Transcripts For MSNBCW MSNBC Live With Hallie Jackson 20181031

Plus a bizarre scheme to try to smear the special counsel, an attempt to target robert mueller. How a pro trump conspiracy theorist is linked to all this. Well talk to a woman contacted in the plot. We have a ton to get to. Our team is ready to go across the country, covering all of it. I want to start with donald trump and his last big push starting today, trying to tap into some hot button issues he hopes will keep republicans in power in a lot of instances, making claims that are misleading or just not true. Were the only country in the world where a person comes in, has a baby, and the baby is essentially a citizen of the United States for 85 years with all of those benefits. They want to raise your taxes, open your borders. We have other tax cuts planned. In that caravan you have some very bad people. When you looked at that bridge loaded up with people, thats called an invasion of our country. Nbcs Kelly Odonnell is at the white house. Kelly, if i know anything, just as i have my suitcase loaded, as do you, this is President Trumps last big push. Reporter it is. I would add to the spaghetti motif to say, do what you know. For President Trump, immigration has been successful for him. Were seeing him hitting that in all ways, leading up to the Midterm Elections. And in part that is a base move to try to drive his own voters and supporters to mind certain they cast their ballots so there wont be an apathy quotient on his size when democrats have been so energized. When we look at the president s tweets, there are some factual errors and questionable elements. Weve seen how the president will plow right through that regardless. There you see him talking about the caravans. Theyre made up of some of the tough fighters, people fought back hard and viciously against mexico. He goes on to talk about the mexican authorities being injured. We dont have evidence of that. There were photos circulating on the internet that are not of the current moment but show injuries to mexican soldiers that were misappropriated and used on the web as support for this when thats not the case. So the president talking about these issues, and his press secretary saying the democrats have not come to the table to try to resolve the immigration issues that exist in our country. So here is Sarah Sanders this morning in one of the north lawn q as with reporters that have become to frequent of lately. Democrats in congress have failed to help fix our broken immigration system and the president is looking at all options and hell make a decision ultimately about whats best to secure our border and to maintain law and order in our country. Reporter and of course, hallie, the president , where he goes tells us a lot about where the race is headed. Sure does. Reporter hes got 11 stops over the next several days, all of them in places with tough gubernatorial and senate races. Look at that concentration. Ive already got my ticket to montana. I know youve got at least florida on your map, weve got a lot of plane tickets for us. And you see where the president is headed in a final push to convince voters to turn out. Bringing that energy is what hes hoping to do. Kelly odonnell nailing it as always, kelly, thank you. It is all about the trump factor this week. As you can see from these headlines out this morning, they say it all. Pushing every button. Trump mobilizes the government in the campaigns final days. In campaigns home stretch, trump tosses out ideas to see what sticks. We are lucky enough to be joined by the writer of both those articles, ashley parker, peter baker, and cornell belcher, all three msnbc political analysts. Guys, six days, ready to rock and roll. Let me start with you, youre talking about the strategy now behind this 11rally, eightstate, sixday push by President Trump. What are you hearing from folks in the west wing . Well, the president in addition to sort of hitting these states, especially senate and gubernatorial races where he thinks he can be helpful, hes rehashing the 2016 playbook in many ways, which is really a playbook of fear. What we write about today is not just how hes using specifically and most frequently immigration to gin up fear in the way he talks about it in his rallies or in his tweets, its not just the same stuff, but hes announced hes sending 5,200 active duty troops to the border, the largest surge of active duty troops to the u. S. mexico border since the mexican revolution. Hes announced hes trying to end birthright citizenship. Hes not just talking about the, hes doing stuff that could galvanize his base that came out in 2016. Peter, when i talk to sources in the west wing, in and around the president s team, they echo the idea that the president wants to make sure that the people in his base, that trumpy base, turn out. But there is a risk to this strategy, as you point out. There is, a couple of risks. One is the sort of ad hoc way hes done this as left his own republican allies a little on the outs, they didnt know a lot of these things were coming. When he says hes going to have a 10 middle class tax cut, theyre saying, what are you talking about . Paul ryan, the republican leader in congress, is saying you cant stop birthright citizenship. Theres a lack of coordination. Its not part of a wellthoughtthrough, orchestrated strategy where talking points are distributed to candidates and everybody is on the same page. Its much more donald trump winging it in these last few days before the election. Peter, to your point, particularly