this time they made a mistake. >> hey, i'm president, can you believe it, right? >> you know, i am the chosen one. >> i have been chosen. >> i am the chosen one. >> he's the one. >> he is the chosen one. you must see it. >> i am the chosen one. >> i'm a god. >> you are a god? >> i'm a god, i'm not the god. i don't think. >> you asked me if i have a god complex. let me tell you something, i am god. >> the gods must be crazy. >> i am the chosen one. >> he's the chosen one. >> he chose poorly. >> wow. yeah, they must be crazy. good morning, everyone. >> good morning. >> willie, i mean, donald trump yesterday embraces the title of the king of israel, what jesus

was called on the cross, and then the second coming of god, of course, borrowing from the second coming of christ, and then after that he -- the chaser was donald trump declaring "i am the chosen one." >> and what really punctuated it in case you are just listening in the car is his look to the heavens while he said it, he turned and looked up to god as if to thank him for choosing him. what that really did for me, joe, is remind me alec baldwin in "malice" wow, so good and underrated eddie murphy movie "the golden child." that's a great movie. i'm glad we started our show with it. >> two i haven't seen and never will. welcome to "morning joe." it is thursday, august 22nd along with joe, willie and me we have msnbc contributor mike barnicle, white house reporter for the associated press john vennel mere, white house correspondent for pbs news hour

yamiche alcindor and historian author of "the soul of america" and rodgers professor of the presidency at vanderbilt university jon meachum. >> so we are about to get to not only some of the president's more outlandish remarks, jonathan lemire, we are also talking about a back and forth, a cleat and utter lack of discipline, a complete unmooring, the likes of which we have actually yet to see in the trump presidency. i've alluded to the article that you wrote a couple weeks ago that even people close to donald trump say that his management style has become even more erratic, even more disturbing, even more unmoored. of course, the atlantic the same week wrote an article saying, believe it or not, as bad as you think it's been, it is actually getting much worse. gene robinson said it yesterday. there is this realization that every time we think that donald

trump has reached the bottom in terms of competence, in terms of emotional stability, it does get worse. his policy pronouncements this week have just -- have been the stuff of fifth graders, whether you are talking about cashmere or other -- other foreign policy crises that have been around for decades. it is quite evident he knows little to nothing about. >> it has been even for this president a particularly scatter shot week or two where i think all of us in washington have been suffering from whiplash. as a brief aside on the video clips that brought in the show, we do lose points, though, for the inclusion from something from the "star wars" pre kwals, but i was happy to see indiana jones and the last crew said there. >> i wouldn't allow it. >> people around the president, even aides to him have been left baffled as to where he stands on a number of things the last couple weeks.

just to tick a couple issues, we've heard him go back and forth on the economy as fears of a recession have grown here at least or if not a full blown recession, signs that the economy is slowing down. he says we're not going to do payroll taxes, then he floats payroll taxes, then tax cut and then saying there is no need because the economy is strong. he has been badgering the federal reserve to move on the interest rate again. he floated and dismissed the idea of indexing capital gains through inflation. these are things where the back and forth leads to the very instability that has rattled the markets, but it's not just that, it's on obviously guns in the wake of the shootings in texas and ohio, and in particular on background checks where he has changed position a number of times in the last week including seemingly walking away from it after a conversation with the nra and even greenland which has become an amusing story here, but at the same time when denmark rebuffed his advances to try to purchase it, he then

canceled a trip to europe to visit denmark and hit more traditional allies while doing so. >> hard to tell at this point, but there have been moments in this presidency i think we could even probably trace a pattern where this president behaves like this because something else is going on on the inside that's upsetting him and he's deflecting from, but it really has been a week of whiplash inducing policy shifts coming from president trump and it's only thursday. it's exhausting. while the president is no stranger to reversing course on policy positions, this week he has contradicted aides, allies and himself multiple times when it comes to issues such as gun reform, tax cuts and his interest in purchasing greenland. according to the "new york times," some former trump administration officials in recent days said they were increasingly worried about the president's behavior, suggesting

it stems from increasing pressure on trump as the economy seems more worrisome and next year's election approaches. as the "times" points out after passing off advisers who displeased him at a record rate in his first two and a half years in office trump now has fewer aides around him willing or able to challenge him, much less restrain his more impressive instincts. yesterday trump attacked the prime minister of denmark calling her nasty. he doubled down on his support of russia reentering the g7. he repeated an anti-semitic trope and also referred to himself as the chosen one. so here is president trump yesterday tripling down on his belief that russia should be readmitted into the g7, this time expanding on his false claim that moscow was expelled from the group because vladimir putin hurt president obama's feelings.

>> sir, you said russia was kicked out of the g8 because they outisn't that righted -- you said russia was kicked out of the g8 because they outsmarted obama. in fact, it was because they an mentioned crimea. you know that, they're still there. >> so russia outsmarted president obama, they took over during his term, not during mine, crimea. >> they are still there, why let them in now. >> they took over crimea. if you would stop being an organ of the democrats, you know, you would let me answer the question. i will answer it very easily, it's a very simple question. the fact is president putin totally outstarted president obama on crimea and other things, including the red line in the sand, all right? he outsmarted -- he made a living on outsmarting president obama and frankly because of it obama was upset and he got obama out of what was the g8 into the g7. they were taken out because

putin outsmarted on crimea, on the red line, on other things, totally outsmarted obama. obama was upset. they took him out. i think russia should be a part of it because we're looking for world peace. >> so obviously, willie, he thinks if he keeps repeating obama it will be a smoke screen to some of his lowest information voters. who knows, maybe they didn't even know the news that vladimir putin invaded a sovereign country and then annexed part of that sovereign country and in so doing violated nuclear agreements that actually were extraordinarily -- it was an extraordinarily dangerous, serious move and then, of course, they were responsible, russia was, for shooting down a commercial aircraft, killing hundreds of civilians. we could go on and on. of course, he also invaded

georgia several years before. but i guess donald trump thinks if he keeps bringing up obama, obama, obama, maybe his lowest information supporters will look past the fact that he's actually doing vladimir putin and russia's bidding, just like he did at helsinki when you said he thrusted an ex-kgb agent more than he trusted mark's military and america's intel community. >> yeah, this is an easy one, there are facts that are easily learned. the president either doesn't want to learn them or isn't aware of them, which would be surprising. he does have a national security staff presumably that talks to him from time to time. but peter alexander asked a direct question, which was grounded in fact, and when he followed up the president of the united states said, stop being an organ of the democrats. is that all you got? stop being an organ of the democrats. if you can't answer a direct question based on the facts of why rufgts was kicked out of the

g8, that's pretty pathetic. yamiche alcindor, you cover this white house very closely. is there someone left in that white house who perhaps the first time he said this the first time he made that up could have said to him here is why russia is no longer in the g8, and if so, who is that person and why aren't they saying things to him now that could influence what he says in public because it's not going well for him right now. >> in short there's no one in the white house that is interested in challenging the president on facts because the president those why russia was kicked out of the g8. it's pretty clear why russia was kicked out of the g8 but he's reflecting and he uses the word obama when he's upset, backed against a corner, when he wants to make a point to rile up his base. we saw the president also use a bunch of other misleading information. not only was he deflecting and completely lying when it comes to why russia was kicked out of the g8, he also talked about the

nra and said wayne lapierre the head of the nra wants to close loopholes on background checks when it's very clear on the nra's own website they say we are against expanding any type of background checks and they take issue with the fact that loopholes even exist when even though in this country if there is a gun sale between two private citizens you don't have to have a background check, which means people can buy guns at gun shows, buy guns on inn loo. what the president was doing yesterday was really throwing back all the things that he has heard throughout his presidency, which is that he is an agent of russia. i mean, the idea that the fbi opened up an investigation to make sure president trump wasn't an agent of russia must really still be bothering him because he is now making the case that president obama was the person who was being outsmarted and now i asked him a question yesterday very directly are you talking to the victims of mass shootings about what they want in gun laws? he refused to answer the question. instead he said mass shooting victims that i visited in the

hospital love me. it is all about president trump yesterday. >> god, he's horrible. >> jon meachum, let's just go down a list here that i was just writing down here. so -- and ask if there's any parallel in american government regarding a president, a commander in chief, ceding so much to an adversary and getting nothing in return. he ceded syria to russia, saying they were welcome to go in, it's the first time that russia has been in the middle east since 1973, it is causing so many problems regarding the management of syria's terrible government, with iran's expansion plans, trying to move towards israel as much as possible. he ceded afghanistan to russia this past week, saying he wanted to get out and if russia wanted to go in, they were welcome to go into afghanistan.

of course, ceding objections to russia entering the g8, of course, again. russia -- it wasn't barack obama, it was the entire american government that was shocked, rightly, by russia's invasion of crimea, by the annexation of crimea, by the shooting down of commercial aircraft. and, of course, refusing -- and perhaps the most disturbing and inexplicable problem is donald trump continuing to refuse to listen to his military leaders, refuse to listen to his intel chiefs that he appointed, the fbi director, the cia director, the national director of intelligence, we can go down the list, the department of homeland security director saying russia is threatening american democracy. russia is trying to undermine american democracy, mr.

president, do something about it, and yet this president and mitch mcconnell refuse to do anything about it. add all of those up from syria to afghanistan to the g8, to the ignoring of the crimea invasion, the annexation, all the treaties that were broken when that happened, i mean, add all of that up, jon, and what type of picture does it paint? >> as gloomy as at any point in the history of the country in terms of a president's conduct of our policy toward a foe and or a rival, depending on how you want to characterize russia. one of the great mysteries of the age to me continues to be how the party that was so vital to the defeat of soviet totalitarianism has decided to support a president who is enabling and being in many ways

complicit with the totalitarian heir to that system. >> jon, quickly, on that point it's interesting that you have the republican leader of the house of representatives who accused the president before he got the nomination of being paid off by russia. kevin mccarthy told a caucus, the republican caucus, that he believed that donald trump was on the take and had gotten money and been paid off by russia. i'm sorry, go ahead. >> no. no. and i think this is what the founders in many ways were concerned about. one of the big issues in philadelphia in the 1780s was how do you keep a president -- or a legislator, too, but mostly a president -- how do you keep them from being influenced by a foreign government. a lot of the safeguards were about that. jefferson and "hamilton" part of

their voracity was hamilton thought jefferson was too close to the french and jefferson thought hamilton was too close to the british and that was an essential story at the beginning of the republic, which was ferociously partisan, which was difficult and was -- one of the things we forget about in america which i think is really interesting in terms of the russia question now, even now, is we see ourselves as this continental nation with a destiny for good or for ill, depending on where you are, but nobody living in 1790 knew we were going to be a continental nation. and if you are a european power, if you are france, spain, britain, russia on the other side, from the pacific northwest side, you have this vast new world and you are not going to try to exert your influence? it's a it is remarkable we don't look more like central or south america and part of that is we

did have every possible persuasi persuasion, every possible party, we had generations of leadership that insisted on a certain kind of american territorial and even ideological integrity. i know it was imperfect, this is not a manifest destiny homily, but i honestly cannot remember -- unless you go back to the fears of the founders of one another -- i don't remember a president who seemed as -- so clearly a willing agent of a foreign government. >> and, joe, when you add all of what jon meachum just indicated and just take the collective tapes from the past three or four days, from sunday onward of the president's statements and his press availabilities with marine one behind him, he uses that as a stage where he can say pretty much anything he wants, respond to anything he wants at whim, we've seen collectively a

remarkable portrait of instability and incompetence on parade from the president of the united states, talking about events that are current, that are dangerous, that are affecting the lives not only of american citizens but are affecting our relations with countries around the globe. i was speaking yesterday with someone who spoke with the president earlier this week, he received a call from the president to talk about the economy and this person was telling me that the conversation was remarkable and that the president of the united states received absolutely incoherent talking about the current economic trends. trillion dollar deficits, the president was talking about things that ought to be done, attacking the fed and talking about as if it were december of 2008 and january of 2009, talking about crazy, crazy implementation of things that are beyond bizarre. this is the president of the united states. we've seen the videos this morning of his behavior and his rhetoric. this is, i think, getting worse

