after word of mattis' resignation, tom nichols had this caution. our national security is in danger. i do not say this lightly. >>> we know him well enough to confirm that he doesn't say this lightly, and with us tonight is tom nichols, a professor of national security affairs, a specialist on russian affairs. >>> tom, i realize you don't speak for the armed forces. you speak for tom nichols, but all your life's work and experience goes into this. what kind of danger, in your view, are we in and what worries you? >> i'm especially worried that our opponents -- and jeremy bash actually brought this up earlier and i agree with him -- our opponents are watching this. this does not happen in a vacuum. it's not happening in secret that our opponents are following the president's twitter feed. they are following these events. they've read the secretary's resignation letter. and i think they may well believe that we are simply paralyzed and incapable of functioning. i think that would be a terrible miscalculation on their part. but it's certainly a conclu

you speak for tom nichols, but all your life's work and experience goes into this.hat kind of danger, in your view, are we in and what worries you? >> i'm especially worried that our opponents -- and jeremy bash actually brought this up earlier and i agree with him -- our opponents are watching this. this does not happen in a vacuum. it's not happening in secret that our opponents are following the president's twitter feed. they are following these events. they've read the secretary's resignation letter, and i think they may well believe that we are simply paralyzed and incapable of functioning. i think that would be a terrible miscalculation on their part. but it's certainly a conclusion that it would be easy for them to reach at this point because one of the important things here is this was not just a mere difference of policy. i think, you know, the secretary's letter was pretty clear about a major disconnect on principle, and that, i think, leaves a wide opening for states that mean us harm to -- it leaves the field open for them to make their play. and i'm rea

tom nichols, thank you so much for being with us. coming up, there are perilous times ahead, of course, in addition to the acting attorney general and acting e administrator. 2019 will bring an acting defense secretary and an acting chief of staff and an acting interior secretary. we're going to discuss the implications of an administration that seems tobacking like it's running the federal government. >>> plus, something special for the history buffs in our audience, tom brokaw will give us an extraordinary look back at some of the momentous historic am moments that marks significant anniversary this year from the chaos of 1968 to nixon and watergate the saturday night special, so much more, we are back in just a moment. more are back in just a moment. gentle means everything, so we improved everything. we used 50% fewer ingredients added one handed pumps and beat the top safety standards the new johnson's® choose gentle ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ the greatest wish of all is one that brings us together. the final days of wish list are here. sign and d

tom nichols, to julia ainsley, our thanks. >>> and coming up, jared kushner reportedly up for another white house job which he would presumably wedge in between negotiating criminal justice reform and brokering middle east peace, when we continue. >>> well, we are back and as you can tell by the brief but foreboding music and animation, as they often do, "the new york times" is on the board, as i mentioned, with another news story about tonight's new topic, and that is the inauguration. they are adding to the reporting that's already out today from the journal with this headline, trump inaugural fund and super pac said to be scrutinized for illegal foreign donations. three-person by line, and they say, federal prosecutors examining whether foreigners illegally funneled donations to trump's inaugural committee in a pro trump super pac in hopes of buying influence according to people familiar with the inquiry. here's the important part as they say. the inquiry focuses on whether people from middle eastern nations including qatar, saudi arabia and the u.a.e. used straw donors to disguise

tom nichols, to julia ainsley, our thanks. >>> and coming up, jared kushner reportedly up for another job which he would presumably wedge in between negotiating criminal justice reform and brokering middle east peace, when we continue. how much horse power does this thing got? doing great dad! looking good babe! are you filming. at booking.com, we can't guarantee you'll be any good at that water jet thingy... but we can guarantee the best price on a hotel, like this one. or any home, boat, treehouse, yurt, whatever. get the best price on homes, hotels and so much more. booking.com, booking.yeah introducing zero account fees for brokerage accounts. and zero minimums to open an account. at fidelity, those zeros really add up. ♪ maybe i'll win, saved by zero ♪ >>> well, we are back and as you can tell by the brief but foreboding music and animation, as they often do, "the new york times" is on the board, as i mentioned, with another news story about tonight's new topic, and that is the inauguration. they are adding to the reporting that's already out today from the journal with this head

author of the pook the death of expertise, tom nichols.or at large of the weekly standard. >> looking for a jb now. >> yeah, taking it easy. showing up here on "morning joe." just drifting around. >> we're glad to have you. >> a life of leisure. >> not at all. >> hard a the this point. john heilemann, you want to get into donald trump distractions. i want us to set up this week before syria, before afghanistan, before mattis and explain to me, if you will, just how serious the legal problems facing donald trump and his children are, especially as the new york state attorney general launches full into an vgs of the trump organization. >> that graphic is pretty good. that we have up here right now. trump foundation, trump transition, inaugust asian ration and administration. like everything that's got trump's name on it is is now being investigated by one investigatory body or another. there's nothing donald trump has touched or current ly attached o that's not being looked into by some law enforcement body or some prosecutor. someone who ha