when it comes to what the president is pushing, i asked Kellyanne Conway about this idea of ending birth right citizenship, which is enshrined in the constitution, the president cannot simply rewrite the constitution, a point paul ryan made. Is this just a way to whip up the base ahead of the midterms . No, because if only the base had voted for him, he wouldnt be president. I understand thats like the sesame grover word of the day, that and fear and some other stuff. But no, its not whipping up the base. There are constitutional scholars who say the 14th amendment has been misinterpreted and the Supreme Court has never gave a solid opinion on this, so it doesnt require like some lawyer or some fancy lawyer. It basically requires anyone who can read. The text of the 14th amendment says all persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to their jurisdiction thereof are citizens of the United States, period. There are no exceptions. Thats what it says. Then you have democrats, right, like nancy pelosi who is out doing some late night, talking about this immigration push from the president. This is just more of the same of what he has been saying, taking babies out of the arms of their moms, putting them in cages, warning about a caravan thats over a thousand miles away, putting troops on the border. Cornell . You know, the problem for republicans is moderate voters, right . When you think about what moderate voters are and where they break at the end, this give us the democrats the opportunity for some contrast. What Andrew Gillum in florida is going to be talk about today is, lets talk about over here. We talked about where the president is going, peter and cornell, the next six days until election day. Ari melber put together a list of all the places the president has held Campaign Rallies since labor day. Just about every rally has been in states that he won in 2016. In a way hes preaching to people who already are part of his choir, no . Peter and ashley, can you talk to the idea of that strategy and whether or not it can be effective . People familiar with the president s strategy say, hes going to places where he thinks he will make a difference. Will that be enough . Ashley, take it. Sure. Its an open question that well find out on election day. Part of the thinking in want white house and the president s team is quite deliberate, its that especially in Midterm Elections where generally less people turn out, if the president can help recreate some of that coalition, that base coalition who maybe showed up and voted for him but maybe hadnt voted as frequently before, as regularly before, that he could be incredibly helpful. Theres a sense that every midterm, and this is correct generally, is a referendum on this sitting president. He has an ability to insert himself in the center of everything. Hes literally gone out there at rallies and said, im not on the ticket but i am on the ticket, pretend youre voting for me. Finally, a thing thats less strategy but deeply ingrained with what the president wants to do, as someone who makes this all about himself, he wants to in some ways go to places where hes going to be warmly received, go to places where hell have these great rallies, relive the magic of 2016, as a prelaunch for his 2020 reelect. The problem is, take a look at florida, pennsylvania. The president is an accidental president. He didnt win majorities in florida or pennsylvania. And he has not enlarged the republican party, hes arguably shrank the republican party. The republicans need moderate voters especially in the suburbs of pennsylvania. If those moderate suburban women turn against him, the republicans are done. Peter, final thoughts. Exactly right, hes not tried to expand his coalition. Approval rating numbers suggest he hasnt. Kellyanne conway says its not a play for his base. Its certainly not a play for the middle or the independents. Midterm election turnout is key. They clearly think that its necessary to get out the trump loyalists, otherwise theyre in trouble. Love having you all on, thank you, as we hit the final push to election day. Weve talked about the white house strategy, but what about democrats . This time around they actually want to talk about health care, in fact its all theyre talking about in the closest of close rends. Our road warriors are covering it all and our own Steve Kornacki is checking out a place that republicans have held since john kennedy was in the white house. A suburban surge could change all that. That it really it rocked our world. I had no idea the amount of damage that water could do. We called usaa. And they greeted me as they always do. Sergeant baker, how are you . They were on it. It was unbelievable. Having insurance is something everyone needs, but having usaa now thats a privilege. Were the bakers and were usaa members for life. Usaa. Get your insurance quote today. Comfort. What we deliver by delivering. Here are the facts. Leading attacks against prop c. The citys chief Economist Says prop c will reduce homelessness by creating affordable housing, expanding mentalhealth services, and providing clean restrooms and safe shelters with independent oversight, open books, and strict Accountability Measures to make sure every penny goes to solving our homeless crisis. Vote yes on c. Endorsed by the democratic party, nancy pelosi, and Dianne Feinstein. Lets get out on the campaign trail this hour for our Rock Star Team of road warriors, blitzing races across the country. Today focusing on places the president won but were democrats are