by the day. >> well, it is definitely. we've noticed that when the pressure is on him, he gets worse, at times incoherent. that happened during the ramp up of the mueller investigation, at critical times in the mueller investigation we would see this. after the mueller investigation passed, we noticed a little bit less of that, whether it's the economy or something else that's going on right now, there is no doubt that with pressure on him he does seem to be more incoherent based on people who work around him than he has been in some time. you know, willie, we talked about this earlier this week. the republicans don't -- other than kevin mccarthy who said that the russians paid off donald trump, the republicans for the most part don't like the theory that donald trump is beholden to russia and trump

apologists in the media get very angry whenever somebody suggests that and part pushing back and it's the anti-anti-trumpism that they have hidden behind for years to keep their subscription rates up or to try to just stay afloat. i do wonder at the end of this week what is the republican explanation for a president who has ceded syria, ceded the middle east, who has ceded afghanistan now and said go in, take over, we will get out, against the advice of every single military person, of every single general, ever every single admiral, every single foreign policy expert that has helped america become the most powerful country in the history of the world, and the fact that he's doing nothing to protect american democracy. what is their explanation? if they don't like that donald trump is on the take or he's

being blackmailed by vladimir putin, and there has been no evidence of that, what's their explanation? >> what's any explanation for it? what's any explanation for him standing on the stage in helsinki and ceding the ground when jonathan lemire asked him a question a couple summers ago to vladimir putin. can you imagine it's a game we've played a lot. think about it if this was another president, say barack obama saying let's let russia back into the g8. russia's would be banging on the desk. you can't let him back in. if he said let's get out of afghanistan and give it to russia they will say you can't cut and run, you are weak on foreign policy. it's a moot point at this juncture, it's perhaps rhetorical and trite, but where is the republican outrage on any of this stuff? i haven't even seen republican outrage on the question of, again, yesterday the president of the united states and we will get into this, questioning the

loyalty of american jews who don't vote for him. imagine anyone else saying that. where are the republicans on any of this? absent as usual. >> nobody. >> where is ben sasse? where is joni ernst? where is thom tillis? >> where were they when the president said he would take help from a foreign government. >> where is susan collins? >> nowhere. >> where is cory gardner? >> nowhere. >> where are all of these people who are running in contested races and actually have an incentive to tell the truth about how disturbing this president's conduct is. i will say again and i have always -- i've been saying this for 20 years to people that work inside the white house or connect themselves too closely to a white house, they're going to leave town. presidents come and presidents go and when they go you are left with their residue if you identify with them and don't

find your own path. >> it's day trading. >> this is happening now and, mika, i ask, again, playing this game that we used to play when barack obama was president, we would say can you imagine if a republican had done that. we always did that, now we've reversed it because a republican is in the white house. what if barack obama was this obsequious on every issue involving russia and what if barack obama came out and declared himself yesterday the king of israel. >> oh, my lord. >> the second coming of god. >> the chosen one. >> and the chosen one. just think about that for a second. it would be extraordinary. the self-righteousness raining down from above in washington, d.c. would be over the top and yet these republicans blindly follow this very erratic unmoored man. still ahead on "morning joe," something mike just mentioned, it may be one of the president's most consequential

legacies, trillion dollar deficits and a federal debt that has soared over $2.5 trillion since he took office. we will get to that, but first let's go to bill karins with a check on the forecast, bill, how is it looking? >> transition day. some areas of the country are going from summer to fall this weekend, other areas will be plain old hot and humid. overnight we had a lot of heavy rain throughout areas of the midwest, we have had some flash flooding concerns around the st. louis area, we still have flash flood warning for that region. still watching some of this heavy rain. this is associated with the cooler air moving in. for the northeast one more hot day in new york city is under a heat advisory, 13 million people included in that, still going to be a very hot day from washington, d.c. all the way through the carolinas and then the heat and humidity remains with us from texas all the way through the southeast. but here comes the change and if you're sick of the heat and humidity, this is the day for you in minneapolis, milwaukee, chicago, detroit, temperatures almost feeling like fall, especially in the shade, as we go into the weekend that sunny

and nice, the dry less humid air slides into the northeast on friday and then on saturday it even pushes down as far south as virginia, north carolina and then we end the weekend with just incredibly gorgeous weekend. you don't get august weekends like this that often from the great lakes, ohio valley, mid-atlantic into new england, this is the weekend for you. enjoy it. should be absolutely gorgeous during the day and cool and crisp at night. new york city, heat advisory, feeling like 97 today, over the weekend upper 70s. you're watching "morning joe." we will be right back. ight back. this is rhis life is...of pretty comfortable. rick blomquist thought he had comfort all figured out. but then, he laid on a serta and realized his life was only just sorta comfortable. i've been living a lie. [laughs] the serta icomfort hybrid mattress. not just sorta comfortable,

serta comfortable. get a free motion base upgrade or get up to $900 off select icomfort sets. laso you can enjoy it even ifst you're sensitive. se. yet some say it isn't real milk. i guess those cows must actually be big dogs. sit! i said sit! 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.

for the second day in a row president trump again accused jewish american voters of disloyalty to dis israel for voting for democrats. >> in my opinion if you vote for a democrat you're being very

disloyal to jewish people and you are being very disloyal to israel and only weak people would say anything other than that. [ inaudible question ] >> i haven't heard anybody say that, just the opposite. i think that if you vote for a democrat you are very, very disloyal to israel and to the jewish people. >> if jews vote for democrats would they be disloyal to israel. >> i'd say so. >> isn't that anti-semitic. >> no, it's only in your head. i am the least racist person ever to serve in office, okay? i am the least racist person. >> so guy benson the political -- i know. >> he says it outloud. he says it outloud. he talks about dual loyalty outloud. he says everything outloud. his people go out and defend him say, oh, he doesn't mean that, and then he says it into a

microphone and then they still figure out a way to try to defend the indefensible. anyway, you were talking about guy benson. >> the editor for ton hall.com tweeted and just like that he yanks the carpet out from underneath everyone who claimed he actually meant something else. >> so, willie, this is dual loyalty, it's how fascinating that here is a guy that ran through anti-semitic troupes through his entire campaign, talked to jewish groups talking about money, how basically they were money grubbers, had put a star of david on hillary clinton's face in a retweet, talking about how jews were trying to buy the white house and yesterday he actually followed congresswoman omar down the dual loyalty road that he has criticized her for for months. >> it's amazing. he just said it. he just made the dual loyalty

claim, said it out in the open. >> he admitted it. >> guy benson is right, you had a lot of people two nights ago on fox news and other places online saying, come on, here is what he actually meant. they were parsing his statement. and then he walks out on the white house south lawn, jonathan lemire, and just says it, he says you are disloyal to jews, disloyal to israel if you don't vote for me, he puts it right out there. my gosh, does he -- again, is there anybody out there who can explain to him what this means and, again, to republicans, if you are upset and offended by what ilhan omar and rashida tlaib are saying and if you believe their comments are anti-semitic we'd love to hear from you this morning on what the president said yesterday. >> right, it's far from the first time, willie, that the president had done this, where he has said something or tweeted something that seemed inflammatory, others tried to cover for him and a day or two later he just says, no, no, that's what i meant. no matter how outrageous it might be. let's not lose sight of what he's saying here. the charge of being disloyal is

one that is tough for anyone to hear, but it was something that was thrown at jews a lot in europe in the 1930s. it's something they have heard in the united states in dark periods of our nation's history. this is a dangerous thing to say. certainly like though polling suggests that jews here in the united states it end to vote democratic, they are not a monolithic block, nor are they single issue voters nor expected to support everything that israel does. the president to put it out there like this is another sort of unprecedented moment where he shows his willingness to walk into issues of race and culture and religion, you know, that he wants -- tries to exploit for his political gain and there is no one in the white house who can say to him -- who can tell him no. in the past when he has fielded anti-semitic charges, when accused of walking in that sort of -- on that path, you know, it's been pointed out that his son-in-law jared kushner is jewish, his daughter ivanka

trump converted to judaism. that's not enough. there's no one there who is telling him including members of his own family saying, mr. president, you shouldn't be saying this. this is dangerous language and you need to stop. >> well, you know, mike, when congresswoman omar said what she said about dual loyalty, i criticized her here on the show. nancy pelosi criticized her. members of the democratic party criticized her. it's fascinating when donald trump -- and of course republicans and trump conservatives, trump republicans, all went crazy attacking her for dual loyalty and talking about anti-semitism. fascinating that donald trump adopts the same trope and silence from the republican party. >> yeah, and, you know, she was -- she was right to be criticized. we were right to criticize her at that point. >> yeah. >> but if you take these clips that we've shown all morning

long and you look at them collectively. look, i understand television is like sky writing, you know, poof it disappears, but the impact of these clips taken collectively is astounding, especially the body land badge, yamiche, and the movements and the rhetoric of the president of the united states where he is speaking about jewish people in america, american citizens, as if they are a separate category. i mean, he has put them to one side. they are a separate category and he's using them as a political tool because it's all about him. it's all self-involvement, everything that he says is all self-involvement. >> it's incredible to watch the president double down, triple down on these comments on american jews. the question continues to be what are republicans going to say about this. right now because congress is out they can kind of hide out in their districts and act like this isn't happening, but when they get back people, reporters

like me and others are going to be asking the republican leadership what do you say about the president saying that american jews who overwhelmingly support democrats that they are disloyal, that they are stupid, that they don't understand what pro israel stances are and as a result they are not voting their values. you saw so many different jewish leaders come out and say the president is using anti-semitic tropes, this is dangerous language, it's shameful, the anti-defamation league is criticizing him. the republican party, which is -- which has at times tried to say, okay, the president can cross the line and we have to talk about him in a bit, they aren't doing that at all this time. i think it is incredible to see the republican party go silent on this issue and the president not at all pull back. yesterday on the lawn he did not mince words, he was asked the question several times. he was asked don't you think this is a bit anti-semitic. he said, no, i haven't heard any of that backlash. i think we will see the president continue to do this.

of course, where he's deflecting because there is this squad or the four congress women that he has been arguing with and attacking, he has continued to say that he hates jewish people but his language suggests that he is asking jewish people show loyalty to him personally, no the to the united states, not to israel but to him personally. >> right. >> mika, again, we started talking about this -- we've been talking about it from the beginning of his presidency, but when he was making the racist comments about send them back. >> yeah. >> the fascist -- the neo fascist comments send them back, you know, send them -- you know, go back to where you came from. all of that, we commented here that that was not going to help him. it might boil down his base, but it was going to turn off so many other people who would remember

those comments. well, here we have these attacks on american jews and talking about dual loyalty and that anti-semitic trope, he's already -- he already loses three out of four jewish votes. this only makes it worse. his approval ratings. the last one i saw he is now down to 40%. he keeps going down and he doesn't -- this is something guy benson wrote about in his town hall column yesterday, this is something that his supporters watch in horror because it's only making his reelection efforts more difficult, which, again, is fairly astounding that there is no one there -- and that he is now incapable of understanding that all he is doing is inflicting political damage to his own reelection efforts. >> it's all very distracting. coming up, we will get into

2020 politics. one candidate bows out of the crowded democratic race while another has officially traded his presidential ambitions for a senate run. "morning joe" is back in a moment. oe" is back in a moment we have to be able to