joining me now is tom nichols professor at naval war college. also, the death of expertise. you so much for being with us. tom, let's start with you. in an op ed, you write, trump is pulling a cabinet and white house staff behind him that is replete with bench warmers and third stringers. he wound up that way in part by vilifying elites and mocking expertise. >> what kind of dangers could he face because of this? >> the immediate danger is that he's not getting good advice. and because the people that he's putting into these positions are increasingly weaker in their fields of expertise. he feels free not to listen to them. that's a problem whether you're at the department of interior or department of state. it's especially a problem when you start talking about things like the national security realm, or in your own personal legal advise, which i'm into the sure there's a legal team that could get the president to be a more disciplined client. it's clear he's just burned through lawyers, burned through cabinet secretaries. and now has an acting chief of staff which is kind o

naval war college and author of the book "the death of expertise" tom nichols. ining us this hour. a lot to get to. >> tom, let's start with you. i will just show you the headline of the "new york times," saudi prince complicit in murder. director of the cia gina haspel says basically making everything that was said by our secretary of state and secretary of defense last week look foolish. what should the united states do moving forward? what's our foreign policy going to look like towards saudi arabia in the coming years? >> well, we need to have a foreign policy, i think that's part of the problem. as always, i don't represent the views of the government. i think one of the problems you're seeing here is that we don't have a foreign policy, we have several foreign policies including whatever it is the president is doing at any given moment. so you're seeing congress, the executive branch, parts within the executive branch all sort of flailing around trying to figure out what our policy should be. with saudi arabia this is -- you know, this is really something t

. >> willie, i don't know if you saw this or not, but led zeppelin aheader tom nichols tweeted this list yesterday. nk gives us the finger. dow crashes. russia on the march in the black sea. the chinese laughing at tariffs. u.s. farmers go under. gop having psychotic meltdowns in wisconsin, michigan and north carolina. dems pick up 40 in the house. inf treaty scrap, massive deficits. finally, what conservatives have always wanted. then imagine the list as a new verse to billy joel's "we didn't start the fire." >> kim's alive, putin is in the black sea, traders in the gop. nukes are loose, dems boost, mueller takes a tighter noose. house is gone, dead is gong, xi laughs, twitter laughs but it's all the will of god. >> very good. >> we didn't start the fire, willie. pretty good succinct list. >> that's an amazing thing. i think, obviously, this is all about his positions on led zip ly -- zeppelin, but we can get past that. we're going hear from bob mueller a couple of times today and we're going to get a window into this investigation. we don't get many windows into what bob mueller is up

. >> tom nichols, thank you very much for being on this morning. we're going next. >>> still ahead on "morning joe," we are going to circle back to saudi arabia and one senator's call to i can kick out that country's ambassador to the u.s., senator dick durbin joins us for that. you're watching "morning joe." we will be right back. much for being on this morning. we will be right back. fact is, every insurance company hopes you drive safely. but allstate helps you. with drivewise. feedback that helps you drive safer. and that can lower your cost now that you know the truth... are you in good hands? every road in the world is now an information superhighway. (phone ringing) and the car has become an accessory to the smartphone. ride hailing, car sharing, much for being on this morning. we will be right back. ng... mobility services are proliferating. and there's a new generation who don't seem to want to own cars in the first place. it all means massive disruption to the car industry, cities, businesses and investors. i'm martyn briggs for bank of a

nichols, thank you. >>> the ceo of gm is in full damage control mode, face-to-face with members congress today about those massive layoffs and plant closures. nbc's tom costello was there. fire, gm's ceo mary barra making the rounds on capitol hill today, defending her decision to lay off thousands of workers and close plants in ohio, michigan, and maryland, but making no promises. would you consider using those plants for new production lines? >> it's incredibly difficult to make these types of discussions. our focus is on the gm team members that are impacted. >> reporter: gm is shifting truck and suv production in mexico, focusing on production of new vehicles and ending production on the chevy volt and cruz. >> we were really blindsided by this. we didn't expect it at all. >> reporter: it comes the same year that gm benefitted from president trump's corporate tax cut. congress now considering new laws that would remove corporate tax incentives for moving jobs overseas. >> we're asking for the opportunity to once again let our workforce shoha >> reporter: many analysts say gm's decision has provided some rare bipartisanship in washington. widespre

nichols with that breaking news, thank you. >>> here in washington isthe ceo of g.m. n full damage control mode face-to-face with members of congress about the massive lay offs and plant closures. tomostello is there. >> repornder fire, mary barra making the rounds on capitol hill today defending her decision to lay off thousands of workers and clo plants in ohio, michigan and maryland but making no promises. >> would you use those plants for new producti lines? >> it's iredibly difficult to make these decisions so our focus is on t g.m. team members impacted. >> reporter: g.m. is shifting truck and suv production to mexico focussing on new electric vehicle and ending production of sedans, the volt and cruz. >> we're reably dsided by this. we didn't expect it at all. >> reporter: g.m.'s decision comes the same year ter it benefitted from the tax cut and u.s. taxpayers spent 13,000 -- $13 billion bailing them out.$13 billion bailing them out.>> e're not asking for charity, what we're asking for is to give the community and work force the portunity to once again show what they can do. >> reporter: many analysts insist g.m. is making the tough decisions to compete in a cutthroat indus