media, twitter, facebook, instagram, snapchat and linkedin. thank you for watching. "deadline: white house" begins right now. hello, and namaste, everyone. it's 4:00 in new york city. i'm john heilemann from for nicolle wallace. just two weeks from mass shooting that's left dozens dead, one specifically targeting hispanics. it's appallingly parent how little impact these slaughters have had on president donald trump. today the president is giving every indication he's retreating on the promise of gun reform by at the same time returning to his focus on policies that target latinos. we will get to guns in a moment. but first this morning his administration announcing a new rule that will allow u.s. to hold migrant families in detention indefinitely if they cross the border illegally. that would be the latest turn of the screw at the u.s./mexican border where trump's policies separates families, put babies in cages in woefully inadequate

communities. so less than three weeks after a mass shooting aimed directly at latinos and arguably fueled by trump's own words, we're backed by policies of fear and cruelty from this administration. and back to where we started on gun control, which is nowhere. led by a president who seems to be capitulating to the nra we learned as much about a phone call between trump and head of the nra, wayne lapierre, who said universal background checks are not -- not on the table, despite trump's public pledge right after these most recent shootings to finally take decisive action. even if that meant breaking with the nra. >> look, the nra has over the years taken a very, very tough stance on everything and i understand it. you know, it's a slippery slope. they think you approve one thing and that leads to a lot of bad

things. i don't agree with that. i think we can do meaningful, very meaningful background checks. >> this, of course, is not the first time trump made a promise on gun safety and turned around and broken it. two weeks after the shooting in parkland, florida, the president declared unlike other members of the party, the nra would not have any power over donald j. trump. >> the reason i had lunch with the nra on sunday, i called them and said you have to come over, fellas, you have to do something. they have great power, great power over your people. less power over me. what do i need? >> what an incredible statement that would have been if true. but now today, though he denied he made any promises to lapierre, trump also seriously muddied his stance on what gun reform means to him, echoing nra talking points along the way. >> why shouldn't anyone who wants to buy a gun go through a background check, what's wrong with that?

>> what we're doing is i want guns to be in the hands of people who are mentally stable. those people, i want them to easily be able to get a gun but people that are insane, people that are sick up here, i don't want them to be able to get a gun. i have plainly said and i don't think i have changed positions at all, we're working on background checks. there are things we can do. we have serious background checks and strong background checks. we can close up the gaps, do things that are very good and things, frankly, gun owners want to have done. >> here to talk us through it all from "the washington post," white house bureau chief phil rucker and with me on said former congresswoman donna edwards, former congressman and now an independent,david jolly anchor and executive npr's "latino u.s.a.." phil, you heard the president there in that piece of sound saying i don't think i changed my mind at all. i think pretty much with eyes in

their heads see him as having changed his mind or saying one thing and now doing another. tell us what the real deal is on where the president is on background checks at this hour? >> he has changed his mind, john. the word out of the white house last night and continuing today is that he will not be supportling universal background checks, which is something he indicated very strongly in the immediate aftermath of the el paso and dayton shootings that he would get behind and that's simply because he's listening to the nra and following what they're saying. we should keep in mind, he talks about the nra as if they're perhaps a branch of government or they have a seat at the table in making policy in this country, and they don't. there are a lobbying group. it's a special interest group, the same kind of special interest groups that's pret campaigned saying he wouldn't listen to but they speak for so many members of trump's political base that he is listening to them and he's shaping his policy based on what the nra leaders want. this doesn't mean there may not be some form out of the

administration when congress gets back in september. certainly looking at the mental health piece but there could be closure and loopholes regarding background checks, that's to be determined, but the idea that trump is going to start to follow his conviction and follow a majority of what the american people want, which is universal background checks, is not true anymore. >> phil, i would like you to stop ever use the words trump's convictions together in any conversation you and i have because we both know there's no such thing. >> fair enough. >> i will say on this program yesterday on the basis of no reporting and sheer cut instint i said i thought donald trump was probably having a phone call yesterday with someone who's name rhymed with wayne lafiear and a few hours later we found out exactly that. so what happened between that phone call between trump and the

nra? >> your gut instincts were right. but it's not the first conversation they had. the president has been talking to wayne lapierre a few weeks now and came convinced of the talking points you take a step hecks and it becomes this slippery slope and you end up resulting in policies where you're taking guns away from the people which the president is afraid to do because of the political backlash there. it's been clear the president early on was open to background checks and now is not. and that's because of the success the nra has had in lobbying him. but it's not just the nra. there are also nra-aligned members of the administration who have had the president's ear who have been making this case, making the political case to the president against any of the new gun restrictions. >> guys, around this table, i have to say when trump first said after the shootings, background checks, we're going to do background checks this time.