hoping to hold on. Lets start in missouri. Sna senator Claire Mccaskill is trailing her republican opponent in state that President Trump won by 20 points in 2016. Kasie hunt is checking out the scene in kansas city, missouri. Former Vice President joe biden will be there to give senator mccaskill a boost. Reporter thats right, and she needs all the help she can get at this point. Mccaskill has had a lot of, frankly, luck with her opponents in past years. She ran against todd aiken who you may remember made some pretty inflammatory comments right before the race that affected a lot of women voters. Mccaskill was able to win. And hallie, i know you know this from paying attention to her in washington, she is shes got a fierce personality. Shes been underestimated before and shes come out on top. But this race is really tough. Some recent polling shows that josh hawley, the attorney general, is currently just barely edging her out although it seems to be within the margin of error at this point. So mccaskill has really been frustrated by some of the late turns over the course of the past few weeks, particularly the kavanaugh hearing. She was very frustrated with how the leadership of her party handled some of that, with how it affected her race. She was also frustrated by the Government Shutdown earlier in the year, when democrats said that they, you know, wanted to stop the border wall funding and it caused quite a public flap. It was mccaskill along with some other red state colleagues who pushed back and ultimately saic this. Were in kansas city, missouri. Were going to be focused on suburban women. It will be interesting to see how they come down on this, hallie. Well be watching your reporting on nbc nightly news. Weve also been watching this steve king drama that has flared up, with the head of the nrcc basically blasting him. Whats up with that . Reporter thats right, hallie, the nrcc condemning one of their own just six days before the election, yesterday was a week to the election. Steve stivers who is in charge of getting House Republicans elected, he wrote in a tweet, we must stand up against White Supremacy and hate in all forms and i strongly condemn this behavior. Whats he talking about . Steve king obviously has a very long history of making racist and inflammatory statements. This, however, has caught the attention of Party Leadership in a way that it hasnt possibly in the past. Why is that . Steve king had made remarks in an interview with a far right Austrian Group during a trip that had actually been paid for by a Holocaust Memorial fund. But he told this for right group that immigrants are threatening whites, was the meaning of his comments. The Washington Post reported that he said, hey, if those people, austrians, were here in america, they would be republicans. Thats what put it on the radar of republican leaders. His race has changed from likely republican to lean republican, which is interesting. Thank you, kasie. Sherrod brown is defending his ohio seat in a state President Trump took in 2016. Were traveling with democrats to the state. Where are you, whats going on . Reporter well, were at the first stop of the bus tour. Democrats are focused on getting out the vote right now. Theyre driving through areas in counties where President Trump either flipped in 2016 or dramatically overperformed. Sherrod brown just wrapped up addressing hey groa group of pa. Theyre focused on having these pastors talk to their membership. Were in a county that President Trump swung by about 18 points in 2016. I want to bring in one of the pastors, pastor michael harrison, thank you for joining us. Thank you for having me. Reporter do you see your Church Members more excited for this Midterm Election . The excitement is unbelievable in our church, its humming everywhere, they are so excited that not only are they voting but theyre taking their relatives to the polls. We have the souls to the polls coming up soon. Were making sure we have advanvans and buses make our way so we can let our voice be heard over and above the other voices speaking right now. Thank you very much. Hallie, this bus tour is going to go from here to canton and will end in it akron, ohio. All areas where President Trump overperformed. If Sherrod Brown wants to win, they need those voters to come home. Shaq, well be looking for you literally on the road in ohio. Shaquille brewster, thank you. A key race in north carolina, the states ninth district. Democrats are looking to take that seat for the first time in nearly 60 years. Nbcs Steve Kornacki is at the big border for todays 18 in 18. Steve, lay it out. That was going to be the trivia question. Oh, i stole it. The filming location of the film the color purple. Were talking about the ninth district of north carolina. This is just outside charlotte, gets into some rural areas. This is traditionally a republican area. And yet why is it on our radar . Its on our radar, you can see here, because this man, mark harris, is the republican nominee. He defeated a sitting member of congress, robert pittinger, in the republican primary this year. Harris is a religious leader, a pastor in the area. He was president of the state baptist convention. Hes running against democrat dan ma creccready, an iraq war veteran. Democrats have been pumping some money in here, thinking harris may alienate some moderate republicans in this area. Harris is leading by just a point over dan mccready. Again, this is that kind of district. We spend a lot of time looking at places where republicans represent them when