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. sleep number 360 smart bed. can it help keep us asleep? yes, it senses your movements and automatically adjusts to keep you both comfortable. and now, all beds are on sale! save 50% on the sleep number 360 limited edition smart bed. plus free home delivery. ends saturday. yesss, i'm doing it all. the water. the exercise. the fiber. month after month, and i still have belly pain and recurring constipation. so i asked my doctor what else i could do,

and i said yesss to linzess. linzess treats adults with ibs with constipation or chronic constipation. linzess is not a laxative, it works differently. it helps relieve belly pain and lets you have more frequent and complete bowel movements. do not give linzess to children less than 6, and it should not be given to children 6 to less than 18, it may harm them. do not take linzess if you have a bowel blockage. get immediate help if you develop unusual or severe stomach pain, especially with bloody or black stools. the most common side effect is diarrhea, sometimes severe. if it's severe, stop taking linzess and call your doctor right away. other side effects include gas, stomach area pain, and swelling. i'm still doing it all. the water. the exercise. the fiber. and i said yesss to linzess for help with belly pain and recurring constipation. ask your doctor.

i have to tell you, look, i've been fighting climate change for 25 years and i've never been so confident of the ability of america now to reach critical mass to move the ball. i think we will have a candidate to fight this battle, i'm inspired by the people i have met across the country, the sunrise movement, the climate strikers, these people have go i have been me confidence we can move ahead. >> the democratic presidential candidate who staked his campaign on climate change has withdrawn from the race. in an email to supporters washington state governor jay inslee said that while he reached the donor threshold to qualify for the september debate, it was clear he would not meet the polling requirement. two sources close to the governor tell nbc news that inslee is expected to send an email to supporters today announcing plans to run for a

third term as governor. he is the third major candidate to exit the crowded field after congressman eric swalwell and former colorado governor john hickenlooper withdrew. speaking of hickenlooper, it is official, he is going to run for u.s. senate. he made the announcement in a campaign video released overnight, a move that was expected after ending his presidential bid. here is part of that announcement video. >> i don't think cory gardner understands that the games he's playing with donald trump and mitch mcconnell are hurting the people of colorado. we ought to be working together to move this country forward and stop the political nonsense. >> this as a new emerson poll released yesterday that shows hickenlooper leading current colorado senator cory gardner by 13 points in a hypothetical

matchup. >> a couple things to talk about here, willie. first of all, governor inslee never really had much of a chance, but good for him for taking an issue that meant a lot to him and meant a lot to americans and actually putting himself out on the line, like anybody who runs for president puts themselves out on the line, to promote that cause. it didn't take off, but he did get the message out there and that was important. as far as governor hickenlooper goes, you can see from those poll numbers he is connected very well with the people of colorado and, you know, you think back to that california democratic convention where he got booed for saying the democratic party should not be a party of socialists, for actually defending -- defending capitalism after an early stumble. i think that's put him in very good stead with the voters of colorado moving forward. >> yeah, john hickenlooper is a

strong candidate for the senate, he is doing the thing a lot of people in colorado but also nationally hoped he would do, which is to bow out of the presidential race and get his focus on the state of colorado. that would be a big seat for them to get. on your jay inslee point i agree with you, the amazon rain forest is on fire this morning so it's appropriate that we are talking about jay inslee. jon meachum, he brought an issue to this campaign that frankly is more popular and more important to voters, especially young voters and democrats now than it has been ever. when he was asked any question on the stage at a debate he would go right to climate change, perhaps putting pressure on other candidates to put their focus there as well and to put out more aggressive plans on climate change. >> yeah, and it's possible that in 20 years, maybe 30 we're going to look back and say people like al gore, people like inslee in this cycle were the

prophetic voices that we should have heeded. now, you know, if there are any conservatives, you know, out there their heads just blew up over their wheaties, but it's possible that the centrality of that question with its national security implications, with its economic implications and with the self-evident details we have that the planet is changing. of course, what's so depressing, is a good word, what's so bloom gloomy-making about this moment is even something -- in fact, climate may be the great example of one that there are facts, we can argue all we want about what we want to do about those facts, that's called democracy, that's a good thing, but we have instead of a conversation about what we might do about a changing planet, we have people who simply deny that it's

happening and then the conversation ends up in this partisan paint ball arena where the president of the united states is merrily loading the paint ball gun and using everything he possibly can to lash out at others. somebody pointed out on social media the last day or two, boy, we really need to get obama and clinton out of the white house because of the terrible things they're doing. and i think that it's only going to get worse as we get closer to the 2020 election, and i think it puts a big burden on the people who are still in the race that governor inslee just left. people like vice president biden need to be making this case coherently and consistently, that there has to be a way to move out of a sense of perpetual conflict, not over opinion. that's okay. but over facts. >> right. >> all right. still ahead, it's been

almost three weeks since the mass shooting in el paso and dayton and president trump's stance on gun reform seems to change depending on the day and depending on who he has been talking to. shannon pettypiece says he is a man in search of a message, she joins us with her analysis ahead on "morning joe." hmm. exactly.

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 ♪ i'm a faster laptopd could help. plus, tech support to stay worry free. worry free. boom! ha.ha. boom! now save $249 on this lenovo ideapad, plus total tech solution at office depot officemax or officedepot.com.

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.

one year anniversary of senator john mccain's passing, and this morning his widow, cindy mccain, has a new washington post op ed entitled, my husband was a man of civility. americans can still learn from him. she writes in part, my late husband, john mccain, loved a good fight for a good cause. he believed it was right and necessary to argue about differences on issues and in governing philosophies. and as he often remarked, a fight not joined is a fight not

enjoyed, but john never sacrificed civility. i think he's missed most because he understood that a country like ours, a government system like ours doesn't permit one side to have everything its way on the great questions of the day. john was a passionate partisan but he was a states man, too, and statesmen accept the necessity of cooperation, compromise and make some compromise on the challenges. the anger some americans feel for people with opposing views seems to have become more vitriolic and intense. at times, given the amplifying power of social media, our differences which are fewer and less important than the shared values that are supposed to unite us, appear to be all consuming. however sharp our differences, however vigorous and even intemperate our debates have been, they shouldn't prevent us from respecting each other, from

valuing each other's dignity. >> you know, jon meacham, it wasn't so long ago that john mccain, a passionate partisan but also a passionate states man, could enjoin a battle against democrat bob carry, another vietnam war hero, and then go out to dinner as good friends. wasn't so long ago that ted kennedy and/or ren hatch could fight like hell and then, you know, after the end of the workday become very close friends and spend time together. of course, the tip o'neill/ronald regan stories are ledgendar legendary. they fought hard until 6 p.m. and after 6 p.m. they were friends. that wasn't so long ago but we seem so far away from those moments. >> it is ever harder, and we need to be careful not to

sentimentalize the past. it was a difficult time, but it's also true. one of my favorite examples of this is in august of 1974 the first call general ford made to tip o'neill when he was about to become president after nixon resigned and because ford had been minority leader, tip was the democratic leader. they're talking and o'neill's being supportive and ford's talking about cooperation and o'neill pauses and says, jerry, is this a great country or what? i'm going to be going around the country in a year kicking your ass in but here we are talking about the good of the country. that's the duality of it, right? mccain is a fabulous example of this. and one of the great things, i'm glad mrs. mccain wrote this, is we learn a lot more from sinners than we do from saints and i think john mccain would be the first person to say he sinned mightily. anyone who is on the other end of his occasional temper, i think, would wonder about his

love of civility, but what mrs. mccain said at its essence is exactly right. he was a flawed man who believed in the country and all its contradictions. >> mike barnacle, he understood others were flawed. he knew very well how to move past fights. we always joke about when he told you that his only regret about the the sub going down was that i didn't go down with it. we maintained a respect for one another. he was the one person i wanted to talk to on the hill after donald trump got elected president because i knew he would stay true to his beliefs and values unlike almost every other republican up there. >> joe, everyone we just mentioned in this brief segment

that you and don have mentioned, john mccain, tip o'neill, they had one unifying factor. they were all flawed human beings but they were men of great character. one quick anecdote that john eluded to. the first dinner that john and betty ford had together with another couple in the white house after he became president was with tip and millie o'neill and halfway through dinner gerald ford said, tip, do you have any idea what the bump in pay is going to do for my pension? that's an american. >> all right, jon meacham, thank you so much for being on this morning. we're going to talk to the founder of business insider for insight into what ceos think about the chances of a recession coming up. plus the washington post robert kosta joins us for his new reporting on the republicans thinking about challenging trump for the party's nomination.

"morning joe" is back in a moment. k in a moment right now, congress is working to end surprise medical billing. that's when patients are hit with medical bills they thought would be covered by insurance. but what congress is considering would cut money that vulnerabe patients rely on the most. that means seniors, children, and americans relying on medicaid would be hurt. it's already too hard for people to get basic medical care with hospitals closing and a shortage of er doctors. tell congress we can end surprise billing without shredding the safety net. paid for by physicians for fair coverage.

spending time together, sometimes means doing nothing at all. holiday inn. we're there. so you can be too. hi, it's real milk, just00% farmwithout the lactose, id. so you can enjoy it even if you're sensitive. delicious. now, i've heard people say lactaid isn't real milk. ok, well, if it isn't real then, i guess those things over there can't actually be cows. must be some kind of really big dogs, then. sit! bad dog.

the fake news, of which many of you are members, is trying to convince the public to have a recession. let's have a recession. jay powell and the federal reserve have totally missed the call. i was right. he raised interest rates too fast, too furious. i'm not looking at a tax cut now. we don't need it. we're going to be doing background checks. putin totally outsmarted president obama on crimea and other things. obama was upset and he got obama out of what was the g-8 into the g-7. russia should be a part of it because we're looking for world peace and other things. denmark, i looked forward to going but i thought the prime minister's statement that it was absurd, 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. respect has to be shown to the united states. i am the one that kept the families together. president obama and others brought the families apart. with what we're doing now, we'll do even more of that, but it'll make it almost impossible for people to come into our country illegally. i think that if you vote for a democrat you're very, very disloyal to israel and to the jewish people. >> god, it is just incredible. >> it's orwellian. it is remarkable that an american president is allowed to do that, is allowed to twist facts and make misstatements and deliberately mislead americans and nobody in his party calls him out on it. not one. the lingering residue from this on the republican party is going to be that mistake. >> our thanks, by the way, to

our colleagues at "the 11th hour." it's great. they noted within minutes yesterday president trump attacked president obama, the prime minister of denmark, doubled down on his support of russia and an anti-semetic trope and called himself the chosen one. >> you have flip-flops. the last whopper. calling himself the chosen one and the king of israel, the second coming of god. embracing those titles, but, you know, mika, in so many of those statements that he said yesterday, you could have shown the flip-flop where donald trump had said earlier, jonathan la mere, let me bring you in. no, we're not interested in purchasing greenland. we are interested in purchasing greenland. we're not going since they're not letting us purchase greenland. guns, background checks, we're going to support background

checks. then he talked to wayne lapierre, we're not going to support background checks. then yesterday he appeared to move back towards background checks. you can go through a variety of issues there and he is flip flopping every day. i can understand based on your reporting what people inside of the white house are so concerned that the president is frantically flip flopping by the day. >> you just ticked them all off, joe. that's exactly right. but it's hard to sort of pin him down where he is. let's remember, donald trump is someone that doesn't be have a lot of core beliefs. he can certainly move with the wind on a variety of issues, but from the people that we've talked to, it's been growing pressure about the economy that has sort of unnerved him in recent weeks and perhaps has led to this more -- much more scatter shot approach on a number of issues. this real belief that a strong economy is the best argument he has for another four years and that he has been rattled by the market volatility, by the signs of a slowdown, by the talk of a

possible recession areas. he doesn't seem to have a plan as to what's going next but certainly is very fearful that if the economy slows down and no longer can republicans or some independents who maybe hold their nose at some of the things he says, who can put up, have made a deal with themselves in some way, to put up with the divisive policies or racist rhetoric because the president was good for their small businesses or checkbook, they may not do that more and that would endanger their ability for a chance. what you saw yesterday on the lawn is how reactive he is. it's a cliche in trump world. he will change his opinion based on the last person he talked to, the last person he heard from or the last cable news network he saw. in the case of greenland, he