you saw a parade of trump friendlies go on television and say, this time the president really means it. i'm back to my comment on trump having no convictions. he means it this time. he's laying down the law and going to go against the nra. i want to play one now because as i watched it happen, i thought are you people idiots who are? because if you had seen the way he bailed on the parkland promises, if you have seen the way he speaks every year at the nra convention and things he says in that room, you know there was no way he would go against the nra. here's one of the people who went on television, one of the president's minions who sometimes breaks with president trump, chris christie taking the bait hook, line and sinker a couple weeks ago. >> let's talk about how the president responded to the crisis in the past week. the way he's responded has been to visit el paso, visit dayton and call against the wishes of the nra a republican president that's called for universal background checks and red flag law. that's leadership too, ron.

listen, you can say -- i have been critical -- patrick, please. i have been critical of the president's rhetoric at times as you know, sitting at this table. i have been critical to him personally at times about his rhetoric. but this week he has moved further than george w. bush ever moved on this issue, then previous republican presidents before george w. bush ever moved on this issue. if we're going to criticize the president as we do sometimes at this table, we need to give him credit that he in fact is trying to move the republican party in a different direction than it's been done before. >> david jolly, i ask you, you heard chris christie there say leadership, we have to get him credit, he's moving the party further than ever moved on this issue, further than george w. bush, any other republican president, he's going there. and today? >> chris christie was lying and all apologies were a bad leaders

a bad person. what he's done is put himself above the best interest of the nation. nra has control over republicans for three reasons. one is the money. we always talk about the money. the other is mobilization of voters, they're one of the most effective groups of mobilizing constituencies. politicians respond to that as well. the third though you can go back almost to the inflection point where bush 41 left the nra. the nra successfully indoctrinated second round convictions. when i say there's a distinction between a bad leader and bad person, we lost nearly 3,000 people in 9/11 and we marshalled every resource of our government four a whole-out government response. in the case of hurricane katrina, we marched all of our

resources to respond, he an epidemic. last year we had stats from the cdc, there were over 14,000 murders through the use of a firearm. 24,000 u sides through the use of a firearm. by scale this is a national epidemic that is killing americans and we have a president who took one phone call from somebody that controls his own fate in 2020 and donald trump chose himself over the safety of the country. >> donna, i ask, is there any way to read this, i look at poor chris christie there and i say "poor" in quotes, like lucy with the football, if anybody wants to believe donald trump will suddenly have a conviction, have an ability to cross any of the ben fa benefactors who represent the base, he's lucy holding the football and lift it's and they come crashing to the ground. should anybody from this point forward whether donald trump's term lasts for another 5 1/2

years or 5 1/4 years or just another year quarter, should we ever believe a word donald trump has to say on this topic ever again? >> that's an easy answer. >> i know. >> the answer is no. i'll be honest with you, i never believed him at all when he said it. i mean, we heard what he said after meeting with the parkland survivors. we have had children killed in elementary schools and churches, on the streets, you name it. this president doesn't change. so that didn't surprise me that he flip-flopped, flipped and flopped again on the issue of guns. what i will say is that i have never seen another president who looks at an issue that's 90% or 9-10 people who believe you should have universal background checks and then says oh, no, the public is not ready for that. most people would actual tlak that football and run with it. but not this president. he's not to be trusted. he's not believed from one day to the next, not from one moment

to the next. no surprise that wayne lapierre pulled his strings one more time. >> maria, you were in el paso. it's genuinely fun to mock chris christies of the world who go out and carry donald trump's water and have them spit it back in their face and look like fools but it's not fun at all to anybody who lives in el paso and was affected by a mass shooting who maybe believed what donald trump said after the aftermath, who believed he would finally cross this rubicon. and it seems an incredible 18 days later for the president to 1e essentially kick those people while they're down and for many months and not just 18 days. >> the thing is, john, latinas and latinos in the united states heard what he was saying when he came down that escalator in 2015. the kicking has been going on

since 2015. a lot of people just caught up when a 21-year-old takes an assault weapon and goes in and mows down people and says i'm doing this because i hate latinos, hispanic, mexicans. so this has been going on for a very long time. it's more salt on the wound. again, it's very hard to talk about a politicalization of what just happened in el paso with the people of el paso who are coming to terms with the fact that they were targeted by this president kind of consistency. el paso is like hey, we just do our thing, we go to juarez, we come back, we crisscross. what's up with this president who's now taking to criticize us? so they are in the trauma of realizing that a president of the united states of america and his words have led to 22 funerals in their city. so i don't think they believe anything at this point. they're processing the fact the