Hillary Clinton won or came within a couple of points of winning. This was a double digit trump district. But you can see there are some suburban voters here that democrats think they can win over. They think harris might alienate some people. This is a possibility here for democrats. Well be keeping a close eye on north carolinas ninth. And a couple of others in the state on election night, hallie. Sounds good, Steve Kornacki, thank you much, see you tomorrow. By the way, gang, talking about tomorrow, im hitting the road, traveling with the president on his big midterm push. Were broadcasting live from ft. Myers, florida tomorrow. Up next, a real story involving fake news, so serious it has the special counsel calling the fbi. A bribery scheme, false claims of sexual harassment. One of the women targeted in it joins us live. D in it joins us live. Hey there people eligible for medicare. Gimme two minutes. And ill tell you some important things to know about medicare. First, it doesnt pay for everything. Say this pizza. Is your part b medical expenses. This much about 80 percent. Medicare will pay for. Whats left. This slice here. Well. You have to pay for that. And thats where an aarp Medicare Supplement insurance plan, insured by Unitedhealthcare Insurance Company comes in. This type of plan helps pay some of what medicare doesnt. 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Tick, tick, tick, time for a wrap up. A Medicare Supplement plan helps pay some of what medicare doesnt. You know, the pizza slice. It allows you to choose any doctor, who accepts medicare patients. And these are the only plans of their kind endorsed by aarp. Whew call or go online and find out more. Look what shes accomplished. She authored the ban on assault weapons. Pushed the desert protection act through congress, and steered billions of federal dollars to california projects such as subway construction and wildfire restoration. She. Played an Important Role in fighting off. Trumps efforts to kill the Affordable Care act. California news papers endorse Dianne Feinstein for us senate. California values senator Dianne Feinstein good morning. Were untangling a bizarre scheme targeting the reputation of one of washingtons most high profile people. Robert mueller has asked the fbi to investigate a scam where a woman was offered money to lie and say mueller sexually harassed her. Mueller was tipped off when reporters were contacted to do a story. Whats behind it . Jack burkman, a radio host and republican lobbyist, tweeted this yesterday, we will reveal the first of special counsel Robert Muellers sex assault victims. Burkman hired a Company Called Surefire Intelligence to help him. That company is tied to a disgraced former Hedge Fund Manager turned pro trump conspiracy theorist. Not too long after that, a website that employs him as a writer, gateway pundit, published what they called exclusive documents related to this accusation. Gateway has taken those documents down, saying theyre investigating the accusations. And Surefire Intelligence says it does not comment on current, pass, or future operations or lack thereof. Joining me now is jennifer taub, law professor at vermont law school, who was offered compensation in exchange for damaging informs aboing informa robert mueller. Professor taub, you say the company emailed you and said, we may pay you for any references you may have. Has the fbi contacted you yet about this . No, they havent. Do you expect that they will . I didnt until yesterday. I mean, when i got this email monday, the 22nd, i thought it was rather sketchy. And at first my instinct was just to email this person back and say i dont know robert mueller, ive never met him, have a nice day. But then before i did that, it occurred to me that this was a very creepy kind of setup. It seemed like they were casting a really broad net. And i thought i should alert the special counsel. Thats why i forwarded it right away to their email address. You seem looking at sort of your twitter feed, jennifer, interviews, emboldened by this, you tweeted they messed with the wrong law professor. Why do you think you were contacted . I have no idea why i was contacted. I dont know that i feel emboldened. I think probably the better adjective is amused by this. Im someone who has been very vocal. I follow the special counsel investigation very closely. I teach white collar crime. I think im the wrong kind of person that you would invite to participate in some conspiracy to violate federal law. What steps are you taking now moving forward, jennifer . You forwarded that email to the special counsel. Do you see your involvement in this as done from a proactive stance . Well, initially i did see my involvement being done, last monday when i send it to them and i had no intention to speak publicly. But when i saw that Natasha Bertrand had published the story and that the spokesperson for the special counsels office was publicly discussing this, i thought it was important to come forward and talk about it. So, you know, i think its important to talk about this because some you know, im actually stunned that folks would be doing this. And also that if they were trying to create this kind of scam, that theyre not very smart. I think its kind of important to get that out there. Im sorry, jennifer, finish your thought. Thats it, just to get it out there. People who know me know that im a truthful, honest person, and im not making this up, just here is the email and they can decide for themselves whats going on here. Ben, i wanted to come to