thought the officials in denmark were not kind to o him. when they turned down his offer to purchase greenland he blew up the whole trip and took shots at what has been a faithful u.s. ally. >> i know we need to introduce our guests. let's talk about something jonathan lamere said. that's his reactivity. it appears to be at incredibly unhealthy levels. to be that reactive for that long is just not that good. it indicates stress. isn't it fair to say there are some who believe that if the economy tanks, you would think you'd be worried about the american people, but for him, he's not going to win re-election. that means he faces a lot of music. is that a fair sort of equation to play out? >> well, some democrats have

said if donald trump doesn't want a second term he could be facing a jail term. there's no evidence of that right now. we still don't know what the southern district of new york is doing, but that's obviously something that he is concerned about. >> he's just so reactive. >> but he is reactive though. but everything is always about him, as you know. you look at even when he was visiting the families of gun shooting victims, he talked about himself. >> yeah. it's weird. >> when he talked about how much they loved him. he was wildly inappropriate based on any personal standards. when he went to pittsburgh after the synagogue shootings, what did he do? he complained about the press coverage. he didn't talk about those shootings. his take away when he left was that he got unfair press coverage. everything goes back to him and so what he's saying right now is over the past several weeks his

poll numbers have gone down. he's sitting at 40% and the latest poll that i've seen, this despite the fact that he says we have the best economy ever. so if the president is, in fact, concerned about a coming recessi recession, and let me say quoting william gold, nobody knows anything. we don't know whether the recession is coming and there are literally billions of variables, then as long as his wall street journal said there are no doubles, we don't have a tech bubble. we don't have a housing bubble, then there's reason to believe that this economy will keep moving along at about 2%. yes, it's moving along more slowly than it did under barack obama, but it's still 2% growth while very anemic is still a long way from a recession. so we don't know.

>> right. >> even with donald trump bragging about the greatest economy ever, his poll numbers show that only four out of ten americans support him. that will obviously lead to a landslide loss in 2016 if that holds. >> so along with jonathan lamere we have msnbc korcontributor mi barnacle, amish and claire mccaskill joins us and political reporter for the washington post and msnbc political analyst, rob acosta. and senior white house reporter for nbc news digital, shannon pettybese along with joe, willie and me. great to have you all on board. president trump continues to muddy the waters when it comes to his position on gun reform. on tuesday he appeared to retreat on background checks

warning it was a slippery slope but yesterday he told reporters background checks will happen. he also disputed reports that he told the head of the nra, wayne lapierre they're off the table. >> we're goings to going to be doing background checks. we have strong background checks. we had a great talk with wayne yesterday. didn't talk about that. we talked about concepts. wayne agrees things have to be done also. >> are you seeing what they want? >> i went to the hospital -- >> what are you hearing from them? >> i will tell you this. i went to the totally falsely r. there were beautiful, beautiful, very sad, horrible moments but there were beautiful moments in the sense that these people, the families and also the people that were so badly injured that

i was with. they love our country. >> what do you want to do about gun laws? >> frankly, they love their president. >> oh, my god. shannon, you've been reporting on this. can you make any sense of it? what exactly is his plan in terms of gun laws? >> he doesn't have a plan, and that is why we're seeing this either waffling or this real time him searching for where to come down on this. there is staff inside the white house trying to work on what a plan would be that he could get behind that is politically tenable and that could actually get through congress. on background checks the most i can figure out at this point is that they still are working on some sort of legislation having to do with congress that would be framed after this toomey-mancin bill that would be tied with gun show/internet bills. you get into lingo with information about universal

background checks, meaningful background checks. universal background checks would include private sales. they don't want to include private sales because that's something nra is very much against. so the president is trying to thread this political need needle haven't been able to get through and for 2020 it's the moderate women su busuburban voters. they're trying to figure out what to do now. >> that's quite a balance. you're balancing 90% versus 80%. 89% of republicans support expanded universal background checks. >> it's clear. >> and that's about 94, 95% of americans in all support

background checks. donald trump is siding with the 5 or 6% who don't. good luck with that in politics. >> reporter: that's the thing, it doesn't take some great political courage to go along with 97% of the american public or majority of republicans or majority of gun owners, but the president seems unwilling even in that one sentence, it was within the same thought, he said i have an appetite for background checks but we already have very strong background checks in this country. claire, he said he talked about concepts. i'll ask you to put that up. what is your thought of something getting done when congress comes back in the next couple of weeks? >> trump is trying to make the nra happy at the same time he appeases republican women in the suburbs. impossible on this. he's looking for a fig leaf is

what he's looking for. something he can pretend he's doing something meaningful on background checks. he has no intention on doing that nor do the republicans in the united states senate, nor do the republicans in the united states senate. so what's going to have to happen here is the democrats -- i mean, i hope they are all getting ready. when they come back to washington, they better be singing from the same hymn book that universal background checks and a ban on it. people like the candidates running against tom tillis, jonie ernst and those that hung on in suburban districts in congress, they are all going to go down because this issue is not going away. i feel it at the grocery store. i live in exactly the kind of

area that could go either way. my home in st. louis and i'm at the grocery store and people are coming up to me saying, i never voted for you but it's time we do something on guns. it is out there and it is not going away. >> is mitch mcconnell, he's a smart tactician. do you think he gets that enough to say, you know what, let's have a background check on guns. >> he will not push through something that the american people are demanding right now and that is, you know, so what if you got to wait a week to get a gun. is that the end of the world? all of this talk he's talking about mental health. i've got to say this again. this administration has rolled back a rule that made it harder for people that are on social security disability, which means they've had to prove they have a mental 2kib89 and, therefore,

they made it more difficult to get a gun. they're talking out of both sides of their mouth even on the issue of mental health. >> as you talk about mental health, of course, it's the -- the united states is not unique in having issues -- citizens that have issues regarding mental health. all countries have those issues. we just have a couple hundred million guns and that leads to the challenges that we have and the tragedies, ongoing tragedies. so, bob costa, i'm hoping you can provide us some incite. >> we had the president telling women of color to go back home. we had chance from ts making fa chants and the president supporting them and backing down. the president declared himself

the chosen one yesterday, embracing king of israel, embracing second coming of god as complements. wanting to guy this. the next one is blame denmark. can you give us some insight from talking to aides, talking to people inside the white house, what's exactly going on right now? why has the president seemingly become even more volatile over the past three to four weeks? >> speaking to the president's confidante and top republicans who speak to him by phone or have visited him in new jersey when he was at bed minister, they say when you ask the question, what's really going on here with president trump, they say, if you step back and you talk to him, it's all about 2020. he has advisors inside the west wing giving him data that shows

signs of a possible economic slowdown. he sees biden holding on to his lead in the polls and he's trying, they say, to make the four minority women the face of the democratic party day in day out. he's trying to get wayne lapierre on the phone to make sure the nra and gun right republicans are with him. not appealing to suburban women here but make sure his core people, amid the economic news are with him. >> which leads to the second thing, bob. the republican primary. other republicans thinking of challenging president trump. we're all of course looking past some of these challenges thinking that what donald trump

is doing has to do with his general election fight. is he worried about a possible strong primary challenge? is that why he's still playing to his core, why he's still playing to his base? >> he's not worried about a primary challenge. even those who are thinking about a primary challenge right now, former illinois congressman joe walsh. john kasich, there's not an expectation that anyone at this point could come close to beating president trump in a republican primary, even in a state like new hampshire. at the same time, when you talk to people who are organizing in the gop against president trump, they're talking about 1968. could someone or a series of candidates bloody up president trump enough in the next 6 to 12 months running from the center like phil weld, running from the right like joe walsh and make him less appealing to republican voters to try to draft someone

bigger to jump into the race. the standard bearer of choice for many in the anti-trump coalition remains someone like senator mitt romney in utah. he's not even thinking about some way to batter president trump politically. we heard the president clip the preshow indicating that a hospital visit i believe in el paso, the bottom line was the victims, their families, they love their president. that's what he said to some shock to people when they hear that. your former colleagues, republicans in the united states senate, we're watching play out here especially over the last three or four days. there's a marriage of incompetence and instability in the united states. do your former republican colleagues, any of them, any of

them realize history is a constant stenographer and they're going to be called on to respond and reply to what they are not saying now about what's going on? >> well, there's a saying in politics, there's no time more important than the present. what he's done is -- that's not right. what he's done is it's intimidating to my former colleagues and they think if they hide and are not caught on the record -- they are thinking of -- we have ways in the senate building to avoid the press, right? the press gathers by the tram when we all go to caucus lunches. they gather by the chamber when we go to voem. they need a traffic cop in the back stairwells because every republican is doing everything they can to avoid being put on

the record about this craziness. remember the last thing he said yesterday on the subject of guns? he said, and i quote, we have great mental health. you know, i mean, they know how bad this is. the ones that are in trouble politically, you look at a cory gardner, right out of the gun he's down 13 points in colorado. he ran the senate republican campaign committee for the last sickle. he knows that he's in trouble. they know is a a problem for them. how they handle this and them needing those college educated republican voters, they're saying, really? we need some stability here. this is crazy town. this is totally crazy town. i think you're going to see some cracks there. rich is going to have to have out his putty and spackle because this is going to bust

open. i believe it is. >> can i ask claire a quick question. you brought up susan collins which what's happened, she has always stayed in power in maine by painting herself as a moderate republican, a moderate pro choice republican. she, of course, made the vote that she made with brett, but i'm sure you saw the news just last week that she had a fund-raiser at the home of the head of the federalist society and obviously that's -- i'm just trying to figure out what the logic is there, what these republicans are thinking. that would play extraordinarily well in, you know, northwest florida, throughout most of florida, alla became pla, mississippi, but not in maine. do you have any insight into --

because it seems that that will make susan collins radioactive politically in a general election. what are these republicans thinking? i always bring the same ones up in swing states whether it's cory, jonie silent. whether they know it or not, 2020 is not going to be 2016. >> or 2018 frankly. first of all, in fairness to susan collins, she has legitimately been a mother. i have very vivid memories being given time-out in her caucus for her courageous stands of planned parenthood. there are teen times she cost votes to avoid completely

ditching obamacare. >> what's going on now? >> the emotions behind the kavanaugh decision and how that played out in who are state have made her terrain very difficult for next year. i think she's counting on the fact that she's never missed a vote. they know she comes home. they know she's about mainers. i think she is going to try to rely on her long record of hard work and showing independence at times to try to get through this. i completely relate to where she is right now politically because it feels very similar to where i was the year before my last re-election. we'll see how -- she hasn't been afraid to be critical. she's probably going to have to amp that up if she's going to hold on, but time will tell. >> all right. trump lashed out at the danish

prime minister, if all this wasn't enough, after she rebuffed his interest in buying greenland and he accused her of not showing respect to the u.s. speaking to reporters yesterday he said her response was nasty. >> i thought the prime minister's statement that it was an absurd idea was nasty. i thought it was an inappropriate statement. 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. >> trump continued to take aim at denmark on twitter saying that as a nato member, it did not contribute enough to military spending. he also attacked the atlantic alliance as a whole for not spending enough on their

militaries. the president's comments come two days before he travels to the g-7 summit. that is where shannon is. in preparation for this trip, what are you going to be looking for? this is the annual bashing of the allies. last year he got into a spat with justin trudeau. he apologized for the remarks he made afterwards. it will certainly once again be trump acting as sort of a stranger among friends here. he is not in the position where he's looking to unite europe, which europe could use at this point. he is trying to look at ways to make a wedge between france and

determine ma any. he has one trade war going on against china. we expect him to double down on a trade war with europe. he wants the french to open their agricultural market so i think we're going to see more of him continuing to spar, especially at a time when he could actually use the help of some allies. if you want to take on china and dealing with iran and having the u.k., france backing you up, putting their own tariffs on chinese goods and backing you. that's something that could be a strength. he does not see that. once again we'll see him struggling to see who his friends and his enemies are. >> shannon, thank you. mike, i want to go back to denmark for one moment. that country tiends itself.

