you know, as mayor that's our work is to you know do whatever we can for the victims' families and the victims. that's our job as a community to bring people together but i just really am hoping that somebody in d.c., somebody in columbus will start doing their job. >> nan whaley, thank you very much. us too. we appreciate you being on the show this morning and we have much more ahead on the two shootings this weekend. 29 total dead. we'll talk to the presidential candidate, beto o'rourke, and congresswoman and the congresswoman who succeeded him as el paso's representative in the house, veronica escobar. "morning joe" is coming right back. [leaf blower] you should be mad at leaf blowers. [beep]

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the border city of el paso, texas, used to have extremely high rates of violent crime. one of the highest in the entire country and considered one of our nation's most dangerous cities. now immediately upon its building with a powerful barrier in place, el paso is one of the safest cities. >> president trump took time during his state of the union address to disparage el paso. >> and to lie, actually. >> and falsely inflate the effectives of his border wall. now, that the city is the real scene of american carnage with 20 people killed by a gunman who drove ten hours to get there. >> and i just -- before we start this second hour of the show,

it's important to remind people of the facts. and these are the facts you can see on google. these are the facts you can see if you use information from donald trump's own administration in washington, d.c. they'll give you these facts. these are the facts. that before donald trump became president of the united states, illegal immigration had dropped to a 50 year low. once donald trump and stephen miller started whipping up fear and started talking about shutting down the border and started talking about caravans and a war at the border, there were immigration experts from across the ideological spectrum who said that he actually precipitated this crisis. >> correct. >> and by playing right into smuggler's hands who could then say to people, hey, they're shutting the border so you

better go up right now. >> creating the crisis. >> so he creates the crisis. and then he talks about invasion to his people and then he inspires with his words and his actions, his deeds, his policies the white supremacists to do what was done this weekend, certainly if you don't believe us, you can certainly believe what david duke says and what neo-nazi leaders are saying. >> hate groups. >> what hate groups on the far right are saying. they're saying that donald trump is the most racist president ever and they are glad they voted for him. >> on that note, i guess we welcome you back to "morning joe." >> but this, mika -- this is a man who laughs off the prospects of deadly violence against those that he doesn't think are white enough to be in the country. here he is last may. >> this is an invasion.

when you see these caravans starting out with 20,000 people, that's an invasion. i was badly criticized for using the word invasion. it's an invasion. but how do you stop these people? you can't. that's only in the panhandle that you can get away with that stuff. only in the panhandle. so it's a tough situation. >> so mika, if you saw that clip you have donald trump talking about an invasion, invasion, invasion. again, before donald trump is president of the united states, illegal immigration to the united states it dropped to a half century low. a 50 year low. and now he's talking invasion, invasion, invasion. and he says how do we stop these people, somebody says shoot t m

them. donald trump doesn't behave like any other responsible politician. he laughs. makes a joke about it. and the entire crowd laughs at the prospects of shooting immigrants. that's where we are. >> still with us we have msnbc contributor mike barnicle. white house reporter for the associated press jonathan lemire. professor at princeton university, eddie glaude jr. washington bureau chief for "usa today" and author of "the matriarch," susan page and jon meacham. professor of history, walter isakson. the author of "fear, trump in the white house" bob woodward joins us. and professor at the lyndon b. johnson school of public affairs

at the university of texas,s msnbc contributor victoria defrancesco soto. federal prosecutors are treating the el paso mass shooting inside the walmart as a case of domestic terrorism. the u.s. attorney says his office is investigating the 21-year-old white male suspect for hate crime charges and firearms charges which carry a penalty of death. the el paso district attorney also says his office will seek the death penalty. officials say the suspect drove about ten hours to get to the el paso walmart that was packed with back to school shoppers on saturday morning and opened fire, killing 20 people and wounding 26 more. the el paso police chief says the suspect surrendered without incident and he's speaking freely and he's been forthcoming with information. about 20 minutes before the shooting in el paso took place, a hate-filled diatribe appeared

online believed to be linked to the shooter. the unsigned essay was posted on an extremist website and said the attack was motivated by anti-immigrant hatred specifically mentioning a hispanic invasion of texas. do those words ring a bell? the post draws direct inspiration from the mass murder of muslims at two mosques in new zealand in march that left 51 people dead. in that attack, the suspect published an essay online promoting a white supremacist theory called the great replacement. the theory argues that elites in europe have been working to replace white europeans with immigrants from the middle east and north africa. the diatribe potentially linked to the el paso killings begins like this. in general, i support the christchurch shooter and his manifesto. this attack is a response to the

hispanic invasion of texas. as "the new york times" points out f the essay is linked to the el paso gunman it potentially underscores the global spread of white supremacist ideology in the age of social media and at a time when immigration in america and elsewhere has become a divisive political topic. joe, it's also become something the president has been fanning the flames of for quite some time. >> well, and, you know, we have talked about it over the past several weeks. it's only been heating up over the past several weeks. you know, as people in his crowds are chanting send her back, talking about americans, talking about women of color born in america, sending them back to their homes. walter, this of course it's been warned of, el paso. we have warned of these killings and so many others.

i quoted last hour frank figliuzzi who headed the counterterrorism for the fbi. this is what frank wrote four days before the el paso talks. four days before the el paso attacks. if i have learned anything from 25 years in the fbi it was to trust my gut when i see a threat unfolding. now we are heading for trouble in the form of white hate violence stoked by a racially divisive president. and four days later, yet another white supremacist inspired by the language and the speech of hateful white supremacists. >> absolutely. and when you look at that clip of donald trump stoking up hatred, which presidents are not supposed to do, it's appalling as you watch him the first time, the second, the third time. maybe on the fourth time your eyes drift.

and you look at the people behind him. and at first they're puzzled, but a lot of white people -- and then they start joining in. they start saying, yes. and there's a small african-american girl in the upper right looking rather confused. i don't know why they put her there or whatever, but you can just see what a horrible leader who weaponizes hate does. it spreads, we have seen this before in history and you watch it on that screen. and your heart's got to sink as all these people start chanting along with them and there's a girl trying to figure out what to do. >> yeah. and bob woodward, you had said yesterday in emails back and forth that this president says out loud what presidents in the past are -- our leaders in the past only whispered behind closed doors. >> if you go back 45 years and

look at the nixon era and the secret taping system, when that came out in 1973, 1974, there was a wave of people being appalled at what they heard. the hate, the ethnic slurs, the anger. hugh scott not someone well remembered in history, but he was the senate republican leader. three months before nixon resigned because of this ugliness that was exposed, hugh scott, republican leader publicly said what the tapes show is deplorable, disgusting, shabby and immoral. i have always thought that one of the reasons nixon resigned

not just because of the crimes, but because of this revulsion people felt about what he was saying in secret and at some point he lost his moral authority. now -- now this year and in the trump administration you see trump saying exactly -- if you did a spreadsheet and looked at what nixon said in secret and what trump says publicly it's somewhat different but it's all of the same vein. it is -- there are people who are not acceptable to the president and so you -- so this visiting of the ugliness of nixon's mind caused i think very much his expulsion from the presidency. now it is somehow acceptable or

