in the coming weeks on "after words" new york times correspondent helene cooper will explore the life of ellen johnson surly, leader of the liberian women's movement. the first democratically bema president african history. an msnbc host chris hayes will look at inequality in the united states. sexual assault on college campuses. this weekend ohio governor john cusick will reflect on his 2016 presidential campaign. >> what i think has to happen in our country and it's not just the divided congress. i read in the new york times this woman moved her wedding from america to in early because she couldn't get all of her relatives they are, that there be a riot about fighting in politics. one of my boyhood friends told me he cannot talk to her father about politics. his father is 90 and dave was telling me the other day that all we do is shout at each other i don't even go there anymore. we know that families are fighting, that friends are -- that you unfriend someone on facebook if you they say something you don't like. i think there are things that pull us together. a couple of them are:

a lot to digest, rich lowrie, helene cooper, danielle plet ka and david brooks.tart with the basics here. what did we learn about donald trump this week in syria? >> we're debating him like this is winston churchill in the world of war. making some big strategic decision. i'm afraid he did one thing and it will have no consequences if there was no strategic thinking behind it and no big strategic shift. i do think one promising thing is we're never going to be in the business of regime change anytime soon. we should be in the business of defending some basic norms of civilization. 100 years ago, the u.s. entered world war i, thousands were gassed to death. we can be against gassing and so in that sense this action was a useful action and we should just be in the business of trying to make sure when people fight, they behave with some basic level of human decency. so we had a little thing in this, but i'm not sure a big shift in any way. >> is it the doctrine of flexibility? >> flexibility, we were all over president obama when he told president putin he would be

rich lowry of the national review, helene cooper, mike pletka. have we learned about donald trump this week in syria? >> we're debating him like he's winston churchill in the world war. i'm afraid of the story "finding nemo," that he did one thing and it will have no consequences, that there's no strategic thinking behdt and no strategic shift. i do think the one promising thing is we'll never be in the business of regime change any time soon, but we should be in the business of some basic norms in civilization. in world war i, thousands were gassed to death. soot least we can be against gassing. in that sense, this action was a useful action, and we should just be in the business of trying to make sure when people fight, they behave with some level of human decency. we had a thing in this but i'm not sure it was big. >> we were all over president obama when he told president putin he would be flexible. i don't think we know. we don't know whether this was a tactical strike or a strategic shift. and we have the secretary of state suggesting to us

we have helene cooper joining us today. welcome to sunday, it's "meet the press." >>> the longest running show in television history celebrating it's 70th year. this is "meet the press." >>> good sunday morning. this breaking news there was e tacks on two egyptian christian churches this morning. it killed two dozen people and wounded scores of others. hours later a suicide bomber killed 11 people in front of a church of alexandria. isis as claimed responsibility for both of those attacks. >>> president trump became the 7th consecutive president to attack. it involved 60 cruise missiles to an air base. they say it was a appropriate response for a chemical attack. it scrambled political allian s alliances. it drew criticism from some of his strongest supporters and has raised all sorts of questions. was this mission accomplished or mission creep? what is the message the u.s. is sending to the world? and can mr. trump sell this to his nationalist base that was deeply skeeptical about taking any action. this is not cut and dry

we have helene cooper joining us today. it's "meet the press." >>> the longest running show in television history celebrating it's 70th year. this is "meet the press." >>> good sunday morning. this breaking news there was e tacks on two egyptian christian churches this morning. it killed two dozen people and wounded scores of others. hours later a suicide bomber killed 11 people in front of a church of alexandria. isis as claimed responsibility for both of those attacks. >>> president trump became the 7th consecutive president to attack. it involved 60 cruise missiles to an air base. they say it was a appropriate response for a chemical

joining me for inside analysis are chris matthews, host of "hardball" on msnbc, helene cooper for thenew york times" and danielle pletka for the american enterprise institute. welcome to sunday. it's "meet the press." >> announcer: from nbc news in washington, the longest running show in television history celebrating its 70th year. this is "meet the press" with chuck todd. >> good sunday morning for a president who said the first 100 days is a ridiculous benchmark. president trump this week certainly looked like a man eager to cross the finish line with activities. despite the promise of health care and tax reform and nafta, he has attempted to put some big moves on the board. he has gotten neil gorsuch into the supreme court, and he has stayed true to his promise to restrict imgration. but in what may be the most revealing moment of the week, the republican house rejecte his cl for a billion-dollar down payment for the wall with mexico. president trump came to town promising to defeat washington. like many presidents before him, he's discovering that the washington empire knows how