words of the president have ended up -- it's very hard to say this, it's horrible, but have ended up with the lives of 22 people taken. >> so trump, like many people who are in the tlal of the gun lobby, attempts things like mental illness and there are crazy people and we don't want them to have guns. and think we all recognize there are crazy people on every country on earth and there are no gun rates like anywhere else in the developed or undeveloped worlds. this is a classic nra talking point trump has been consistent on. i want to hear, let's place this tape of donald trump talking about the scourge of mental illness and that's the only problem we have related to the gun crisis. >> mental illness and tray tread pulls the trigger, not the gun. there's nobody more protective than donald trump but i don't want guns in the hands of a

lunatic or maniac. we don't want to see crazy people owning guns but i also want to remember mental illness is something nobody wants to talk about. these are people who have to be in institutions for help. i'm not talking about a form of a prison, i'm saying for help. i think it's something we have to really look at. the whole concept of mental institutions. you're looking at mental institutions, which we used to have, as an example where i come from in new york, they closed up almost all of their mental institutions or many of them and those people just went on the streets. i have to tell you, it's a mental problem. i have said it 100 times, it's not the gun that pulls the trigger, it's the person that pulls the trigger. these are sick people. >> the point is not a significant point, 90% of people in favor of in new safety, gun control measures, it's no hard to point out mental illness is a

commonality across the entire world and only places we have gun deaths are in the united states. when you point that out, other reporters, talk to people but not the president, because i'm sure he doesn't addresses anything in a logical manner, but when you talk to people at the white house about this point and how obviously made up it is and how convenient it is and talking point is it, what do you hear back from the people responsible for actually coming up with policies and extend policies in this white house? >> the point you raised is an important one. mental illness is not a unique american problem but gun violence seems to be. when you talk to the white house or president about it, i was at one of the gaggles over the weekend you just played video from, they're fixated on this mental health point because it's a priority for the nra to shift the focus away from guns as a problem to mental health as a problem. but trump is taking it a step further and talking about reopening mental institutions

that were closed in the 50s and 60s and '70s because of their inhumane treatment of patients. reopening these institutions, effectively locking up more people who are mentally ill and there's a lot of concerns when awe talk to experts outside the government but just experts in this field who say this kind of language from the president creates a stigma around mental health. makes you think if you have a mental illness, you, therefore, could be a mass murder iror if you have the mental illness, you also may have an afrmt r-15 and to go kill people somewhere. this isn't what mental illness is but it's a convenient way for the white house, and we will probably see proposals about this, to show they're doing something in response to the shootings without doing anything to change the gun laws. >> we were talking about the victims in el paso. there are victims now in a horrifically large number of communities around america that are subject to mass shootings.

we got the parkland kids out, "the washington post" has a headline, the new plan. parkland students unveil huge gun proposal in hopes it will begin in 2020. you were on the air with this show the monday after el paso and dayton saying it was a collarian call. saying the only way there would be gun decline in america is get rid of all of the republicans. i don't want to just repeat that but you see in the context what the republicans are calling for, they're essentially singing your song saying we need to have a surge in youth voting, we need a surge in voters who care about this issue because we need political change, not on the issue. not like the existing construct is going to move because the issue moves them. it's got to be we have to get rid of the impediments to the change we need. >> and those impediments are republicans. i will spare the nation the

speak but you have to beat republicans. kudios to the parkland kids for doing something that is really a comprehensive proposal. it has eight, ten elements to it and provides a blueprint for both chambers, house and senate. the house is limited by its own political coalition if you will and parkland kids are putting this out there. the mental health thing for a moment is such a critical debate to reset with the president. it's not mental health problems or video games or platforms, but people with mental health challenges and play video games and go on forums that have access to the united states. the problem we have to crush is the access of firearms by these communities and these individuals. i would love to see a reporter press the president on this. flip the script. if it really is health care, what he's speaking to is

background checks that are not just universal, but the data we pull, let's do a mental health check on the individual. i would love to see us do that. >> you know what, you often have to -- i spend some time reporting on this issue of mental health and getting access of a gun. if you actually talk to men who are depressed, most men who are facing depression are not like hmm, i could barely open my eyes and open the window but let me go get an assault weapon and kill people. it's not the way mental health depression works. so the fact he's taken an issue that has taken so long with our country to talk about it and transformed it into now we have to take the other, anyone who suffers from a mental illness and put them again and cage them off, it's continuing this whole notion of if you're not perfect, we need to set you aside. >> this is why i think when democrats come back next week, week after, they are going to put forward a really comprehensive package beyond