there has been this legitimatization of hate. if i may continue, the problem here is presidents have authority -- they need to have moral authority as a practical matter trump is making a giant up mistake in all of this. whatever judgment you would make of it, it is a mistake, a vast mistake because he's going to be president at least another 17, 18 months. crises come. we're going to have a crisis. whether it's economic, whether it's foreign policy. trump is going to have to come before the country quite likely at some point and ask for unity and be a figure not just of

authority, but moral authority. and that has dissipated and gone and how low we have come in 45 years. >> well, mika, bob brings up a great point because i remember my father had been a defender of nixon all along. he thought that there -- that everybody was out to get nixon. after seeing what came out the, the transcripts of the tapes, he was shocked. my mother and grandmother who lived with us was shocked. and i -- i think bob's just dead right that that actually led in our family and a lot of other families to saying what i remember my father saying that that man is -- a man again that he had defended from the time of

algier hiss forward, i remember him saying as a young kid, i was ten years old i remember him looking at the newspaper and saying that man is unfit to be president of the united states. it was a shocking statement coming from my father. but again, the totality of those tapes had a big impact and mika, bob's right. this is not only immoral but it's a horrific political miscalculation on his part. even though he seems to be completely amoral, this is doing more to turn people against him than anything else that he could do. and joking, again, about the shooting of immigrants at his rallies. at his rallies, doing nazi-like chants of send them back. this is -- there are consequences to this and people are dead because of it. there will be consequences also

politically for donald trump. >> so here are the consequences. it's not opinion, this is fact. hate crime violence in the u.s. has increasingly risen since donald trump became president. according to the fbi's latest report, there were 7,106 instances of hate crimes in 2017. that is a 17% increase from the prior year and marks the highest hate crime levels since 2008. the report found that 58% of the victims were targeted because of their race, ethnicity or ancestry. 50% of the offenders of those crimes were white according to the fbi and in addition, a study by "the washington post" found that counties that had hosted a 2016 trump campaign rally saw a 226% increase in reported hate crimes over comparable counties that did not host such

rallies -- >> let's stop right there. victoria, counties that hosted trump rallies saw a 226% increase in hate crimes. time and again, people have warned that there are consequences to the words the president of the united states uses. >> words matter, joe, and the words are said within a context of a rapidly diversifying country and i want to provide a little bit of a texas context here. in the next couple of months, we are going to see latinos become the population in the state that's the largest, in just a couple of months. since 2010 we know that the hispanic population has been outpacing the growth of the white population here in texas. and for many folks in texas, this is normal. this is a beautiful thing. this is part of our eblur bus

unum, but for some there's demographic change, something we have been talking about for the last couple of years. it isn't necessarily new with trump, but trump has fanned the flames and folks who are seeing each other as neighbors, it's nice to have black, white, latino are all together are seeing that as a negative. as a hispanic challenge as sam huntington put it a number of years ago, and this is something that comes from the top down. i want stricter gun laws. i want more mental health checks but i also want to see a change in rhetoric because in terms of policy change, we need all component parts to keep from what we saw happening in el paso, in ohio, happening again. >> well, "the washington post" did note that their analysis cannot be certain it was the campaign rally rhetoric that caused people to commit more hate crimes in the host country. now the president said yesterday that hate has no place in our country. and yet, his advisers have

recently said that sowing division based on identity is part of his 2020 campaign. quoting from the a.p.'s report, trump's re-election strategy so far has placed racial animus at the forefront in an effort that his aides say is designed to activate his base of conservative voters, an approach not seen by an american president in the modern era. >> jonathan lemire, you wrote that story. tell us about it. >> we have seen it play out in the last weeks and months and this accelerated with the fights that the president has picked with the four congresswomen of color, with the racist tweets. that's what they were, racist tweets leading to the racist chants of send her back. omar, she moved her as a child and the other three democrats all born in the united states. it's only accelerated in recent days with the attacks on

baltimore and on representative elijah cummings, veteran african-american representative. the president and the people around him feel like they know there aren't that many swing voters who don't have an opinion of trump so they need to turn out more voters, make sure all the people who came out for him last do again and find others in a sort of messaging on white identity politics. there are huge risks to this as we know. wi with we can turn off suburban voters and women and what we see here, the violence over the weekend, in particular this el paso shooting. the rhetoric in the manifesto related to the shooter if that is -- if blood is on the president's hands, if people feel like he's stoking this hate, and others are saying that the president plays a role in what happened if that's the case

it's harder and harder for this president and his re-election campaign to try to win on a white identity politics campaign. >> susan page, the words invasion, it's an invasion, tell them to go back where they came from, baltimore is infested with rats, who could live there? elijah cummings' home was broken into, too bad. and the president posing and clearly enjoying and snarl involved in the enrapture of the crowd that he's aroused, all of his words, his behavior lead to one thing and one thing only. what are the democrats going to do? i hate to inject politics into this but i have to tell you looking at a field of the people running for president there's one issue i have not heard as an american citizen being mentioned in these debates. and it's who are we morally as a people? and there is only one issue now

confronting this america of ours. this country that's so deeply divided, so torn by racial animosity, by gun violence, there's only one issue -- who is going to succeed this man? who is going to come to the presidency, with the moral authority that this country needs, with the honesty, with the ethics, with the character to be president of the country, to lead this country out of where we are right now. that's the only issue it's bigger than any program or any policy. my thought to you -- my question to you is when do you expect any one of these democrats to speak to those issues? >> you know, it's like we saw some of the democratic presidential candidates try to address that big question, who are we, what does it say about who we are as a nation, where are we going yesterday and i think we'll hear more and more of that going ahead. you know, for -- one of the reasons the presidency is such a

powerful post is it's -- that he or she is the head of government and the head of state. we don't have a prime minister with a queen to speak for the nation in times of turmoil and trouble. we have a president we expect him or her to do both of those things. so a candidate who is able to articulate that larger unifying vision is one who i think will do well in making the case for democrats, for a broader coalition of voters, democrats and republicans against president trump's re-election bid. we have seen racial politics work in the past. but of course for the president, for president trump he's trying to do that in a nation that is increasingly diverse and perhaps increasingly willing to address some of the big issues about the nature of our country. >> joe, we have seen -- we have been speculating on how the president's response to this point is sort of lacking over the weekend by most accounts.

he'll speak at the white house today. two updates for you on that. the white house has not officially announced the trip yet, but the faa is advising there's going to be air force one travel to dayton and el paso on wednesday. so the president is going to visit these sites and perhaps we will see if he's able to provide any sort of comfort or reassurance on the ground in these places. he has tweeted this morning just now saying that he -- we cannot let those who died in the two tragedies do so in vain. he says the republicans and democrats must come together. he says get strong background checks and then i think this is particularly interesting, joe. i want to hear what you have to say about this. he says perhaps marrying this legislation with desperately needed immigration reform which seems sort of an extraordinary moment right now in light of the anti-immigration rhetoric that came from the shooters' alleged manifesto which of course has been echoing what president trump has been saying all along. >> yeah. well, i mean, first of all, background checks is a

no-brainer. even though the nra has vilified anyone who has tried to go against that. of course the nra was outspent in 2018 badly and they are -- their national organization at least is in trouble. so perhaps the president thinks he can move on that. it is important, jonathan, you'll remember the president also talked about gun legislation after what happened in parkland. >> right. >> then of course just let it die. he also told democrats in 2017 he would sign any comprehensive immigration reform bill they brought to him. every plan was scuttled by stephen miller. so i think those are tweets and nothing more than tweets. >> empty rhetoric. >> because i don't think the president is politically smart enough to actually move forward and do that. he would rather have the 10% cheering for him than the 90% who support background checks and he would rather have the 30% cheering for him instead of the