they said, it's not for sale, sorry, mr. president, you can't have it. now he's out criticizing their commitment to nato. there's another way to measure their commitment. after 9/11, the united states of america was attacked, countries around the world joined with us as allies and sent troops to afghanistan. the danes send a military and 43 have been zblild that's correct. per capita denmark is a small country. that's an enormous casualty count for denmark. >> the united states lost two more. jonathan la mere, i know the answer to this question and it's depressing to have to ask the question. did will be -- is there no one

around this president that can remind him of the importance of our allies and alliances and remind him of the sacrifices that our allies have made on behalf of the united states in places like iraq and afghanistan? >> the answer, mike, is not really. the old guard -- those in his orbit, secretary of defense mattis, there is not much. these are our allies in terms of commerce and trade. we've been there for them in the clash, going back to nato, it seemed like he was not going to endorse article 5. i think as we go -- as he is

about to set foot to europe, yamis, there's some other things here. it will be trade, iran, climate change as we've seen at the summits. they would like to do it. what do you think the president will do? what will his a given da be when he goes to france for the world meeting in the next couple of days? >> i've spoken to them because president trump is unpredishlgt ab -- unpredictable. while they may look the same on the surface, they're unpredictable, they can sometimes be erratic in their nature of how they'd speak to the press or publicly, boris johnson has a given idea of what he wants to do on climate change

versus the european leaders. they want to stop the craziness essentially. they want to make sure there aren't any new tariffs. they feel the trade war will continue to go on. the thing i'm watching for, the president whether he wants to sign the communique. the french president has been lowering expectations ahead of the g-7 saying there may not be a communique. he's unsure the president will want to sign anything saying he agrees with the other countries which are historically the allies of the other countries. it will be a raucous european visit. i'm thinking back to london when he was training. we could see nother repeat of that. it will be interesting to see how the president relates to people. he likes to do bilateral

meetings. he doesn't like to do meetings with european leaders and other allies. >> bob kosta, we're getting to the end of a week defined by chaotic presidential actions. what are you going to be reporting on hegd his trip. >> only if trump had some sort of seasoned hand or wise person around him on domestic policy, foreign policy informing him about institutional alliances, institutional history that somehow things would change, that's just not the case with almost everybit of policy. it's impossible, this idea of somehow shifting him away. they're trying to navigate his instincts, sometimes raging instincts, his willingness to

punch back every day. there's never been this idea of trying to push him in a certain direction or change his directi direction. he is someone who is always the conductor inside. >> bob kosta, thank you so much for your reporting. we appreciate you being here. >> thank you, bob. >> mika, to underline bob's great point. one of the most let's say memorable meetings early on in the trump administration was a meeting at the end where then secretary of state tillerson had a certain -- used a certain phrase to describe donald trump. >> moron. >> last word was moron. >> yeah. >> we won't say the first on this family show. but that actually came at the end of a meeting where you had general mattis, secretary mattis giving the president a quick

refresher course. it's a polite way of saying -- >> moron. >> but a refresher course on everything that had happened in the post war world. why we had the alliances we had, how those alliances help us beat nazi germany, how those helped us beat the soviet union in the cold war and that great last light where we were the most powerful in the country, on the planet because of what we had done since 1945, and donald trump just brushed him aside angrily and basically came up with his own alternative sets of facts and stormed out of the room. >> that's where we are. >> that's where we were. that's where we are. >> yeah. >> and that is a president that republicans continue to

endorse -- >> support. >> -- and will still not speak out about it after this week. still ahead on "morning joe." there is a big caveat when the labor department reports job growth and that's the revisions that 067b come months later. that very discussion is ahead on "morning joe." ."

( ♪ ) only tylenol® rapid release gels have laser drilled holes. they release medicine fast, for fast pain relief. tylenol®. he borrowed billions. donald trump failed as a businessman. and left a trail of bankruptcy and broken promises. he hasn't changed. i started a tiny investment business, and over 27 years, grew it successfully to 36 billion dollars. i'm tom steyer and i approve this message. i'm running for president because unlike other candidates, i can go head to head with donald trump on the economy, and expose him fo what he is: a fraud and a failure.

this is rhis life is...of pretty comfortable. rick blomquist thought he had comfort all figured out. but then, he laid on a serta and realized his life

was only just sorta comfortable. i've been living a lie. [laughs] the serta icomfort hybrid mattress. not just sorta comfortable, serta comfortable. get a free motion base upgrade or get up to $900 off select icomfort sets. i decided that i wanted to go for electrical engineering and you need to go to college for that. if i didn't have internet in the home i would have to give up more time with my kids. which is the main reason i left the military. everybody wants more for their kids, but i feel like with my kids, they measurably get more than i ever got. and i get to do that. i get to provide that for them. that could allow hackers devices into your home.ys and like all doors, they're safer when locked. that's why you need xfinity xfi. with the xfi gateway, devices connected to your homes wifi are protected. which helps keep people outside from accessing your passwords,

credit cards and cameras. and people inside from accidentally visiting sites that aren't secure. and if someone trys we'll let you know. xfi advanced security. if it's connected, it's protected. call, click, or visit a store today. welcome back. last year was supposed to be the strongest in u.s. job growth, revisions by the labor department yesterday revealed employers added half a million fewer jobs through march of 2019 than previously reported. while the new numbers don't change the overall picture of a healthy job market, "the new york times" reports yesterday's update is also the latest evidence that the economy got less of a jolt from president trump's tax cuts than it initially appeared noting last month the commerce department

lowered its estimate of economic growth in 2018 and updated projections from the congressional budget office say the federal deficit is growing faster than expected with forecasts reaching $960 billion for the 2019 fiscal year and expanding to 1 trillion in 2020. while the increase in u.s. borrowing is a result of the administration's spending and tax cut policies, "the new york times" points out congressional republicans have largely gone along with mr. trump's moves to add more debt, even as they insist they will return to this rinking the deficit. >> what are we supposed to believe? >> big government. there was -- >> nothing. zero. >> there was a balanced budget when republicans took over in 2001 with george w. bush as president and of course republicans in congress. that exploded to trillion dollar

deficits, the national debt doubled. it doubled under barack obama. now it's skyrocketing, the highest national debt ever and the deficits are skyrocketing over $1 trillion next year thanks to more reckless policy by trump republicans. >> you have to ask the question. what does it mean to be a conservative republicans today because there aren't any. >> there aren't conservative republicans. what you have today are trump republicans. >> who are not conservative. >> who as we've said from the very beginning is a lifelong democrat who switched to the republican party with his birtherism. he is a big government new yorker and you see that and it's been proven time and time again. joining us now ceo and editorial director for insider, inc., henry blodgett. ben gold berger, he's here with this week's issue on the left behind economy for millions of

americans living on tips has become unlivable. a collaboration with the fuller project, a non-profit woman-led team of journalists reporting on issues impacting women. also joining us, vice president and director of governance studies at the brookings institute, darryl west. he's the author of divided politics, divided nation. as you were going on, alex said to me, if only we had three people who could talk about this issue, and i think we do. >> i've always been a deficit scold. >> yes, you are. >> that's why i first ran for congress in '94 and it's only gotten much, much worse, from 4 trillion to 22 trillion. henry, let's start with you, with a question that is basically gripping washington as well as wall street right now, and that has to do with how the economy's going to get over the next year or two. wall street is concerned just like donald trump is because three out of four economists are

saying we're headed towards a recession. i took note of a wall street journal editorial op ed yesterday that brought up the fact that most recessions are driven by bubbles, whether it's attack our housing bubble, our overly tight monetary supply, which we don't have right now, so the question is, if we're headed towards a recession, why? >> well, i think the basic problem is that if a justification for the republican tax cut was a fundamental mischaracterization or misunderstanding of what's wrong in the economy and the real issue with what's wrong in the u.s. economy is consumers don't have enough spending money. the tax cut increased spinneding money for the richest americans, but that ultimately doesn't help the issue. so we had what amounted to a cup of coffee for the economy. things sped up a little while. that is now fading. until we really get a lot more spending power in the hands of american consumers through mainly wage increases we're just not going to see the strength in

the economy we want to see and ultimately we're running out of steam. which is why we're seeing all the early signs of potential recession. >> willie, to follow up on what henry said, a lot of stories months after that a lot of corporations get hundreds of millions of dollars in tax relief use those for stock buy backs. it's something that marco rubio was complaining about. >> and something that a lot of people saw coming and now it is happening. darryl, so now if you look at the big picture, the media is rooting for a recession. i think the media by and large is stating facts of what the economy looks like right now. he's trying to project confidence there's not going to be a recession, we're not worried about it. he's gone back and forth all week from his staff saying no we're not looking at a payroll tax to juice the economy, yes, we're looking at a payroll tax cut. yesterday we're not looking at a payroll tax cut. let's see what he hays today.

do we have a clear eye look that a recession may be on the horizon? >> absolutely. trump has to be very worried about the state of the economy. that is his best card in terms of a re-election. in 2016 he said he was a successful businessman who understood the economy. he got tax cuts, deregulation. he promised 4% gdp growth and we're headed down to what looks like it's going to be closer to 2% growth. given the strong tie between the economy and voting behavior. if we end up with 2% growth, that could signal the end of his presidency. >> claire, i sprinkled in yesterday we learned we will hit $1 trillion of deficit by next year and the job growth is revised down by half a million jobs. >> the republicans in congress should be blushing with hypocrisy on the deficit. you know, i remember the

righteous indignation and ted cruz and company, the tea party, this was all about spending. what a joke. i mean, it's just a joke now. ben, i like -- i was fascinated by the time you spent in the latest issue of "time magazine" talking about tip workers. as someone who worked my way through college and law school as a waitress, as someone who took on the restaurant where i worked because they wouldn't let women be bartenders, i needed less hours and more money because i was in law school and bartending was the perfect thing for me to do, but they didn't want women behind the bar. they only wanted men behind the bar. there's two issues here. one, talk about how little tipped workers have -- are getting in terms of keeping up with other minimum wage jobs and, secretary ondly, the dispa between how women are doing, which is the preponderance of the tipped jobs, versus men that are waiters, bartenders?

high-end restaurants. >> very much so. your own experience hits on one of the fundamental problems. for many, waitressing, bartending, it's perceived as an add-on versus full-time career. it isn't salaried like a traditional career with all of the benefits and true living wage associated with it. i think most don't recognize that if you are a waiter, you live on what is a tipped minimum wage which is distinct from a reg gu plar feder-- regular emp. they make less than the federal minimum wage. the tipped minimum wage is $2.13 and it's been frozen since 1991. it has not kept pace even with the increases in the minimum wage let alone a traditional living wage. this disproportionately affects women. 70% of people who wait tables

are women. many are drawn for reasons of flexibility. with what they gain in flexibility they lose in economic stability. >> the white house is casting about for solutions to try to sort of spark the economy. there are concerns that if the economy slows down that would yumd mine the president's best chance for re-election. he's called around to business leaders and advisors to get their sense of it. what is your take from what you're hearing? what kind of counsel is he getting? what could the white house do here to try to spark growth, get it back above that 2% mark? >> i think the general consensus that you'd normally get from business leaders is, hey, cut taxes. cut regulation. make it easier for us to make more money and then we'll reinvest it. as joe said earlier, we did that. most of the reinvestment went to purchase stock back. that helps the company, the

people indirectly. as long as you pass it on to workers, that will become the spending money. another glaring opportunity with historically low interest rates is to is to actually have some big infrastructure spending. the united states' infrastructure is in a terrible disarray relative to the rest of the world. we have incredibly low interest rates. we could borrow very long-term and spend a lot of money bringing our infrastructure up to code, really, for the developed world. so that would be something that would help the economy at this point. >> talking about where politics and economics comes together, you, of course, have written a great book on the vision in american politics. but so much of what donald trump does, he's able to do and he's able to get away with because he's convinced americans that there is a strong economy.