you because jennifer brought up something, she said these dont seem like, in your view, jennifer, very smart people. Ben, what can you tell us about the folks who are involved in this and the world theyre a part of . Sure. This is an elaborate but not very smart or wellthoughtout plot. The document that alleges this stuff is tied to a Company Called Surefire Intelligence. Jacob wahl, who is allegedly a part of this thing, when we called Surefire Intelligence, it gave us a phone number that led to a voice mailbox that was full, and that phone number was jacob wahls mom. He denies hes part of Surefire Intelligence. This is a really badlydone altright fever dream that was put into the ether by a guy who is an incredible sycophant for both the president and right wing media. So it didnt take much work to find that out. But we dont really even know why it was this easy to find this out. It was so badly done that people think its fishy. But i think its just basically a very bad smear job. Ben collins, were going to leave it there. You do have a way with words, my friend. Thank you for coming on the show. Jennifer taub, i appreciate your perspective and for joining the broadcast as well. I appreciate it. A lot of politicians are counting on millenials. The problem is they dont have a great track record of showing up at the polls. Coming up, what young people are telling us about the midterms, especially in texas, where beto orourke is banking on them to win. 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That was on display last night when Chris Matthews asked him about how President Trumps rhetoric in the wake of tragedy has diverged from past president s. Do you think if trump acted like that, the country can be different, can he act like that, is he capable of it personally . I dont think hes capable of it. But that doesnt have to limit who we are as a people. Were more than the president of the United States. I know that from traveling the United States and finding republicans who may have voted for trump and dont approve of this kind of behavior. Nbcs Garrett Haake is in waco, texas, one of our road warriors blitzing the country where beto orourke is set to start a rally in 20 minutes. What are you hearing from folks in the area . Reporter hallie, the problem that beto orourke has, the older democratic voters are simply not going to be enough for him, the math doesnt work. He can run the most competitive campaign in texas in the last 20 years and lose by a half million votes if he only gets the folks who always vote for democrats in texas. So the theory of Beto Campaign is they have to find folks who have never voted before, maybe this is their first chance to vote or maybe they just havent cared. They have to find Younger Voters like denton who lives here in waco, hes 28 years old. You voted in 2016 for democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. But you see this campaign as a little bit different. What is it about beto orourke and the Texas Senate Race that makes people your age, our age, more excited this time around than two years ago . Definitely. Whats gotten me excited personally is that beto engages us much more. His sense of vernacular, the way he likes to talk to us is person to person. It doesnt feel so much like a political figure standing over me telling me how she or he is going to run us. Its more like, heres some policies i believe in, heres policies i believe we all believe in, its not so much about the political lines, its not so much democrat versus republican, its about heres what needs to get done and im going to step up and do it and you want that done too. Outside of what he believes in and what hes presented to us as the candidate, he is also just kind of a cool guy. Reporter the style issue is a big part of it. Definitely. Reporter what about on the substance, what issues are driving this . Lots of issues. I mean, of course just the party line issues, abortion, gun control, marijuana rights. You know, those are the three i usually defend. I wish i could tell you a little bit more, a little bit more in tune with everything. Those are usually what i stand up for. Reporter so choice, gun control, marijuana rights. These are not issues that typically drive texas elections, hallie. But if theyre issues that will get people that dont normally come out and vote in texas elections, beto orourke has a fighting chance. If not, hes going to get crushed by swrujust the math of texas. Thats frankly what hes up against in the last week of this race. Garrett, yes, you are a young person, thank you for that, appreciate it. Joining me now, wendy davis, democratic nominee for governor, ted wilson, researcher for mitt romneys president ial campaign. Wendy, thanks for coming on the show. You have beto orourke, the congressman, heading to waco, san antonio. The idea seems to be to run up the score with these young voters. As garrett points out, millenials are not necessarily the reliable vote. Is this the right strategy . What other choice does he have . Garrett is right, its all in the numbers right now. The super exciting thing were seeing in millenial voters, weve got a 514 increase in their turnout this far in this Midterm Election over the 2014 Midterm Election. And its not just the young voters that were seeing an extraordinary surge in. Were seeing a surge in new voters. 200,000 new people have voted in this race who have never voted in texas before. To put that in perspective, in california only 70,000 new voters have voted at this point. 