70% who support comprehensive immigration reform. he is determined to be on the wrong side of history. but walter isaacson, i don't understand the republican party where they are right now. many of them unlike donald trump are not going to be sent home in a year and a half. i believe donald trump will be sent home in a year and a half, but where are these people that have had more moral poses in the past? where is ben sasse when the president of the united states laughs and tells a joke, when somebody in his audience answers a question what do we do with immigrants and the answer is shoot them, and then the president laughs as does everybody else in the audience before starting to cheer. where's jodi ernst when white supremacists come out and cheer for donald trump's language? again, she represents iowa, a swing state. cory gardner represents colorado, a swing state.

thom tillis represents north carolina, a swing state. susan collins represents maine, a swing state. john cornyn himself who's up for re-election in texas and an increasingly purple texas, where is john cornyn right now? and calling out this divisive language, this hate speech, the laughing at jokes about shooting immigrants. the chants of sending them back. neo-nazi chants that neo-nazi leaders celebrate. where are these republicans, walter, and don't they realize that they are going to be left on the ash heap of political history. they're going to be the whigs of our time if they don't find their voice soon. >> mike barnicle earlier said that on this show that there's only one question right now. which is who are we as a nation. and it's not just that you're going to be judged politically on this in the next few years. history is going to judge people on which side they were on on

this type of issue. whether we were a good nation that appeared to our better angels. whether we're racist and we stoked up hatred and division and, you know, my father used to say you could judge every person in the south by what side they were on in 1948, strom thurmond or harry truman. and i think history is going to judge -- i think meacham will say this as well, history will look back and some people will be relegated as you said, joe, to the ash heap of history, like east land and stennis who were powerful but they were on the wrong side and republicans in particular, you can't right now say oh, yes, but his fed policy may be good or he's helping us on the economy. that's just one issue right now. >> in march of 1965 in the wake of bloody sunday, the attack on

john lewis and jose ya williams and others, lbj summoned wallace up to the oval office, he's a little guy in many ways on a couch with deep cushions, johnson typically sat in an elevated rocking chair. he looked him in the eye and he said, george wallace, when you're dead and gone, do you want your tombstone to say, george wallace, he built or george wallace, he hated? that's the question before everyone in the arena and out of the arena today. this is a stress test for citizenship and for those who sought our votes and are now in public responsibility. this is not hyperbole. there are people burying their family members right now because they went back to school shopping in a walmart. >> amen. >> that's -- that's what's happened here. this isn't some -- i'm as guilty

as anybody as floating above it and saying oh, you know, john tyler said this. this is as real as it gets. because these were innocent people going about their lives in the freest country on earth. and they were cut down by a white nationalist who was acting according to the most un-american, unchristian, unreligiously involved and morally attuned way you can imagine. if you want to stand over there go ahead. but i promise you that's not where you want to be. >> not where you want to be when you're with your grand children and history's written. bob woodward, you have written about the trump white house, the incompetence of the trump white house. some of the more disturbing

aspects of the trump white house in fear and fear is the word. can you describe again what you learned in your vast research of donald trump and the republican party and the ecosystem that's created around donald trump? why it is that we don't have ben sasse coming out today attacking the white nationalism of donald trump, why is it that susan collins is afraid to come out when the president makes a joke about shooting immigrants. why it is that all of these republicans just remain silent? >> very large and important question. the title of the book "fear" comes from trump in discussing power and real power he said real power is fear. scare people and we see that in his presidency. i also think there's another dimension here and that is a

personal one beyond the politics or the way government is organized. and if you can step back for a moment, i remember during the nixon era one of his lawyers said the object of our personal lives, of our professional lives is to be better than the worst part of ourselves. that we all have dark thoughts, ugly thoughts. and the object of a leader -- a leader should be to say, okay, let's move beyond and let's be better. but what has happened here with trump and you see it again and again, he said, oh, okay, the worst part of ourselves, that's okay. let's say it, let's put it out

there. clearly there are a certain number of people who think that's fine because oh, he's being honest. he's being straight. but we have got to be better here than the worst part, not just of ourselves but of our leadership. >> bob woodward, jon meacham, susan page, thank you for being with us. joining us from el paso a member of the house judiciary committee, congresswoman veronica escobar of texas. her district includes the walmart where saturday's mass shooting took place. in fact, it is the very same one that her family often goes to. congresswoman escobar, the president is tweeting about the shootings and talking about what needs to be done with immigration reform. once again, sort of sending out signals even at this very difficult time.

what's your response to that first? >> you know, i first want to say that i live in an extraordinary community. people have come together like never before. people are wrapping their arms around one another. we had two beautiful vigils last night and we are the epitome of goodness as a community. we welcome the stranger, we take care of the vulnerable. and that is who el paso is and i'm so proud to be a member of this community. words have consequences. and the president has made my community and my people the enemy. he has told the country that we are people to be feared, people to be hated. he has done that at his rallies. he has done that through his twitter. i heard earlier someone mention that he may be coming here. i hope that he has the self-awareness to understand

that we are in pain and we are mourning and we are doing our very best in our typical, beautiful, graceful el paso way to continue to be resilient. so i would ask his staff and his team to consider the fact that his words and his actions have played a role in this. >> congresswoman, all across america, parents and their little children are going to walmarts and going to other local places to get supplies to go back to school. it's a rite of passage that we have all done, that we all do. except in your district this weekend little children and their mothers and their family members were gunned down and killed because a white

nationalist was inspired by the language of politicians and some of the things that he saw on tv and some of the things that he saw online. obviously, we have shown clips of the president of the united states laughing when he's talking about the invasion of hispanics and somebody in the crowd says shoot them and he laughs and makes a joke about it. and the whole crowd starts laughing, time and time again. if you could, tell me about some of your constituents, tell me about some of the people in your district who were shot and killed simply because they went out to get school supplies to go back to school in a few weeks and unfortunately found themselves in the cross fire inspired by political hate.