if we're looking at 2% or subpar -- subpar economy and below 2% throughout 2020, what does that do to donald trump, to his campaign, and to his re-election process. >> it certainly makes everything much more dicey in terms of his re-election. and i think you're right to point out that our internal political divisions make it much more difficult to undertake some of the steps. i mean, i think henry is like, infrastructure investment, it's a great time for that but we have a divided congress so it's hard to imagine congress actually approving that. tax cuts would probably face the same thing. ten years ago, there was actually more international cooperation when we had the great recession that countries work together, both on fiscal and monetary policy. now trump is attacking our allies and embracing our adversaries. so the upcoming meeting this weekend is not likely to produce

any joint agreement on ways to stimulate the economy. it would be great if germany, france, the united states could agree on a common course of action, but that is not going to take place given the political divisions that we face both in the united states and internationally. >> thank you so much for joining us. ben goldberger, thank you very much. the new double issue of "time" magazine goes on sale tomorrow and henry, thank you, as well. great conversation. coming up in the wake of recent mass shootings, democrats are working on gun reform legislation while the president continues to flipflop in realtime. congressman adam schiff recently introduced a bill that would make domestic terrorism a federal crime covering attacks like the one in el paso. he joins the conversation ahead on "morning joe." on "morning joe.

iand i don't add up the years. but what i do count on... is staying happy and healthy. so, i add protein, vitamins and minerals to my diet with boost®. boost® high protein nutritional drink has 20 grams of protein, along with 26 essential vitamins and minerals your body needs. all with guaranteed great taste. and now try new boost® peaches and creme natural flavor. with 27 vitamins and minerals and 10 grams of protein. boost®. be up for life™.

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

the absence debate to be held on september 12th at houston's texas southern university will give candidates more time to answer questions, 1:15 for direct responses to questions and 45 seconds for rebuttals. to qualify, candidates need at least four polls showing them at 2% support or greater and at least 130,000 individual donors. with one week left before the qualification deadline, ten candidates appear to have met the threshold set by the democratic national committee. abc says if more candidates wind up qualifying, a second night will be added on september 13th and a selection event will be held prior to the debate to randomly assign the candidate toes one of the nights. very exciting. and speaking of abc, former

white house press member sean spicer was announced as an upcoming member of "dancing with the stars," but the show's host is pushing back on the casting decision. tom berjern tweeted yesterday that he previously told producers that he hoped that after year long hiatus, that the return of the show would be free of exhaustive bookings from any party affiliations, but that the show ultimately decided to go in a different direction. wow. he's a real talent. you would think that they would want to make him happy. still ahead, president trump looks to the heaven and declares himself the chosen one. just hours after embracing the title king of israel. we'll discuss what appears to be the president's messiah complex. plus, we'll run through his head spinning policy shifts this week. what's going on?

shifts on everything from taxes to guns to russia to greenland. "morning joe" is coming back in two minutes. ue for investors with zero account fees for brokerage accounts, and zero minimums to open an account. we have fidelity mutual funds with zero minimum investment. and only fidelity offers four zero expense ratio index funds directly to investors. because when you invest with fidelity, all those zeros really add up. ♪ so, maybe i'll win ♪ saved by zero dexperience thrillingn operformance.o now at the lexus golden opportunity sales event. get 0.9% apr for 60 months on all 2019 models. experience amazing at your lexus dealer. when didwhen i needed ton? jumpstart sales. build attendance for an event. help people find their way.

fastsigns designed new directional signage. ...and got them back on track. get started at fastsigns.com. who got an awful skin condition. with uncontrolled moderate-to-severe eczema, or atopic dermatitis, you feel like you're itching all the time. and you never know how your skin will look. because deep within your skin an overly sensitive immune system could be the cause. so help heal your skin from within, with dupixent. dupixent is not a steroid, and it continuously treats your eczema even when you can't see it. at 16 weeks, nearly four times more patients taking dupixent saw clear or almost clear skin compared to those not taking it, and patients saw a significant reduction in itch. do not use if you are allergic to dupixent. serious allergic reactions can occur, including anaphylaxis, a severe reaction. tell your doctor if you have new or worsening eye problems, including eye pain or changes in vision. if you are taking asthma medicines, do not change or stop your asthma medicine without talking to your doctor.

help heal your skin from within. ask your eczema specialist about dupixent. >> i am the chosen one. >> the god eggs are only saying useful things. however, this time, they made a mistake. >> hey, i'm president. can you believe it, right? >> you know, i am the chosen one. >> i am the chosen. >> i am the chosen one. >> i knew it. he's the one. >> he is the chosen one. you must see it. >> i am the chosen one. >> i'm a god. >> you're a god. >> i'm a god. i'm not the god.

>> you asked me if i have a god complex. let me tell you something. i am god. >> the gods must be crazy. >> i am the chosen one. >> foul. yeah, they must be crazy. good morning, everyone. >> yeah, good morning. willie, donald trump yesterday embraces the title of the king of israel, what jesus was called on the cross. and then the second coming of god, of course, barring from the second coming of christ. and then, after that, he -- the chaser was donald trump declaring i am the chosen one. and what really punctuated it is his look to the heavens. he turned and looked up to god. what that really did for me,

joe, is remind me alec baldwin in malice, wow, so good. and underrated eddie murphy movie "the golden child." that's a great movie. not enough people talk about it. i'm glad we started our show with it. >> two i haven't seen and never will. >> welcome to "morning joe." it is thursday, august 22nd. along with joe, willie and me, we have mike barnacle, reporter for the associated press jonathan lamere, course correspondent for pbs news hour yamish alzendor and rogers professor of the presidency at vanderbilt university, jon meacham. he's an nbc news and msnbc contributor. >> so we're about to get to not only the president's more outlandish remarks, jonathan lamere. we're talking about a back and forth, a complete and utter lack of discipline, a complete

un-mooring, the likes of which we have yet to see in the trump presidency. i've alluded to the article that you wrote a couple on of weeks ago that even people close to donald trump say his management style has become even more erratic, ee moven more unmorred. gene robinson said it yesterday. there is a relation that every time we think that donald trump has reached the bottom in terms of confidence, in terms of emotional stability, it does get worse. and his policy pronouncements this week have just been the stuff of fifth graders. whether you're talking about kashmir or other foreign policy.

he knows little to nothing about. >> it has been, even for this president, a particularly scatter shot week or two where i think all of us in washington have been suffering from whiplash. we do lose points, though, for the inclusion for something from the star wars sequels. but i was happy to see the indiana -- >> oh, please. i wouldn't allow it. >> but people around the president have also, even aide toes him, have been left baffled as to where he stands on a number of things the last couple of weeks. just to tick a couple of issues. we've heard him go back and forth on the economy as fears of a recession have blown this week. signs of the economy is slowing down. what should the white house do about it? he floats -- he says we're not going to do payroll taxes. then he floats the idea of payroll taxes. and then a tax cut and yesterday walks away from it again saying there's no need because the economy is strong. he's been badgering, as we know, the federal reserve to move on the interest rate again. he floated and quickly dismissed

the idea of indexing capital gains through inflation. and these are the sort of things where the back and forth leads to the instability that has rattled the markets. but it's not just that. it's on guns and the wake of the shootings in texas and ohio and in particular on background checks where he's changed position a number of times including walking away from it after a conversation with the nra and even greenland which has become an amusing story here, but at the same time, when denmark rebuffed his advances to try to purchase it, he then canceled a trip to europe, to visit denmark, and hit more traditional allies while doing so. >> hard to tell at this point, but there have been moments in this presidency, i think we could even probably trace a pattern, where this president behaviors like this because something else is going on on the inside that is upsetting him and he's deflecting from. but it really has been a week of whiplash inducing policy shifts

coming from president trump and it's only thursday. it's exhausting. while the president is no stranger to reversing course on policy positions, this week he has contradicted aides, allies and himself multiple times when it comes to issues such as gun reform, tax cuts, and his interest in purchasing greenland. according to the "new york times," some former trump administration officials in recent days said they were increasingly worried about the president's behavior, suggesting it stems from increasing appreciate on trump as the economy seems more worrisome and next year's election approaches. as the times points out, after casting off advisers who dispoliced him at a record rate in his 2 1/2 years of office, trump has fewer aides around him willing or able to challenge him much less restrain his more impulsive restrains.

just yesterday, trump attacks the prime minister of denmark, calling her nasty. he doubled down on his support of russia, he referred to himself as the chosen one. so here is president trump yesterday tripling down on his belief that russia should be admitted into the g7, this time sxabding on his false claim that moscow was expelled from the group because vladimir putin hurt president obama's feelings. >> sir, you said russia was kicked out of the g8 because they outsmarted obama. in fact, it was because they annexed crimea. you know that. they're still there. >> that was outsmarting oh bbam. >> if they're still there, why let them back in? >> they took over during his term, not during mine. cri crimea. >> they took over crimea. if you would stop being an organ

of the democrats, let me answer the question. i'll answer it very easily. the fact is, president putin totally outsmarted president obama on crimea and other things, including the red line in the sand, all right? he outsmarted, he made a living on outsmarting president obama. and frankly, because of it, obama was upset and he got obama out of what was the g8 into the g7. they were taken out because putin outsmarted on crimea, on the red line, on other things. totally outsmarted obama. obama was upset. they took them out. i think russia should be a part of it because we're looking for world peace. >> so obviously, willie, he thinks if he keeps repeating obama, it will be a smoke screen to some of his lowest information voters. who knows, maybe they didn't

even know the news that vladimir putin invaded a sovereign country and then annexed part of that sovereign country and in so doing violated nuclear agreements that actually were extraordinarily -- it was an extraordinarily dangerous, serious move. and then, of course, they were responsible, russia was, for shooting down a commercial aircraft killing hundreds of civilians. and we could go on and on. of course, he also invaded georgia several years before. but i guess donald trump thinks if he keeps bringing up obama, obama, obama, maybe his lowest information supporters will look past the fact that he's actually doing vladimir putin and russia's bidding just like he did at helsinki when he said he trusted an ex kgb agent more than he trusted america's military and america's intel

community. >> yeah. this is an easy one. there are facts that are easily learned. the president either doesn't want to learn them or isn't aware of them, which would be surprising. he does have a national security staff presumably that talks to him from time to time. but peter alexander asked a direct question, which was grounded in fact. and when he followed up, the president of the united states said, stop being an organ of the democrats. is that all you've got? stop being organ of the democrats. if you can't answer a direct question based on the facts of why russia was kicked out of the g8, that's pretty pathetic. yamesh, you covered this white house very closely. is there someone left in that white house who perhaps the first time he said this, the first time he made this up could have said to him, here is why russia is no longer in the g8, and if so, who is that person and why aren't they saying things to him now that could influence what he said in public. because it's not going well for him right now. >> in short, there is no one in

the white house that is interested in challenging the president on facts. because the president knows why russia was kicked out of the g8. it's pretty clear why russia was kicked out of the g8. what he's doing, of course, is deflecting and he uses the word obama when he's upset, when he's backed against a corner, when he wants to make a point to rile up his base. but what we saw the president do was use a bunch of other misleading information. not only was he deflecting it and completely lying when it comes to why russia was kicked out of the g8. he talked about the nra and he said wayne lapiere, the head of the nra, wants to close loopholes on background checks which it's clear on the nra's website they said we are against that and you don't have to have a background check when there is a sale between two private

owners. but what the president was doing yesterday was throwing back all the things that he's heard throughout his presidency, which is that he is an agent of russia. the idea that the fbi opened up an investigation to make sure president trump wasn't an agent of russia must really still be bothering him because he's now making the case that oh, prb s president obama was the personal being outsmarted. i asked him directly yesterday are you talking about the victims? he said mass shooting victims i visited in the hospital loved me. so it wall all about president trump yesterday and he didn't want to answer anything directly. >> still ahead on "morning joe" -- >> raise your right happened. i do solemnly swear -- >> i do solemnly swear. >> that i, no matter how i feel, no matter what the conditions, no matter what the conditions, if there's hurricanes or whatever --

>> that's good enough. will vote on or before the 12th for donald j. trump for president. >> we know president trump likes his loyalty oaths. now, he's effectively asking a few million american jews to make one. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. atchg in"mo" we'll be right back. we call it the mother standard of care. it's how we care for our patients- like job. his team at ctca treated his cancer

and side effects. so job can stay strong for his family. cancer treatment centers of america. appointments available now. 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 quietly running the world. creating jobs and fueling the economy.

you're small business owners, and there's nothing small about your business. that's why with dell small business technology advisors. you'll get tailored product solutions, expert tech advice and one-on-one partnership. to help your small business do big things. ♪ call an advisor today at 877-buy-dell ♪ that could allow hackers devices into your home.ys and like all doors, they're safer when locked. that's why you need xfinity xfi. with the xfi gateway, devices connected to your homes wifi are protected. which helps keep people outside from accessing your passwords, credit cards and cameras. and people inside from accidentally visiting sites that aren't secure. and if someone trys we'll let you know.

xfi advanced security. if it's connected, it's protected. call, click, or visit a store today. in my opinion, you vote for a democrat, you're being very disloyal to jewish people and you're being very disloyal to israel. only weak people would say anything other than that. [ inaudible question ].