just background checks. frankly, you shouldn't be able to go to a parking lot and buy a gun you can't buy in a gun shop. those are the loopholes we're talking about now. >> we have to take a quick break. phil rucker, thank you for spending time with us. it's always a pleasure, even when the topic is this depressing. coming up -- the new proposal to detain migrants and keep their kids in custody indefinitely if they crossed the border illegally. and president trump doubled down on his threat to jewish americans, if you vote for a democrat, you're disloyal or dumb. that's more, including the president suggesting he's king of the jews and calling himself the chosen one. i'm fototally serious. ctly. liberty mutual customizes your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. nice. but, uh... what's up with your... partner? not again. limu that's your reflection. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty ♪

so, every day, we put our latest technology and unrivaled network to work. the united states postal service makes more e-commerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country. e-commerce deliveries to homes the first survivor of alzis out there.ase and the alzheimer's association is going to make it happen. but we won't get there without you. join the fight with the alzheimer's association.

repair the enamel on a daily basis. with the new pronamel repair toothpaste more minerals enter deep into the enamel surface. you have an opportunity to repair what's already been damaged. it 's amazing. what's already been damaged. yeah, i've had some prettyeer. prestigious jobs over the years. news producer, executive transport manager, and a beverage distribution supervisor. now i'm a director at a security software firm. wow, you've been at it a long time.

thing is, i like working. what if my retirement plan is i don't want to retire? then let's not create a retirement plan. let's create a plan for what's next. i like that. get a plan that's right for you. td ameritrade. ♪

. very much i have the chi children on my mind. people make this horrible 2,000-mile journey. >> so the president of the united states has children on his mind. today we learned what he would like to do with his children when they arrive in this country. hold them and their families in detention centers indefinitely. that means potentially forever. nbc news reporting the administration's proposal is a new rule that would enable them to, quote, hold migrant families in detention for the duration of their immigration proceedings with no limit on the time they can be detained. the new rule may be in defiance of a 2015 court ruling known as

flores agreement limiting the time they can be detained to 20 days. joining us now with information on this incredibly important, nbc's julia ainsley. great to see you. tell us what this means in principle and in practice. >> in principle this means we can now hold families that cross the border together indefinitely until they have their court case played out and can get asylum and stay in the united states or issued a deportation by a judge and have to leave. that's what it means in practice. in reality though this isn't going to affect everyone. because of two huge restrictions. one is legally. any administration official you talk to right now says yes, we're saying this will go into effect in 60 days and we fully expect to be sued. they expect the injunction. they want that court battle. what they want is get this away from the judge who decided in 2015 you could not hold children longer than 20 days even if they're with their parents. then you get to space. now they don't have plans to

expand i.c.e. detention camps so they're limited. they are limited, 3,000 beds to use for families and there are over 4,000 already this year. without plans to expand, they think this will apply to 5% to 10% of families who cross the border but just that alone will get out the message and keep families from coming here. >> julia, i think you answered implicitly the question how the administration wants to get around the flores decision, they want to go forum shopping and find a friendlier judge to invalidate flores, is that what you're saying? >> that's right. the way they say they're getting around this, they think they have justification to do this and it could stands up in a court is that under the flores agreement,t judge initially said that a child cannot be held for a long period of time in a facility that was not licensed by a state. and no state has licensed a family detention center for

immigrants. so what they have done and said since the states won't do it, i.c.e. will license these facilities. that seems like a wide-open door for anyone to challenge that's not what the judge said and you're in violation. but they want this out of the ninth circuit. they want to kick this up. they had mix success with policies in the past. can you see how the supreme court said the administration can go forward for the time being on some construction of new border wall. they have had some wins and kind of -- i hate to use this -- but throwing things against the wall to see what works. sometimes they can get small wins. but i think this one will at least be a long time off, if it does finally prevail for them in court. >> maria, let me ask you a couple questions here. the first is a practical thing. i want to get what this sounds like and that will be to get emotional here but just on the practical matter, we have seen horrific photographs and to theage from these facilities