>> joe, there were some incredible acts of heroism. a young woman and a father who used their bodies as a shield to protect their infant child. both of those beautiful lives are gone. the infant is alive, but is now an orphan. there were kids who were having a fund-raiser for their soccer team outside of the walmart, raising money for their team with their parents and their teammates and their coach. and when the gunman -- when the shooter approached, they ran inside to hide in the bakery. one of their mothers told me that the shooter went inside after them and yelled where are you? looking for those kids. there are stories about elderly couples who were at the checkout. the one story, one elderly gentleman paying while his wife

waited on a bench while he paid for their groceries. as the gunman ran in the wife was escorted to the back, hurriedly. people were being shuffled to safety. her husband didn't make it and she has to live with that survivor's guilt. all of this has happened because hispanic people have been dehumanized. they have been dehumanized by the president, by his enablers. by other politicians. this is one of the lowest points in american history and if we don't recognize this as such we will not have the turning point that we so desperately need as a country. >> congresswoman escobar, you have aptly and accurately described the president's participation in what happened

this weekend. his ongoing participation during his presidency in what build up and led to this weekend. i would like to get your reaction to a tweet that he just issued. this is donald j. trump, president of the united states, two minutes ago with this tweet. the media has a big responsibility to life and safety in our country. fake news has contributed greatly to the anger and rage that has built up over many years. news coverage has got to start being fair, balanced and unbiased or these terrible problems will only get worse. that's from the president of the united states. what's your reaction to that? >> it is shocking to me that he is so utterly self-aware. and this is why from my

perspective he is not welcome here. he should not come here while we are in mourning. this is one of the sites of one of his rallies. i heard mika earlier mention that violence increased -- statistically hate crimes went up in communities where he had held rallies. he came in to one of the safest communities in the nation and as a result or maybe not as a result, that is probably unfair, but months later a gunman came in to our community, someone from outside of this community came into this beautiful, tranquil, loving place to do us harm. i would encourage the president's staff members to have him do a little self-reflection. i would encourage them to show him his own words and his actions at the rallies. because we're not going to get

past this until there's acknowledgment from the very top that we need to heal. that this whole country is hurting. that there has been bigotry and racism and hatred that has been stoked at all levels. and as the president, he has the most significant authority and responsibility to show this country, to lead this country into healing. and now is the time and he needs to accept responsibility, everyone does, for what has gotten us to this point. >> so since the president said -- tried to blame his hatred on the quote fake news, why don't we just take him at his own word and let's play the clip -- let's play the clip again where he laughs and keeps talking about the invasion of hispanics. alex, play the clip where he laughs when somebody says that hispanics should be shot.

>> this is an invasion. when you see these caravans starting out with 20,000 people, that's an invasion. i was badly criticized for using the word invasion. it's an invasion. but how do you stop these people? you can't. there's -- that's only in the panhandle you can get away with that stuff. only in the panhandle. so it's a tough situation. >> again, like walter said i see a lot of white people laughing. when somebody says hispanics should be shot, i see two young african-american girls looking confused and looking at their parents. but again, just in case the president thinks that's fake news, let's look at this clip

again. this is donald trump talking about aroun invasion and look a donald trump's own statistics. illegal border crossings when donald trump became president of the united states were at a 50-year low. illegal border crossings have exploded exponentially since donald trump became president of the united states. and whipped up this crisis. but the president says it's fake news. when we quote his own words. here's the president of the united states whipping up hatred and frenzy talking about invasions that when he was president of the united states didn't exist. they were at 50-year lows. lowest point since i was like five years old. and here's donald trump saying invasion time and again to whip the crowd into the frenzy and then say, what can we do and someone says shoot them and the

president laughs and then gets a huge applause. let's play this clip again. and decide if that's fake news or not. >> when you see the caravans starting out with 20,000 people, that's an invasion. i was badly criticized for using the word, invasion. how do you stop these people? you can't. there's -- that's only in the panhandle you can get away with that stuff. only in the panhandle. so it's a tough situation. >> the president is laughing. because everybody in the crowd thinks it's funny that they're talking about shooting hispanics. play it again, alex. >> this is an invasion. when you see these caravans starting out with 20,000 people

that's an invasion. i was badly criticized for using the word invasion. it's an invasion. but how do you stop these people? you can't. there's -- that's only in the panhandle you can get away with that stuff. only in the panhandle. so it's a tough situation. >> congresswoman, is it fake news that the president of the united states we played the clip three times is talking about invasions of hispanics and then leading the crowd in a big roar, a laugh and applause, when somebody says shoot hispanics. >> joe, when i first saw that clip after -- right after the rally, i have to tell you it was very painful to hear.

it's actually even more painful to listen to now. i worried about what was going to happen in our country. i have to again say that in el paso, we have chosen to look at hate and return that with love. and we are going to keep doing that. we are going to continue to be a kind, generous, loving community. a unified community. a strong, resilient community. all of the people who rushed to the assistance of those who were gunned down, those who were injured, they are incredible, incredible heroes. and every single one of the families that has been touched by this horrific tragedy, they are going to need a lot of support, a lot of goodwill. that's what we are going to

focus on in el paso. that is going to be our mission to make sure that everyone gets all the help and the support they need. the comfort that they need. we are going to continue to emulate goodness and charity and love. regardless of what has been wrought upon us. >> victoria, this is eddie glaude here. i want to ask you to dive a bit deeper in to something you mentioned earlier as a kind of broader context. that you talk about these demographic shifts. we tend to focus on donald trump and we're right to do so in terms of his rhetoric and like, but there seems to be a deeper crisis here with regards to how we think of the country. how we think about ourselves. could you talk a little bit about what some scholars will describe as a crisis in whiteness, that's been evidenced in the actions. talk about the demographic shifts experiencing in texas, across the country, as the back

drops in interesting ways. >> that's right, eddie. texas is a microcosm that's happening in the rest of the country. even though texas has had a large latino population, concentrated in the southern part of the state from el paso down to the rio grande valley, we have seen over the last couple of decades a very rapid increase of the latino population. and what we have seen is the consequence of that in terms of the ballot box. so there's been a pushback in wanting to resist this demographic growth. so in wanting to pack folks into certain districts and limit the political voice of latinos. so we see this in texas and we see this nationally. it's not a coincidence that the rise of the tea party nationally and most strongly in texas happened in 2010 right at the time that we saw the boom of hispanic demographic explosion here in texas and across the country. as human beings just

psychologically we don't like change. change is hard on our brains and demographic change is no exception. so as voters as americans see demographic change, there's two forks on the road. we accept it, we celebrate it or we get tense and we get scared. human nature is one that kind of shies from difference in diversity. you have to proactively work toward the diversity and the easier road is pushing and dehumanizing and that is a bit of the context that trump as this picked up as a result of the demographic changes over the last couple of decades. >> well, mika, those demographic changes that victoria spoke of were in the gunman's manifesto. first, he goes, well, i'm not democratic or republican, but he goes on and says that democrats because of this -- of the hispanic invasion that donald trump was talking about, that

hispanics are going to keep growing in texas and that democrats will win the state of texas forever tipping the balance of american politics in the hands of democrats. so what victoria just said actually the gunman put in his manifesto. that's how connected politically he was to what donald trump and what others have been saying. >> and victoria, thank you very much for being on this morning and congresswoman veronica escobar, we are so sorry and we're also so blessed to have your voice in washington and in el paso. thank you. we'll be right back. this is an invasion. when you see these caravans starting out with 20,000 people, that's an invasion. i was badly criticized for using

the word invasion. it's an invasion. but how do you stop these people? you can't. there's -- that's only in the panhandle you can get away with that stuff. only in the panhandle. so it's a tough situation. ion.rd when you're ready for what comes next. at fidelity, we make sure you have a clear plan to cover the essentials in retirement, as well as all the things you want to do. and on the way, you'll get timely investment help to keep you on the right track, without the unnecessary fees you might expect from so many financial firms. because when you have a partner who gives you clarity at every step, there's nothing to stop you from moving forward. so, every day, we put our latest technology and unrivaled network to work.