>> i haven't heard anybody say that. just the opposite. i think if you vote for a democrat, you're very, very disloyal to the jewish people. >> isn't that anti-semantic? >> no, no, it's only in your head. i am the least racist person ever to serve in office, okay? i am the least racist person. >> so guy benson, the political editor -- >> i seas it out loud. he says it out loud. he talks about loyalty out loud. he says everything out loud. his people go up and defend him and say, oh, he doesn't mean that. and then he says it into a microphone. and then they still figure out a way to try to defend the indefensible. anyway, you're talking about guy benson. >> the editor for town hall.com fox news contributor tweeted and just like that, he yanks the carpet out from underneath

everyone who claimed he actually meant something else. >> so willie, this is dual loyalty. it's how fascinating that here is a guy that ran through an antith semantic tropes, talking about they had to put a star of david on hillary clinton's face in a retweet, talking about how jews were trying to buy the white house. and yesterday, he actually followed congresswoman omar down the dual loyalty road that he has criticized her for for months. >> it's amazing. he just said it. he just made the dual loyalty claim. he said it out in the open. and you had -- guy benson is right. you had a lot of people two nights ago on fox news and other places online saying, well, come on, here is what he actually meant. they were parsing his statement.

then he walks out on the white house south lawn and just says it. he says you're disloyal to jews, you're disloyal to israel if you don't vote for me. he puts it right out there. and my gosh, does he -- again, is there anybody out there who can explain to him what this means? and again to republicans, if you're upset and offended by what omar and talib are saying and if you believe their comments are anti semantic, we would love to hear from you this morning on what the president said yesterday. >> and it's far from the first time that the president has done this, where he has said something or tweeted something that seemed inflammatory, others tried to cover for him and a day later he just says, no, no, that's what i meant. and let's not lose sight of what he's saying here. the charge of being disloyal is one that is tough for anyone to hear. but it was something that was thrown at jews a lot in europe in the 1930s. that's something they've heard here in the united states and in dark areas of our history. this is a dangerous thing to

say. and certainly, like, the polling suggests that jews here in the united states tend to vote democratic. they're not a monolithic bloc, not are they singlistic voters nor do they support everything israel does. and the president, to put it out there like this is another moment, another unprecedentsed moment where he shows his willingness to walk into issues of race and culture and religion, you know, that he wan wants, try toes exploit for his political game. and there is no one in the white house who can tell him no. in the past when he's fueled anti semantic charges, accused of walking in that sort of -- on that path, you know, it's been pointed out that his son-in-law jared kushner is jewish, that his daughter ivanka trump converted to judaism. but there is no one there telling him, mr. president, you shouldn't be saying this. this is dangerous language and you need to stop.

coming up on "morning joe," the top democrat on the house intel committee, congressman adam schiff joins the conversation. plus, it's something we previewed yesterday. the toxic effect of racism in america. e toxic effect oraf cis america. maria ramirez? hi. maria ramirez! mom! maria! maria ramirez... mcdonald's is committing 150 million dollars in tuition assistance, education, and career advising programs... prof: maria ramirez mom and dad: maria ramirez!!! to help more employees achieve their dreams.

sleep number 360 smart bed. you can adjust your comfort on both sides your sleep number setting. can it help keep us asleep? absolutely, it intelligently senses your movements and automatically adjusts to keep you both effortlessly comfortable. and snoring? no problem... and done. 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. doprevagen is the number oneild mempharmacist-recommendeding? memory support brand. you can find it in the vitamin aisle in stores everywhere. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. what do you look for i want free access to research.

yep, td ameritrade's got that. free access to every platform. yeah, that too. i don't want any trade minimums. yeah, i totally agree, they don't have any of those. i want to know what i'm paying upfront. yes, absolutely. do you just say yes to everything? hm. well i say no to kale. mm. yeah, they say if you blanch it it's better, but that seems like a lot of work. no hidden fees. no platform fees. no trade minimums. and yes, it's all at one low price. td ameritrade. ♪

hey! i live on my own now! i've got xfinity, because i like to live life in the fast lane. unlike my parents. you rambling about xfinity again? you're so cute when you get excited... anyways... i've got their app right here, i can troubleshoot. i can schedule a time for them to call me back, it's great! you have our number programmed in? ya i don't even know your phone anymore... excuse me?! what? i don't know your phone number. aw well. he doesn't know our phone number! you have our fax number, obviously... today's xfinity service. simple. easy. awesome. i'll pass.

as another major american city suffers from a growing water crisis, this time it's newark, new jersey, and a growing lead contamination emergency. we sat down yet with the author of a new book to discuss the way mostly poor people of color often suffer disproportionately harm with environmental crises. with us now is heart a. washington. her news book is a terrible thing to waste, environmental racism and its assault on the american mind. mike barnacle, alesse jordan and thank you so much for being on. this book is so important. could we start by having you define environmental racism. >> well, i think the most practical definition is the tendency to impose

disproportionate environmental toxins on areas where people of color live. in this country, notably hispanic americans, african-american and native american citizens. >> and there's been decisions made by state or national government toes put the toxins in the ground sometime in closer proximity to people of color than to those that live in the more predominantly white neighborhood he. >> and those government actions have often been embedded by the greed of industry. industry has worked closely with government in quote/unquote educating and inducing them to mitigate legislation and to focus, allow them to focus their exposures in certain areas for economic reasons. >> miss washington, there's no doubt that this book touches a

universal cord through america. and the exposure of people, most of them poor, most of them disenfranchised in one way or another from those in power who are victimized by everything that you've written about. but do you think that we could expand the definition off the title of your book environmental racism and its assault on the american mind to environmental racism and classicism? because if you go to parts of west virginia, kentucky, rural america, largely white, they, too, are affected by the same people in you're book. >> indeed, they are. but i am guided by the data in diedi deciding whether this is an economic issue or racist issue. if you look at the national

data, you find african merps who earn $50,000 to $60,000 a year are much more likely to be exposed to these toxins than very poor whites to earn $10,000 a year on average. so economics is a risk factor, but race is a much, much larger one. >>. >> environmental racism tends to be an issue that is left out of -- when we talk about environmentalism, in general, even when we talk about climate change. my question to you is have you seen communities or can you give us an example of a community across the country that has been able to deal with this in an effective way, that there's activism that is kind of breaking through and they're able to fight for their community in a real way. >> there have been communities that have been successful. the problem is the long view.

the cooperations responsible for this is government help has deep pockets. so when communities win lawsuits and win stricter legislation, all too often what follow sess a dimunition of those protections or renewed assault or a company will simply declare bankruptcy and withdraw from responsible as monsanto did in alabama. they won several large lawsuits. and it looked like a success story initially because they had won not only a huge cash settlement, but they won the erection of a health center which the people in the town wanted. but now the health center has run out of funds and the large amounts of money went primarily to lawyers. so it's an ongoing battle. the people of north carolina have been fighting this battle since 1982. and have not yet won one

definitive victory. >> miss washington, this book is, in many ways, a long overdue scientific response to charles murray's "the bell curve" we leased in the '90s. and if you -- i would love to see a defense of you and charles murray about the idea that he presents in his book contrasted with the data driven approach that you present in this book. what would you have to say if you were debating charles murray? oh, there are so many things i would like to say to dr. murray. but i think the primary thing i want to say is that we have to remember that the metric being used to compare different races, iq, is something scholars tell us has no meaning in comparison. you can't compare iq among groups who have wildly disproportionate educational environments, living environments, disease statuses. there is no -- you can't compare

the two. it's like apples and oranges. and yet the proponents of iq as a metric like to compare the iqs of people, for example, upper class people in connecticut to extremely poor people in kenya. it doesn't make any sense. and a lot of the claims put forth by charles murray have since been invalidated by scientists. he is not a again et cysts. other geneticists have come forward to say he's simply wrong. >> environmental racism and its assault on the american mind. hairette a. washington. thank you for this book. still to come, adam schiff is our guest and there is a lot

to discuss. including where things stand with the growing impeachment effort in the house. we're back in just a moment. this is rhis life is...of pretty comfortable. rick blomquist thought he had comfort all figured out. but then, he laid on a serta and realized his life was only just sorta comfortable. i've been living a lie. [laughs] the serta icomfort hybrid mattress.

not just sorta comfortable, serta comfortable. get a free motion base upgrade or get up to $900 off select icomfort sets. it's how we bring hope to our patients- like viola. her team treated her cancer and strengthened her spirit. so viola could focus on their future. cancer treatment centers of america. appointments available now. ( ♪ ) only tylenol® rapid release gels have laser drilled holes. they release medicine fast, for fast pain relief. tylenol®.

rodney: you know what my favorite part really is is when i greet students when they come in. because i know what great things we have in store in the classroom. marisa: when they come into my classroom, they're able to really get in touch with who they are. rosanne: my favorite part of teaching has always been this opportunity to make a difference. ever: every student has the right to quality education. no matter what neighborhood you live in. rosanne: we are cta.

ever: we are cta. marisa: we are cta. narrator: because we know quality public schools make a better california for all of us. welcome back. democratic congressman adam schiff of california, great to have you on the show. we want to get a sense of where impeachment stands and the support for it. but first, your response to one of the president's many comments yesterday. the ones directly pertaining to dual loyalty. what do you make of it? >> deeply offensive. as a jew, i find the idea that the president of the united states would suggest that if i don't support him, that somehow i'm being disloyal to israel, disloyal to the united states.