214 increase in latino voters. And were seeing a surge in that very important vote that beto has been appealing to, suburban women, and also a big, big surge in africanamerican voters too. Let me ask you about the women factor here, because you do make that point. When you look at some of these key groups as it relates to recent polling, congressman orourke is only up seven with women. Does that number need to be higher for him to be successful . Actually if he can hold that number or somewhere close to that, and continue to see the increase in latino, africanamerican, and young voters, i really believe he can close that gap. And the great thing were seeing from beto, hes running through the finish line tape in this race. He is traveling four or five different places every single day, exciting people, telling people that we have an opportunity together to solve some of the problems that were concerned about right now. And together, to overcome what were seeing coming out of the trump administration, and that is so unappealing to a lot of us here in this state and our values. Let me put up the graphic about the key groups involved in this race, you can see congressman orourke up 16 with independents. Are you worried about that and should your guy be worried about that . Those numbers are wrong, senator cruz is going to win independents by double digits. You seem awfully confident. Are you looking at different data . The numbers that wendy pointed out are right, senator cruz is winning those by double digits. The vote is coming from republican areas. You point where orourke is campaigning today, senator cruz today is in south texas trying to win the hispanic vote. In 2012, he got 20 of the hispanic vote. This is not a traditional election. You talk about the hispanic vote, President Trump has been talking about birth right citizenship, hes been talking about troops to the border. How do border politics play to ted cruz in texas . Its a great question. At the beginning of this cycle, i also work for Governor Abbott in texas, we do focus groups around the state with hispanic voters. The thing that we found that was probably so surprising to those who sat behind the glass watching the focus groups is, those people are most passionate about building the wall, those people are most passionate about border security. Not all of them. Were going to see Governor Abbott and senator cruz doing very well with hispanic. Lots of eyeballs on texas, gang, thank you both for joining us, i appreciate it. Coming up, happening right now, family, friends, even strangers gathering at beth shalom, pittsburgh, to pay homage to one of the victims at the tree of life synagogue last week. Just one of the things thats happened in the last seven days. Well look at all of it, putting it into context with president ial historian doris kearns goodwin, next. Chevy also won a j. D. Power dependability award for its lightduty truck the chevy silverado. Oh, and since the chevy equinox and traverse also won chevy is the only brand to earn the j. D. Power dependability award across cars, trucks and suvsthree years in a row. Phew. Third times the charm. Is time you make for yourself. Aveeno® daily moisturizing lotion with active naturals® oat. Locks in moisture to improve skin wellness in just one day. Aveeno® naturally beautiful results® parts of me i didnt even know. Results revealed i find out im 19 native american specifically from the chihuahua people. What . thats i find that crazy. It traces their journey from the mid1800s from central mexico to texas. Learning about the risks they took for a better life it gives me so much respect and gratitude. It just shed so much light in my past that i never even wouldve known was there. Connecting 20 million members to a deeper family story. Order your kit at ancestry. Com so its been a week. It has been a really long week since the news first broke, those pipe bombs had been mailed, targeting high profile people in the world of politics. Then it seemed like all hell broke loose after that on a lot of fronts. We have some breaking news, multiple senior Law Enforcement officials tell nbc news that a suspicious package has been found at the clintons home in chappaqua, new york. That means they were explosive devices. And to have projectiles [ sirens ] excuse me, that sounds like a fire alarm here. In several states tonight, an urgent search to find whoever is responsible for spending packages with a frightening looking bomb inside. Today three more explosive devices discovered, the total now at ten. Two in delaware, both addressed to former Vice President joe biden. The other in new york citys tribeca neighborhood. The president is certainly not responsible for spending suspicious packages to someone. For responsible for sending suspicious packages to someone. For the third day this week we are leading with breaking news, two more suspicious packages, cesar sayoc junior has been arrested. And this is the van he drove throwing propaganda, protrump, anticnn. Everyone will benefit if we can end the politics of personal destruction. Maxine waters, but im going to be nice tonight, so i wont say it. I wont say it. Breaking news, police are currently responding to reports of an active shooter at a synagogue in pittsburgh. We are pinned down by gunfire. Hes firing out of the front of the building with an automatic weapon. The shooting being described as likely the deadliest attack on the Jewish Community in u. S. History. If they had protection inside, the results would have been far better. To the leaders of our country, weve got to stop hate, and it