helene cooper, from "the new york times." nicolle wallace and danielle pletka of the american enterprise insurance stuen enterprise interstatustitute. it's "meet the press." >>>. >> announcer: celebrating its 70th year, this is "meet the press" >>> president trump certainly looked like he was eager to cross the finish line. but this week the president has struggled to put big legislative points on the board. he's put neil gorsuch on the supreme court, rolled back some regulations and stayed true to his promise to restrict immigration. but in what may be the most revealing moment of the week, the republican house rejected his call for a $1 b$1 billion d payment on the wall. >> we are keeping one promise after another and, frankly, the people are really happy about it. >> reporter: in harrisburg, pennsylvania last night the president marked 100 days in office in his favorite element. >> we're going to have major tax relief for the middle class. premiums way down, we're going to get the deductibles way down. we're going to take

helene cooper, from "the new york times." nbc news political analyst nicolle wallace. and danielle pletka of the american enterprise institute. it's "meet the press." >> announcer: from nbc news in washington, the longest run ini television show in nbc history, celebrating its 70th year, this is "meet the press" with chuck todd. >>> president trump certainly looked like he was eager to cross the finish line. but this week the president has struggled to put big legislative points on the board. he has won the confirmation of neil gorsuch. the supreme court rolled back quite a few regulations and stayed true to his promise to restrict immigration. but in what may be the most revealing moment of the week, the republican house rejected his call for a $1 billion down payment for the wall with mexico. like many presidents before him, president trump came to town promising to defeat washington. like many predents before him, he's discovering that the washington empire knows hoto strike back. >> we are keeping one promise after another and, frankly, the people are really happy

new york times correspondent helene cooper. leader of the librarian women's movement and the first democratic female president. and sheldon whitehouse how legislative decisions are influenced by groups. >> some of the corporate influences have been around for quite a while. the extent to which corporate lobbying dominates in congress, i think it's about 30-1 over everybody else. by recent studies. that's probably been so since the 1970's. and the problem of regulatory capture in administrative agencies in the regulatory agencies, where the regulated industry basically moves in and begins to exert control over the regulatory agency has been around since woodrow wilson wrote about it so some of this is a constant theme. the new things, i think, have been citizens united and the entry of corporate power and the front groups that exert corporate power into our elections into amazingly dominant way.

words," john kasich will reflect on his 2016 presidential campaign, new york times correspondent helene cooper will explore the life of ellen johnson-sirleaf, leader of the liberian women's move movement and the first democratically-elected female president in african history. msnbc host chris hayes will look at racial inequality in the united states, and this weekend colorado representative ken buck talks about corruption in washington and his plans for reform. >> i don't think it's wrong to expect members of the house to raise money for the party to try to win the majority. the same thing with the democrats. i think that is just part of the reality of politics. it's not my favorite part of politics, but it is part of politics. what i find offensive is the linkage between raising money and assignment to committee, raising money and a chairmanship, raising money and being in leadership. i think there has to be a merit-based system in place to decide who gets on what committee. if you've been a doctor for 30 years and you show up to congress, you have an expertise, and that expertise needed on

in the coming weeks on "after words" new york times correspondent helene cooper will explore the life of ellen johnson surly, leader of the liberian women's movement and the first democratic leader president in african history. msnbc host chris hayes racial inequality in the united states. stuart taylor will explore sexual assault on college campuses. this weekend, ohio governor chase john cusick will reflect on the 2016 presidential campaign. >> what i think is to happen in our country and it's not just a divided congress. i read in the new york times that this one move in with her wedding from america to italy because she couldn't get her relatives there because she was afraid there'd be a riot, fighting about politics. one of my boyhood friends told me he cannot talk to his father at all about politics. his father is 90 and dave was telling me the other day all we do is shout at each other. i don't even go there anymore. we know these families are fighting, you unfriend someone on facebook if they say something you don't like. i think, there are things that pull us together. i'll g