as always, joy, ron reagan, thank you for coming on tonight from out west. it's not as late out there, is it? >> no, it's bright and early now i'll go to dinner. >> steve kornacki continues our live coverage on tonight's state of the union. >> up just witnessed the third longest state of the union ever delivered. >> i found the truth lacking in the state of the union. >> false claims on the auto industry, false claims on job creation. >> he led in a very divisive way. >> open borders have allowed drugs and gangs to pour into our most vulnerable community. >> if that was an attempt at unity, he has a lot of work to do. >> to all the d.r.e.a.m.ers, let me be clear. [ speaking spanish ] >> it is the most effective response we've seen from a member of any party for quite a long

i want to talk about the trump presidency now, with ron reagan jr., the son of the former president, ronald reagan. he joins me via skype. thanks so much for joining us. we appreciate it. you know, after the explosive description of president trump's white house from michael wolff and the president pouring gas on the fire, we've been having a national discussion, ron, of mental fitness for office. what's your impression of the president's fitness for office? >> i have been saying since he was nominated, perhaps even before, that this is a man who is unfit for office. this is not a psychological diagnosis. i'm not particularly interested in what pathologies he may or may not have. it's a question of chark, itactf personality. his behavior is erratic, impulsive. he doesn't seem to be really familiar with issues. he attacks people lower than him on the food chain, punching down. he has behaved in a way that i would describe as treasonous regarding the russia investigation and he may be guilty of criminal activity. i would say that his mental status is up for question, but i don't say tha

as always, joy, ron reagan, thank you for coming on tonight from out west. it's not as late out there, is it? >> no, it's bright and early nowon i'now . i'll go to dinner. >> steve kornacki continues our live >> the state of our union is strong because our people are strong. >> you have just witnessed the third longest state of the union ever delivered. >> i found the truth lacking in the state of the union tonight. >> false claims on the auto industry, false claims on job creation. >> he led in a very decisive way on immigration. >> open borders have allowed drugs and gangs to pour into our most vulnerable communities. >> if that was an attempt at unity, he's got a lot of work to do. >> to all the dreamers out there watching tonight, let me be absolutely clear. >> it's the most effective response we've seen from

ron reagan and georgia reese. it's better than the president's speech tonight, actually. it's going to be a lot more excitement. a lot of hollywood, a lot of glitter. it's going to sardi's for a review. >> you're saying for people who didn't watch the state of the union, there is a good way to catch up on it which is to watch chris matthews who will boil it, go through it for its essence and then tear it apart. >> nbc's kristen welker joins us now from the white house. kristen, i was meaning to ask you about something that was just reported before we went on the air tonight with the state of the union. and that is that there was further reporting, it was led by cnn tonight, that in negotiations between the president's lawyers and robert mueller's team, the president's lawyers are now taking a new harder line and suggesting that the president will not speak to robert mueller, that robert mueller hasn't crossed some sort of threshold he needs to cross in order to secure that interview. i wondered if the white house has had any response to that reporting or if you can confir

his son, ron reagan, said he felt as though his father was experiencing symptoms of that disease, at least early signs of the disease, while in office. in other words, those questions reporters were asking in the '80s were at least somewhat vindicated by a later diagnosis. if the president wants to cast the questions about his own mental health as fake news, i don't think reagan is the most useful historical comparison. >> there is also a big change, right, in the way media -- in the way that media approaches both coverage of the white house, the number of media that's out there and also social media and the way the president has been so combative fighting against the media. >> i think the president could make a stronger argument than the one he did. he could say the way i'm being covered now is more speculative, more reckless in some quarters than of reagan's. i went back over the weekend and spent time reading through old clips of reagan coverage from the '80s and it was pretty careful, i would say. there were plenty of observations of him seeming to be confused or having trouble r

his talk though has to be separated from his actions and so far, and neil pointed out ron old reagan had a couple of examples of protectionism with regard to chips and motorcycles and everything so it does happen and presidency even in the most free market presidencies where they go over the line at times but it's up to you and me to keep them from doing that too often. neil: guys i want to thank you all for expressing your views strongly, fairly, a little more after this the dow up 115 points i'm a concrete mason. i had severe fatigue, became diagnosed with hodgkin's lymphoma. he was a good candidate for immune therapy, which is allowing his immune system to attack the tumor. learn more at cancercenter.com that's it. i'm calling kohler about their walk-in bath. nah. not gonna happen. my name is ken. how may i help you? hi, i'm calling about kohler's walk-in bath. excellent! happy to help. huh? hold one moment please... [ finger snaps ] hmm. the kohler walk-in bath features an extra-wide opening and a low step-in at three inches, which is 25 to 60% lowr than some leading competitors.

florida congressman and house caucus member, congressman ron desantis. former reagan chief top white house political adviser ed rollins and i thank you for getting up so early to come in. and former nfl star jack brewer. how excited will he be about the vikings win. you don't want to miss any of those fine gentleman. commander-in-chief taking aim at critics saying his races after reportedly using profanity during an oval office meeting in reference to emigrate from countries in africa and also related to haiti. here's what he told reporters last night in florida. [inaudible] i'm not racist. i'm the least racist person you've ever interviewed. train to dick durbin seem to hang his initial statement saying the president made those comments. two senators who attended a oval office came to the president's defense. >> i didn't hear is now a city no further away and i know it did durbin has said about the president's repeated statements is incorrect. senator durbin has misrepresented the top in white house meetings before and he was corrected your >> a gross misrepresentati

ron nearing, senior policy adviser to hillary clinton's presidential campaign and msnbc political contributor maya harris, and daily beast columnist and author. "the washington post" has said, the news media did indeed question reagan'sental health at times but such questions were at least somewhat validated by the 40th president's alzheimer's diagnosis. do you agree with "the post" here? >> you know, i recall a lot more than simply what you just recounted, and that is that even before ronald reagan was elected president, there was this caricature that emerged in the media that the president was dumb, that ronald reagan was dumb and overlooked the fact that he had twice been elected governor of the state of california. had a very successful tenure as governor and the like. so when there are similar kinds of voices in the media that raise similar issues, certainly at least on the republican side, republicans are used to hearing those type of caricatures in the media and dismissing them. so until you have someone who is a member of the cabinet or a congressional leader actually raise such issues publicly, i don't think it has a lot of credibility. >> and the president is taking on this issue publicly still on twitter,

ron sanaa. welcome to both of you we could draw comparisons or distinction between how this particular bill became law and the reagan act became law. there are similarities, there are differences. the reagan act much more focused on lowering individual rates this one on companies. but take us back to the economic climate in 1986 and then tell us what happened in -- in '87 and why and what are the similarities and differences. >> certainly well you are right there are many differences between this tax bill and the one adopted in '86 '86 was the -- the culmination of a lot of tax politics that had begun in 1981 with a substantial tax cut. early in the reagan administration that produced rising deficits and it gave rise to the attitude, well deficits don't matter because in 1982, that great bull market began on wall street. and galloped on and on in '86, this fairly carefully tailored and constructed tax bill was adopted with the idea that it would spur economic growth, and the jury is out about whether or not it did that but what is interesting is -- to do is as you say, fast forward one year and look at how radically