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stronger begun -- gun legislation. people will say nothing is ever going to happen. your response. >> my response from watching this from montana like i have been, it looks to me we are moving towards our own home-grown 9/11. people have access to social media to stir things up and then get their hands on automatic weapons that as said should be outlawed. they have military weapons designed to do one thing. kill. i have guns. my guns are secured at a gun shop in town. the man that owns that shop came with just a gas station. he added a deli and even added a

car charging station. one-third of his business five years ago was conventional fishing gear maybe a shotgun or two. one-third of his building is devoted to these kinds of weapons. not that he's a crazed guy. he's in the business of doing that. it is legal. that's what his customers want. that's where we are. you mix in social media with that and the stuff that goes on and we are creating a climate in which you cannot separate one out from the other. it is a whole piece. we have to address it as a whole piece. not only at tables like this. walmart has to get involved, all the big retailers. congress has to have courage to come after this and have a coalition. this is madness at this stage in our lives. >> the witches brew you are

talking about. the guns, the social media, you add to that white nationalism stoked up by the president. what do you say to the people of montana if you were going to try to say, let's get more common sense about the number of assault weapons we are putting out there? >> i have a hard time with an assault weapon. people say, i live in a remote area. you didn't need it 30 years ago. there is a drifting away from my judgement away from the president that is not embracing the left as well. they say i wish he'd just shut up. they like his economic policies. they are conservatives but he embarrasses them. on the other hand, they don't find anybody on the other side they rush to. he would carry them today if he went back there. it is a mix and it is complicated. the fact of the matter is, if we

don't take this on in a complex fashion, we are not going to get it solved. it has to have a national dialogue in which everybody feels they have some kind of a role of some kind much i've been living in the west one form or another most of my life. got my first gun when i was 12 years old. it was never any of this kind of media at that time. we didn't have people stirring things up the way we do now. >> i want to talk to you about guns. the president, you probably saw this morning, suggesting he might offer some support to background checks if married to some sort of immigration reform. that seems like a nonsense idea. he has also given previous seeming support to background checks and backed off that. what is your take on that? and yesterday, we heard from acting chief of staff mick ma

mulvaney talking about mental illness. talk to me about how that has become a cloak to obscure the issue. >> to answer your question, we at brady strongly support the background issue. within the first 90 days of congress, nancy pelosi helped lead the passage of that bill. it is sitting on mitch mcconnell's desk. trump had plenty of time to make that happen. we saw all of the comments he made post parkland talking about background checks and extreme risk laws and expressing surprise that assault weapons are so readily available and maybe we should do something about that. later that night, he sat down with burgers with the person

from nra and changed his tune on all of that. we need recognition that gun violence is an epidemic. we are losing 40,000 people a year to gun violence. more than 80,000 more injured. we have lost more americans to gun violence since 1970 than all of america's wars combined. what we need is a comprehensive solution that expands background checks, takes weapons of war and high-capacity magazines off our streets. that is the come your honor theme. and we need extreme risk laws. we need to stop the red herring of mental illness. what they conclude any time there is a mass shooting, the person must have been mentally ill. the reality is, the united states does not experience any

greater level of mental illness than any other industrialized country on earth. what we have is a hell of a lot more guns. we need appropriate solutions to solve the problem at its source. >> how much of a responsibility do you believe the president bares for creating an environment -- no one is saying he pulled the trigger but creating an environment for what we saw in el paso? >> i think he discerns a lot of blame for that. he lights the flame every day from the white house. unfortunately, we are hearing it from the other side as well. they feel they have to adopt this language to respond. then there are all these people in reaction to that. we cannot possibly keep track of

all the social media in place right now and the people pumping this out. i keep track of a friend of mine. high school football player. he sends me stuff that is outrageous. it is never true. the stuff he claims. i send it back to him. it is never true. that will take a holistic approach. we can't do it piece by piece by piece. this is a crisis. this is our 9/11 in my judgement. >> i totally agree. tom brokaw and president of brady, chris brown. still ahead beto o'rourke and congressman jerry nadler who is pushing for the president's impeachment. as we go to break, another professional athlete willing to speak up while so many lawmakers are not.

>> congress do something now. end gun violence. let's go. i need your attention for a minute. what are you looking for? is it inspiration? because she's changing the world. every post out there is like "dream big" but when it comes time to take action- girl scouts are making a change. we're the risk takers. athletes. leaders. i'm not saying you can't be part trendsetter, but i am saying you need to be all girl scout.

to the wait did frowe just win-ners. prouders everyone uses their phone differently. that's why xfinity mobile let's you design your own data. now you can share it between lines. mix with unlimited, and switch it up at anytime so you only pay for what you need. it's a different kind of wireless network designed to save you money. save up to $400 a year on your wireless bill. plus get $250 back when you buy an eligible phone. click, call or visit a store today. >> briefly, sir, can i ask, is there anything in your mind the president can do now to make this better? >> what do you think? >> you know what [ bleep ] i think. he's been calling mexican

immigrants these things. what [ bleep ]. the questions you know answers to. correct the dots. he's not tolerating racism, ease remoting racism in this country. i don't know what kind of question that is. >> that is presidential candidate beto o'rourke yesterday in texas where 20 people were gunned down in a domestic terror attack. a white crime fuelled by white nationalism. hours later, another mass shooting in ohio. in all, over 30 dead. short on the moral fortitude to do anything about it. welcome to "morning joe," it is monday, august 5. with us contributor mike barnicle, jonathan lemire, eddie claude, jr., and jon meacham,

former fbi leader clint watt and susan paige. it has come to the point, when you ask about the recent mass shooting in this country, the answer is which one? we'll start with the el paso shooting. the mow enough is apparent and it's political. we have a mental health crisis, a gun crisis. you can even say video game can cause issues but we clearly have a white supremacy problem and t.

>> writing instinct and experience tell me we are headed for trouble in the form of white hate violence stoked by a racial divisive president. trump empowers hateful and potentially violent individuals with devicy rhetoric and unwillingness to unequivocally denounce white supremacy. he has chosen a reelection strategy based on the fear and ignorance that can lead to violence. >> one said all of the alarm bells went off in his mind before 9/11 was coming. four days before el paso, he wrote, i feel the same thing when it comes to white supremacy. of course, so many people had been offering these warnings. that was in the new york citys

four days before and felt like it was coming. saying we could talk about beto o'rourke, the president calling mexi mexican rapists, murderers, calling hispanics breeders. we can talk about the republican senate speakers calling out how babies are born ever day. it really does act as an excel rant for those without guard with rails. we've had one example after north of donald trump promoting violent acts. >> you know, in this case, it is not even retrospective wisdom.

there are people who spoke about it in real time. when people look back at the fall of 1963, they remember add lay stevenson in dallas. they remember lady bird johnson and that culminates in the tragedy of november 22, 1963. johnson's first speech to congress had several pages about hate in america and how it was a poison that went into the blood stream of the nation and had to be stopped. there are two lessons there. one is, we have to have the capacity to call it as we see it. facts as john adams said are stubborn things. this rhetoric unquestionably -- you've used the word excel rant.

because of the unspeakable word, people can do unspeakable things. that goes for a person at the highest level to understand that. a second is that president's play a role in this country of not just consoling but of setting a tone. the tone of the last two and a half years is unacceptable. it is tragically not all that unamerican in a sense that white supremacy is part of the marbled nature of america, the worst part of us. the conscientious citizenship needs to be about working on ebb as opposed to flow. right now, we have someone in power that has attempted to manage and marshal those forces and not make them ebb.