over the course of the last months, weeks, now going on years, where we look at them and say my god, these are overcrowded facilities, people are treated -- people are detained in a way that is inhumane. even if this gets challenged in court or affects a small percentage of migrants, you're still talking about increasing pressure on a system buckling under the weight placed on it already. is this not going to be an immediate invitation to turn the humanitarian crisis up a couple notches on the crisis meter in terms of just conditions on the ground? >> and isn't that exactly what they want? that's the horror of this is all about. i need to remind people we're talking about people who have absolutely no due process. >> right. >> people need to understand, we think when you're taken in the united states in custody, you're read miranda rights, you know why you're being taken in, why you're being arrested, how long you will be held. due process. you get access to a lawyer, et

cetera. there's none of that. so what we're talking about, i need people to understand, you're being held now indefinitely, no access guaranteed to a phone call or access to a lawyer, we need to wrap our heads around that. also this thing i bring up, which people have a real problem with but i think it's essential we talk about where these ideas were born. this family detention did not start under donald trump. it started actually under george w. bush around the year 2005 in hutto in texas. when people saw the little baby prison garb for toddlers, people freaked out. and it was shut down, hutto was shut down. this actually comes back with jeh johnson from the obama administration and jeh johnson, who i interviewed, said he considered this a humanitarian -- a humanitarian turn. look where we're ending up now.

it is this administration's that's going to say hey, you guys led to this, which is why hello, joe biden, are hello, you need to assume responsibility and all of us do, for the fact this has been created under our watch. >> donna, i want to ask you this, things move so fast we forget that not that long ago, i believe it was one of the congresswoman who are part of the squad, possibly aoc, who created controversy and certainly raised the hackels of people in the trump administration when she said these are concentration camps. people are looking back at the actual definition of what a concentration camp is. there are arguments about that. when you start talking about permanent detention facilities for minorities in any exant country, it's like in the textbook definition of a concentration camp is.

is this -- a, is that not right, or am i nuts? b, as much crucialty as we see on behalf of this administration, is that really a charge this administration wants to give fuel to? because it's going to become increasingly hard to not call that what it is. >> well, i think the president and the administration, the reason they're conceding with this particular part of the policy is they want a fight. they're inviting the fight. they're inviting the fight in the court and inviting the fight in the court of public opinion. i think for democrats the danger here is by not calling it what it is, we kind of buy into the system. and that is simply not acceptable. i think all of us have to own this even as we put the real blame on the trump administration. >> jolly, drd really wants the concentration camp fight? we know from people close to him hates the fact he's labeled a

racist. but he's not happy about the fact he is known as the racist president. does he really want to be known as the concentration camp president? >> he wants to be the hard-line president so what will happen is the nation will go down a rabbit hole where republicans say we don't want to separate families so we will keep them united by keeping them indefinitely contained together as a family so in order to do that we need to change the ruling by flores. so what does this say about us? you can argue we're in the midst of a hemispheric migration crisis and hue we respond to that defines who we are as a nation. we are either receptive to these families that are seeking safety and opportunity or we take the donald trump/jeff sessions approach where cruelty is the deterrent, shut down the border and indefinitely detain. it's not necessary to indefinitely retain families to provide proper adjudication to their claims. >> the thing about deterrents -- i'm sorry, john, but here's the

thing. by the way, jeh johnson said this too, this is a deterrent. i was just on the border when i was in el paso during the aftermath of the massacre, the shooting, i crossed into juarez and i saw what now has become normal, which is a line of people about 50 people, waiting on the mexican side to ask for asylum to come into the united states. and i saw so many babies. i saw like a month old baby, i saw toddlers, i saw 4-year-olds and i very calmly went up to the people and i said hey, what's going on? they're asking for asylum. they're desperate. i said do you have any idea what's going on, on the other side with children? no. i said have you heard any stories about children being taken away from people on the other side? no, no. so this notion that people who are seeking refuge are like checking their iphones to see what policy donald trump has said and where it ends up in the

courts and this is going to deter them, i'm sorry, it's a bunch of bs. it is not true. and none of them have taken the effort to go down to the border and look these people in the eye and do the humanitarian thing, which is you're not escaping to come get a job, you're escaping because you're terrified. >> we got to get to a break. ky go on all day about this. democrats out there who are running for president in 2020, if you cannot make a winning political issue about the way the administration has handled the issue on the border, you're the most inept party in the history of this planet in the world. still ahead -- praise for donald saying he's the second coming and calling himself the chosen one and doubling down on disloyal jews and it's not even 5:00. basis. with the new pronamel repair toothpaste we can help actively repair enamel in its weakened state. it's innovative. my go-to toothpaste

is going to be pronamel repair. so, every day, we put our latest technology and unrivaled network to work. the united states postal service makes more e-commerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country.