>> more than that, though, the president is severely misguided if he thinks that his democrat administration of such a profound lack of morals is disdain for the stranger among us is somehow consistent with jewish values or the jews are a monolithic voting bloc. we're not. and i think you're going to find jews rejecting this president and all he stands for in record numbers. >> what is your message to jews who are listening to this president? and all of a sudden finding this president in the position of others who are deeply hurt by the way he speaks of them? >> well, i guess my message would be that we need to continue to continue to speak

and act our values. that is, embrace the stranger. we need to uplift, you know, the best among us. that is our fundamental commitment to decency and ethics that we have to look out for our neighbor. really, exhibit the qualities that this president so clearly lacks. but we also need to speak out against this kind of divisive bigotry that the president shows. jews are just obviously one of his targets right now. his brand of racist divisive politics as being wielded against many communities, not ours alone and we have to speak out and condemn it and do what we can to fight this. >> chairman schiff, it's willie geist. good to see you again this morning. i want to ask you about an issue the president has taken up for some reason lately and that is the ideas of allowing them to come to the g8.

what is your reaction to the president involving multiple times this week that russia should be readmitted to the g7? >> well, it's a terrible ideas because the whole genesis of this was russia's invasion of its neighbor and its occupation to this day of a significant part of its neighbor's territory and to invite them back in without condition, essentially ratifies that illegal act and encourages russia to do more of the same. so i think it would be a terrible mistake. sometimes the simplest explanation is the right one. and when we learn, for example, that the president had been lying to the country about his business interests in russia, his explanation was that he might have lost his election and he didn't want to miss out on those business opportunities. this may still be his motivation, want to go consummate that moscow trump tower deal. and that guides everything because he puts his own financial interests above that of the country. if that means inviting russia

back into the g8, notwithstanding their occupation of the neighbor, he's going to do it. >> chairman schiff, you've been overseas speaking with allies of the united states. and they are dealing with an unstable administration. >> some damage i think can be readily repaired. but the longest standing damage

is the fact that the west rarese world will wonder. the size of his repudiation will be to restore credibility around the world, much like britain's brexit from value. one other thing is the fact that we reneged on an international agreement, the jcpa, and other nations will now have to consider whether the united states' word only lasts as long as that presidency. it will be hard to overcome that damage. but i do think, you know, our relations with them, mark, for example, our relations with britain and germany and france, our relations with canada and the australians, these things can be readily repaired by a different president, a better

president. but there will be some very long lasting, probably decades lasting damage done by this president. >> adam, this is claire. talking about your responsibilities in the intelligence community, speak a little bit about them as it relates to isis. i noticed the inspector general's report that says isis was, in fact, gaining strength now. i heard the president talk about kashmir, said oh, kashmir explained the problem in a way that showed a profound lack of understanding about kashmir. talk about what's going on there in terms of what you can share with us from an intelligence capability. >> well, that's a big question and, you know, i think at the heart of much of it is the fact that isis is a persistent and dangerous foe, that this president, like president bush,

has had his own mission accomplished moment where he declared essentially victory over isis very prosecute he maturely and with the draw down of troops in syria and potentially with the draw down in afghanistan because the president is so eager to consummate anything he can call a deal. there is a real risk of an isis resurgence. and we still see very deadly violence by isis and afghanistan and a very pernicious ongoing threat by isis in syria and iraq. in terms of kashmir, this is a real flash point that has only gotten worse between india and pakistan. and i think the administration ignores it at its peril. it is easy to see how this beautiful land could be, once again, the flashpoint for another conflict between these nuclear nations. and so these are incredibly serious challenges for a president who is thoughtful, who

has a -- a good national security staff, but for a president who is not the least bit concerned about these things or capable, who has a national security staff in disarray as this one does who has not a team of rivals, but a team of sycophants, it is a dangerous situation, indeed. >> congressman, it's jonathan lamere. i wanted to ask you about another global flashpoint right now. they're where we're seeing these huge protests in hong kong and china's response to them. where do you see what's happening there? are you concerned with what perhaps would be the chinese response to it. but also more than that, what sort of role should the president be saying? has he done enough here supporting the democratic values that these protesters are trying to make a stand for? >> no, i don't think he has spoken out in the way that he should to confront china's crackdown on these protesters. look, we need to be the champion of democracy around the world

and stand up to china when it's necessary, stand up to russia when it's necessary. china is using its military might as well as its online might to try to inch tim date protesters, to exert its growing influence over the people of hong kong. so we should be speaking out in defense of these protesters. china is also exporting its digital form of totalitarianism, this so-called euphemistic safe cities initiative where it's exporting a ubiquitous cctv camera presence, facial recognition software in a ware that george orwell could scarcely have imagined. these are things that the united states could be pushing back on because it is allowing other authoritarian regimes to perpetuate their tore toll tearanism, as well. so both with respect to hong

kong and the freedom there and also in its export of its digital means of control over its own population, the u.s. should be standing up to china. congressman, we want to know where the support is at this point, or not, for impeachment proceedings to begin. there have been a few members of congress who have stepped up over the past week or two and what exactly would it take for there to be more uniform support? >> well, i think what we've seen over the last few months is a growing acknowledgement within the democratic caucus that the investigations that we are conducting may lead to impeachment. what is most important, i think, in terms of where we are and what we call the phase we're in is whether we can get access through this litigation to witnesses and grand jury material. and there the standard is are we preliminary to a potential impeachment and i think the answer is yes. whether we will bring forward and vote on articles of

impeachment, i think, it's still too early to say. we need to do our investigative work. it may be, though, that if the administration continues to stonewall and obstruct and we're not able to bring these witnesses in in a timely way, we may make the decision that we need to move forward on an article involving the obstruction of congress having obstructed justice. these are things we're going on be discussing when we come back into session in the growing weeks. but there is growing recognition that the investigation we are doing now may lead to impeachment. >> and who are some of the key witnesses that you're really hoping to hear from and have you gotten any word or sense that they will cooperate? >> well, there are any number of witnesses. among the most significant are those on the obstruction or justice issue, people like corey lewandowski and don mcgahn that

were instructed by the president to recuse himself, to narrow the scope of the investigation into his wrongdoing, to take other actions to obstruct the investigation by firing the special counsel, by lying to cover it up. these i think are among the most significant. among the most significant. but also we have to consider whether if we go down this road the conduct of the president in inviting foreign intervention in our election, his receipt of other illicit help in the form of corporate contributions to hide hush money payments, whether these are also grounds for potential impeachment. i tried an impeachment case in the senate some years ago that involved conduct prior to taking office and the senate voted to convict that corrupt federal judge for acts that took place before he took office. so witnesses going to those issues will also be important. >> congressman adam schiff, thank you for your hard work. thanks for being on this morning. >> thank you. good to be with you. up next a startling new

measure of income inequality in america and it has got everything to do with women of color. that conversation is next. chair is just a chair. that a handle is just a handle. or... that you can't be both inside and outside. most people haven't driven a lincoln. it's the final days of the lincoln summer invitation event. right now get 0% apr on all lincoln vehicles plus no payments for up to 90 days. only at your lincoln dealer. right now, congress is working to end surprise medical billing. that's when patients are hit with medical bills they thought would be covered by insurance. but what congress is considering would cut money that vulnerabe patients rely on the most. that means seniors, children, and americans relying on medicaid would be hurt.

it's already too hard for people to get basic medical care with hospitals closing and a shortage of er doctors. tell congress we can end surprise billing without shredding the safety net. paid for by physicians for fair coverage. would shakespeare have chosen just "some pens?" methinks tul pens would serve m'lady well. thanks. and a unicorn notebook! get everything on your list. this week's doorbuster - sharpie markers and ticonderoga pencils for $1 in store or online from the advisors at office depot officemax. sleep number 360 smart bed. can it help keep us asleep? yes, it senses your movements and automatically adjusts to keep you both comfortable. and now, all beds are on sale! save 50% on the sleep number 360 limited edition smart bed. plus free home delivery. ends saturday.

they give us excellent customer otservice, every time.e. our 18 year old was in an accident. usaa took care of her car rental, and getting her car towed. all i had to take care of was making sure that my daughter was ok. if i met another veteran, and they were with another insurance company, i would tell them, you need to join usaa because they have better rates, and better service. we're the gomez family... we're the rivera family... we're the kirby family, and we are usaa members for life. get your auto insurance quote today. all right. welcome back. today, august 22nd, is black women's equal pay day. the day marks how far in the year black women must mark to

earn as much as their white male colleagues did in the prior year alone. joining us now the founder of a career development company for women of color and she is also the author of the new book "the memo, what women of color need to know to secure a seat at the table." it is great to see you again. you know, it is even more difficult for women -- it's hard enough for women to try and achieve equal pay or to even get a voice let alone a seat at the table but for women of color, it is even more difficult. can you explain the dynamic that they are challenged with? >> yes. thank you for having me. good to see you again, mika. today is more of an educational day, not a celebration. when we have inequalities in the work place it is more for education to remind folks that just because you do the same job doesn't mean you make the same pay. so women of color make from 48 cents to 61 cents on a dollar and as you mentioned we would

have to work the entire 2019 to receive what white men made in 2018. so i think it is important that we know our stats and that means educating ourselves and knowing what our state laws are on equal pay and then also asking every chance we get for more. >> asking all the time. >> all the time. >> for more. getting used to it. getting comfortable, enjoying that ask. >> yes. >> which, you know, i think it's such a subject of fear for women and for women of color that they approach it with so much baggage attached to it. explain to me the reason behind this problem and help women understand that it is on them in some ways to help sort of push through it and rectify it. is it racism? i mean, i know a lot of employers out there watching saying i would never do that. i would pay people equally. how does this happen? >> right. i think oftentimes we ask what can the woman do?

obviously as black women we can ask every chance we get and educate ourselves on those asks but also hold our companies accountable for that. that starts with looking at the laws of your state and making sure that you're coming to your manager and talking about these things and, also, i think it is important that we share and have these conversations because if you and i have a conversation, mika, and we're talking about our work and i find out you're making more but i would never know that if we don't have the conversation so i think this level of transparency has to take place and i think structural and institutional racism definitely plays a role in the pay inequalities. >> i always talk about women who have made it or who have been able to break through a little bit. and whenever you find out that someone that is a counterpart to you or that is a counterpart to someone you know may be below you is making less, step up. say something for her. >> yes. >> say something for her. because i feel like women often don't believe they have value.

you have to show them. you have to show them you are willing to put yourself on the line. you write about securing a seat at the table. how difficult is it? and what are some of the most basic tips that you give to women who want that seat at the table? >> i think it is really important not just to get your seat at the table and be grateful that you're there but using that seat, securing it, looking at it as ownership, as property, and making your voice known and also bringing other women and women of color along with you. i often say that success is not a solo sport. when you are doing that advocacy you'll feel like there is a team, a tribe that's there with you and that you're all working toward the same goals so i think it is important that as you say, know your value and that starts with us. and so the part of the equation we can solve as women of color and black women is asking. so, you know, it's up to the other part. but we do have that under our control. >> so what if they're thinking right now, great. ask. ask. all right. i'll ask. how do i ask?

show us how. minda, what do you say? how do you open it up? how do you ask? >> yes. so for me, one of the things that talking about a squad, having your teammates, i had a gentleman who was a mentor, a sponsor of mine in the work force and we role played actually because negotiations such a high stakes game. and so one of the things i did is role play about that ask and then also use those opportunities during your one-on-ones in conversations with your manager and say, i'd like to talk about the work that i'm doing and, also, something that i write about in the book is taking inventory of the wins that you've had for the year and talk about how you've helped your company's bottom line and say, i would like to talk about how my skills help the bottom line and then also articulating your worth so that it's in line with what your state is offering for that job function. >> i love that. adding on to it, role playing is practicing. you cannot win this when you go in there you got to have really

flushed out your pitch, your ask. you have to be really comfortable with the words. i would say especially for those who are shy, no one is going to do this for you. so practice. stand up on a table. have a drink with your friends. stand up on a table and scream it at the top of your lungs. try it in lots of different tenors and voices. have fun with it. laugh hysterically. when you get in there you should be so nimble and those words should just flow off your lips. >> yes. >> you got to get used to asking. we need to practice. any way to get there. the book is "the memo, what women of color need to know to secure a seat at the table." minda harts always great to see you. thank you for your part of know your value and your incredible book. >> thank you. >> this is an issue we tackle consistently at know your value.com 24 hours a day seven days a week 365 days a year. we have a great feature on the five crucial steps companies should take on black women's equal pay day and