>> you know, anybody that has been following news at all the past three or four years knows we could -- and we have, we could show clips of the president of the united states inciting violence. talking about beating the hell out of people, paying anybody that beats the hell out of somebody, talking about assassinating hillary clinton and her appointing federal judges. we could go down a long laundry list. we could also go down a long list of what he said about immigrants. calling hispanic breeders, mexicans ra mexicans rapists, calling women in congress that don't agree with him that they should go back home.

that is what the nazis thought about jews and gypsys. we saw it in north carolina chanting, go back home. send her home. it doesn't take a great imagination. it takes a great deal of denial to not hear this continued hateful language, to not hear the continued warnings to hear people say this will lead to violence and pretend that what happened in el paso was not connected directly to the hate speech of donald trump. >> you are absolutely right. first of all, my heart goes out to the families in el paso. i'm thinking about the mother who was murdered trying to shield her child and fell on two the two-year-old and broke his bones as she was trying to protect him. the carnage is horrible.

it is evil. it is important for us to understand though that there is a kind of continuum. donald trump as you rightly know he didn't pull the trigor. but he embraces a view of america some scholars will call inherent democracy. he's worried about the demographic shift. he's making an argument. appealing to the darker side of the country to put forward this view that this country must be and must remain a white nation. over the course of our history, whenever that argument is being made, it is being made in a moment when the country is experiencing profound shifts. you can look at it, joe, each historical pivotal moment when we are about to change, there is

an escalation of violence and defense in the way we expect our world to be. john hit it on the head. instead of us trying to ebb it, we are allowing it to flow. we have to be honest and tell ourselves the truth. our history suggests we are not very good in these moments. we have to stop, it seems to me and be honest with ourselves and tell ourselves the truth about what we make possible. not the folks on the fringe or the margins but what we make possible because this is the soil that allows this stuff to grow and explode and lead to the death of so many people. >> up next, we'll get the latest on the investigation in el paso. what officials are saying about the suspect, his motive and the twisted inspiration behind it. also ahead, presidential

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>> federal prosecutors are treating the mass shooting inside a walmart as a case of domestic terrorism. the u.s. attorney there says his office is investigating the 21-year-old white male suspect for hate charges and firearm charges which carry a penalty of death. the district attorney will also seek the death penalty. the suspect drove about ten hours to get to the walmart packed with back to school shoppers on saturday morning and opened fire, killing 20 people and wounding 26 more. the el paso police chief said

the suspect surrendered without incident. we are told he's speaking freely and has been forth coming with information. about 20 minutes before the shooting in el paso took place, a hate filled statement on line believed to be linked to the shooter. the unsigned essay posted saying the attack was motivated by anti-immigrant hatred specifically mentioning the immigrant invasion in texas. pointing out the shooting in march. that attack published an essay on line supporting a tleerry called the great replacement. arguing elises in europe have been working to replace white europeans with immigrants from the middle east and north africa. the statement potentially linked

to the el paso killings begins, in general, i support the christ church shooter and his manifesto. this attack is in response to the hispanic invasion in texas. as the "new york times" points out, if the essay is linked to the gunman it supports the spread at a time when immigration in america and elsewhere has become a divisive political topic. >> it is important to remember the christ's church shoot owe's manifesto took his inspirition in part from the white supremacist shooting in south carolina. you can look at pittsburgh and connect the dots. we don't know what moves shooters to do certain things.

anybody that takes a gun and goes in and mows down people in schools or churches or walmart they have diseased minds and have a lot of different things working on it here in this instance at least. not about him saying he's a republican or democrat. he said he doesn't like democrats or republicans but about this guy specifically using words similar to donald trumps and also talking about how texas may end up -- actually he says texas will go democratic in the coming elections because more hispanics are, quote, invading texas, which has been the president's theme that mexicans and hispanics are invading american. the president's rhetoric is race concerns in real time.

>> coming up on "morning joe." >> he is a racist and he stokes racism in this country. it doesn't just offend our sensibilities it changes the character of our country and leads to violence. >> beto o'rourke is fed up with gun violence and the president. the white house candidate joins the conversation straight ahead. but first, a top house democrat congressman jerry nadler is standing by and joins us next on "morning joe." idle equipment costs you time and money.

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that auto connects you to millions of secure wifi hot spots. and the best lte everywhere else. xfinity mobile is a different kind of wireless network designed to save you money. save up to $400 a year on your wireless bill. plus get $250 back when you buy an eligible phone. click, call or visit a store today. joining us now, chairman of the house judiciary committee, democratic congressman jerry nadler of new york. it is great to have you on the show congressman nadler. before we get to questions of impeachment, i want to ask you about your reaction to the president's reaction to these shootings. >> the president's reaction

should be shocking except he can't shock anymore. he can't go lower than he's been. to link -- these shootings were clearly in parte result of his racist rhetoric. that's clear. his divisive and racist rhetoric. people have warned they would lead to violence and they have. he said he could go for background checks for gun owners but only for immigration reform. what is the connection? we have to keep guns out of the hands of the invading hords. it disgusts me and reminds me of the 1930s in germany. >> turning to the discussion of the debate in caucus about

impeachment. you have come out in support of it and speaker pelosi has not. why does mueller's appearance, you feel like he still provided what you need to pursue impeachment. >> you've got several questions in there. >> thats what i do. >> the president -- at least the initial reaction of the press was like theater critics, which was ridiculous. he did, i think, an inflection point because mueller's appearing i think did one thing. the president and attorney general continually lied to the american people and continually said the mueller report totally exonerated the president and showed no collusion and no obstruction. all three of those statements are flat out lies. the report showed and mueller said at the hearings that the

russians attacked our election. they tried to subvert the election and democracy. the donald trump campaign welcomed that attack to the extent they could cooperate with it and formed part of their strategy around the expectation of the release of stolen materials stolen by the russians. the president engaged in multiple -- the report showed substantial evidence of the president engaging in multiple acts of obstruction of justice trying to shut down the investigation to divert it and that he lied to the investigators and public and told others to lie to the investigators. all of those are serious and the report showed them. the report gave a line to the exoneration rhetoric of the president and attorney general.