e-commerce deliveries to homes stop struggling to clean tough messes with sprays. try new clean freak! it has three times the cleaning power to dissolve kitchen grease on contact. it works great on bathtubs. and even stainless steel. try new clean freak from mr. clean. (man)n) go home. (woman) banjo! sorry, it won't happen again. come on, let's go home. after 10 years, we've covered a lot of miles. good thing i got a subaru. (avo) love is out there. find it in a subaru crosstrek. (avo) get 0% during the subaru a lot to love event.

where is the democratic party gone? where have they gone where

they're defending these two people over the state of israel? and i think any jewish people that vote for a democrat, i think it shows either a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty. >> oh, that was donald trump setting off yet another controversy bomb in the course of attacking congresswoman tlaib and omar, blaming democrats for voting them into office and in so doing says "the new york times," quote, his language was reminiscent of the anti-semitic smears that jews have a dual loyty and more devoted to israel than they are to their own countries. trump trying to beat back accusations by tweeting a quote labeling him the king of israel, insisting they love him like he is the second coming of god. but astonishingly, that didn't seem to do much to convince people. the president tried to do damage control, like the republican jewish coalition, insisting no, no, trump was talking about

disloyalty to one's self. so with a chance today to clean it all up this afternoon, donald trump did exactly what you would expect, he made this giant mess all the messier. >> i think that if you vote for a democrat, you're very, very disloyal to israel tonight jewish people. >> democrats are disloyal to israel, is that what you're saying? >> i say so. >> isn't that anti-semitic? >> no, only in your head, only anti-semitic in your head. >> joining us now daniel goletti. if you say a jewish person is disloyal to their country voting for a democrat, and there's no even faintist whiff of anti-semitics in that. it's all in your head.

>> you go back to the dreyfus affair, the zion that canard, jews stabbed germany in the back during world war ii, this is something that anti-semites have done for hundreds, thousands of years. i don't know whether donald trump is anti-semitic. i don't know what he has in his heart. >> there's no doubt this is an anti-semitic trope there. >> it was a trope. he must know what the consequences of his words are. in some ways i sort of think of trump as -- elliott lewis once said the opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. trump as a moral quality is transactional. there's no evidence he cares about the state of israel or jewish people. this is for electoral purposes. >> gabe, we never can say we know what's in someone's heart or not in their heart, it's an

amazing thing you see people scrambling around trying to figure out some way to give trump an out when he's engaged in obviously anti-semitic trope and came out i meant what i said, you're not being loyal to israel if you vote for a democrat. it's like he's not just not -- he's not just missed the exit ramp but driving straight into a brick wall. >> how often over the last five years of donald trump as serious international political figure have we seen him actually take that exit ramp. he doesn't do that. he always doubles down regardless of the substance we're talking about and this is part of a pattern he has of trafficking. >> don't worry, we'll get to that. >> basically the point here is that he got to this via a roundabout way. he was trying to make an electoral point, turning it around on tlaib and omar so he decided to double down. >> gabe, let's talk about this,

yesterday and today was not the first time donald trump employed anti-semitic tropes. back in 2016 we had the same questions after a speech he gave at a jewish convention. >> i'm different because i don't want your money. i want your support, not your money. we renegotiate deals, is there anybody who floeshdoesn't reneg deals in this room? perhaps more than any room i have ever spoken to. maybe more. >> the jewish people as money changers, there you go, donald trump. again, accusations of anti-semitism the following year when he tweeted a photo of hillary clinton superimposed on a pile of cash along with what looked like a star of david, and trump insisting it was a sheriff's star or plain star.

and then donald trump's final campaign ad of 2016 with a warning about global special interests partnering with people who don't have your good in mind over pictures of federal reserve chair janet yellen and george soros, both notably jewish people. trump would wonder openly whether soros was funding the caravan coming towards the united states. wh and who can forget charlottesville, good people on both sides, whether one of the sides made the mantra the jews will not replace us. so we can't know what's in the president's heart, we can only judge him by his words and actions. is there any way to judge this president on his words and actions repeatedly over years now as being someone if not anti-semite but caters to anti-semitism. >> i think when you deal in anti-semitism and deal with

racism, you are those things. frankly, there's no way to get around it. the president wears his anti-semitism on his shoulder and wears his racism on his back and we have to take him for what he is. it's up to the president to fix those things but every time he tries to fix, he steps in more muck. i am not prepared to give the president a pass as though sometimes he doesn't understand this or know it. i don't think he's a student of history but he knows something. i think these things are intentional frankly. >> mr. jolly? >> nobody who's lived the type of life donald trump is gets to his age that ignorant. he knows what he's doing. the most generous thing to say is he hasn't learned any of the lessons around hard culture conversations about anti-semitism and racism. if anything, he perpetuates some of the darker narratives that has ee been throughout our culture and history for over 100 years. >> looking at the point from