cant just be to say we need to stop hate. We need to do, we need to act. That was seven days, felt like a lot longer in a lot of ways. Im joined by historian doris kerns. I want to get your thoughts, your reactions, put it into context. The last seven days that weve experienced here . What happened in these last seven days were two major crises. Think about it, the potential assassination attack on our leadership structure, nothing as large as abraham lincoln. Then you have the attack on the Jewish Synagogue as was just said, the greatest antisemitic attack in the history of our country. Those are the moments when we look to a leader for guidance, when we need him to create a sense of community, and in both of those instances President Trump was unable to do what we need a leader to do. I think about what happened with the bombing attack, and as you showed, he has an aside that says im supposed to show unity, but then he cant even hold it. Even more troubling to me was he used that certain point after the bombing plot. We had this great momentum going in the republican party, and then this thing happened, and yes, it was bad that it happened, but we have to get that momentum back again. Thats thinking aloud, thinking about the midterms rather than thinking about unifying the country. You talk about and you write about six key traits as you put it, that a president , a leader needs to have in a moment like this, empathy, resilience, communication, openness, impulse control and relaxation. Do you see this, these six traits coming from the white house . Coming from congress, coming from any political leader right now . I think what you would have hoped, just imagine if those traits were in evidence right now. Just imagine if the president had reached out right away to the potential victims of the bombing attack. Just imagine if he had said this is the time to stop this rhetoric, and we all bear responsibility. Thats an openness to dissent, and i will do my share, and we all have to do our share. Its possible to imagine a leader that could have done things like this, that would have been able to have humility to acknowledge mistakes and say we have to change our course. We could have imagined a leader who could have connected to all manner of people and brought us together as a community. Theres a hunger for that right now, and thats what leadership is about, and the leaders that ive written about, whether its lincoln or the lbj on civil rights, at those key moments, those are the best traits that came out. These are trying moments for the president , and i think it may have shifted the way we think about ourselves as citizens and what we want now. Maybe theres some good things that have come out of this administration, a lot of people might feel, but they need to feel what are we feeling about our country right now, and what do we want to wake up with and think about a different way of a leader right now. There are different styles of leadership. There are different ways that leaders can lead in moments of national crisis, like the one that we have seen over the past week. For example, past president s in both parties have had different ways of dealing with those moments. Watch. From first graders in newt n newtown, first graders. Every time i think about those kids it gets me mad. And by the way, it happens on the streets of chicago every day. I can hear you. The rest of the world hears you, and the people and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon so doris, different kinds of responses during different 340e7 moments. Newtown in the first case, president bush in the second. Theres no one way to effectively help bring the country together in a moment like this . No, but history will remember both of those moments as shining moments as president s when they brought us together, when the empathy they felt towards the victims of those crimes was expressed in their emotions and their speaking for us, their example for us. Thats what were hungering for right now. We need that sense of being brought together as a community. I think its going to happen. Americas done it before, and were going to do it again. I appreciate you joining us for this important conversation, your new book, leadership in Turbulent Times is available now. Thank you for coming on the show. Well be right back with todays big picture. 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Officials originally insisted the water was safe, but a new study says no way, not so fast. About a quarter of more than 14,000 kids under the age of six last year had noticeable levels of lead in their blood according to advocates of children of new jersey. The photographer Sarah Blessner for the new york times. Ill see you tonight on nightly news from fort myers, florida, and on the road tomorrow from florida and friday from West Virginia later on in the week. Craig, wish you were coming with me, road show, tag team it huntington. Safe travels my friend. Thank you. Happy halloween as well. Good morning, craig melvin here, msnbc headquarters in new york city. The great race, President Trumps Campaign Blitz throwing out almost any idea in the final days before the midterms. Can he rally voters without wreaking havoc for republican kand daytod candidates who have to answer for his rhetoric. One on one as the president heads to battleground florida, i sit down with the man who could become the first africanamerican governor of florida, Andrew Gillum. And voice of the people, our road warriors crisscrossing the country following every pivotal race that