now the inquiry we are pursuing, we will have to get the fact witnesses. we've gone to court to get the grand jury material. we are going to court today and tomorrow to get and force mcgahn the former white house counsel to respect our subpoena. once we win that, we'll win all the other subpoenas because they are the same legal questions. we will have public hearings which we will have where they say the president told me this or that. it is a summary of evidence in public hearings of the american people. then we'll see about the conclusions. >> congressman. you've got a majority of house democrats now favoring impeachment. unfortunately, now they are basically closed for another month. >> well the calendar is whatever

it is. we can't let the election calendar dictate. i think we will probably get court decisions by the end of october, maybe shortly there after. we'll have hearings with november and october with people not dependent on the court proceedings. we'll do it through the fall. if we decide to report articles of impeachment, we could get it late in the fall, later part of the year. >> you remember the great sports writer he said about willie mays. impeachment goes to the senate where impeachments are scheduled to die. >> yes and -- yes. but i've always said there is a three part test. number one, can you prove the president committed impeachable

offenses. number two, are these serious and do you have the support of the american people? we will hold these hearings. we will get the support of the american people. i suspect we do. if we show the president ought to be impeached and the people support it, then we'll defeat a lot of republican senators. if the american people don't support it, then maybe you don't vote the impeachment. you have to have public support. >> what do you think you'll have in terms of the finances and taxes to add to this? >> i don't follow your question. >> are you going to have more of his financial question to add? >> oh, yes. i think you will have his financial records. we need those to look into a possible article of impeachment

based on the clause. a fancy phrase most don't know about. a clause that says neither the president or any other public servant may accept any kind of compensation or gift from a foreign power or prince. he has clearly done that. the reason for that is because the framers of the constitution were worried about a president being sub servient to the king then or vladimir putin. i think the taxes would be one element of evidence as to whether we should devote impeachment -- >> you are going to get those? >> i think we will. >> chairman of the house judiciary committee, congressman jerry nadler. thank you very much. coming up this weekend's shooting in el paso took the lives of 20 people in our next

guest's former congressional district. p beto o'rourke, the former congressman and 2020 candidate joins us next. ♪ limu emu & doug mmm, exactly! liberty mutual customizes your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. nice! but uh, what's up with your partner? oh! we just spend all day telling everyone how we customize car insurance because no two people are alike, so... limu gets a little confused when he sees another bird that looks exactly like him.

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>> you know, they have a word. it sort of became old fashioned. it is called a nationalist. i say, really, we are not supposed to use that word. you know what i am, i'm a nationalist. [ applause ] use that word. use that word. >> joining us from el paso, his home town and the city he represented in congress, democratic candidate beto o'rourke. beto, it is great to have you back on the show, given the horrible timing and circumstances. i'll start with your very personal and emotional reaction,

frustration with the media's questions and the entire situation. i couldn't agree with you more, frustration with the president and his white supremacy and racism. now to break the hold he has on republicans because that is the missing link right here. >> yeah, i think that's a big part of the challenge we have right now. if we don't call this out and do something, our silence becomes our complicit. not just in the hatred and racism but in the violence we saw here in el paso. this is a city in an average year will loose 18 people over the course of the year. in one day, 20 people killed in a hateful, racist, murderedous rage in part inspired by this president. we got to ask everyone in this country. could careless about your party.

stand up and be counted. there are too many voices today that are still silence. >> congressman, there are too many voices that are still silent. we await republicans calling out the president's hate speech that obviously inspired this killer. if you read his own words there. has been one exception at least. texas general land officer called on americans to stand against, quote, white terrorism. bush the son of jeb bush writing in part that white terrorism is a real and present threat we all must denounce and defeat. former deputy attorney general rosenstein commended the statement, killing random citizens is terrorism but white

terrorism is more precise. beto, the obama administration in the early years took a lot of grief for not calling islamic terrorism by its name. other than george p. bush, do we have the same problem with republicans that are afraid to call white terrorism, white terrorism? >> we do have that problem with republican office holders at large but in the case of george p. bush and ted cruz for that matter who had some strong words about this kind of terrorism. they need to take the next step and connect that to president trump and the fact that he has repeatedly talked about an invasion and described human beings from mexico and central america as an infestation. at a rally in florida when he asked how do we stop this, someone yells out, we shoot them. he laughs along with the crowd.

and the call send her back. nazis and klansman as very fine people. we have to acknowledge there is a real consequence. if we don't do that, if we don't connect the dots, we are going to have the same problem going forward. i'm grateful for the start we've made. they need to finish the job and make that connection. >> congressman, you talk about the connection that needs to be made. we have had warnings time and again. i'm sure you saw the former fbi head of counterterrorism four days before el paso saying i saw all the warning lights blinking. i see those warning lights again. the president's hateful rhetoric is going to lead to more white

supremacist killings. it is not like republicans haven't been warned about this for years now and yet they continue in silence to not call the president out by name. they just won't say it. >> that's right. and i do think that this extends to much of the media in this country. i mean the president has not been shy, has not been saying this behind closed doors. all people of one religion inherently effected and banned from the shores of this country. the only democracy that said anything close to this is the third rooik, nazi germany. talking about human beings talking about them as sub human making it okay to put their kids in cages. we have lost seven kids just

over the last year in this the wealthiest country on the planet. saying he wants more immigrants like those from the nordic countries, the whitest place on the planet. this president's open racism is a rise to violence. we've seen a rise in hate crimes over the last three years. you are right, the writing has been on the wall since that maiden speech describing mexican immigrants as rapists and criminals. anyone who is surprised is part of this problem right now including members of the media who ask, hey, beto, do you think the president is racism? well jesus chris, of course he is. he's trafficked this stuff from the very beginning. we are reaping what he's sown

and we have to put a stop to it. >> congressman -- >> quickly, let me add an insult and slur, the president also called hispanics breeders. he talks about the infestation and calls hispanics breeders, calls mexicans rapists. it is obvious where this leads. go ahead, eddie. >> we are at an inflection point. the people have to make a choice which direction we must go. you are running for president. you are running for president in an environment where we are deeply divided. the choice is right in front of us. how would you step into the breach. what would you say to bring us together as the president of the

united states following someone like donald trump? how would you march us into the future given what we are currently experiencing now? >> you know, i saw it last night in el paso at a vigil in this community. thousands of people came forward. democrats, independents, republicans, folks that may not vote or register, every faith, every walk of life, people who have been americans for generations or folks who just got here to el paso yesterday. everybody coming together to make sure we are not defined or divided by our differences. this country 243 years ago decided not to define ourselves by race or ethnicity or common ancestor said we are all created equal. we have never fully fulfilled that in this country but that person in the position of the

white house should do everything in his power to bring us together that more perfect union to achieve. that is our opportunity right now. in el paso, we got to tell you, we they bore the brunt of this, a city of immigrants is one of if not the safest city in the united states today. not despite but because we come from the planet over to call this community home. their presence make us stronger and safer. we lose sight of that a the our perible. i'm going to do everything i can to make sure america remembers that. >> congressman, you participated in two debates, stood on the stage with a bunch of other democrats and each of you gets two seconds to talk about soy beans and health care. a school of thought,

congressman, there is only only one issue right now facing this country and it is the incumbent president of the united states donald j. trump. do you believe that is the only principal important issue going forward, removal of this president? >> yes. nothing else is possible unless donald trump is defeated in november of 2020. you will not be able to successfully confront climate change if you have a man in the white house who does not utter a word who does not believe in the fact and the truth and trying to take away health care who will not be able to get to universal care. but someone who is actively dismantling this democracy, undermining every single institution, the sanctity of our

elections, inviting in foreign powers, sought to obstruct the pursuit of justice to what happens in our democracy, undermines and ridicules or judges and some of those mexican-americans. he seeks to drive us apart and make us afraid, angry. to some degree as we saw in el paso, he is succeeding. he is a threat to the future of this country at least to a democratic future to this country and he must be stopped. that drive has to transcend partisanship. republicans, independents democrats must see this as the essential to the future of our country. >> you just said it is an ex sental threat. talking about that it is the one big thing and we are at an