voters in 2016 and 2018. 2016 you had 71% of jewish voters voting for a democrat, 23% voting for a republican. in 2018 it goes up to 79% and drops to 17% for republicans in that midterm election. dan, there's -- it's hard to know if you're studying two election years, one trump is directly on the ballot and one where he's not but there's some discussion, i know, among various political quarters that you're almost certain to see that number go up, what trump is doing here, if he's trying in some way to gain some allegiance of jewish voters, he's doing a pretty bad job of it. you're looking at the situation in 2020 where the normal affiliation of jewish voters could get even more damaging for the president. >> i don't think there's any doubt that. so this idea that what he's doing is some kind of clever

political strategy to divide jewish voters and bring more of the republican party i think is ridiculous. jews voted for democrats in presidential elections somewhere between 70%, 80%, maybe 60% earlier so that's not going to happen. i think conceivably he's trying to juice evangelical voters because they care about these issues. they do believe in the second coming of the messiah. by the way, there are a lot who believe once that happens, the jews will be driven into the sea. so -- but if politically, i don't think this particularly is wise strategy on his part. >> i do want to make one other statement, did you have a pretty persuasive bill of particulars. one you didn't mention was the speech he gave to the national republican coalition, in which talking to a group of republican jews he referred to bibi netanyahu as your prime

minister, and israel as your country. the reason i bring this up is because the classic trope in terms of disloyalty is you're a fifth columnist. you're not loyal to the united states. you're loyal to a foreign power, in this case it would be israel. but implicit in what he's now saying to defend himself, he's talking about how jews are just loyal to israel, is that all american jews need to be loyal to israel and support all of israel's policy -- >> like a mirror image. >> it is analogous -- exactly, it's a corollary field trope. >> evangelicals, one of the strangest thing in the world donald trump supports is evangelicals, and they do believe in the second coming. it's possible on the basis much evidence that donald trump also believes in the second coming and not only the second coming is going to happen but has

already happened in the case of donald trump. let's look at how donald trump referred to himself today at the white house. >> so somebody -- excuse me, somebody had to do it. i am the chosen one. somebody had to do it. so i'm taking on china. i'm taking on china on trade. >> so donald trump, he's talking about china there. he wasn't talking about this controversy, okay, but maybe in addition to being anti-semite or trafficking in anti-semitism, he's also in the grip of messy annex. is it possible that's a real snapshot of what donald trump generally thinks which is he's not just the king of the jews but the second coming? >> it's certainly possible. there's no question whatsoever -- >> possible? i think 97% likely. what are you talking about? >> there's no doubt he sees himself as a exceptional world historical figure. he makes that clear every time he opens his mouths or tweets or does anything, talks about how special he is. i think -- i think he was joking

here but there was a reason it was in his mind. >> david jolly, donald trump the chosen one or at least in his own mind the chosen one in the church of his own temple? >> one word, the evangelical community, republicans on the hill that will give cover to him in moments like this. >> 1 corinthians is definitely not -- >> we have got to get to a break. mishuganah. when we come back, donald trump and his feud with denmark, it almost sounds made up. but, alas, it is not. that is next.

mesh ugh and a half sfmt store the meg ugh nah sfchlt store the egg and store the egg an ♪ let's get down to business. the business of atlanta on monday... ... cincinnati on tuesday. ...philly on wednesday. ...and thursday back to cincinnati . modernized comfort inns and suites have been refreshed because when your business keeps going, our business is you. get the lowest price guaranteed on all choice hotels when you book direct at choicehotels.com.

with moderate to severe ulcerative colitis or crohn's, your plans can change in minutes. your head wants to do one thing, but your gut says, "not today." if your current treatment isn't working, ask your doctor about entyvio. entyvio acts specifically in the gi tract to prevent an excess of white blood cells from entering and causing damaging inflammation. entyvio has helped many patients achieve long-term relief and remission. infusion and serious allergic reactions can happen during or after treatment. entyvio may increase risk of infection, which can be serious. pml, a rare, serious, potentially fatal brain infection caused by a virus may be possible. tell your doctor if you have an infection, experience frequent infections or have flu-like symptoms or sores. liver problems can occur with entyvio. ask your doctor about the only gi-focused biologic just for ulcerative colitis and crohn's. entyvio. relief and remission