inflection point. it wasn't like we tried to tweet it, people got out in the streets the way they did no hong kong and in puerto rico to change things. why do you think there hasn't been more of a mass feeling that everyone month, we have to march the way we did before when we were in, what you call existential crisis in this country? >> you know, i'm beginning to see that in this country. the students who are marching not just for their lives but for all of our lives. the young people forcing the conversation on climate. we celebrated the 55th anniversary of the civil rights act. like any texan, i'm really proud of johnson signing that into law and using his initial capital to

get it past. the children's crusade, 1,200 of them. going up against fire hoses that kind of sacrifice shocked the country and showed the will necessary to get it done. i see those movements beginning all across this country and much like in 1963, so often led by young people. they are going to force this change. they get it perhaps better than anyone else. so i'm optimistic, believe it or not, more hopeful than i've ever been given the challenge we face of perible. this country is going to rise to the occasion. it will. let's have faith in one another at a moment the president wants us to fear one another. let's hope for the future and act on it. i'm trying to do this every day certainly here in el paso right now. >> so beto o'rourke, i really

appreciate your message, which is no longer what is going on? it is what are we going to do about it? it is obvious what is going on. beto for being on the show this morning. and we've brought up our next guest's op-ed a few times so far this morning. the former assistant director of the fbi's counterintelligence division wrote four days before the el paso massacre a piece entitled "why does trump fan the flames of race-based terrorism?" this was written before the shootings. frank joins us next on "morning joe." back in two minutes. [beep] you should be mad your neighbor always wants to hang out. and you should be mad your smart fridge is unnecessarily complicated. but you're not mad,

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♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ lethal, white, violent nationalist terrorism. if we're serious about confronting it that means we need to have a different

conversation than this thoughts and prayers and that's too bad. this is a national security emergency. it is killing americans just as it is killing people around the world. until this country has one serious readiness to confront white nationalist violence and, two, serious readiness to implement gun safety policies that most americans think we ought to do anyway, we are going to continue to be leading ourselves and our children vulnerable to these kinds of attacks. >> just days before the mass shootings over the weekend, former assistant director of the fbi's counterintelligence division frank figliuzzi wrote for the "new york times" in part, quote, president trump empowers hateful and potentially violent individuals with his divisive rhetoric and his unwillingness to unequivocally denounce white supremacy. he has chosen a re-election strategy based on appealing to the kinds of hatred, fear, and ignorance that can lead to

violence. that is exactly what we've seen over the weekend and frank joins us now. >> thank you so much for being with us. obviously very prescient op-ed you wrote four days ago. you compared it to 9/11. said you can see all the warning signs, people in the know saw the warning signs of the 9/11 attacks coming, and you compared this time to that. and, of course, four days later, the attacks come in el paso. what warning signs did you see? what do you and the fbi director who warned of rising white supremacy, what do you all know? >> so it's ironic that it wasn't my experience in domestic terrorism that caused me to sound this alarm. it was my experience in international terrorism, because i'm seeing disturbing similarities between the radicalization of violent extremists in islamic jihad and the radicalization of young

people in the united states toward white hate, white terrorism. and so the parallels are uncanny. what really triggered my putting pen to paper, joe, was to see the various white terrorism groups, white hate groups online reacting positively to the president and the president calling out the four congress members, the women of color, telling them to go back to where they came from. that surged a reaction across the online world of these extremists. and that triggered my conclusion that they view this president as their radicalizer in chief. there are real similarities between a leading muslim cleric who is online preaching hate and violence and allegiance to that person and then trump and what he's doing. i want to be clear here on a couple of things. i'm not saying that he is personally directly responsible

for the violence in el paso, but what i am saying is that unstable people amongst us don't get the distinction between a person saying, i don't like these people and a person saying, we need to kill these people. they don't get that. and they feel freedom and license to act out violently because of his actions and his rhetoric. so what's the answer? i know we're talking about mental health. i know we're talking about guns. i get all of that. those are all factors. if you want to disrupt a radicalization process, look back to the international model and how we stop young people from going to commit jihad. we disrupt them. how do you disrupt them? the leader, want a quick way to do it? the leader comes out and rebukes and rejects the ideology. so what we need to hear from the president, and i fear we may not, but what we need to hear from him is saying, i rebuke this, reject it, you are not part of me. this is not part of america.

you are unamerican if you believe this way and i am willing to lose the election if i lose your vote because i condemn this behavior. >> well, of course, the president will never say that, and, also, frank, the president knows exactly what he is doing and he always has, which is why he hates to condemn the rhetoric. if he does, then jonathan lamire as you know very well the next day he'll go back like he did after the rally in north carolina, which as we know the antidefamation league cited that top neo nazi leaders praised those chants and praised the president's language that frank just brought up as the most racist any president has ever made. >> joe, you are exactly right and we need to keep it in mind as we hear the president speak in a little more than an hour. he may stick to the teleprompter and say the right things today.

it is a question of what he says tomorrow or tweets the next day or the day after. we saw what he did in charlottesville where he initially praised people on both sides of the incident, the violent incident there including white supremacist sifts. he then back tracked with a carefully read statement at the white house much like this and then of course we saw him again double down on praising both sides. frank, you said we need to talk about this differently, the idea of the leader perhaps rebuking it. we're not holding our breath necessarily. what other steps, what tools could law enforcement have? what could congress do to help in the fight against white nationalist terrorism? >> that's a great question, because i hear a lot of people in the last 24 hours applauding that the fbi's labeled this domestic terrorism and, yes. that is an important step in the right direction. but please don't make the mistake of thinking there is any law on the books, federally, against domestic terrorism. this is a label in name only. it's not like the international terrorism approach that's given. we have plenty of laws available to us to combat international

terrorism, chief among them material support to terrorism even if you're just merely sending money to the cause. we've got nothing analogous on the domestic terrorism side. we need a discussion within congress as to the tools needed. we've heard reporting that in about 20 minutes prior to the el paso shooting there was this posting. somebody may have alerted law enforcement. well, guess what? if this was an international terrorism platform, blog, website, chat room? the fbi is there. they're watching. they've got sources, informants, right? they're on it. they're on it and shaping it and preventing it. they can't do that on the domestic terrorism side. and i get the reasons -- privacy, freedom of speech. we value those. but we need to rethink this because in a split second you go from saying you hate brown people to saying you're going to kill some brown people and the fbi is not there to listen. >> all right. frank figliuzzi, thank you very much for your words today on this show but also the piece

that you wrote. we are seeing what we see and it's happening right before our eyes, joe. and the hope is that republicans now will call out this president. that does it for us this morning. stephanie ruhle picks up the coverage right now. thanks so much, mika. hi there. i'm stephanie ruhle. here's what's happening now. two cities, 13 hours, 29 lives. in less than one hour the president is set to address these two mass shootings that claimed those 29 lives over the weekend, hinting this morning on twitter that a bipartisan deal on background checks may be on the table. all of this happened in a span of less than 13 hours. on saturday morning a gunman opened fire in a shopping area in el paso packed with thousands of people doing their back-to-school shopping. 20 were killed. more than two dozen were injured in a matter of just a few minutes. hours later in dayton, ohio a gunman wearing armor opened fire outside a