within reach. [horn honks] man this is what i feel like when i wear regular shoes, cramped and uncomfortable. we can arrange a little upgrade. which is why i wear skechers... wide fit shoes. they have extra room throughout. they're like a luxury ride for my feet. try skechers wide fit shoes. so, every day, we put our latest technology and unrivaled network to work. the united states postal service makes more e-commerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country. well, the return of the nasty woman, donald trump hurling one of his all-time

favorite attacks of all people the prime minister of denmark all because she called his idea of purchasing greenland absurd. >> i thought that the prime minister's statement that it was absurd, it was an absurd idea was nasty. i thought it was all she had to do was say, no, we wouldn't be interested. but we can't treat the united states of america the way they treated us under president obama. i thought it was a very not nice way of saying something. >> it's interesting how when trump gets rebuffed by woman who just said the idea is absurd, which i think everyone can agree, it is absurd. so he goes immediately to nasty, like, to characterize her comments as nasty. it feels to me like he likes to employ that word when it comes to women. >> well, i've never heard him

employ it when it comes to a man. every time there's a woman who bucks up against him, then his response is she's nasty. she didn't listen to me. she wasn't respectful to me even though i wasn't respectful to her. in this case, you know, with greenland, i mean, denmark has been an ally and a friend. i mean, they've lost 43 servicemembers in iraq, afghanistan, and syria. and this is not a way that you treat your allies. and i think others around the world going into the g7 are saying, you know, we agree with that. >> dan, you go back to ted cruz notable friend of this show i say jokingbly back in february who would be comfortable having his finger on the button. would've nuked denmark. that's not the temperament of the leader to keep this country safe. you look at this and you think ted cruz for once actually had a

point. this whole thing is like for laughs, but on some level there's something a little disturbing about it. >> exactly. i mean, on the one hand it's theater of the absurd, worthy of groucho marx. on the other hand, this is a guy who's taken an island somewhere between canada and the arctic and turned it into a mini diplomatic crisis. we do have interests with denmark. i mean, interest in the arctic, for example. and as the congresswoman just said, 43 people -- this is a tiny country. 5 million people, and they gave their lives to help our efforts, our war efforts in all of those countries. >> and real quick, it's crazy, right? he's like dising denmark while he said he wants russia back in the g7. >> it's totally crazy. >> well done. we will be right back after that

piece of succinct wisdom. sdomhiy nerves when i'm worried about moving into our new apartment. why don't we just ask geico for help with renters insurance? i didn't know geico helps with renters insurance. yeah, and we could save a bunch too. antonio! fetch computer! antonio? i'll get it. get to know geico and see how much you could save on renters insurance.

sleep number 360 smart bed. you can adjust your comfort on both sides - your sleep number setting. can it help us fall asleep faster? yes, by gently warming your feet. but can it help keep us asleep? absolutely, it intelligently senses your movements and automatically adjusts to keep you both effortlessly comfortable. so you can really promise better sleep. not promise... prove. and now, all beds are on sale! save 50% on the sleep number 360 limited edition smart bed. plus 0% interest for 24 months and free home delivery. ends saturday we didn't have to stop the movie. i didn't have to call an ambulance. and i didn't have to contact your family. because your afib didn't cause a blood clot that led to a stroke. not today.

we'd discussed how your stroke risk increases over time, so even though you were feeling fine, we chose xarelto®, to help keep you protected. once-daily xarelto®, significantly lowers the risk of stroke in people with afib not caused by a heart valve problem. in fact, over 96% of people remained stroke-free. don't stop taking xarelto® without talking to your doctor, as this may increase your risk of stroke. while taking, a spinal injection increases the risk of blood clots, which may cause paralysis- the inability to move. you may bruise more easily, or take longer for bleeding to stop. xarelto® can cause serious, and in rare cases, fatal bleeding. it may increase your risk of bleeding if you take certain medicines. get help right away for unexpected bleeding or unusual bruising. do not take xarelto® if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. before starting, tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures and any kidney or liver problems. be sure you're doing all you can to help protect yourself from a stroke. ask your doctor if it's time for xarelto®. to learn more about cost and how janssen can help, visit xarelto.com.

all across america, support for white nationalism is growing. it can be broken. when former extremists like me speak out against it. >> more americans watch nbc news than any other news organization in the world. you need a special group to get through the news of the last 24 hours. so my thanks to all of you who are my savors in this moment. that does it for this hour. i'm john heilemann in for nicolle wallace. "mtp daily" with chuck todd starts right now. ♪ i am the chosen one. i am the least racist person. you are being